Centennial (A 12 Part Miniseries 1979) PART TWO

(WARNING!!! SPOILERS TO EPISODE ONE INVOLVED!!!)
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THE YELLOW APRON

The second episode of Centennial picks up where the first left off, with Pasquinel having married both the daughter of his partner in St. Louis and the daughter of Lame Beaver. Our courier Quebecker is caught between two worlds. And it's that division that forces the story to focus on those who are affected by this division the most.

Clay Basket (played beautifully and brilliantly by Barbara Carrera) is a woman torn between two men that she both loves and respects. Pasquinel, who has given her two strong sons in Jacques and Marcel, and the golden-bearded McKeag, with whom she has always held a special affection. The hope for gold and the free life in the frontier brings her husband back to her time and again.


Lise Pasquinel (the always fantastic Salley Kellerman) draws the trader back to the "White Man's Civilization", such as it is. She raises a daughter and keeps the home fires burning with love for a man she knows she cannot keep in one place.




And, trapped between both worlds is McKeag. He sees the pain and anguish that Pasquinel leaves behind in his desire to have everything and live without compromise. But when the trader tries to bring both worlds together, it leads to disaster that will seep through the series for generations. It drives McKeag away and the Scotsman lives alone for years before finally returning to civilization with a Jamboree where tribes, mountain men, trappers, and traders all converge without need to travel to the big city.

Running at just over an hour and a half, the second episode in the long-spanning series expands and starts to show us the rippling effect that men like Pasquinel and Lame Beaver will have on other characters as they are introduced and take larger parts in the narrative. We also see the corrupting influence of wealth on good people, we see the growing encroachment of european settlers, and we see the tribal divisions that were so brutally exploited. But we also see the efforts of good people to deal in good faith and with well-intentions. But the importance of this episode is to show us how deeply some scars can run, how deeply it can hurt, and how important it is that we find a way to heal.

9 out of 10 and again, a definite must-see.