“I’ve no plan but vengeance.”
If you weren’t a fan of Kurt Sutter’s exposition in some of Sons of Anarchy’s longer episodes, you might have a tough time sitting through the two-hour pilot of his follow-up project, The Bastard Executioner, debuting Tuesday night.
Indeed, much of the first installment revolves around set-up. While that’s a fair assessment of any pilot episode — it’s important to showcase all of the places a series can eventually go — in this case it takes a lot longer to connect the pieces; especially when it looks as though none of those pieces will ever fit together.
That’s in part due to the fact that Sutter spends a good portion of time digging into character background, and with so many characters to service it takes a lot of time to get to know each one. As a result, the audience cares more about a character when he or she is eventually killed off, but it also means that in a show with so much background, the audience tends to be exhausted by the time those deaths actually come.
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The Bastard Executioner Photos
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The Bastard Executioner Photos
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Darren Evans as Ash y Goedwig in The Bastard Executioner
Stephen Moyer as Milus Corbett in The Bastard Executioner
Kurt Sutter as The Dark Mute in The Bastard Executioner
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Timothy V. Murphy as Father Ruskin in The Bastard Executioner
Sarah White as Isabel Kiffin in The Bastard Executioner
Sarah Sweeney as Jessamy Maddox in The Bastard Executioner
Flora Spencer-Longhurst as Baroness Lady Love Ventris in The Bastard Executioner
Ethan Griffiths as Luca Maddox in The Bastard Executioner
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Elen Rhys as Petra Brattle in The Bastard Executioner
Sam Spruell as Toran Prichard in The Bastard Executioner
Lee Jones as Wilkin Brattle in The Bastard Executioner
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It isn’t until the end of the pilot that the real intention of the show becomes clear. On the surface we believe we’re following the tale of a man who executes people for a living, but when you dig deeper it becomes clear that this is very much a story like Sons. As we follow Wilkin Brattle (Lee Jones) on his quest for revenge, we follow a man who is trying to set right to the world. To make sense of the cards that he has been dealt in life he must do reprehensible things, and as such the story shifts to one of survival and morality. Just as Jax Teller wanted to save his biker club from its darkest hour, Brattle attempts to save his soul during a time of war in 14th Century Wales. He has vowed to lay down the sword and become a different man, until circumstances force him to pick it back up in a much bloodier way that ever before.
It’s all led by a strong cast, including Jones and True Blood graduate Stephen Moyer, whose Milus Corbett character steals every scene he’s in. It takes some getting used to Katey Sagal’s accent as Annora of the Alders, but there’s something intriguing about the meta scenes she and Sutter — as The Dark Mute — are in together.
The pilot itself is an interesting mix of dark and light moments — one couple has loving sex while another is in it for the business of having babies, for example. Deep conversations are contrasted by swordplay and torture. Or plotting is coupled with scenes in which nothing goes according to plan.
Where The Bastard Executioner perhaps goes overboard is with its gratuitous violence. The camera isn’t afraid to pan to a gory shot or to take its time watching a man mutilate himself. It’s a lot to stomach if blood and guts aren’t your thing, but may only border on excessive if body horror is your bloody jam.
It seems to be Sutter’s, at least according to the first two hours. By episode 3, there is a more even tone and less exposition, but it’s asking a lot of audiences in this day and age — with more than 400 TV shows to choose from — to stick around. Given Sutter’s inherent fan base with Sons though, we’re betting that he has a better chance than most.
The two-hour pilot takes a long time setting up the show’s true intention — a man who has laid down the sword in order to become a different man is forced back into that life in a much bloodier way than ever before. But when it does get there, it’s a worthy journey of self-preservation and exploration of the human soul. Gratuitously violent at times and bordering on confusing, the pilot is saved by strong acting and interesting juxtapositions that inform all of the characters — big and small.
The Bastard Executioner premieres Tuesday, September 15th on FX.
