Diksha Sundriyal
Hulu’s ‘Washington Black’ is an adventure epic drama series that follows the story of the titular character through the many ups and downs in his life. Based on the novel of the same name by Esi Edugyan, the eight-episode series delivers an action-fuelled ride that ends on a very emotional note for the protagonist. After years searching for the truth behind how certain things turn out for him, Washington Black, aka Wash, finally finds himself face to face with the people who have haunted him for a long time. The answers he gets aren’t what he was necessarily looking for, but needed nonetheless. SPOILERS AHEAD.
Washington Black Plot Synopsis
George Washington Black, aka Wash, was born on a plantation where he lived to serve the Wilde family. However, things take a turn for him with the arrival of Christopher “Titch” Wilde, a man with a scientific temper who recognises Wash’s keen sense for invention and exploration. While Titch believes in giving Wash every opportunity to learn and grow as a scientist, his brothers, Phillip and Erasmus, don’t hold the same thought. When Phillip dies and Wash bears the brunt of its responsibility, Titch decides to take him away from the plantation, while Erasmus sends a bounty hunter after him.
The journey takes Titch and Wash through many ups and downs, but they eventually part ways in the Arctic, where Titch intended to find his father, who was presumed dead. Years later, Wash lives in Nova Scotia where he has established himself as an upstanding young man with big dreams that are supported by Medwin Harris. There, he also meets Tanna Goff, a mixed-race woman who is forced to hide her Black identity and pass as white. While her father has already arranged her marriage to a certain Mr. McGee, she falls for Wash. Meanwhile, the bounty that Erasmus put on Wash’s head still holds, and the hunter finally comes looking for him.
By the end of the season, Wash has gotten rid of the bounty hunter and is united with Tanna, with whom he goes to England, hoping to find a place in the country’s scientific community, owing to his invention of the aquarium. However, when Tanna’s father claims the invention as his own, he decides to forge his own path by creating a flying device that he had worked on with Titch years back. It also allows him to travel far and wide so that he can finally have the answers he had always been looking for. SPOILERS AHEAD.
Was Kit Wash’s Mother?
During his early years in the plantation, Wash had no idea who he was and where he came from. A woman named Big Kit, who was another enslaved person on the plantation, was the only mother-figure he knew. In the end, however, he discovers that she was his biological mother too. This revelation shakes Wash to the core because it means that he had been close to his mother all this while, and he was left behind at the plantation when he ran away with Titch. Eventually, he gets the full story about who his mother really was.
It turns out that before she was forced into life as an enslaved person, Kit was a warrior for the king of Dahomey. She was part of his protective squad, and one of the rules about her job was that she could not have a family of her own. However, she secretly had an affair with a man and got pregnant. The man never returned to the picture, but when the king found out that she was pregnant, he kicked her out of his squad and punished her by selling her to a white man. By the time Kit arrived at the Wilde plantation, she was already on the verge of giving birth to Wash.
For years, Kit kept her true connection to Wash a secret. Firstly, she felt guilty for bringing him into a world where he couldn’t be a free man. Secondly, despite their circumstances, she was still hopeful that Wash would find his way out of these atrocious circumstances and make something of himself. She also knew that when the time came for him to leave, he should be free to forge his own path and not stay back because of some sense of obligation for her as his mother. In her way, she thought she was protecting the kid. Her faith in the boy is proven true when he leaves the plantation and, despite all the challenges in his path, becomes an inventor with the thoughts and ideas to change the world. This is what Kit wanted all along.
Why did Titch Leave Wash?
If Kit was Wash’s mother-figure, Titch became his father-figure and mentor, at least in the few years that they spent on the run together. Without Titch, Wash’s story may have turned out pretty differently, and Wash was grateful for all that he got to learn from the man. However, this doesn’t change the fact that Titch abandoned him in the Arctic. Their journey to the frozen tundra was motivated by the discovery that Titch’s father, James Wilde, was alive. His entire life, Titch had looked for validation from his father, which is why he was hurt when he discovered that his father most likely faked his death, while also believing that this could be his chance to prove to his father that he was just as good, if not a better, scientist than him.
What Titch found was disappointment as it turned out that his father had intentionally left everything behind to focus entirely on his research while also spending time with his lover, Peter. He didn’t seem to care at all about the fact that his sons had fallen into bad times, with one of them dying. He had no intention to come back, at least not until his research was done. At the same time, his father also made it clear that he never saw Titch as a scientist and would never value him in the way he wanted. The trip comes to an end when Titch decides to walk into the unknown, leaving Wash behind. Of course, he makes arrangements for the boy so that he can go to Nova Scotia and start his life anew. Wash, however, has seen Titch as the only family he ever had, and when the man walks away from him, the boy feels abandoned.
Years later, when Wash comes to London, he discovers that Titch survived his walk into the snow-covered nothingness of the Arctic and is currently in Morocco. For Wash, the discovery of his mentor’s survival is huge, majorly because he is still haunted by his abandonment. When they meet, Wash realises that Titch, too, is still haunted by the ghost of his father. It seems that despite James’ death years ago and Titch apparently walking away from him, the man has held on to the obsession of getting validation from his father. When Wash shows up in front of him, his first thought is how the boy, who is now a grown man, could help him figure out the kinks of the machine he has been working on, which is supposed to fly him to the moon.
Realising that Titch is still bound by the things that had him in their clutches all those years ago, he realises that he is not going to get any answers from the man. Still, a lot can be deducted from Titch’s behaviour. It seems that Titch had always seen Wash as a means to an end. He saw the boy’s talent, and while he did hold some affection towards him, it wasn’t strong enough for him to keep himself tethered to Wash. When he brought him on the run with him, he didn’t think that taking on a child is a responsibility that demands all sorts of things from a person. Eventually, when he reunited with his father and suffered a heartbreak of his own, he found himself unable to be what Wash needed him to be. In the end, he became a reflection of his own father, abandoning son-like Wash to his own devices, and choosing his own selfish motives.
What Happens to Titch?
When Wash realises that he will never get an explanation or an apology from Titch, he decides to leave the man to his own devices. Instead of letting himself be confused by the decision of his abandonment, he decides to completely forego Titch and the influence that he may or may not have had on him. In an act of kindness towards his former mentor, Wash leaves Titch with his father’s final words, especially after the man asks him about his father’s final moments, considering that he was one of the few people there to witness it.
Wash reveals that James told him to tell his son to live his life for himself and on his own terms and not let it be dictated by the desire to please someone else, let alone him. These words hit Titch profoundly because he had been doing exactly the opposite of this. He had been living a life he thought his father would approve of, and in doing so, he forgot to live at all. He is also moved by the realisation that his father cared for him after all and thought of him in his final moments.
While he processes this information, Wash bids him goodbye with no intention of returning to him or looking for him again. This is Wash’s final goodbye to Titch, and he doesn’t care what the man does next. Considering how deep Titch is into his current invention and how strongly he held on to the desire of proving himself to his father, it seems unlikely that he will leave the desert. However, Wash’s words should give him the perspective to drop his fool’s errand and go home and reconsider his life choices.
Where do Wash and Tanna Go?
Having received the closure that he needed from Titch, Wash goes back to building his ship, and with Tanna’s help, he succeeds. The duo also gets married, and by the time they reach Dahomey, Tanna is heavily pregnant. The return to his homeland allows Wash to understand his mother’s past more closely, discovering that her real name was Nawi. He discovers her warrior origins and how she was forced to leave her home because she got pregnant with Wash. When he asks about his father, he doesn’t get a specific answer, but he is told that his mother’s description made it seem like his father was none other than Nymae, the god of sky and water. Though the idea is interesting, Wash finds it hard to believe.
Sometime later, Tanna gives birth to their child, and it turns out to be a girl, whom they name Nawi. Eventually, Wash and Tanna’s time in Dahomey comes to an end, and they take flight once again. This time, they go to the Solomon Islands, where it is Tanna’s turn to be reunited with her mother’s side of the world. She had been kept from it all these years because her father didn’t want her to acknowledge, let alone embrace, that side of herself. However, the return to Solomon Islands allows her to go back to her roots and reconnect with her mother, which is what she wanted since she was a little girl.
Eventually, the duo’s time in the islands also comes to an end, and they take flight once again. By this time, their daughter is already grown up, and the trio looks forward to exploring new places and things. With Wash and Tanna free to choose whatever life they want for themselves, the world is their oyster. They might go back to England for Wash to go back to his inventions and win the expo. However, he doesn’t seem interested in getting validation from the English scientists anymore, and it is more likely that he and Tanna would focus entirely on whatever they want to create and invent, entirely uninhibited by the expectations of others.
Read More: Where Was Hulu’s Washington Black Filmed?
