The Shannara Chronicles Season 1 Episode Guide
1.01. Chosen - Part One - Review
1.02. Chosen - Part Two - Review
1.03. Fury - Review
1.04. Changeling - Review
1.05. Reaper - Review
1.06. Pykon - Review
1.07. Breakline - Review
1.08. Utopia - Review
1.09. Safehold - Review Coming Soon
1.10. Ellcrys - Review Coming Soon
The Shannara Chronicles 1.08: Utopia
Directed by Jesse Warn and Written by April Blair
This time, it's Eretria who's in trouble, and has found herself captured by traders following the end of the last episode when she failed to escape with Amberle and Wil. However, the traders have sold her to a man who claims to have only paid for her because he wants to free her, and has welcomed her willingly into a safe haven, where they are protected by guns, and live unburdened by the rest of society's problems. It's a Utopia. But is the place to good to be true? Will Eretria be rescued by her friends? Will she want to be rescued? There were several questions that plagued The Shannara Chronicles this week and it was interesting to see how they went about resolving them in an episode that was unfortunately, mostly filler, because aside from Ander taking over the mantle as King back in Arbolorn, there wasn't much in the way of new plot progression. But at least this only happened over the course of one episode, and we weren't stuck with multiple hours where we watched Eretria try to escape from her newfound safety whilst the others attempted to rescue her. As I sat watching this episode I couldn't help but be reminded of the superior The 100 TV series, which featured a similar premise in its second season, although obviously, this adopts a fantasy approach to a post-apocalyptic narrative rather than a science fiction one.
The utopia here was certainly a false one, moreso for Wil and Amberle, who are as a half-Elf and Elf respectively, not welcome, and would have been fed to the trolls for the protection of the humans already there. It's something that naturally, ends up happening at the end of the episode, but we've got a while before we get there yet. We mainly follow Eretria who finds herself in a society where the inhabitants are all dressed in contemporary clothing, a far cry from the high fantasy costume design that the Elves seem to adhere to, which was naturally a bit weird to get used to a first, but served as another reminder as to how many elements there are left over from the past. This was a big episode for Eretria as she attempted to navigate her way alone and without the help of Wil and Amberle, which makes a nice change as she's normally teaming up with either one of them to rescue the other, as has been the case so far for much of the season. You can't go by for more than one episode it seems without one or two of the three getting captured by the villain of the week, and the other two having to team up to rescue them. Last week it was Amberle and Eretria trying to rescue Wil and the week before it was Wil and Eretria trying to rescue Amberle. So it only made sense really that it was the turn for Eretria to be rescued by both Wil and Amberele, who haven't come alone. They are in fact, joined by Cephalo, who interrupts them sharing more than a kiss in a forest clearing, having just been captured and imprisoned.
Eretria meanwhile has found herself in a party with just as much lens flares as your average J.J. Abrams movie. She's slowly warming up to the idea of the place and likes having the idea of free will, something that she never had back when she was a Rover and working for Cephalo. It's clear that she's starting to realise that she can do what she wants now, even if Tye, the group's leader, is slowly manipulating her interests in favour of his own. But that peace doesn't last for long. Wil and Amberle arrive to rescue Eretria, (who has been put back on track to helping the others after an encounter with an elderly man who says that her "body is the vessel") and they learn just how Tye and his people have survived for so long in their Utopia, deep in the heart of Troll Country. It's not because they've been wiped out as Tye told Eretria but instead it's because they've been sacrificing captured Elves to the Trolls in order to keep the land. So that leads us to the big set-piece of the episode, with Wil, Amberle and Cephalo captured and left as bait.
Cephalo however tries to talk his way out of the situation with promises of Elfstones but has been given the dice from the school earlier in the episode by Wil and now has nothing left to negotiate his safety. So, for the first time in the series he acts outside his interests in self-preservation and ends up performing an heroic sacrifice to to allow Eretria, Wil and Amberle time to escape, ending up getting killed when his gun ran out of ammunition. This puts the trio back on the road once again, who now know where they're going and have an objective in mind, and are one step closer towards saving the world and stopping the Dagda Mor, as it seems that the directions on the map have led them to the ruins of what was once San Francisco.
Arbolon meanwhile took backstage this week in favour of the Quest but Ander and Allanon were still involved as Ander was wrestling with his own self-doubt of whether he wanted to take up his father's now-vacant position. Initially he doesn't want to take up the mantle, saying that he's not worthy, but eventually ends up accepting it as his duty anyway, after changing his mind about passing it on to a council member. Alanon also talked with Bandon this week and revealed that he is shaping Bandon up to be his successor as a Druid. So there's interesting stuff ahead then for the characters who aren't necessarily out saving the world, as it looks like they'll still have plenty of problems to overcome and aren't out of the clear just yet.
On the whole, Utopia was another fairly by the numbers episode of The Shannara Chronicles. The romance was handled weakly and the Utopian story wasn't really anything new, but then again that's kind of what you'd expect for this show by now. It remains fun and enjoyable despite its flaws and the cast are slotting into their roles fairly well. It'll be interesting to see what happens in the remaining two episodes, because you get a sense that the Quest is heading towards its end now, and it will no doubt be interesting to see whether we get any sort of resolution this season or whether it'll be left open ended.
What did you think of Utopia? Let me know in the comments below and feel free to remind me if I've missed out on anything else that's important - making notes whilst I'm watching the episode sometimes means that I miss stuff. Be sure to keep an eye out for the next episode though which airs tonight on MTV at 10, and is entitled Safehold. And also if you follow either show, be sure to keep an eye out for my coverage of both Vikings and Black Sails, with a new review of the latest episode of the latter coming in a couple of days.
Overall Episode Verdict: C+
Positives:
+Cephalo's sacrifice.
+Refocus on main Quest at the end of the episode.
+Continued development of Eretria and Amberle's characters and their relationship as friends.
Negatives:
-Romance/Love Triangle not handled well.
-No new surprises in terms of the Utopian storyline.
