'Willow' Episode 3: "The Battle of the Slaughtered Lamb" Recap and Review
Evil rolls in with a thunderstorm as tragedy strikes travelers right where it hurts
WARNING: Contains Spoilers
This week’s episode cuts to the chase, quite literally. The bulk of this episode is the group struggling to keep up with Ballentine and Elora. Littered through the journey were small moments of exposition and teases of character growth, not to mention a strange and almost surreal pit stop that felt as out of place as it did pointless. Though in spite of a all this, when the chase ended, it ended in spectacular and heartbreaking fashioned. While it doesn’t completely make up for the bumps along the road it does restore faith that the quality of the series will remain positive.
The episode begins as Thraxus Boorman (Amar Chadha-Patel) tells the tale of the Kymerian Cuirass to Kit Tanthalos (Ruby Cruz) when Jade Claymore (Erin Kellyman) notices that Elora is missing. So together with Willow (Warwick Davis), Graydon (Tony Revolori) and Silas (Graham Hughes) they start to scour the forest in search of her. While searching Kit stumbles onto the Tree that Elora (Ellie Bamber) created. Meanwhile the hexed Commander Ballentine (Ralph Ineson) ties up Elora just as Jade stumbles onto them. It doesn’t take long for Jade to catch onto the hex but before they can cross swords, Willow finds them and interrupts followed by the rest of the party. Suddenly they are attacked by another Hexed guard and a fight breaks out and Ballentine escapes with Elora.
Quickly, the group loads up and sets out after them. They stop when a large storm and an ominous voice appear on the horizon. As Ballantine rides with Elora, she manages to cut her binds and escape into the woods. While stopped, Jade and Kit argue and Jade reveals that she let her win all those years to make her feel better. Elora runs through the mysterious forest but stumbles onto a couple of woods women Anne (Caoimhe Farren) and Hubert (Hannah Waddingham) and asks them for help. The group reaches a fork in the road at the edge of the forest. Boorman convinces the group that they need to split up, so he and Kit head to the Slaughtered Lamb Inn while the rest head through the Voluptuous Vale. Elora explains her predicament to the woods women and they take the news of Elora’s identity to heart. But Ballentine shows up and a fight breaks out. Ballentine gets the better of Hubert and Elora and Anne run away but they are quickly surrounded and caught. As Boorman and Kit travel, he continues to tell her about her father. In the other group Grayden confides to Jade that he doubts Willow’s abilities. Suddenly Willow has a vision and knows where Ballentine is headed with Elora. Boorman and Kit arrive ant the Slaughtered Lamb Inn and finds it in ruins. They find an old sellar and investigate. They find an old well and Boorman drops down to investigate. Ballentine reaches the Inn with Elora. Elora stalls and tries to invoke her magic but suddenly Willow and the rest arrive. Jade squares off against Ballentine. Boorman searches the well and finds an artifact but neglects to tell Kit. Kit begins to panic as a group of Wererats descends on her. Outside, the fighting continues and Jade is almost taken out by Ballentine but Kit appears through the rubble and saves her. Together the group fights off the possessed guards. Silas finds himself in trouble and Graydon tries to help but it is not enough. Willow is devastated by seeing his friend injured, he summons all the magic he has and repels the guards. It takes a lot out of him but he forces himself over to Silas to help him, but it is too late. The two share a final goodbye and Silas passes in Willow’s arms. Ballentine clings to whatever life he has left and his old self returns long enough for him to warn Jade and the others and thank Jade for everything. With tears in her eyes, Jade strikes down Ballentine. Reeling from the battle, they bury Silas and regroup. They determine that the only was out is up, further into the ominous storm. As they walk, Grayden falls over and they see he has been marked by evil magic. Without anywhere else to go, WIllow knows the only place to go is Nockmaar Castle, where he defeated the evil Queen all those years ago.
Instead of beating around the bush, let’s talk about Anne and Hubert. It seems that the purpose Elora’s pit stop with the Woods Women was to give the group ample time to pass Ballentine so Kit and Boorman could reach the Slaughtered Lamb Inn first. That is understandable. The issue is the presentation of the scene. By that time a storm had been raging overhead yet the area was bathed in sunshine. Not only that, leading up to Elora finding the Cabin, everything felt disorientating and terrifying until she finds a cozy little cabin with residents who are not only extremely eager to help and feed her. All that could have been fine if the strange aspect of the situation was capitalized upon but as soon as Ballentine shows up they are both killed without hesitation. Everything about the scene felt wrong, even Hubert calls out the fact that they are randomly residing in a “Spooky Forest”. Points for them attempting to make a meaningless pit stop memorable but the out of place result was jarring if anything. Luckily, the end battle made it all worth it. The action felt epic and meaningful and the final results feel like the will resonate in the weeks to come. Poor Silas meets his end after heroically fighting off the possessed guards. This hits Willow hard. Silas was a true friend of Willow and his passing lit a fire in Willow, unlocking the powerful magic he had within him. Jade literally has to kill her adoptive father in the end. After Willows magical explosion Ballentine had just enough life left to apologize to Jade and beg her to end his suffering. Graydon gets touched by the evil magic which will surely complicate their stay in the Queen’s evil castle. But somthing seems to be stirring inside Grayden and he seems to be more than originally seen. He has knowledge of the Evils that threaten them that he shouldn’t have and it is worth it to keep an eye on. The most notable character moment is when Boorman finds what looks to be the Lux Arcana, the key to unlocking the power of the Kymerian Cuirass , and does not tell Kit when he does. Boorman is one of the more intriguing characters due to the lack of clarity of where his allegiances actually lie. He seems very protective of the memory of Kit’s father, Madmartigan, but still has an err of roguishness that leads one to believe that he may just be serving himself.
Willow is clearly a journey. The world is exactly as it was in the original film. The tone is been masterfully recreated to include its slightly silly yet painfully brutal nature. The new characters fit the world perfectly and evoke the original film without being downright clones. The problem is that the journey present at the center of the series only needed to last about an hour in the movie but upwards of eight episodes in the series. While the movie could afford to be short and concise, the series has a bit more time to fill. Unfortunately this episode has proven that it can be difficult to map out such a journey to be meaningful in every moment. But there is plenty of upside to this series that keeps intrigue and earns revisiting, for now at least.