Hi everyone and welcome to Fitz Sci-Fi and Fantasy, today I'm giving my review of Willow season 1 episode 1. Please be advised there are spoilers ahead.
At the opening of the episode we see Sorsha recapping from the Willow movie giving us a reminder of what had happened previously, I'm assuming this is for those who never seen the movie before hand. I watched it recently as a reminder to myself as what had gone on before. We get a reference throughout of Madmardigan which we don't see in this episodes or probably in future episodes as Val Kilmer is suffering from throat cancer and is not able to speak but only through a device. It would have been fun to see him back in it.
Willow had a vision that one day an ancient evil would rise again and destroy the future empress and her end would herald a new dark age. Elora was hidden away and her true identity hidden even from herself.
We see a couple of new characters Kit Kanthalos, daughter of queen Sorsha, and Jade Claymore. They are practising their sword fighting technique.
We see a ceremony in Tir Asleen as an arrival from Galladoorn had arrived. We discover that Kit is to marry Prince Graydon Hastur and she isn't to happy about it, and she then discovers that her friend Jade will be leaving the next day as Ballantine had submitted a petition that she has been accepted to train with the Shining Legion, to become a Knight of the Galladoorn. She is to head south with king Hastur after Kits wedding.
We see that queen starting to hear voices from Willow saying "only by her light can we find our way in the darkness. The Gales are coming."
Tir Asleen is suddenly attacked by Four servants of the Withered Crone. one of them uses magic to cover the city in fog. The queen grabs her sword and releases Boorman who is imprisoned in the cells below the castle. During the fight we see that Arik, Kits brother is taken prisoner by them. The found out that it was him they were after.
The queen is injured. Kit says that she will go and search for her brother. The queen agrees. Jade is going with her, along with Kase, Graydon, Thraxus Boorman who will be their guide beyond the barrier and she will pardon all his crimes and that they will need a sorcerer, A Nelwyn in a village on the river Freen and he's expecting them.
The queen tell Kit privately that she believed if Elora Danan disappeared and they forbade magic that they could keep evil out. Willow disagreed. He believed eventually evil would find a way in and when it did, magic would be the only thing that would save them. But there's more. It won't be easy but Kit must listen. She explained willows vision. She tells Kit to be careful, they have enemies without and within.
As they leave for the barrier they are followed by Dove a servant from the palace who is in love with Airk.
Jade said that Barrier is a force field forged by Raziel and Cherlindrea to protect the realm. But Kase said it wasn't built to protect the realm it was built for Elora Danan. Dove asked what happened to her. Jade says that the prophecy says that one day she'll return and unite the world against the forces of darkness. Kit believed that her father snook her out of the castle one night and took her somewhere far away where nobody would find her and then stayed with her.
Dove is gone by the morning heading towards the gorge.
The others reach the gate of the barrier, but no one is there. Kase said the soldiers would never abandon their post. Kit sees some writing in blood on the wall. Graydon reads it. "We stand at the threshold. We peer into the void. We bear witness to his glory. The Eternal One, the healer of worlds." Suddenly an earthquake begins and then stops.
Graydon continues to read "As he stirs from his deathless slumber deep below the surface the harbinger of the Wyrm will come".
Dove arrives at the barrier but not were the others are, but is somehow able to walk through the barrier. The others ride over a hill and they see Dove. Jade says that you have to admire her persistence. Kit says it will get herself killed.
Kase warns them all that if they're not vigilant at each moment he swears they will not survive. At that point he gets hit by an arrow. They are attacked by Bone Reavers. They flee and make their escape.
They make it to the village but it's deserted. They see Sila who claims to be Willow. But Willow said that she is who she claims to be. Wllow says her brother is alive, a prisoner of the Withered Crone, who dwells in the Immemorial city that lies beyond the shattered sea. The four who came to Tir Asleen are her servants.
Boorman says no one has ever crossed the shattered sea. it's were all the maps end. Willow says that is were they must go. Beyond the edge of our world into the unknown. it's the only way...he stops speaking and sees Dove and walks over to her. He touches her arm and speaks some magic and it reveals a mark on her arm. Willow said she shouldn't be here, but it's good to see her. She is Elora Danan. She says she is nobody, but Willow says she is the last Blood of Kymeria, future empress, high priestess, semprum sorceress of the 9 realms, and the worlds last, best hope against the evil coming to destroy them all.
In this episode we see a lot of new characters as well as old. We didn't spend to much time on character developement as some other first episode of series, but I'm assuming we will learn more about their back story as the series progresses. It was a good episode but not an exciting one. I had a feeling one of the women would have been Elora, but I thought it would have been Jade, but Dove was a surprise. Although when Kit said her father had taken Elora and hidden her I started to have my doubts. At least with a series we can now explore further of this world building. If the trailers are to be believed it should be a magical ride but we shall see. It's good to see Warwick Davis as Willow again, as I haven't seen him in anything in a while apart from the game show Tenable which he is host.
Overall I like this episode but won't say I love it. ratings wise I would give it a 3 out of 5. Maybe upon my second watch I might change my mind. Please leave a comment below and let me know what you think of the show so far.
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