Previously on Jamestown: Verity and Meredith Rutter decide to become professional thieves for a hot minute, snagging stolen merchandise from one of the Virginia Company ships and selling it under the table to other settlers. This all has something to do with Meredith wanting to prove his manliness to his wife, but it really just puts them both at risk, particularly when one of their trading partners is caught and forced to drink molten lead when he won’t talk. Yikes. Elsewhere, James Read and Jocelyn make out for reasons that are difficult to decipher, and Alice is afraid her husband Silas has turned traitor and is passing Jamestown secrets on to the local natives. (Need more details? Our full recap is this way.)

This week, Jamestown largely focuses on a single dramatic storyline, which brings several characters together into one key plot. This mostly works, because the story is compelling to watch, reminds us of the stakes involved in living in what is basically the unconquered wilderness, and largely abandons the other boring plots going on in favor of this new drama. And it is all very intense.

Steven Moffat and Mark Gatiss’ upcoming Netflix adaptation of the classic story Dracula has found its star. Danish actor Claes Bang has been cast as literature’s most famous vampire.

Previously on Jamestown: Jocelyn’s husband Samuel is found dead in the river, leaving her a widow with few prospects, though she manages to blackmail her way back into her government sponsored housing. Alice gives birth to the colony’s first child, a boy she dubs Silas in honor of his father. And slaves are now a regular part of the fabric of life in Jamestown, including Pedro, who wants to earn his freedom in the New World, and Maria, who wants nothing more than to go back to her old life across the sea. Need more details? Our recap of the Season 2 premiere is this way. 

This second episode of Jamestown, strangely enough, feels more like a table-setting installment than the premiere did. Possibly this is because both episodes aired back-to-back when the season premiered in the U.K., but also because there’s just a lot going more going on in Season 2. Either way, while it feels as though nothing much happens in this episode, one has to assume that a lot of things are being set up for payoff down the road.     

Previously on Jamestown: There is way too much to sum up in a paragraph, merely suffice to say that three very different women are brought to the colony of Jamestown to start new lives (and marry some of the settlers). A whole lot of stuff happens after that. Skim the Season 1 recaps if you need a refresher on the details, because this story is wild. (And a whole lot of fun along the way.)

Season 2 of Jamestown generally picks up a few months after the first season. But lest you think that the period drama’s second season might turn more serious, what with the arrival of slaves in the colony and the formation of an actual governing body at the end of last season, don’t worry. Before the opening credits roll there’s already been a murder and an accident leading to the onset of childbirth, so it appears as though things will continue to be as crazy as ever in 17th century Virginia.