The Shannara Chronicles season 2 is back with another two parter.  Episode 7, named Warlock, and Episode 8, Amberle, is packed with plot twists, action, surprising reveals and heartbreaking deaths. With so much going on in these episodes, I will be breaking up the episodes in two parts.  Here are my thoughts on episode 7 named Warlock.

Episode 7 Warlock

The Shannara Chronicles has really stepped up their game and is delivery good television with each coming episode, and episode 7 is no exception.  This episode really hit home with a roller coaster of emotions as the characters race daunting challenges and hard decisions.

And I am always so impressed with the set design, costume design and landscape backgrounds used in this show. This shows cinematography could rival some of the best shows out there like Game of Thrones.  This episode in particular had some really spectacular locations and shots like the Island of the Druids that we get to see in Allanon’s dream sequence and the scene of Queen Tamlin’s execution.

I think the most haunting moments though in episode seven that really stuck with me was the death of Queen Tamlin and the resurrection of the Warlock Lord.  The Queen has not been the most likable character in season 2 and often displayed a manipulative side that she used on her own daughter, but this episode fans got to see the mother that she was. She was not only a mother to her daughter, but to her people, and she really showed it this episode.  She would not give up her kingdom to the Crimson until General Riga threatened to kill her people.  Everything she has done was to save her people.  In the end, when General Riga told her to support the Crimson, essentially trying to make her a puppet Queen, or die, she chose death.  Her final scene gave me a mixture of feelings as I was cheering for her show of strength and heartbroken when she jumped from the ledge of the execution platform. She would not die by the hands of General Riga and in her last moments I truly thought she was regal.

The platform leads into the Leah dam where the powerful source of magic called Heaven’s Well is supposed to be. It has been protected by the ancestors of the Queen and Lyria.  With the Warlock Lord being resurrected in this episode, Heaven’s Well will become important later on.  The only one left to protect it, who also has the key to it, is Lyria who is being protected by Cogline and being taken to the Wilderun.  Now if this well and the rivers of Leah are full of magic, does this mean that this may not be the end of the Queen?  Or for Ander for that matter?  This episode saw General Riga do a despicable thing: he completely dishonors the dead by tossing Ander’s body over the waterfall.  Wouldn’t it be poetic justice if that one cruel act led to Ander being revived?

The second most impactful scene was the actual resurrection of the Warlock Lord.  It was powerful and chilling.  With all these trivial matters going on and all this work General Riga is doing to eradicate magic users, the one time he could be useful, he does not stop the worst of the magic users from being resurrected.  Bandon takes Graymark, after slaughtering the guards there, and, with almost no hinderance, uses the skull and the sword to complete the ritual and bring back the Warlock Lord.  It was definitely a chilling scene.  Seeing the Warlock Lord rise and take his throne is terrifying and what is even more terrifying is that he seems to be a dark version of Allanon.

And as for our plucky heroes, Eretria receives another vision from Amberle warning her of the return of the Warlock Lord and how she needs to bring Wil to the Ellcrys.  Eretria is once again chasing after Wil on the behest of Amberle.  Wil finds himself quite busy at the moment as they are dealing with a dying Allanon. They only way to save him? Bring him out of his dream world which Mareth risks her life to enter.  Now this dream world is fantastic especially the Island of the Druids.  I also absolutely love the fact that Allanon meets Bremen, his former master, whom fans briefly met in season 1.  This time we learn that the next Druid that Allanon was supposed to train was not Bandon, as Allanon originally thought, but his own daughter Mareth.

I definitely liked this episode, but I also felt that there was so much packed into one episode.  I think if they took a little more time to develop the plot and characters it would be better and seem less rushed.  I do say that the acting has definitely gotten better this season, and I really liked the Queen in this episode.  I can’t wait to see what happens next.

Nods to the Book Series

-Mareth, as I have mentioned in a previous recap, was originally in the book The First King of Shannara.  This book took place hundreds of years before Wil’s time.  Mareth was a druid and thought she was the daughter of Bremen in the book.  It turns out she was not.  It’s interesting that they are bringing her in and making her the next big Druid as well as being Allanon’s daughter.