American Primeval episode 2 recap: survivors get into more danger

When we left it off, the first episode of American Primeval had just depicted a bloody massacre of settlers, and the second episode of the Netflix historical epic continues the violence.

The series, set in Wyoming and Utah in 1957, shows us various travelers, settlers and survivors as they attempt to survive the various dangers of the region.

We jump between various tribes, militias and individual travelers as they try to make it through the winter without being hurt... too much.

So if you need a recap on what happened through the episode, here's our American Primeval episode 2 recap. The show itself jumps between different factions and groups, but I've organized them into two distinct lines for your ease of reading:

The Mormon militia

We begin with Jacob Pratt (Dane DeHaan) who's woken up in the camp after the massacre. He sees a band of Wolf Clan riders watching him, and he begs them to help him find his wife, but they ride off.

We next meet Brigham Young (Kim Coates) who's telling his followers about how non-Mormons are evil. A messenger tells him about the massacre from the previous episode, and Young sends an officer called Wild Bill Hickman (Alex Breaux) to Fort Bridger to stop any rumors spreading.

At the fort, Hickman asks Bridger to stop leasing his land to the Army, and that if he doesn't, he makes himself an enemy of the Mormons. Pratt has also arrived at the fort and after being patched up, tells them about how Indians attacked them. Hickman encourages this narrative, knowing that it's not true.

Pratt wants to form a posse to hunt the attackers, and Bridger refuses to help, but Hickman agrees, knowing that Pratt is also a Mormon. The Army prepares to go to the site of the attack with Pratt, but then see him leave with Hickman instead.

The Army visits the site of the massacre and the leader suspects straight away that it was Mormons; the horses used in the attack were shod and they find a mask used by the attackers. However he doesn't have any proof.

The Crow Clan riders find the Paiute who are allied with the Nauvoo and who are holding the women survivors of the massacre. The Crow kill the Paiute and execute the women except Pratt's wife Abish (Saura Lightfoot-Leon) who is taken as captive back to their camp.

Hickman takes Pratt to the Nauvoo Legion militia's camp, where he's introduced to James Wolsey (Joe Tippett). Wolsey agrees to help find Abish, but in private later Hickman chastises him for allowing survivors. Wolsey needs to find Abish to silence her as she knows Mormons carried out the attack, but he only needs to kill Pratt if he begins to suspect something. Hickman also asks if anyone else survived and Wolsey lies that no-one else did.

The Nauvoo quickly find the Paiute camp that the Wolf Clan attacked; there's one survivor who lets the group know who carried out the raid and took Abish. We see Abish at their camp; she makes an escape attempt that fails.

The Nauvoo visit a Ute camp to hunt down the Wolf Clan. The leader says that he knows nothing about the attack but the camp is strewn with salvage from the expedition; Pratt finds Abish's shawl. Wolsey says they're just scavengers and convinces the group to move on.

The makeshift family

Sara (Betty Gilpin) asks Isaac (Taylor Kitsch) what they should do now, and he says they're going back to Fort Bridger even though she wants to go to Crook Springs. He takes Devin (Preston Mota) and rides off; he notices they're being followed by Two Moons (Shawnee Pourier) and tells her to go home.

The trio arrive at a river and Isaac leaves them to find a place to ford it. As soon as he leaves Two Moon rejoins Sara and Devin. However Virgil (Jai Courtney) also finds them, and refers to Sara by her real surname. The three run away. They're pursued by Virgil and his band into a cave, and Two Moons kills one attacker and takes his gun. The bounty hunters set a fire to smoke out the fugitives, but Sara finds a hole at the back of the cave and they use it to escape.

Isaac too is attacked, and is hit by an arrow in the leg. He kills the people attacking him though.

That night Two Moons makes a fire for Sara and Devin, and it helps Isaac find them. He tells Two Moons to leave again, and implies to Sara that he knows her due to his knowledge of her tongue being cut out. She follows them anyway as they walk through the night. At one point Isaac tears off Devin's leg brace as it makes a loud creak as he walks.

Isaac, Sara, Devin and Two Moons find a trapper's camp. He goes alone to buy horses and the transaction nearly goes through, until Sara decides to come down from her hiding perch. The trappers have heard of the bounty and want to take her; Isaac kills them all. He interrogates Sara on the bounty but she convinces him to take them to Crook Springs in exchange for all of her money.

We later learn, though, that Isaac was shot in the combat, and he collapses off a horse. Sara tries to heal him but finds their camp surrounded by Shoshone.

Isaac, along with his group, is taken to the Shoshone camp and healed up; we learn that he used to live with them, and he speaks to the woman who raised him.

Riders approach the camp. It's the army, asking about the attack. Isaac confirms it was the Mormons who carried it out. The army is looking for Red Feather, the leader of the Wolf Clan, but the group splintered from the Shoshone and no longer lives with them.