The First Season of The Shannara Chronicles comes to a close with the battle between good and evil, death, the fall of one villain and the rise of another, and plenty of cliffhangers should MTV decide to bring back the series for a Second Season. Like much of the First Season, the finale is a bit of a mixed bag. The climactic battle the series has teased us about for weeks finally comes to pass. It's here the limits of a cable budget are felt as the battle lacks the size and scope of what the series has built up over ten episodes.
Female characters don't fare too well in "Ellcrys." Eretria (Ivana Baquero) dies once, is resurrected, and is almost certainly dead again after sacrificing herself so Wil (Austin Butler) and Amberle (Poppy Drayton) might make it out of Safehold. (Can I stop for a moment and reflect how easy it is for the pair to make it all the way back to the Elves in a more dangerous land than the one it took them the full season to traverse?) Amberle sacrifices herself to give the Ellcrys a rebirth and bring peace to the kingdom. Here again I have a question. It appears that the Dagda Mor (Jed Brophy) is actually killed prior to her sacrifice making one wonder if it was even truly needed? (Of course the series inconsistencies to the power and invicibility of demons leads to us wondering how any army could even temporarily stand against them.) Hell, even Commander Tilton (Emelia Burns) falls to the demon horde.
I don't know that The Shannara Chronicles does enough here to earn a Second Season, especially one where several major and supporting characters will have to be replaced (including all the female characters). That said, the show does end with some interesting threads left dangling. The fall of Bandon (Marcus Vanco) makes him a somewhat more interesting villain going forward than the Dagda Mor (who was scary looking but not all that well fleshed out). And Wil has certainly taken important strides on his hero's journey. And I guess there's a (inconceivable) chance Eretria may have survived the troll-filled tunnels under San Fransisco.
No comments:
Post a Comment