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Tidelands season 1, episode 2 recap: Orphans of L’Attente

By Wade Wainio

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In episode 2 of Netflix original Tidelands, Cal learns more about her background and a small-fry spy loses an eye.

The first episode of Tidelands began with Cal McTeer (Charlotte Best) miraculously not drowning after some miscreant kidnapped her, tied her feet with chains and threw her into the briny deep.

However, here we fully see her eyes snap open, and she frees herself from what to a human would be certain death. The question is, how doesn’t she instantly realize she’s a “Tidelander”? Perhaps it’s disbelief or a lack of knowledge of sirens (mythical creatures).

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However, she seems to be vaguely aware of the mythical creatures, and Tidelands has the feel of their existence as almost an open secret.

Whatever the reason for her denial, she demonstrates impressive strength upon being freed, by beating up two crab fishermen (Rob Reitano and Stephen Daddow) on Combe’s Beach. She initially believes they were guilty of trying to drown her.

It turns out they are just innocent bystanders. She doesn’t kill them but she definitely roughs them up, and like it was nothing! Not bad for someone who recently only drowned and swam ashore (well, it is bad, but not in that sense).

A head in a bag

The episode remains strange as it progresses. Cal’s brother Augie (Aaron Jakubenko) is carrying Zack Maney’s severed head in a bag, asking his drug dealing crew if they had sent him to spy on Tidelanders.

Everyone denies such involvement, which leaves Augey looking awkward for lugging the head around for nothing. Meanwhile, Officer Corey Welch (Mattias Inwood) shows up to arrest Cal while she’s taking clothes off a clothesline.

Then again, it’s apparent that she’s not really under arrest, despite clearly attacking the two crab fishermen entirely unprovoked.

Elsewhere, among the Tidelanders, the single-eyed Lamar (Dalip Sondhi), is haphazardly accused by Adrielle (Elsa Pataky) of maybe pocketing some drug money. Shortly after that, a boy named Gilles (Finn Little) tells Lamar, “There’s another like us”– most likely referring to Cal.

A protective assassin, a lost eye for a young spy

Because of the murder attempt on Cal, Augie gives her a gun. However, it seems neither of them knows who made the attempt. Tidelands let the viewers know, however. We see it was actually their mother Rosa (Caroline Brazier) who arranged the hit.

It’s bad news because, apparently, Augey trusts the assassin to watch over his sister. That’s right, Colton (Richard Davies) is assigned to protect her by her own brother!

There’s a weird scene where Cal almost drowns herself in the bathtub, then sends Colton away. Colton later tells Rosa to kill Cal herself, not buying into Rosa’s attempt to blackmail him into service.

The Tidelanders aren’t being much kinder. Gilles’ sister Bijou (Chloe De Los Santos) has been kidnapped and encaged by Violca Roux (Madeleine Madden), as a way to prompt Gilles into spying on Queen Adrielle. Gilles is quickly discovered and a Tidelander meeting is called about the boy’s spying.

When asked who he’s trying to protect, Gilles mentions Bijou. Being a just an equitable bunch, they forcibly remove one of Gilles’ eyes. Later we see that Bijou has escaped anyway, meaning he may have sacrificed his eye for nothing. Gilles tells Lamar that the queen wears a key, which is a little vague yet interesting.

Meanwhile, speaking of Lamar, he is apparently in love with Sgt. Paul Murdoch (Alex Dimitriades), which may be why Murdoch told Officer Corey to stop looking at Cal’s file.

The family business

Obviously, Tidelands is a tangled web, with Cal’s family being involved in a criminal enterprise with mythic creatures (oh, and she’s one of those creatures herself, yet doesn’t know it yet). Rosa is also caught getting frisky with a guy named Bill (Peter O’Brien).

This helps prompt an awkward family meeting between Audie, Cal and Rosa. A key topic is Durborrow, the man whose house Cal burned down. Also, with surprising subtlety, Cal accuses Rosa of possibly trying to kill her. In a fishy gesture, Rosa offers Cal a check for $250,000.

Recognizing it as hush money of some kind, Cal isn’t exactly excited to take it.

Shortly after this, Officer Corey and Cal discuss Tidelanders. It must be an exciting topic because they make out. Unfortunately, she hurts him somehow and the festivities are called off. Then, after that but of weirdness, Bill grabs Cal and jumps with her into the water.

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It’s definitely not something to try at home, but it’s his way of telling her she’s a Tidelander herself. If that’s not enough he says, “Rosa’s not your mother” and “Augie’s not your brother.” He might as well add, “And the Easter Bunny isn’t real,”to keep the earth-shattering info ball a’rollin.’

That’s it for this Tidelands recap! What are your thoughts? Let us know in the comments!

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