‘Turn: Washington’s Spies’ recap: Oddly, Patriots try to save Redcoat

In a strange twist, Patriots scheme to rescue a Redcoat officer on “Houses Divided,” Episode 206 of “Turn: Washington’s Spies” on AMC.

Rebels have kidnapped British Major Edmond Hewlett (Burn Gorman) and wrongly convicted him of wartime atrocities after an American commander was found murdered with his tongue sliced off.

The real culprit is barbarous Captain John Graves Simcoe (Samuel Roukin). He framed Hewlett as payback for ordering a court-martial that nearly ended Simcoe’s career.

If the Patriots free Hewlett, he’ll naively vouch for the innocence of Abe Woodhull (Jamie Bell), who’s imprisoned for espionage. Hewlett mistakenly believes Abe is tracking down an insurgent group, the Sons of Liberty, when he’s actually spying on the British.

When word of the arrest reaches Abe’s father, Richard Woodhull (Kevin R. McNally), he directs his wrath at Patriot spy Anna Strong (Heather Lind).

“You have caused this family enough harm,” Richard yells, ordering Anna to leave. “And if I had the proof that you were aiding the enemy, I would see you hanged as your husband should have been!”

Richard is also furious that daughter-in-law Mary (Meegan Warner) kept quiet about Abe’s covert activities. While pleading with Richard to intervene on her husband’s behalf, Mary admits that Abe concealed his slaying of a Redcoat by burning the family farm.

“I’ve done everything that I could to protect him, everything I could to stop him,” Mary tearfully says of her spouse. “But I have never abandoned him, never stopped loving him!”

Anna tries to liberate Abe by contacting Major Ben Tallmadge (Seth Numrich), the liaison between General George Washington (Ian Kahn) and his spy ring. In doing so, Anna reveals that Abe went rogue by concocting the Sons of Liberty ruse.

“How could he just lie to us like that?” Ben asks spy Caleb Brewster (Daniel Henshall). “Pretending to be a double agent, he’s caught himself in his own damn web!”

Ben is ousted as head of intelligence because of this debacle. But Caleb thinks Ben can regain his position if the two of them spring Hewlett from a rebel outpost.

Anna also does her part to free Hewlett by apologizing to Simcoe shortly after rejecting his romantic overtures.

“I responded with vitriol,” Anna says, adding that she’d consider it “a personal favor of the highest order” if Simcoe and his Queen’s Rangers rescued Hewlett. “Whatever favor you might request from me in return, I would be obliged to fulfill.”

When Simcoe prepares to attack the rebels who captured Hewlett, one of the rangers is incredulous.

“We’re going to save Hewlett?” Jordan (Aldis Hodge) asks, knowing Simcoe and the major are bitter rivals.

“No,” Simcoe replies with a fiendish smirk. “We’re going to send him to his savior!”

Finally, head of British Intelligence Major John André (JJ Feild) deepens his seduction of Philadelphia socialite Peggy Shippen (Ksenia Solo), who hides the affair from her snobbish family.

André is obviously attracted to Peggy. But he’s also exploiting her as part of an elaborate plan to turn disgruntled Patriot General Benedict Arnold (Owain Yeoman) into a British asset.

While André and Peggy romp in the boudoir, housekeeper Abigail (Idara Victor) snoops through a stack of intelligence documents stolen from Washington’s camp. Relaying this vital information to the Patriots just got trickier, however.

Abigail had been sending notes to Anna hidden inside packages for her son Cicero (Darren Alford) on Long Island. But that conduit will shut down when André reunites Cicero and his mother in British-controlled Philadelphia.

Abigail is overjoyed at this sudden development. Anna and her spy comrades will likely have a much different reaction, however.