Willow – Season 1 Episode 7 “Beyond The Shattered Sea” Recap & Review

Beyond The Shattered Sea

Episode 7 of Willow begins with Airk letting his fellow prisoner out, who reveals that nothing lasts forever. Except Kit’s obnoxious, selfish behaviour of course! There’s absolutely no end to that. Anyway, I digress. Airk is put in his place, of course, until he reveals he tried to escape and the place is guarded by monsters. Inexplicably, Airk jumps into the well, which happens to hold Kit inside. Before they can touch hands, Kit is thrown back out again by Elora, who uses her magic to save Kit. How is the well connected to this yellow sea? How does Airk manage to see her? We’ll have to wait and see if this show explains it.

Anyway, the group arrive at the Shattered Sea and they have to cross, which is the only way to get to their destination. Jade tells Kit she should rest but the latter refuses, she wants to press on. On the way, the group find a wooden hut holding an old man inside. There’s a mud creature being held at the back while we find out this guy, Zeb, was actually one of the three warriors sent out to save someone… or something? In truth, Zeb can’t actually remember what mission he’s on. Calling it now, his mission is to save that woman with Airk.

Meanwhile, Airk learns the layout of Cashmere and how that ties into the Order of the Wyrm, who are an ancient sect who do blood magic. As they talk, this girl launches herself at Airk and begins kissing him. Airk pulls away.

Back with our group, Willow and the others find themselves forced to flee as the Crone’s minions show up and begin to chase them. The group manage to get onboard a convoy led by this mud creature we saw earlier, and they race through the Shattered Sea. In the wake of this, Kit ends up getting hit by a shuriken. Thankfully Jade is on hand to get it out, while Willow is impressed by Graydon, who manages to conjure some sort of magic from his flute to take out the bird circling them. As for Elora, she freezes at the worst possible moment when her arm is grabbed. Thankfully though, they manage to thwart their attackers.

Elora is holding back but when she confronts the darkness in her heart, she uses her magic and blasts Willow back during their training later on, when they’re safe. It’s a dark spell, something she learned back in the haunted castle. Elora is convinced she’s going to kill this witch, but they’re running out of food – and time. Days and weeks have passed, but you’ll be damned to know that given the show doesn’t really give a good sense of time. It’s fair to say though this Shattered Sea is very, very big.

Under the stars, Kit and Elora talk. They discuss Madmartigan, with Elora pointing out that he didn’t choose Elora over Kit, and that he does actually love her. Kit admits she’s been jealous of Elora, but not because she’s the Chosen One. Apparently nothing has ever come naturally to her. She wanted to be brave and to be loved. Oh, and not to be a princess either. After this revealing chat, the group decide they need to press on and walk across the sea instead of using this mud creature.

As they press on, Graydon speaks to Elora and professes his love. However, they keep walking and come to the edge of the sea. The others are ready to turn and head back, and just before Elora gives up, Kit gives some words of encouragement to her. Both of them jump together off the cliff-edge and dive into the water below. When Kit and Elora surface, they find themselves exactly where they need to be. The pair walk on and arrive at the city but what they find surprises them both. It’s Airk. And he’s had a haircut! What great barbers they have there!

The Episode Review

So how did Airk end up seeing Kit in the yellow sea and almost touch hands? Was it a vision? Or was she transported? This show has so far done a terrible job explaining certain aspects of its plot. (Remember when the horses just dived down a cliff-face in episode 1 and ended up absolutely fine down the bottom?)

The pop montages aren’t much better either while the tone itself is wildly inconsistent. The cartoony way Kit just fell backwards after getting a shuriken in her arm betrays her character, whom we’ve known to be obnoxious and self-centered all the way through the series. A far more fitting reaction would have been for her to shrug it off and fire back three of her own.

While this episode geos some way to try and redeem her, Kit’s words ring hollow. She claims that nothing has come naturally to her… but that’s not true. She’s bested Jade in combat numerous times, as a princess she’s lived a pretty comfortable life and not wanted for anything and she was even paired up with Graydon for the good of the realm… which she almost completely destroyed by acting like a petulant child.

If anything, she hasn’t faced enough adversity. It’s only now that her character is being tested that’s she’s seeing the error of her ways, and even then (like at the end of the last episode) its all about her.

With the finale up next, Willow looks set to go out with a whimper rather than a bang but there’s still time for this one to throw up a surprise.