'Crusoe' Family Ties

By LillyKat
PTR Senior Staff Writer

So the apple didn't far from the tree, did it?

And by tree, I don't mean treehouse.

More like Friday and his dad.

Both are seriously decent human beings.

We met Friday's father this week on Crusoe via a rather clever reintroduction of: 1) Spanish captain Santana (from the premiere episode, who we will remember left our castaways stranded after the failed attempt to a) blow Friday and Crusoe out of the treehouse in the attempt to b) find the pot o' gold with the pirates); and, 2) the cannibal tribe that initially brought Friday to the island and of whom seemed to have made the Crusoe island their sacrifice hangout.

Turns out Friday's dad, Baillom, saved Captain Santana's life not long after Santana had set sail from our castaways, when he was forced to stop and resupply his ship with fresh water. Too bad that happened to be on the same island the cannibals were located. Doh! Where is Captain Jack Sparrow when you need him, eh?

I guess you could say it was a bit ironic, then, that they both ended up being captured by the SAME cannibals who had nabbed Friday, then sailed back to the SAME island to which ol' Santana had just waved goodbye. Nonetheless, Santana was redeemed a bit in my eyes, especially when Crusoe and Friday saved him from what would've been his inevitable fate with the cannibals, yet he wanted to make a deal to go BACK and save Baillom, too.

A changed man, indeed.

And it was quite the reunion for Friday and dad, given dad thought Friday was long ago dead after having left home when he was very young ne'er to return. Read: captured. Aww. Have to admit I shared Friday's concern the cannibals would want to go after him again. But alas, he got to have his faceoff with King Cannibal in the end - and win.

Since Friday and Crusoe agreed to remain behind to finish off the cannibals, Santana and Baillom promised to return to rescue them. And yet, did we not notice that Santana takes a significant blow to the head in the uproar to get off the island? And as he and Baillom row away in the cannibals' canoe, things look ... well, kind of bleak. As in, they've only got two days to row back to Santana's ship before it sails away, yet they are pretty banged up and wounded? This makes me wonder if they will return. Crusoe seems to think there is no doubt, but I am not so sure.

In this week's flashback sequence, we learned that when Crusoe's pirate ship was seized, the shady contract to which he had entered with his brother-in-law meant the loss would NOT be shared; it was Crusoe's to bear alone. In spite of Susanna wanting to go to the law, the political climate in England was against merchants, so the law would NOT be on their side. We also learned that Crusoe asked Blackthorn for a pass to leave London and go to the West Country - exactly where the Duke of Monmouth is raising his army to overthrow the king. You know ... the uprising Crusoe does NOT support but appears to be being set up to do so - particularly since he needs to get out to that part of England to get to his weavers and bring in new stock to save himself from further ruin. Blackthorn, believing that Crusoe isn't plotting against the king, does allow him to go. And yet, I can't help but wonder if we'll learn next week how this goes awry.

Stay tuned.

New episodes of Crusoe air Fridays at 9 p.m. on NBC. Visit NBC's Official Crusoe Web site for the inside scoop on the series. The site is awfully cool - and that's not just the Pirates fangirl in me talking.