Willow Season 1 Finale Review

I really wanted to like Willow on Disney Plus. I love the original movie and at times throughout this season, the show felt like it could have been so much more, like it could have become the epic adventure fantasy it should have been. But even with a stronger last three episodes, the finale felt rushed and unearned, and constant little irritating choices drag it down at every turn.

[MrDedGuy]

The way this show was going, I was half expecting the finale to break out into a full-on musical.

[DarthDevorin]

The movie made me care about the characters.

Aside from Elora and Boorman, the show characters are either wooden, wimpy, or abrasive to the point that I want them to die horribly.

[scdavis]

I'll be shocked if we get a season 2. The premier couldn't even crack the top ten on the Neilsen ratings. I still don't understand what the Crone's plan was. Kidnap Eric and turn him bad but Elora is supposed to be the key to everything? What was the point of getting Eric and Elora married and have him suck her power out of her mouth? Did the Crone want Elora to choose to join her? Why not kidnap Elora with Eric in the first place if joining those 2 was the main plan? Did the Crone know Elora's true identity from the beginning? If not, then when did she learn who Elora was and how? Why have the Gales try to murder the group multiple times if the Crone really wanted them to end up in the Immemorial City? So many questions about the overall plot. The fact that Christian Slater wasn't worthy of the chest mcguffin thing after he'd sacraficed 10 years of his life for Mad Mardigan in a troll prison, but Kit was worthy was just laughable. She was the most entitled and insufferable character on the show.

[Pretious]

The modern music has always been out of place in this show but Money for Nothing turned that up to an eleven. That song did not fit ANYTHING in this show tonally and that is saying a lot for a show that had no idea what tone it was from one minute to the next.

[TheCouchPotatoWatchesTV]

I love that chat bot wrote a better script than the writers 🤣 I have a feeling chatbot is going to legit replace half of Hollywood’s writers in the next few years 😂

[freeguy]

Someone recently described a modern show as sounding like it was written in a writing room filled with people who only knew people who worked in writing rooms. Might be accurate in this case as well.

[infiniteyep]

It probably goes back further but the first time I noticed this trend was with the Shannara Chronicles back in 2016. I recall reading the Sword of Shannara back in the early 80s with the classic Hildebrandt cover which set a kind of gritty medieval tone. The TV show was wholly unrecognizable: a CW-esque version focused on chokingly good-looking young protagonists with teen angst, modern hair, bad acting, absurd costumes and cringy dialog. Copy and paste onto Wheel of Time, Rings of Power, Willow, Witcher, etc.

[JanetDax]

In some ways this is a manual on how not to write a story. It doesn't bother me that Kit is gay, but I'm not so sure I would write a gay romance that way, or have Kit's decision not to marry the prince lack potential consequences.

[timkinss]

Maybe a villain called Eric The Not Angry Just Disappointed!

I can sympathise still, and I appreciated your trying to find good points in this review. I hope it comes back and I hope it gets better, and that's more then I can say for RoP! Just as you'd like a Willow show, I'd love a hearty wholesome fantasy series that is just good, in quality and in spirit. We need that.

Oh, and you're quite right, Ellie Bamber is such a beautiful young lady, absolutely

[jorgesoberon]

That is the thing. The show does not know if it is a poorly crafted adventure, a farce, a nostalgic attempt, or a Orange County teenagers' series. It is a mismatch, a hodgepodge. Real pity, I too was looking forward to live again that great movie.

[MrHootiedean]

I was actually looking forward to the finale just because I wanted to see how much a clusterf it would actually be and I wasn't disappointed. The show is so weightless and inconsequential that all that is left is chemistry-free melodrama. And that's neither new or entertaining. Cancel this dreck. Willow and his fans deserve better!

[raymondsmith]

Someone came up with the term "fraudulent creators" about writers and showrunners of scifi and fantasy shows that are not well versed in the written genre or film genre and maybe even hates the franchise itself. JJ Abrams comes to mind when he directed 2009 Star Trek film when he said he hated Star Trek as a kid and wanted to make a Star Trek he would watch which sure looks like Star Wars lite to me. There are some rumors that the writers on The Witcher were quite derisive of the Sapkowski source material. Me thinks that a good number of people want to have the hottest gig in town with working on fantasy shows on their resume and don't really care about what they are writing or the influences of the authors of the novels or tv story canon. It was so much better before the cool people appropriated nerd culture where we enjoyed stuff in isolation like a Nerd Hermit Kingdom of N Korea.

[johnhormaza]

Dang you hit the nail on the head, couldn't have said it better myself

[jdlyonsky]

It deserves a season 2. But they need to cut out the modern music and take some advice from folks like yourself.

[boba]

I also wanted to like the show but it’s objectively horrible. I didn't see Willow (the movie) until I was an adult. I loved it, so all those arguing that only nostalgic adults who saw it as children like it are wrong. The script for the movie is brilliant; I was on the edge of my seat wondering if the heroes would survive, yet it was also often hilarious. The humor was central because it built the relationships between the characters and made you care about them more, meaning it enhanced the drama. Almost no one pulls that off.

Willow: "See this acorn? I'll throw it at you and turn you to stone!"
Madmartigan: "Ooh, I'm really scared. HELP! There's a peck with an acorn pointed at me!"
Willow: "Don't call me a peck!"
Madmartigan: "Oh I'm Sorry!!!
Peck! Peck! Peck, peck, peck, peck, peck!"

And then there's one of the best love-hate relationships between any couple in any movie ever (it's up there with "Clueless" and "Groundhog Day").
Sorsha: "What are you looking at?"
Madmartigan: "Your leg. I'd like to break it."
(Later in the movie).
Madmartigan: "I love you Sorsha!"
Sorsha: "Stop saying that!"
Madmartigan: "What happened back there?"
Willow: "You started spouting poetry. "I love you Sorsha! I worship you Sorsha! You almost got us killed!"
Madmartigan: "I love you Sorsha? I don't love her, she kicked me in the face! I hate her... Don't I?"

Willow is a great movie. I've watched it repeatedly since I first saw it. The movie only seems to have disparate elements; in reality it is a very deliberate mix of elements which all mesh. Everything is incredibly well thought out and the chemistry between the actors is amazing. In contrast, in the series everything is just rammed together and the actors are all like planks of wood. The movie works brilliantly because of a wonderful script and excellent acting, but the show has a dreadful script and the acting is awful.

[Rednecter]

I'm in the same boat as you and agree with everything you are saying. I saw a zipper on one of the costumes 😫 like I want to like it but there are so many things that dispel the tone!

[Squallx]

No matter If they ressurect Shakespeare himself from the grave and hire him to write S2 there is no redemption. Because there is no story after S2. It's just a bunch of last minute made up stuff to keep us invested, like Wyrm and evil Elora Danan, and also because all the character arcs are complete. There is no real story for s2

[thehobbyguy]

I feel you on the idea that you wanted a Williow show. I need to remind myself that I have LotR and the Hobbit I can cleanse my brain with after RoP. Just another show that I had high hopes for and was disappointed again. Thankfully we had HotD, that rocked!

[angryromancegrrl]

I am old enough to remember when Willow premiered and I wanted to love this. And... I didn't. It wasn't one thing. It was the bad dialogue, the lack of character development and the modern slang in a fantasy movie.

What idiot thought that was a good idea?

That said, the finale had some redeeming moments. And I'm hoping to have a season 2 so that they can fix all the that went wrong and season 1. I'd watch it.

My husband will be less thrilled because he got to listen to me complain about season one the entire time. Lol

[benwarwick]

the only way to fix it is to recon it. start again follow the god damn book. keep elora.