“The Bastard Executioner” premiered Tuesday and on its review, EW, said it reminds people who hate their job the feeling of pretense, and of being trapped and fraudulent. Although I’m generally not a fan of 10 PM shows lasting a whopping two hours, I appreciate that F/X aired the two together.
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So if you find that other dramas pale in comparison to the HBO tale of warriors and weaklings and supernatural helpers of dubious intent – and Sutter’s own Sons of Anarchy – The Bastard Executioner is bloody good way to spend a Tuesday night.
The historical scene is set at the beginning of the pilot (and outlined on the series’ website, which also features helpful maps and character descriptions). This causes Wilkin to become fueled by revenge, returning him to a life of violence as an executioner. He is in battle and terminally wounded. Sutter said the series is about a guy born to a certain destiny, but had to fight to get out of it; and for the executioner in this story, he had to live in a time where human advancement was basically through bloodshed and war. “We tried to be really respectful of an audience having a threshold for that and not go too far, but in the same way we were accurate with the history, we were incredibly accurate with the science and the medical procedures that we depict”.
After laying down his sword to protect his pregnant wife Petra, Brattle leads a siege to attack on the English emissaries. Perhaps. Perhaps not. But The Bastard Executioner is certainly trading on that as its Bible. Ventris threatens to slit the throat of a child, which is when the truth is finally spilled – along with the blood of a boy. Wilkin suddenly has a vision of his wife’s ghost beckoning to him. I was happy to see Baron Ventrils receive his well-earned comeuppance before the conclusion of the two-hour premiere. And did I mention Annora (whose entire body, it turns out, is covered in tattoos of some mystical scroll-type language) and her mute husband (who appears to have been disfigured in some kind of fire) are living in a cave, doing the wah-chicka-wah, and in possession of the dagger that ended Petra’s life? This guy’s so vile he literally conducts his business while taking a dump on his throne and making a servant wipe his ass in front of everybody. Ah, taxes, always the root of most problems, huh? Now I’m confused. Anyway, this makes Wilkin angry, so he walks back to the block and gruesomely decapitates his first victim. The attack on Ventri’s men is not well-received by him, obviously, so he goes to a village to find the culprits.
Unfortunately, the one man who is allowed to leave spots Ash near a tree after he was left behind as a lookout and when he returns to Castle Ventris he remarks that the young man was wearing a coat made of beaver pelts.
Although he and series creator Kurt Sutter had never met in person, they followed each other on Twitter and, as luck would have it, were able to set up a casual meeting when they both were in London. The rebel forces of Brattle outnumber Ventris’ forces and kill them all in the process. “You”, she says. “What are you …” Petra manages to escape, and is even shown mercy by one of Ventris’ men, until a mysterious figure catches up to her and stabs her in the stomach. However, the scene with Wilkin’s baby and Petra felt gratuitous. And also she knows about his scary dreams, because she sees and hears the same stuff. Resting beside the water, the terrorized woman is approached by someone she recognizes but we can not see. “I’ve no plan but vengeance”. They’ve grabbed everyone out of their houses and see that all the men are gone.
Meanwhile, Wilkin and his men prepare to ride off to face the tax collectors, bidding their families farewell. This gives fans a deep understanding of Wilkin’s hatred for Ventris and his menacing sidekick. Maddox is killed and soon after, Corbett’s brother leaves, seeing that they won’t be winning the battle. The Dark Mute is scarred to the point where he looks like a sharpei.
Miles tells him that they’ve chose to hire on Wilkin and his friend Taron (who is now going by the name Marshall) on as full time executioners. Annora’s intent is for Brattle to somewhat resemble Maddox.
The end is appropriately graphic and shocking, in Brattle’s discoveries. Jump cut to Baron Ventris (Brian F. O’Byrne) performing the world’s slowest doggystyle on Baroness Ventris (Flora Spencer-Longhurst) in his castle.
Yeah, but, Maddox’ wife realizes that pretty much anybody would have to be better than her actual scumbag husband, so she plays along and confirms Wilkin’s story.
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Corbett pretends to be convinced, but knows something is up. Seagal plays the witch who magically transforms Wilkin so he can adopt the identity of a dead executioner, or “traveling punisher”. Personally, I was just glad to see civility among disagreement in politics. “We need to ready our faith”. Weird. Then, the camera focuses on the Mute’s dagger, which is the one we earlier saw slash Petra’s belly. What is going on here? Brattle wakes up in a cold sweat then….is totally fine. Either way, it’s an automatic death sentence and it just so happens they have a new executioner on hand to carry out the punishment.
