What’s the name of the show? The Bastard Executioner.
When does it premiere? Tuesday 15 September at 10pm eastern on FX.
So this executioner is a real jerk, huh? No, he’s an actual bastard, as in he was born out of wedlock and never knew his parents.
That’s what this show is about? Yes, but it’s not so simple. The show is set in 14th century Wales when people were laboring under the yoke of their English overlords. During a dispute about taxes (yawn) a group of farmers capture a tax collector and kill all his servants to send the baron (Brian F O’Byrne) a message. The baron retaliates by slaughtering everyone in the village while the men are gone and burning it to the ground for good measure. This show is about the survivors getting revenge on the baron.
What does this have to do with the executioner? The baron enlists a sadistic executioner named Gawain Maddox (Felix Scott) to help him catch the farmers. When he is found dead, one of the farmers, Wilkin Brattle (Lee Jones), takes his place so that he can infiltrate the baron’s court.
This sounds complicated. It is. The first episode is two hours long, and you’ll spend most of it trying to figure out which gruff Welshman is which and exactly what they’re fighting over. Eventually that subsides and everything makes sense, but it’s a bit of a mind bender to get there.
What’s the show’s pedigree? Kurt Sutter, who made Sons of Anarchy, also wrote and created this. TV veteran and Sons of Anarchy executive producer Paris Barclay directed the first two episodes.
Are The Bastard Executioner and Sons of Anarchy similar? They both co-star Sutter’s wife, Katey Sagal, and are about a band of morally questionable rebels and the forces stacked against them. They also both contain a fair amount of violence and gore. However, the vastly different milieus mean that they don’t really feel that reminiscent of one another.
Is this show bad? Actually, it’s pretty good. I’m sure that the show will be a big hit and do quite well for FX, though it’s not really my cup of mead.
If it’s good, why don’t you like it? Given the preponderance of other medieval period pieces out there, it just seems very familiar. Even though Game of Thrones leans much more heavily on its fantasy aspects, they both share a certain aesthetic, and GoT just blows this Bastard out of the water. If I were going to watch something for the costumes and rebel intrigue, it would be Outlander. The period action adventure thirst can also be quenched by the better-than-it-should-be Vikings.
Also, the white male antiheroes of “peak TV” are becoming tired. Wilkin Brattle is a former soldier who was visited by an angel on the battlefield and pledged he would never raise his sword again. After his village is burned down, he not only picks it back up but takes on the mantle of the executioner. He is tormented by the conflict between his religious beliefs and what he has to do to get his vengeance and ply his trade. The conflict between faith and duty plays an interesting role here, but the show doesn’t really have anything new to say. The Bastard Executioner is treading a very well-hewn path.
Are there any characters you love? Sagal, as always, is amazing as Annora, a pagan healer and witch who seems to have unearthly powers. As someone else who hears the voices of the angels, she serves as Brattle’s mentor and aide. She also manages to pull off some cool magic tricks.
Does she give birth to a smoke monster? No, but she does do some really gross stuff with snakes.
Are there any characters you hate? Stephen Moyer (the guy who yelled “Sookie” on True Blood for seven seasons) does a great job as the scheming chamberlain Milus Corbett, but then they had to go and make him a closeted gay man. It comes across as though this secret is what makes him the bad guy. He could use a bit more sympathy.
Wait, isn’t Ed Sheeran on this show too? Indeed he is, but he isn’t in the first two episodes made available to reviewers.
What’s really great about the show? If given time to mature – and I’m sure it will be – this could become a complicated political drama about the different scheming interests of medieval Wales trying to gain the upper hand over each other. It’s not quite there yet, the stakes seem low, and there aren’t any characters that really inspire devotion, but I can see how this could blossom in engaging ways.
What’s the worst thing about the show? Before it breaks to go to commercial, the screen goes from color to black and white. It’s a cheap and silly trick that is completely unnecessary and annoyingly gimmicky. It’s something that Xena: Warrior Princess would do, not prestige television.
Should you watch this show? Though it may sound like I’m giving The Bastard Executioner a bad review, I’m really not. It looks spectacular, there are several great performances, and the overly complicated set up could really pay off for those who invest their time in the show. I just don’t think it’s for everyone, and you probably already know whether or not you’re a person who would enjoy such an endeavor. The show has great potential and, come season three, I may wish I had stuck with it. But there’s so much on TV right now, I’m going to save my time for things that are truly different and that I love. Right now, this isn’t one of those.
