‘Treasure Island’ Episode 2 Recap & Ending Explained: Why Jim Sets Long John Silver Free

Few adventure stories age as well as a good pirate yarn, and the latest take on Robert Louis Stevenson’s classic is clearly built to hook a new generation. MGM+’s 6-part adaptation follows Jim Hawkins from sheltered boy to emboldened young pirate, with his mother Bess pulled into the danger beside him.

The series stars Tom Sweet as Jim, Hayley Atwell as Bess, David Oyelowo as Long John Silver and Jack Huston as the British agent Aaron Graham. It launched on MGM+ on October 11, with new episodes arriving on Paramount+ in the UK and Ireland a day later. The finale is set for mid-November.

“Great Britain,” directed by William McGregor, moves the story fully onto the Hispaniola, and the ending changes the balance of power on board. When a Spanish ship attacks, Silver is locked in a cell, and Jim chooses to free him. It is the moment that explains what Silver has been working toward all along.

Bess burned the treasure map in the premiere, so Jim’s memory is now the only copy. That makes mother and son the most valuable passengers on board, though Silver still believes Bess made a copy. The episode opens with Jim trying to redraw the map, and Silver walks in before he can make sense of it.

Bess burns the new copy, and Silver holds a knife to Jim’s throat while she swears they know nothing. His tactics get nastier from there. He tells the crew that “the widow” on board is a curse that brings sickness and storms, and he eventually hangs a dead cat in the Hawkins cabin.

When Silver corners Bess again, she shoves him into the sea. The crew pulls him out, and Jim helps, though he isn’t happy to learn his mother did it. Graham later exposes Silver’s harassment of Bess in front of the crew, and Silver is locked up.

Bess knows she can’t fight Silver alone, so she turns to Graham. She pretends to be interested in him, and he opens up about his wife, who died just 6 weeks before the voyage. Bess hopes that winning him over means his Marines will keep Silver away.

Graham is not the easy mark she thinks he is. The episode reveals he boarded the ship after Squire Livesey’s letter from the premiere reached the right hands. His real target is the map locked in Jim’s head, and Flint’s treasure is his mission.

Graham has no equivalent in Stevenson’s book, which makes him the show’s biggest wild card. Everyone on the Hispaniola now wants the same boy.

The final act begins when the strange ship Graham and Captain Smollett had been tracking returns. It is a Spanish vessel, and it attacks the Hispaniola. Bess picks up a flintlock and a sword to help stave off the raiders.

When a raider goes after Jim, Silver rescues him and then asks the boy to free him so he can save the ship. Jim does it. The two jump into the sea, take the fight to the attackers, and set the enemy ship on fire.

Jim even saves Silver when his leg catches fire, using the smouldering boot to ignite the powder as they escape. The result is that Jim becomes the hero of the day, and nobody is going to clap him in irons after this. Silver, meanwhile, unofficially controls the Hispaniola.

That was the plan all along. Threatening Jim never got Silver the map, but earning the boy’s trust just might. Even earlier, Silver had approached Jim over the dance steps Billy Bones taught him and insisted he never meant to kill Bones.

New trailer for ‘TREASURE ISLAND’ has been released. Starring David Oyelowo and Hayley Atwell. Premiering October 11 on MGM+. https://t.co/Sko1cr2vHD

— Nexus Point News (@NexusPointNews) September 24, 2026

The twist is that this Jim knows how dangerous Silver is and chooses him anyway. In the novel, Silver keeps his friendly mask on for most of the voyage. Here, he drops it early, then wins the boy back with courage and charm.

Critics have noticed the shift. One review praised Oyelowo’s performance and said the more interesting direction is presenting Silver as something less adversarial to Jim, almost an exciting surrogate father figure. The same review argues that Bess’s growing role is so natural that you wouldn’t know she barely factored into the original book.

Silver will need a ship and a crew to move the treasure, and he is already building a crew within the crew. Bess, Graham and Silver are all playing different angles, with Jim caught in the middle. Hopefully Jim sees he’s being played before it’s too late.

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