The Terror: Season 1 Episode 3 The Ladder
Crozier tries to get Franklin to send out a rescue party, while the Tuunbaq moves closer to the ships.
Series Index
Characters/Groups
Francis Crozier - Jared Harris
James Fitzjames - Tobias Menzies
Cornelius Hickey - Adam Nagaitis
Charles Des Voeux - Sebastian Armesto
William Gibson - Edward Ashley
Lt. John Irving - Ronan Raftery
Sgt. Daniel Bryant - Richard Riddell
Lt. George Hodgson - Christos Lawton
Thomas Hartnell - Jack Colgrave Hirst
John Morfin - Anthony Flanagan
Sgt. Solomon Tozer - David Walmsley
Lt. Edward Little - Matthew McNulty
Pvt. William Heather - Roderick Hill
Lt. Graham Gore - Tom Weston-Jones
Lt. H.T.D. Le Vesconte - Declan Hannigan
Pvt. William Pilkington - Aaron Jeffcoate
Character thumbnails with links to profiles
Detailed Synopsis
June, 1847, George Chambers offers to trade his ration of salt pork to Sgt. Daniel Bryant for blind duty. Bryant tells him, Henry Lloyd saw the Tuunbaq from the ship and Bryant admits some guilt over shooting the Shaman. John Weekes and John Morfin sew the Shaman's remains into his fur robe. Thomas Hartnell walks in and gathers the Shaman's things to give to Lady Silence and then leaves. Weekes finds ivory totems in the Shaman's robe and Henry Goodsir tells him to put them back in with the Shaman. Hartnell tells Lt. George Hodgson that he has the Shaman's personal items and then gives them to Lady Silence. She notices the totems are missing and asks for them, but Hartnell tells her, there was nothing else and offers his condolences. Charles Des Voeux is in charge of discarding the Shaman's body and Goodsir is troubled when he finds out the Shaman is going to be dropped into a fire hole in the ice.
Lady Silence leaves the ship and starts to carve out an igloo. Lt. Edward Little asks Francis Crozier if he has any experience with Eskimo holding grudges when their loved ones are wronged. Crozier tells him, he wouldn't know as he has never wronged an Eskimo and Thomas Blanky tells Little that the Eskimo are too concerned with surviving to start a war. John Franklin and the other officers of the Erebus eat a silent dinner with a plate left on the table for Lt. Graham Gore. He remembers the dinner party that was held before they left on the expedition and how Sir John Ross asked him what plans he had made in case the ships are ice locked. Later Lady Jane Franklin tells Franklin that Sir Ross is only bitter due to his failure in the ice. She then shows him Jacko, the pet monkey she got him. It flashes back and Sir Ross warns Franklin that nothing grows in the Arctic and that starving men will turn against their leaders. Cornelius Hickey sees William Gibson ask to speak with Lt. John Irving. While Franklin is writing a eulogy for Gore, Crozier visits him and asks permission to send a party out to the Hudson Bay Company outpost on Great Slave Lake so that they may be rescued. Franklin refuses the request and says he will not lose another man and tells Crozier that Crozier blames the world for his problems and tells him, he will never be fit for command.
Crozier tells Blanky to come up with a list of the eight most ablest men which he will then lead to find aid. John Diggle asks Richard Wall if he has noticed a large amount of their provisions are spoiled. Wall taste tests the can of food and jokingly tells Diggle to add salt. Franklin, along with Goodsir, walks to the men stationed at the hunting blind, consisting of Sgt. Daniel Bryant, Pvt. William Heather and Sgt. Solomon Tozer. He asks them what bait they are using and they tell him rats. Irving approaches Hickey and Irving accuses Hickey of seducing Gibson. Hickey then confronts Gibson and Gibson breaks off their relationship. Hickey brags that he had a drink with Crozier and Gibson points out, Crozier will drink with anyone. Goodsir takes a photo of Franklin with the men at the blind. Crozier writes a resignation letter to Franklin. Franklin is invited by Tozer and Heather to wait in the blind with them and Bryant is suddenly grabbed and killed by the Tuunbaq.
The rest of the men in the blind start shooting and Franklin starts to stumble away in shock. Crozier uses a spyglass to check on the situation and orders his men to send out the marines. Franklin starts calling out for the Erebus and as James Fitzjames and Des Voeux go out to save him, Franklin is grabbed by the Tuunbaq, chewed in half, and dropped into the fire pit with the Shaman. Franklin's remaining leg is brought back to the ship and put inside a coffin by Goodsir. Chambers tells Charles Best and Weekes, Franklin was supposed to be the discoverer of the path and Best laments the Tuunbaq takes their best men and Best stares at Pvt. William Pilkington. Weekes tells them the Shaman had a bear totem, but it is buried with the Shaman. Morfin starts to sing and Best sings along with him as do the rest of the crew. Crozier goes to the Erebus and tells Blanky to start a search party with Lieutenant Fairholme in charge. Fitzjames asks him not to send out the party as Franklin forbade it and Fitzjames asks for one day for the men to grieve. Crozier gives the speech written by Franklin for Gore's eulogy, and during the funeral, Hickey defecates on Crozier's bed and reads his resignation letter. Crozier finishes the speech and Tozer initiates the 21 gun salute. Franklin's body is carried on a boat and the Tuunbaq visits Lady Silence's igloo and leaves a dead seal behind.