Watership Down episode 1 recap: The Journey

Watership Down, the Netflix and BBC co-production based on the classic Richard Adams novel, sets its rabbit heroes off on a journey in the hopes of finding a new home.

“The Journey” places the rabbits of Watership Down on a dangerous path, one with uncertainty and clinging to one rabbit’s vision, and another’s strength to carry on.

In the beginning is the tale of Prince Rabbit, who, among the other animals, is bestowed with great talents. The rabbits are given legs to run faster, ears to hear better, and a tail to confuse those who chase them. The life of a rabbit is one of constant fear and danger, always left to worry about preying eyes.

Fiver (Nicholas Hoult) wakes from his vision, roused by his brother Hazel (James McAvoy). He sees horrible manmade machines of destruction in his mind’s eye, coming to tear their home of Sandleford apart. Hazel worries because previous visions have come to pass, deciding to warn their leader, Threarah (Tom Wilkinson). Both the vagueness and the forcefulness of their charge leaves Threarah to dismiss them entirely, causing Hazel and Fiver to ask members of the warren to join them in leaving at nightfall.

The brothers find some receptive to their calls to leave, including Dandelion (Daniel Rigby), Bluebell (Daniel Kaluuya), Blackberry (Miles Jupp), and Hawkbit (Mackenzie Crook), but are overrun by soldiers who consider them mutinous. Bigwig (John Boyega), the largest rabbit of the warren, comes to their defense and helps them and the others escape.

Their first part of the journey finds the rabbits in the forest, a place full of dark, unseen and foreboding threats. But it is not the threat of the forest which strikes: it is from those back at home, a scouting party hunting them down. They flee, managing to break from those giving chase by riding a garbage can lid across the creek to safety.

Exhausted from the chase and soaked to the bone from the gathering storm, Hazel and the others huddle at an abandoned and decrepit church, taking shelter under a fallen pillar. Their peace only lasts for so long, as a flock of birds threaten them. Dandelion tries to lure the birds away in order for the others to escape but is cornered. Bigwig comes to his rescue, killing one of the birds and scaring those remaining to the wind.

Bigwig vents his frustration against Hazel and Fiver, questioning Hazel’s leadership as they wander aimlessly. While he is sharp, Bigwig has the intentions of the whole group in mind. A strange rabbit by the name of Cowslip (Rory Kinnear) visits them, offering them a new home. They follow, finding the warren full of plump, well-fed rabbits. The warren accepts them keenly, though morale and their numbers are strangely low. Hazel and Fiver are questionable of the new place, though Strawberry (Olivia Colman), overly friendly, shows the warren off to them.

In the morning, the rabbits descend upon a bountiful garden full of tasty treats, but Fiver grows nervous at a garden purposely left for rabbits. Back inside, he suffers a vision where the roots of the warren tree are made of bone and fears death plagues this place. He urges the others to leave, but Bigwig loses his temper, saying he is ruining their new home. As Bigwig leaves, he is caught in a snare.

Hazel and the others go to get help but are told of the ways of the warren: those snared are an offering to their farmer for allowing them to exist there. With the help of Strawberry, the rabbits attempt to free Bigwig as he struggles against the tightness of the snare. Fiver bites through the wiring, managing to free him, but it appears to be too late. They say some words over him, but he snaps back to life, having been stunned. Bigwig is too good of a character to take from us already!

The rabbits leave behind the warren, Strawberry joining their band. They travel for days, crossing the countryside looking for the perfect place to call home. Finally, they do: Watership Down. As they settle in that evening, a rabbit approaches them. It’s Captain Holly (Freddie Fox) from their old warren, wounded and nearly defeated. He tells them that Fiver’s vision had come true, and Sandleford had been devastated by machines. He warns them of his fear that nowhere is safe.

The episode concludes with the introduction of Efrafa, a dark and cruel warren nearby. One of the soldiers of General Woundwort (Ben Kingsley), a massive, scarred, and foreboding rabbit, informs him of the new rabbits to the area.

What did you think of the opening episode of Watership Down?