Episode 5 of The Essex Serpent begins with the villagers in Essex out in the pouring rain, desperate to find Naomi. She's gone and there's been no word of her. Will tries to reassure Henry, telling him she'll come back. But then, given Gracie didn't, then his promises fall on deaf ears. When Will returns home, he learns that Stella is ill and her hacking cough is becoming harder to disguise. Stella is going to leave and see Dr Garrett in London, and as she tells Will this, he finds it hard to swallow. "We could see Cora?" Stella encourages, and eventually he agrees to leave with her for London in the morning - but vehemently declines to seeing Cora. So the penultimate episode of Essex Serpent moves away from London and as a result, grinds to a halt when it comes to the horror, folklore and the general mood and atmosphere of this drama. Instead, the whole ordeal plays out like a standard period drama. While there's nothing inherently wrong with that, this episode doesn't have a whole lot of substance to make that jump enjoyable. To be fair, the ending does go some way to alleviate those concerns, with Cora finally understanding what Luke's true intentions are and beginning to settle into her role. Beyong that though, the series tends to meander into these subplots that don't have a lot of function other than chewing up time. Martha's social housing bill, for example, is a nice inclusion but serves absolutely no function to the story. However, the ending does hint that we've got lots more drama to come in the finale, which promises to be quite the dramatic affair. Cora admits that those in Essex have turned against her, and that's why she's back. However, Cora is clearly still dwelling on how things ended with Will, with Martha admitting to her later on that she should stop "dwelling on that which she can't have." But dwell she does. And in fact, so too does Dr Garrett as he tags along with Cora to his big celebratory evening. Cora is adamant that they're just friends but we do know that Luke feels very differently toward her. Cora slips away and heads home, where she runs into Martha and expresses how incredulous she is about the whole ordeal. Martha bitterly retorts how clueless she is about love. As a result, Cora begins smashing up her house while Dr Garrett heads out and runs into a mugger. He holds a knife up to Luke and demands he hand over his wallet.
