[9.1/10] Man, that opening sequence. A beautiful autumnal setting, so filled with peace, that makes you think you’re going to get a more languid, meditative episode. Than boom, a mass, gray army of mechanized vikings invades the scene. There’s some Mad Max business there, with imaginative vehicles and armor and weapons that immediately sell this as a formidable, maybe even unstoppable force descending on some poor, defenseless place.
Only it isn’t defenseless, because that’s when the rain of arrows begins. Holy hell were those visuals impressive. The utter blotting out of the sky with the red arrows, taking apart each bit of the gray army bit by bit, just blew me away. There’s hardly any words in that opening act, but it still tells such a story of force meeting force, with a nearly unmatched aesthetic brilliance.
I also love that it’s all a story from the one guy that survived it. It’s a great transition to the premise, and a great excuse to not only give Jack his mission for the episode, but to also change the season and give us a winter setting for the next fight. Jack’s tentative dance with the archers is a great introduction to this second phase of the episode, one that immediately tells the viewer this isn’t like past challenges where Jack could nigh-effortlessly slice and dice his waay through the enemey in aa way that other mere mortals couldn’t.
But I love the solution too. Harkening back to Jack’s training from the first episode is a nice touch, and I appreciate the Daredevil-esque idea of needing to remove one sense to save the other. The ensuing sequence, where we see the same blackness that Jack does, only to then “see” the rest of the forest as Jack discerns it through his other sense, is absolutely outstanding. And I appreciate the mythic symmetry of him needing to fight these archers blind himself in order to be able to prevail. At the same time, the actual fight is very cool. The slow-motion ducking and dodging is really well done, and the “three arrows meeting and rebounding” sequence is just as cool.
Of course, this is a continuing series, so we have to have Jack succeed in his immediate mission but fail in is overarching one. I like the reveal that while this well can “grant” wishes, it’s actually a curse, in a “be careful what you wish for” sort of way. The warning from the blinded, mind-erased archers that they once wished to be the greatest warriors in the land and received this punishment is all Jack needed to hear. His destroying the well and then trudging off, still absorbing the loss of another false hope for a way back home, is astonishing.
Review by Andrew BloomVIP 9BlockedParentSpoilers2020-01-24T16:20:52Z
[9.1/10] Man, that opening sequence. A beautiful autumnal setting, so filled with peace, that makes you think you’re going to get a more languid, meditative episode. Than boom, a mass, gray army of mechanized vikings invades the scene. There’s some Mad Max business there, with imaginative vehicles and armor and weapons that immediately sell this as a formidable, maybe even unstoppable force descending on some poor, defenseless place.
Only it isn’t defenseless, because that’s when the rain of arrows begins. Holy hell were those visuals impressive. The utter blotting out of the sky with the red arrows, taking apart each bit of the gray army bit by bit, just blew me away. There’s hardly any words in that opening act, but it still tells such a story of force meeting force, with a nearly unmatched aesthetic brilliance.
I also love that it’s all a story from the one guy that survived it. It’s a great transition to the premise, and a great excuse to not only give Jack his mission for the episode, but to also change the season and give us a winter setting for the next fight. Jack’s tentative dance with the archers is a great introduction to this second phase of the episode, one that immediately tells the viewer this isn’t like past challenges where Jack could nigh-effortlessly slice and dice his waay through the enemey in aa way that other mere mortals couldn’t.
But I love the solution too. Harkening back to Jack’s training from the first episode is a nice touch, and I appreciate the Daredevil-esque idea of needing to remove one sense to save the other. The ensuing sequence, where we see the same blackness that Jack does, only to then “see” the rest of the forest as Jack discerns it through his other sense, is absolutely outstanding. And I appreciate the mythic symmetry of him needing to fight these archers blind himself in order to be able to prevail. At the same time, the actual fight is very cool. The slow-motion ducking and dodging is really well done, and the “three arrows meeting and rebounding” sequence is just as cool.
Of course, this is a continuing series, so we have to have Jack succeed in his immediate mission but fail in is overarching one. I like the reveal that while this well can “grant” wishes, it’s actually a curse, in a “be careful what you wish for” sort of way. The warning from the blinded, mind-erased archers that they once wished to be the greatest warriors in the land and received this punishment is all Jack needed to hear. His destroying the well and then trudging off, still absorbing the loss of another false hope for a way back home, is astonishing.
Overall, another fantastic outing from this show!