Willow's finale rushes to build a fantasy world.
I'd like to see more from these characters, but the plot needs work.
The Short Take:
I wanted to like these final two episodes a lot more than I did. While I’d still want to see more from these characters and actors, the story itself felt rushed, and the world didn’t feel built out enough.
Image Credit: Lucasfilm.com
[SPOILER WARNING: I freely discuss many reveals we get in the last two episodes of Willow Season 1. Make sure you’ve seen the series to date before venturing across The Shattered Sea.]
The Long Take:
For me, world building is the cornerstone of fantasy storytelling. As I discussed when I removed the most recent adaptation of Dune, there’s nothing quite like immersing in another existence, with an entirely different set of rules, references, and history. And while I find pleasure in piecing together clues about what how a fantasy world works, it has to feel like we’re just at the surface of a deep ocean, and that the creator of the world has thought through everything organism and ecosystem down to ocean floor. This, I believe, is where Willow fails me.
Back when I was a guest on Coffee With Kenobi to talk about the premiere of this series, I said that the ultimate test for me would be whether or not the world building, and, more specifically, the expansion of the lore and world of Willow, felt fleshed out enough. Much of the magic of Tolkien’s Middle-Earth comes from repeated passing references to people, places, and events across contexts. Along with Frodo, we learn more and more about the nine rings of power and why Frodo must take the one ring to Mordor. Gandalf, Aragorn, Elrond, and Galadriel, for example, all at different points in the story pass on new yet contiguous information to Frodo and therefore us.
What became all too apparent in this finale is that we haven’t gotten enough explanation of what or who Elora and the gang are up against. Everyone’s yelling about The Crone all the time throughout the season, but we don’t actually learn who she is or what her deal is is until we get this obtuse yet twisty reveal that she’s the Princess of Cashmere. I’m all for a good gotcha moment at the end of a season of television, but we needed more of a contrast between who we thought the Crone was and who she turned out to be.
I did enjoy hearing the story of the failed quest that the man who lives at the edge of the Shattered Sea and then piecing together that his mention of a lost Princess plus the young princess who so conveniently appears to be trapped with Airk in the Immemorial City meant that something happened to the Princess of Cashmere long again (and that it probably wasn’t good). To me, that was a start. There was potential to establish that as foundational lore, but we got too much of it too quickly at the end. As I write this, I’m still not even 100% sure that I’ve got it right — that the Princess of Cashmere became The Crone because she fell prey to evil forces. That’s how quickly it all breezed by.
On top of all that, The Crone was just the mini-boss. We learn in this finale, again in twisty reveal fashion, that she works for The Wyrm. The Wyrm. And who is that again? What do I actually know about the Wyrm beyond that he is a giant worm that wants to usher in some kind of new world order in villainous, apocalyptic fashion? Perhaps the plan is to give us more to learn about The Wyrm’s origins and purpose in a second season, but to me there’s no point in saving that information if the grand reveal at the end of this season feels hollow as a result. It all seemed so arbitrary to me, and I keep thinking that if only they had just tried to plant some seeds for this new myth from the start, I might have felt more when the ultimate evil unveiled itself fully.
Again, when I think about the lore of Middle-earth as it appears in The Lord of the Rings trilogy, we get exposition in phases. Certain myths that govern what’s happening in the present with Frodo and his fellowship echo across different scenes and come out of the mouths of different characters. So then we get the sense that everyone knows the same story. I think Willow, especially in early episodes, did a very good job of this with the events of the original film, making them into folktales and legends that younger characters heard growing up.
Anything that exceeds the purview of the 1988 film, however, doesn’t have that stickiness. The Crone and the Wyrm and their agenda, their relationship to Elora, and if they are at all connected to Bavmorda (did they say she also was a minion of the Wyrm and I missed it?) all remain murky to me. Oh, and Madmartigan. It’s still not clear what he was doing in that void and how it relates to everything else happening to Elora and Kit in this world.
Image Credit: Entertainment Weekly
All that said, I can’t bring myself to dismiss this show because I still find this party of characters very compelling. I am all in on Kit being Elora’s protector and the two of them as an odd couple team. I found their huddles when they first encounter The Chrone/Princess of Cashmere to be infinitely charming. And the moment when Kit dons the Kymerian Cuirass, as well as Jade’s reaction to seeing her girlfriend realize her heroic potential in a shiny new fit, really worked for me. This only now reminds me that we did get exposition of where the Kymerian Cuirass comes from in Episode 3…but where does that fit in? Is that origin story completely separate from The Chrone and The Wyrm? Those figures of yore basically mean nothing to me as a viewer of this show at this point because we never return to that myth.
Sorry, I was trying talk about how much I love these characters. Boorman becoming slightly less narcissistic felt satisfying. Grayden making friends with the mudmander and letting it go warmed my heart. (They’d better not make him a villain! I don’t like the looks of that Dark Elora fantasy he’s having at the end.) Jade declaring that she’s the one who protects Kit carried such weight. And while I think that Elora switched from reluctant student of magic to full-on sorceress happened a little too suddenly in the penultimate episode, I did enjoy watching her reject The Chrone’s temptation and wield her magic to fight her. It reminded me a lot of the final fight between Raziel and Bavmorda in the original film in its knock down drag out and tackle style. All of these actors have established a solid rapport with one another. I believe that they are now all friends, on and off screen — just look at any behind the scenes videos of them on social media and you’ll see what I mean.
On the other hand, I still don’t think Willow himself had a big enough moment to develop as a character. At the end, when he decides to rejoin the group and help Elora, he just changes his mind; we don’t get any insight into what specifically made that happen. The scene in which he tells Elora he’s always with her also felt underwritten because it didn’t draw from the specifics of the rocky relationship they’d had up until that point. I kept waiting for Willow to come into his own all season and reach out to Elora in a meaningful way, but, again, it feels rushed at the end here.
Image Credit: Entertainment Weekly
The eternal optimist, I’m willing to give this show another try should there be a second season. I like watching these actors play these characters together, so if the creators can work out the plot, the magic, and build out the world more fully and consistently, this series has the potential to be great. And as with our plucky heroes, it may be a mistake to count anyone out just yet.
For some reason, I thought it was said that the Crone was the spirit of Bavmorda. But now that I try to remember why I thought that, I have no recollection of how or when that was said. I guess I made that up to have the story actually connect? (And the fogginess here speaks to your issues with the worldbuilding.)
My ultimate take on the show is that it wasn't good yet I would come back for Volume II and III (if the book spines at the end are promises that end up fulfilled). I hope they tone down the edgy modern teen-show talk and even more deeply hope they stop using anachronistic pop music, which ruined every scene/moment in which the needle dropped.