The Bastard Executioner Episode 3 Review

The Bastard Executioner Episode 3 Review
by Julie Perez

After the blood, sweat and tears of the Pilot episode (episodes 1 and 2) we got well; more blood, sweat and tears on the second episode of The Bastard Executioner. Following the emotion-packed first episode, “Effigy/Ddelw” continued to develop the storyline as well as gave you a bit of an insight into some of the characters’. However, if you were expecting for the story arch to take off running, you may be a bit disappointed. Kurt Sutter seems to be taking his time with the story-telling.

It is clear that this show is about revenge and this episode really makes it clear how far and how brutal Wilkin’s actions will have to be in order to get the revenge he so desperately wants. If you thought the killing on the pilot episode was bad, you were in for a brutal and bloody surprise this episode. Like in Sons of Anarchy, where Sutter had characters constantly battling with what was moral and what needed to be done; Wilkin battled with the same sentiments this episode. As the executioner he was instructed to take the nose of a young girl rebel in exchange to the nose she broke off of Baron’s effigy. The struggle with Wilkin is, is his need for revenge more important than betraying the very-rebels he used to fight alongside?

Annora continues to influence Wilkin’s decisions and she seems to be having an ulterior motive. I mentioned last week how Katey Sagal’s accent was distracting, well I didn’t find that to be an issue this week (thankfully, since I truly do enjoy Katey’s acting). So here’s my first theory of the season: in this episode we got a little flashback to when Wilkin was a child. We see him play-fighting (with wooden swords) in a group with other children, then we see The Mute (played by Kurt Sutter) overseeing the children playing. My theory is: The Mute is Wilkin’s father. THERE I SAID IT!

We also find out in this episode that Brattle knows Wilkin’s secret, which I had a feeling he did, but we got confirmation. The potential for everything that could happen between these two characters is enough to keep anybody watching. Lady Love is slowly becoming my favorite character, she is shaping up to be a strong female character in the middle of all of the men attempting to make all of the decisions. She was firm and direct in this episode while still showing that she is vulnerable. For example, when it came to punishing the rebel girl, she clearly struggled to punish her at all and you see how she hesitated when handing over the girl’s fate to Wilkin. Speak of the girl’s fate, this is where the brutal comes in. I was NOT expecting for her nose to be cut off so, so … realistically.

So far, I am loving the season though I think it’s about time to start picking up the pace. There were a couple of scenes these episode that didn’t feel like they did anything to move the story along. I also think, Kurt Sutter is taking a little too long to give us a full back story of Wilkin Brattle. Why is he the main character? Why should we care about anything that happens to him? I think the show has great potential and hopefully Kurt Sutter fills in the gaps that seem to be missing.

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