Time Bandits – Episode 10 “Fortress of Darkness” Recap, Ending & Review

Fortress of Darkness

Episode 10 of Time Bandits begins with Alto speaking to the giant, Hen, they’re travelling on. The giant agrees to take them to the fortress of darkness, and off he goes through the sea, agreeing to take them as far as he dares.

Kevin doesn’t really have a plan per-se, but wants to rely on the power of love to get his parents back. It’s not a great plan but apparently Saffron has thought of something better. We don’t find out what that is though as the giant makes it toward the fortress. Or at least as far as he’ll go.

On foot, the gang make their way to the fortress and head on in through a secret entrance. Kevin wants the map in order to make the trade, but Widgit is not so sure. He reluctantly gives it up but when he does, Kevin prepares to head on in. The pair eventually slip and awaken to find themselves back home. Kevin is in his room with his parents, and they claim he was just having a bad dream. However, all the little remnants of their travels together are dotted across the room.

Things soon turn menacing, thanks in part to the skewed camera angles, as Kevin realizes they’re not his real parents. He puts on his translation cap and they show up in the main chamber of Pure Evil,

Kevin’s parents, Mike and Lisa, are back in human form and tied up, but they don’t think Pure Evil is that bad, believing he’s a good host. Mike has even set up the WiFi and Lisa has updated the photo wall with plenty of frames. Kevin tries to argue with his parents that giving the map up is a bad idea, but despite Pure Evil’s insistence, he doesn’t cave. The Bandits do eventually show to help, but Fianna believes she deserves an award for bringing them in. Pure Evil explains the technicalities here, and it eventually results in a final stand-off.

Now, it turns out Pure Evil can’t take the map as there’s a counter-measures against it to prevent that. However, they need to hand it over willingly, kinda like inviting a vampire inside your home. Pure Evil shows off all the different perfect fantasies they could have. When that doesn’t work, Pure Evil explains that the Supreme Being is a far worse choice. He wants to enact a “great reset” where he’ll basically erase all of human history and start again.

In the middle of torturing everyone, Supreme Being appears, flashing lightning bolts everywhere. He wants the map but so does Pure Evil. He sends Kevin and Saffron’s parents back home, while Kevin speaks to Supreme Being about creation and how destroying the world isn’t the right way to go.

Kevin makes his choice and  hands over the map to Pure Evil, who is happy that the bad guy has won for once. While fireworks erupt everywhere, the gang head out and down to shore. It’s here we learn that Kevin and Saffron switched lunchboxes so Pure Evil doesn’t actually have the map after all. It’s a dud!

The group are fooled further though when it turns out their lunchbox isn’t the right one the map isn’t with them either. So who has it? Well, the final shot of the series might actually explain it, as there’s a second group of kids on the left-hand side of the screen. These could be the guys who have the map.

The Episode Review

And so after all of that, Time Bandits ends… with a cliffhanger. We don’t get a resolution to any of the plot points and there’s tons that’s been left hanging without a conclusion. Not only do we not see what the dwarves are up to, we don’t see who has the map, who the second group are, and how Supreme Being and Pure Evil are going to react to this entire coup taking place.

I mean, it’s not outside the realm of possibility to believe Pure Evil will just take Kevin’s parents again, while there’s the whole situation involving Judy who’s still with the Supreme Being in parts unknown.

Ultimately, the show ends as it began – as a disappointment. This has been a poor remake of the 80’s movie and unfortunately not one to write home about. What a shame.