The Son Episode 10
The Son season 1, episode 10, “Scalps,” takes a little off the top to lay waste to an entire playing field. The McCulloughs and the Garcias are the twin pillars of the Texas border town about to be awash in blood and oil, and both families suffer divided loyalties, but come together in unexpected ways. Eli had actually decided against going after the Garcia land and was brought to the standoff by a betrayal of his son Phineas (David Wilson Barnes), who thought he was doing the old man a solid. But the first son of Texas is nothing if not a man of action. Once he makes up his mind, he fully commits. Eli doesn’t just commit to action, he double downs on his commitment to a lie. This is a solemn commitment and it ultimately holds the family together. Eli McCullough is a living legend and keeping that legend alive is a family job. Pete McCullough (Henry Garrett) follows his duty and his love. He knows the depths of the duplicity his father can inspire in the town. He figures the only chance for the Mexican-American family, who has called that property their home for generations, is to make a run across the border in the middle of the night. There are no laws in play and he’s the only protection around. Garrett plays the scenes with unwavering reason, but there is a desperation in his eyes that screams under the surface. He is torn by his choice, and further torn by Garcia’s ill-conceived plan to defend his fortress. It’s Eli’s own fault that Pete sides with the Garcias. It is that moral strength that underpinned the success of the First Son of Texas. Eli McCullough’s loyalty was forged in the wild, whetted by the opposing abrasion of the natural order and encroaching civilization. In the 1850 Panhandle arc, Pathetic White Boy returns home, to the Comanches, where he belongs. The very first thing he does, before he even punches in, is dash the hopes of the other white slave girl, who assumes that because they share a common background, they share a common purpose. Tiehteti’s rescue by the Mormon visionary turned into a kidnapping and he feels no kinship to anyone who would impose their will on him. The young brave is forced to accept the will of the tribe, though. His first love, Prairie Flower (Elizabeth Frances), married his lying rival, Charges the Enemy (Tatanka Means), while Tiehteti was wrapped up like frontier cargo being shipped back to his abusive white father. The best deal Toshaway (Zahn McClarnon) can get out of the deal is four horses for the loss of one slave. The Son isn’t preachy, but it gets to the core of moral values, sometimes of morality, and always of mortality. The Comanches honor their dead differently than the whites. The native Americans honor the living spirit of the land they walk on, and the animals they feed on. Theirs is a more sustainable path to the future than civilization offers. But the season ends on a cautionary smoke signal that only the pale adopted Comanche can read. There are more white men than there are stars and they will never stop coming and they will never stop getting what they want. “Scalps” was written by Philipp Meyer, Brian McGreevy and Kevin Murphy, and directed by Tom Vaughan.
