An unlikely suspect is charged with treason.
Warning: Spoilers from the episode below.
Line up those snakes and hold onto your noses, because the story picked up in The Bastard Executioner’s second week.
After spending far too much time on set up and background in Week 1, we finally got into the real thrust of the storyline as Wilkin began to fulfil his “destiny” and practice mangling the dead bodies of animals in preparation to become the newest Punisher. We expect nothing less from the man who dropped his sword in order to serve the Daenerys-like child god; once you go cold turkey from all of the killing, it’s naturally going to get worse once you start again.
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. With each episode, Wilkin will undoubtedly become less of the idealistic man he was striving to be when we first met him last week, and this was just the tip of that proverbial iceberg.
As someone who watched all of Sons of Anarchy, it’s hard not to compare the Witch morally corrupting Wilkin to Gemma’s corruption of Jax, all in the name of his fulfilling his destiny. In fact it would almost be more effective to watch Wilkin unravel himself via those visions he keeps having, without a “tutor” so to speak. The fact that the Witch — indirectly responsible for the death of Wilkin’s wife — is the only one he listens to is too similar (and too soon after) the final season of Sons. It’s hard to think of anything but the Tara/Gemma/Jax situation here.
I’m sure it will eventually tie together, thanks to the flashback in which we learned for certain that Wilkin is an actual bastard, having been dropped off with the monks to learn to fight under a familiar face. In the meantime, I’d prefer less of the magical snakes and more of the tense scenes between the other characters — and yes, that includes the Witch and Berber dissecting religion.
That storyline aside, the rest of the episode pushed forward with aplomb. 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. That becomes dangerous to Milus, who is plenty used to having the Baron’s ear when it came to important matters. The subsequent power struggle between Milus and Wilkin will obviously be one to watch, but I’m curious to see how far Wilkin is willing to bend for Milus and what kind of political manoeuvring Milus has up his sleeve when it comes to climbing the ladder without the baron around. I suspect we’ll delve further into that once the higher ups come to town.
In the meantime, there’s no doubt that the “Punisher’s” new wife and child will stay along for the farce. Their devotion is beyond creepy, but given the way their old father and husband treated them it’s not all together unexpected. Sometimes you tell yourself a lie so often that it becomes truth.
Meanwhile, the story of the week (or punishment of the week, as I suspect we’ll have with each instalment) was an ethical one. When rebels attacked a caravan, it was a young girl was caught, much to her brother’s dismay. This all leads to the Baroness coming to the people in an attempt to learn about their way of life and make peace as the new ruler. Naturally that backfired, as the mother was unwilling to negotiate. It’s not often that you see a mother unwilling to sacrifice for her child’s life, but that goes to show what high stakes there are in this world. The girl’s brother was not as unbending, leading the team to the rebels weapon supply (and putting Wilkin in the first of many awkward situations between the Baroness and The Wolf).
The punishment? A nose for a nose. A fitting punishment given the times, yet a small enough start for what will inevitably be much a string of much gruesome punishments for Wilkin to execute in the coming weeks. Here’s hoping the noseless girl sticks around until then, not only as a reminder, but so that we can see the ramifications of that punishment after the fact.
The second week of Bastard Executioner started to dig deep into some of the running themes and storylines of the series, finally getting into the good stuff. The relationship between the Witch and Wilkin was a little too similar to the one between Gemma and Jax on Sons of Anarchy, but otherwise the show set up Wilkin’s moral downfall for the rest of the episodes from hereon in. It also established rivalries between Milus and Wilkin, as well as showcased the Baroness and her smarts. Meanwhile, the “punishment of the week” was thought out and fairly executed, showcasing Wilkin’s gradual descent into darkness.
