The River
We return to See this week with our blind warriors preparing themselves for the advancing army. In terms of episodic content, aside from an early skirmish and whispers of betrayal for the Queen, there really isn’t a whole lot else going on here. As the group continue on their journey, a plot twist at the end certainly poses some interesting questions going forward regarding the direction of the plot which should be enough top keep you hanging around to see where this one goes. We begin episode 4 of See back at the village, with the Witchfinder General arriving and offering the villagers a trade – in exchange for their lives, he asks them to give up the children. However, Baba Voss and the others flee down to the shoreline where it turns out he’s built a boat in preparation for this very moment. As dog barks echo in the air, the soldiers make it to the shoreline, thanks to Gerther’s tip-off, but find nothing. Sensing them nearby, the Witchfinder General tells them to give up and the entire village will live. When they receive no reply, the soldiers creep through the water while Baba Voss heads out and slices one of their necks. A fight breaks out as the boat drifts down the river, ending with Haniwa striking Gerther in the chest from afar. Angry, the Witchfinder General commands the soldiers to kill all the villagers and eliminate the tribe, before finishing the job and killing Gerther himself. Meanwhile, Queen Kane comes under fire from her advisors as they question her rule and what she’s doing. In the darkness, a few rebellious people plot to assassinate the Queen. In the throne room, thia plan is put to the test, as the Queen is tricked into holding a deadly spider while told it’s actually a bird. Wise to these games, she grabs the old lady and kills her, while the other traitor is killed too. Out on the tranquil waters, the group contemplate whether to move away permanently, as Maghra pleads her case with them to leave and go quietly into the night. Haniwa and Kofun refuse though and after democratically voting, they continue on the trail of Jerlamarel. Meanwhile, the group dock the boat on a remote island and make themselves a fire for the night to rest. After some contemplation over what to do from here, the group sleep while in the distance someone watches from afar. When they wake up, they find their weapons missing. To make matters worse, Maghra also finds her heirloom missing too, the one she stuffed in her robes the night before. As Haniwa senses something nearby, the episode itself closes out with the Queen in the generator room flipping the switch and shutting off the water from the dam. However, in doing so the pressure causes the room to begin flooding. Aside from the attempted assassination and the group slipping away from the Witchfinder General, there isn’t a whole lot else going on here. Seeing more of our technology play into this futuristic world only raises further questions about the exclusion of guns and advanced weaponry, while the quest for Jerlamarel is interesting but sees little development beyond moving a bit further up the river. Still, I’m sure things will pick up from here and visually, there’s no denying the production design is fantastic. Jason Mamoa seems destined to play roles like this too and although I continue to get Frontier vibes from his character in this, there’s enough intrigue with the overarching plot to keep you watching.
