Willow - Episode 4 - Review

With Graydon now cursed the same way that Commander Ballantine was, the race is on to find a cure for him, before the unthinkable happens and they need to kill him. Of course the only place they can find shelter from the storm and attempt this, is within the walls of Castle Nockmaar.

The first thing that the group do is tie Graydon down with chains, ensuring that if he turns to the dark side, then he won’t immediately be a threat to them. Once that is done, they start having a conversation about who gets to kill him, which is not a turn I was expecting the show to take this early on in the episode. While Jade and Boorman have both killed, Jade at the end of the previous episode, they start debating on who will deliver the blow this time. Elora decides that the plan doesn’t work for her and asks Willow if there is anyway that they can save him instead. Of course, Willow just happens to have a book that explains of a way to save him, but it requires a host of ingredients and without all of them it will fail. So with a new plan of action decided, the group split up, clearly something that should never be attempted within a dark and evil castle.

Kit has been given ingredient gathering duty, something she doesn’t like doing, but her quest to locate one final ingredient is quite interesting. After obtaining a way to get the final piece, she encounters a shade of something evil and upon turning away from the noise, finds herself in another part of the castle. Not content to stay there, more so once the tapestry bursts into flames, she runs into another room and starts to barricade the doors. This of course doesn’t do anything for her situation as the room has a second entry and that is how Jade gets back in. While all that is happening Jade is on sentry duty, to ensure that no other members of the Withered Crones group of evil looking folks show up. While standing stoically out in the rain, Boorman appears and he attempts to give her advice about killing, which leads to her having a slight breakdown in his arms. With Boorman gone, she ventures back into the castle and finds herself face to face with a shadowing figure, who attacks, causing Jade to fight back.

Both those events could have been interesting, if the characters were more so, but Jade goes from stoic defender to broken down mess and then back again, faster that you can flick a yo-yo. Kit’s main problem is that she fancies herself as a leader and hates the idea of being forced to scavenge for supplies. They could have left Kit to be that annoying person who thinks themselves much better than others, but they finally gave her a moment of humanity here. After Elora is booted from the room, in order to not mess up the spell, she and Kit have a heart-to-heart moment, or at least the start of one. Before it can be completed, Elora hears a noise and runs off to find out what is going on, which leads to a pretty epic way of the show using old footage of the movie.

Why this episode failed for me is simple, it never really put any stakes up against anything, sure Graydon being possessed was a concern, but was it a major one? The show keeps moving at a pace that seems like a lot is happening, but when you stop and think about it, very little is actually going on. What that means is that the plan to save Graydon felt forced, Kit doesn’t want to marry him and the rest don’t really know him. If their adventure had lasted for months by this point, then there would be a reason for them to be concerned, but as it stands it hasn’t. It is the same with Boorman, we saw that he obtained the key for the cuirass and then lost it in the castle and so far those actions are not of a good man. The show constantly delivers moments where he seems like a good man, but they undercut them moments later and it leads to a confusing character.

At this point though, the biggest problem is Willow, not from an acting standpoint, but rather a character one. Willow is rarely shown to be using magic, which could be explained by a curse or such, but they just don’t have him do anything. The one time he did cast a spell he killed his friend and while a statement about people dying when he does would work as well, they are still leaving it alone. This wouldn’t be an issue if the character was likeable, but he spends more time being a grump and it isn’t endearing. These people don’t know him, they have seen nothing of him to prove he is a powerful sorcerer, but they let him boss them around. Fans of the movie will know Willow as having a lot of optimism and its sad to see that is not here now.

While the final moments of the show, with Elora showing her power to herself and the others, was great, the rest of it was not so. Kit finally having a moment of human compassion was great, Jade taking time to process the fact that she murdered the man who raised her was also heart wrenching. But Boorman and Willow are proving to be hard to connect with, one because you never know what they are going to do and the other because you never know if he is going to actually help. Oh and lets not forget that they finally showed Airk for the first time since he was taken, who awoke in a cell, in a city that was deserted.

The Score

7.5

Review access provided by Disney

The Pros

+Kit finally having a chance to prove she has a heart

+Spooky castle is good, flashbacks within smoke even better

The Cons

-Willow is hard to connect with as he refuses to explain anything to anyone

-Boorman is a bit to random at times, making it hard to follow which lie he is working on