Review of Disney+’s ‘Willow’ Season One, Episode Four “The Whispers of Nockmaar”

Disney+’s Willow continues to lack any sort of power even going into its fourth episode, “The Whispers of Nockmaar.” It continues to bore and not pique interest, story lines are hard to follow, and no characters are growing or improving as people – it’s truly just painful to watch.

In “The Whispers of Nockmaar,” the group takes refuge in Bavmorda’s abandoned castle. There, Willow, played by Warwick Davis (The Harry Potter Movies, Leprechaun), makes plans to exorcize Graydon, played by Tony Revolori (The Grand Budapest Hotel, The French Dispatch), of the Lich’s demonic influence with the help of Kit, played by Ruby Cruz, and Elora, played by Ellie Bamber (Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, Les Miserables). During all of this, Jade, played by Erin Kellyman (The Falcon and the Winter Soldier, Solo: A Star Wars Story), sits by herself and just mourns over Ballantine’s upsetting but ultimately necessary death. 

As she retrieves the ingredients needed for the exorcism ceremony, Kit experiences visions of her grandmother, the one and only Bavmorda. Bavmorda is apparently the descendant of a dark line known as the Blood of the Six as well as one that pledged allegiance to the Crone, the figure that Kit and friends are basically trying to defeat.  Meanwhile, Elora endures visions of her own birth and her mother’s subsequent death. 

Eventually, the possessed Graydon breaks free and tricks Elora into entering the high tower where he plans to complete his diabolical ceremony. Thankfully, Willow, along with Kit, Jade, and Boorman, join forces to exorcize Graydon. As a response, the Crone tasks the Lich, Scourge, Doom, and Dag with killing the entire group of adventurers with the exception of Elora. 

The episode itself concludes with a captive Airk, played by Dempsey Bryk, awakening to find himself trapped inside of an abandoned and destroyed city. 

Once again, this episode does not do much. Kit still won’t grow up and is still incredibly rude to Elora who, as annoying as she is, is just trying to do her best. Also, it seems as if we’ve completely forgotten about the fact that there was intense romantic tension between Kit and Jade in the first episode (they even kissed) and now it’s like that never existed. 

Willow’s only consistency as a TV program is its inconsistency. 

While most of the episodes haven’t been my favorite, this one takes the cake as an absolute snooze-fest and bore. I’ve tried to give the program the benefit of the doubt, but by the fourth episode, I should be a little bit hooked by now, and I’m not.

Rating: 5.5/10.0

 

Blythe Bouza: Blythe Bouza is a sophomore at Vanderbilt University in College of Arts and Sciences planning to double major in Neuroscience and English with a Minor in theatre. Her greatest strengths lie in her love for literature and writing, where she mostly focuses on film and movie reviews for The Vanderbilt Hustler or her personal film website. When not writing for The Vanderbilt Hustler or MXDWN, you can find her waiting in line for coffee or making a new niche Spotify playlist. You can reach her at blythe.v.bouza@vanderbilt.edu.
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