'Willow' Episode 4: "The Whispers of Nockmaar" Recap and Review
A night in a haunted castle test the groups trust as well as the audiences patience
WARNING: Contains Spoilers
The journey of Willow has come to a screeching halt. The concept of the episode could have worked - a pit stop in a spooky castle, but it never feels like it reaches that potential. There is a singular goal in the episode which quickly gets pushed back on the priorities list for some minor character development that takes too long to develop while being so small to be worth the wait. Not only that, the goal is quickly resolved in the end with little explanation, effort, or consequence. They even end the episode with a stinger that bears no weight and only serves to confuse the audience. Just as the group wastes time in the castle, it makes the audience wondering if they are wasting their own time by watching the episode.
Episode 4 begins with our group of heros approaching the castle Nockmaar. Willow (Warwick Davis), Boorman (Amar Chadha-Patel), Elora (Ellie Bamber), Kit (Ruby Cruz), and Jade (Erin Kellyman) help Graydon (Tony Revolori) to the castle as the magical infection ravages his body. They chain Graydon up to prevent any violence when he turns. The reality sets in that if Graydon turns he will try to attack Elora and the only way to stop it would be death. As Graydon’s condition worsens, Kit sees the only solution is to end his life now and volunteers to do it to which Jade and Boorman are skeptical. Elora pleads with WIllow to find a new solution. Willow looks to a book of taboo magic called The Malatrium and finds a spell that might work, so they collect all the ingredients they can and Willow warns to stay out of the High Tower in their search. Jade sets off to keep watch and Kit wants to join her but Jade is still emotional after having to execute her pseudo-father Ballentine. Boorman’s search leads him to a strange looking door to which he immediately tries to break into with no luck. Willow and Elora prepare the ritual as Kit brings most of the ingredients, all except one. Willow is adamant that they have everything so Elora suggests Kit look for possum bladder to use instead. Kit reluctantly goes looking. Willow cuts off Graydon’s shirt to prepare but reveals a large scar on his body from an unknown illness from his childhood. As Kit searches Boorman shows up looking for things to help with the mysterious door. Boorman gives kit some advice on what it takes to kill an innocent and leaves just as Kit finds a preserved possum. Willow and Elora start the ritual causing Graydon to hallucinate, seeing people from his past. Kit wanders around the castle when she begins hearing the voice of her grandmother which startles her. She finds a secret passageway and continues. Boorman’s quest to open the door leads him to Jade who bond over the trauma she experienced with Ballentine. With all the ingredients, Elora and Willow continue the ritual, Graydon wakes suddenly but he is not himself, he channels Arik (Dempsey Bryk) but Willow dismisses this as trick. Graydon channels Willow’s daughter next who says some things to make Elora suspicious of Willow who dismisses her in frustration. Boorman fails to open the door again and just as he is about to give up he hears a voice coming from the door, making him think Kit took the Lux Arcana from him when he wasn’t looking. Elora runs into Kit after leaving Willow. Elora confides in Kit her fears but is distracted by the sound of a sobbing woman. Elora goes looking and Kit tries to follow but looses her almost immediately.
On the castle wall Jade starts seeing a ghost from her past which attacks her and traps her in a room. Elora follows the voice to a hallway where she begins to see what led to the death of her mother. Jade barricades the door and wanders around the room, she’s startled by Kit who happened to wander in. There’s a knock at the door and both block the door but it is Boorman on the other side. As soon as he enters the room he interrogates Kit on the whereabouts of the Lux Arcana. Elora returns to the main room to find Graydon freed and Willow nowhere to be found. Graydon tells Elora that Willow is now possed and they both go to find him. They decide to go to the High Tower. Boorman clears the air with Kit and Jade when he notices a light coming from the High Tower. Graydon and Elora reach the top of the High Tower and find it empty and a trap set by Graydon who is still possessed. Willow bursts in the room to help but Graydon attacks. He has Elora and tells her the truth that Willow is not the great sorcerer he claims to be. Just then Kit, Jade, and Boorman enter and Willow manages to knock down Graydon. Boorman is ready to kill Graydon but Kit stops him. She implores Elora to save Graydon. Elora, still unsure of herself gives it her all and manages to save Graydon just as the sky clears and the sun rises. as he leaves, Boorman finds that he had the Lux all along. Watching from afar are members of the Gale. Arik awakes with a gasp in an unknown dungeon. He wanders around until he finds the ruins of a great once civilization.
What was behind Boorman’s door? Better question: what was the point to Boorman’s door. All it does is distract him and the audience from the fact that nothing was really going on. The mystery of the door was never answered. The rest of the group experience different levels of spookiness which actually corresponds to the level of character development they get as well. Elora gets the bulk of it, seeing glimpses of the past to inform her of her mother’s history. At the end of the episode, Kit tells Elora that she did successfully make the bush grow in the forest and gives her the hope she needs to save Graydon. But nothing really changes for Elora. She is still unsure about her abilities and still questions whether Willow is up to the task of teaching her. Graydon gets a heavy dose of haunting from his past. As the possession is taking him over he sees visions of his father and brother, the latter we learned Graydon killed as a child while possessed by somthing else which caused his scars. The mystery of Graydon’s past is all revealed now and all that is left is for the rest of the group to find out, besides Elora who already found out. There also seems to be a possible romance brewing between Elora and Graydon which would be a nice swerve but does not bode well for the future of prince Arik. Kit gets a full on conversation from her evil grandmother but it has little to no effect on her. They try to sew in a naivety towards the reality of taking a life but it bounces off her and she continues on about her business. In the end she encourages Elora to save Graydon but the moment is muddled as to what the actual lesson is that she is learning. Does she realize it is better to try to save a life than rush to end it or is it to trust Elora and not be so mean, it is sure to be explored further in the season but for right now it just lands as a dud. Jade gets haunted by an imposing figure from her past, we assume, but it comes and goes quickly and serves to only check the haunting box for the character. However, her trauma from having to kill Ballentine hits her hard in this episode, causing her to see Kit in a more innocent light and leaving only Boorman for her to bond with over the trauma. As for Willow, all he does this episode is provide a ritual, which fails, and come in in the end to help Elura, after letting him escape and then gets trapped after showing up. To sum it up, useless.
This episode doesn’t bode well for the rest of the series. After what can be described as an OK start, the quality nosedived during this pit stop. It could have been interesting but the haunts don’t exactly terrify. In fact, a lot of the ghost shots were pulled from the original movie which shatters the immersion almost immediately. On top of that, the set ups are all telegraphed heavy handedly to the point of being in effective. There is ample room for the series to improve after this start. Four episodes in and the average for the season is pretty low. The hope is there, the magic is there, now we just have to hope that the series finds the magic.