THE BASTARD EXECUTIONER – “Effigy/Delw” Lee Jones as Wilkin Brattle, Stephen Moyer as Milus Corbett.
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This week, we open on Brattle’s spiritual adviser Annora of the Alders (Katey Sagal) employing a massive dead hog to teach Wilkin the ways of the punisher, so he can maintain the ruse she insists is his destiny. The flashback shows Wilkin as a child, taking on competitors in a faux sword match.
Unfortunately for the girl, Wilkin has already been called upon to do his best (or worst) to get the information. Could it be that Wilkin and the Dark Mute have met before?
“I was an infant. I’d lose my baubles if they weren’t attached to my dingle”. “Is she my mother?”
“Yes. Her journey is finished”.
Annora goes along with them and spots a human body sprawled out in the woods besides the animals, but it’s only a head and a torso while the arms and legs have been severed and are laying on the ground on opposite ends of the body. Well then. There goes that plan.
Meanwhile, some young rebels from a Welsh fishing village take on a group from Ventrishire. Who would’ve thought the father had it in him? “You are a mystery to me”, she says. As Wilkin presses on and patiently waits to kill the man he believes responsible for killing his wife, his worth within the Baroness’s inner circle continues to grow.
“I love history and I think it’s why I love writing such in-depth mythologies…” “We make our own demons”, she tells him, because of course she does. One girl wants to join her brother in attacking the soldiers, but he says she has to stay and watch.
And herein lies one of the most important themes of the show: how far will a man go, not only to protect himself, but also to avenge the woman he loved.
A shriek comes from the dungeon before Lady Love can talk to the girl, despite her insistence that no harm come to her before they speak. Wilkin has already ripped off one of the girl’s fingernails – reluctantly. But she remains silent – until her nail is gruesomely ripped from her finger. You got some stories to tell. Wilkin then suggests they question the brother, and he tells them where the rebels (led by the mysterious “Wolf”) leave weapons.
The Baroness requests to go along to the fishing village with her soldiers to get some answers about these rebels who attacked her husband’s statue. Annora confirms that this was his mother, and that she has died. That’s when he cracks, revealing where the rebels store their supplies. It’s pretty clear they’re the ones who attacked their village.
Lady Love says they made that deal, but Milus points out that the rebels attacked later, voiding the deal.
Guided by Annora, a mystical healer whose seeming omniscience keeps Wilkin under her sway; manipulated by Milus Corbett, a devious Chamberlain with grand political aspirations; and driven by a deepening connection with the Baroness Lady Love, Wilkin struggles to navigate political, emotional and supernal pitfalls in his quest to understand his greater objective . At that moment, an apparition of his dead wife Petra (Elen Rhys) appears. He asks if she came “to help me or to haunt me?”
But Wilkin’s hallucinations don’t end there. “Piss-witted fool”, proclaims his mother. In fear, he runs to Annora, asking if she, too, can see his demons. So if Wilkin wants to offer his insight, he needs to go through Milus.
“Charges of treason are leveled against an unlikely suspect, meaning Wilkins must fulfill his duties as the new executioner”. Wilkin gives the girl the drink, it’s suppose to ease the pain of her execution.
When they bring out the girl to be killed in front of the town, you can tell she’s a little out of it. Wilkin kills her by cutting off her nose and she bleeds out.
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Granted, it’s not like FX was ever that big on sharing much in the promos, anyway; we’d say that for the most part, this network even surpasses HBO when it comes to keeping things as secretive as possible about upcoming episodes.
