Wildwood
Episode 5 of Willow starts with our group rushing away from the Crone’s minions. Willow uses flames from his wand to hold them off but they’re surrounded. There’s only one option. They have to head into the Wildwood. The only trouble is, the Wildwood is haunted and it stops the Crone’s minions from following. When they’re far enough away, Willow encourages Elora to use her powers to try and learn more magic. Unfortunately, it doesn’t seem to work. At the same time, Graydon and Boorman end up discussing women, until Princess Kit calls out and throws another insult his way. Naturally. When Boorman notices a skull nearby, he has enough time to call out before the group are ambushed by a whole bunch of soldiers, who happen to be Bone Reavers. Kit steps up to speak to Scorpia, the leader of this tribe, and asks her to let them go. She also offers her to keep Boorman, claiming that he’s “the worst”. Scorpia shrugs that suggestion off and decides to keep them all the same. While imprisoned, Kit continues to throw insults around, this time to Elora and ends up worried about Jade, who’s not with them. She’s convinced that Jade has been killed, and goes on to berate Elora for trying to offer a sympathetic ear. Eventually though, Elora brandishes something that could help them escape. A wand. Elora manages to bust out but the pair are surrounded by Bone Reavers. Kit immediately demands that Jade be let free, who happens to be tied up to a tree. Unfortunately every single person turns their back on Jade, who manages to break from her loose binds and go toe to toe with Scorpia. Just before hitting the finishing blow, Scorpia notices a tattoo on the back of her neck and decides to send her over to her tent. It turns out Scorpia has the exact same mark, which happens to be that of General Kael. He had 15 children and was the first Bone Reaver, meaning the pair of them are actually siblings. As a result, the group are allowed to go and end up having a big party. Through it all though, they forget to release Willow and Graydon, who find their own way out and end up surprised to notice what’s happened. A big party ensues, because we’re not on a perilous mission or anything, with Kit and a large Bone Reaver playing drinking games. Kit wins. Meanwhile, Graydon is given a shave while the dancing slows down. Scorpia and Boorman end up kissing on the dance floor while we get teen angst between Kit and Jade. We then get a breakthrough. Kit and Jade eventually look set to kiss…. until Trolls suddenly show up and attack, taking Kit away.
The Episode Review
So Willow goes from bad to worse this week, with teen angst galore and an episode that feels ripped right from the CW’s canned slew of shows. The acting across the board is poor, the pacing is really bad while the general tone of this whiplashes between quirky comedy and genuine drama. It’s hard to take anything seriously, given the way this turns everything into a big joke. Why can’t the Crone’s minions go in the Wildwood? Why didn’t Willow and Graydon get freed from their cells by the Bone Reavers? Why does anyone like Kit? And how did Elora just suddenly manage to cast all these spells when she was struggling to recite words properly several episodes back? And why is everyone giving Graydon a hard time when he was possessed? This is arguably the worst episode of the bunch, and more so because the dancing and partying is completely nonsensical in the grand scheme of things. We hear from Kit several minutes prior to this that she’s desperate to find Airk and wants to be freed… but then she and the others have absolutely no problem lounging about, drinking heavily (even though Kit’s not even drunk at the end) and partying. Clearly they don’t care that much – and this translates across to the audience too. Why on earth should we care?
