Pykon – Fearing their route is no longer safe after the Reaper’s attack, the group detours through the mountains via the old war outpost fort of Pykon. By posing as the dead King Eventine, the Changeling creates distrust between the Elves and Allanon, while the formerly imprisoned Gnome leader, Slanter, takes Prince Ander and Commander Tiliton to the demon army’s encampment.
This week, Shannara’s main story is the clear win as the group arrives at the titular Pykon. It successfully places our characters in an interesting and perilous situation while deepening its world history and making good plays on morality. This all revolves around the mountain fort of Pykon being the elf equivalent of Guantanimo Bay prison; they place where all the bad stuff went down. This idea is built up well as Cephalo presents the rumours of torture and imprisonment while the likes of Amberle and Crispin oppose in believing no such atrocities took place. Of course, they did but the fun comes how this is discovered and revealed. As the plot thickens and the resident Elven Sayid goes to work, it produces the creepiest scenes of the show to date. Without being overly graphic, it manages to capture the fear and helplessness of the victim. Though the best moments come as said torture master gets his back story monologue going; he’s clearly a monster but like so many others, he is the product his creators. Not just in the services he was called upon to perform during the war but the subsequent attempts to keep them from the history books (that’s right, even in post-apocalyptic fantasy, governments are still trying to cover up their dirty work). As with so much of Shannara, the visuals of Pykon are spectacular, from the dank and low-lit fort interiors to the vast snowy exteriors (including the genre mandatory, narrow cliff ledge section of their journey). Having the Reaper return for round 2 could have been a mistake but actually creates some nice dramatic anticipation. Via a simple early setup, we know it will find them eventually but by keeping the timeframe unclear, it achieves some suspense.
It was a bit of a shock last episode when an incognito Changeling engaged in a spot of regicide but it’s already proving its rewards. Firstly, it gives John Rhys-Davies much more to play with as a dude playing a dude pretending to be some other dude. Secondly, it’s brilliant to watch how the manipulation plays out as Changeling/”Fake King” plays into Arion’s deep desires to please his father and be judged as worthy to rule. All it takes is a few well placed compliments and Arion is obeying his commands without question rather than questioning his logic as we’ve seen previously. The resulting sword quest is more of a letdown as it feels too much like it’s trying to find something for Catania to do. Manu Bennett also feels painfully underutilized. Neither the aftermath of his incident with Brandon nor his encounter with the Dagda Mor feel overly impressive and take off so much of his screen time that he gets mere moments to dispute the allegations against him, which is where the good drama really lies. However, the result is worthwhile and feels like a game changing blow for the good guys as their key player gets taken out of the game. The journey of Ander, Tiltin and Slander feels a bit brushed over but covers some good ground in the time it has with the progressive Elf/Gnome relations. By showing kindness and respect to Slander, Prince Ander arguably achieves more than any character to date in the fight against demons as he creates the possibility of an alliance between Elves and Gnomes against the demons.
The most pleasing thing to see this episode is that the “teen romance drama” scenes this week do not trip things up and are even quite enjoyable. Will and Amberle’s opening bout on playground affections is fun and gorgeously framed with the day break lighting. It really feels like moment of playful respite in the hardships of their journey. Then the later girl talk bath time between Amberele and Eretria could have been a really cheap play to the hormonal target audience (especially as Eretria implies her sword swings both ways) but still serves a purpose as it progresses their friendship develops past their mutual resentment.
Despite the odd mistep in the journey, Shannara continues to level up as the experience points trickle in. The main group is functioning much better as unit with ever improving chemistry. The Reaper’s return gives some good action moments and despite spending some time imitating other genre works, Shannara is achieving some degree of originality.