In The Bastard Executioner recap for the season finale, Wilkin goes on a hunt to find Luca and Annora reveals even more secrets….
By Damon Martin — Editor/Lead Writer
Tuesday night marked the season finale of The Bastard Executioner with no word on whether or not there will be a second season.
Creator Kurt Sutter sent out a message on Instagram earlier in the day saying — “The final episode of The Bastard Executioner” and proclaimed it a ‘bloody good end’. As of yet, FX hasn’t officially released any statement on whether or not the show will return for a second season but I’m hopeful the series will get another run.
Admittedly, The Bastard Executioner started out a little slow and didn’t quite grab my attention until around episode three or four but from that point on, the series was must see television each and every week and the finale was no exception.
Wilkin goes on a mission to find Luca, which puts him in direct opposition of the Catholic church. Grudges are buried and bonds are made as Ventrishire becomes one kingdom again all under the rule of Lady Love, who is beginning to settle into her role as leader.
Hopefully this isn’t the last time we talk about The Bastard Executioner, but if this is it, the show definitely ended on a high note with one of the best episodes of the season.
UPDATE: Kurt Sutter has officially pulled the plug on The Bastard Executioner after one season so this will indeed serve as the series finale for the show.
Let’s recap the season finale titled ‘Blood and Quiescence’….
Jesus Walks
Following the revelation last week that Annora is actually Wilkin’s mother and her dark mute (we assume is his father), she let an even bigger secret out of the bag this week after allowing her son to read the Book of the Nazarene. Annora claims that the Seraphim are not only protectors of the words of Jesus Christ, but one chosen person is the carrier of his bloodline. It doesn’t take Wilkin long to figure out that Annora is the direct descendant of Jesus, which means he’s now the next person to carry on the bloodline and bring his word to a new generation of people.
“It was God’s intention to have Jesus deliver these teachings to man. His blood will be the one to do it when the time is made clear.”
~ Annora
Meanwhile in another part of the shire, Toran finally makes his move to go after Locke and confronts him about the death of his wife and child. Locke figures out right away that both Toran and Wilkin were part of the bandit team that they went after all those months ago and despite the fact that he was just carrying out orders given to him, Locke refuses to beg for mercy for his life.
Locke: “I’ve earned no mercy”
Toran: “But you have earned a fair fight.”
Toran and Locke battle it out, clashing blade against axe. In the end, Locke gets the better of the exchange but rather than kill Toran, he offers him a reprieve and says this will put an end the feud. If Toran can’t let it go and decides to come after him again, Locke will finish the job he started tonight.
And finally Father Ruskin and Luca are still being held captive by Robinus and his band of crusaders, who are on a mission to find Annora and her blasphemous book to destroy it before anymore people are exposed to what they believe are lies. Father Ruskin isn’t giving up any information, but when the boy’s life is threatened it’s Luca who finally confesses the last location where Annora was hiding. Of course he knows she’s no longer there, but it keeps them alive for at least another day.
A Time to Kill
Once Wilkin finds out from Annora that Father Ruskin and Luca have been taken by Archdeacon Robinus over the Book of the Nazarene, he decides its his duty to go after the boy. He asks Lady Love for her help and she happily agrees.
Wilkin gathers up all of his friends from home, who are given reduced sentences from their servitude as payment for helping, and even Milus chips in with some paid soldiers who don’t care who they are killing so long as there’s some gold at the end of the battle. Of course Milus has a condition if he’s going to assist Wilkin in this mission — he wants Lady Love to seriously consider marrying Baron Pryce because it really would be the best hope for Ventrishire to stay together amidst her husband’s death and the fact that she’s not really with child.
Lady Love agrees to contemplate it further while also paying Milus a compliment for his wise advice while always having the kingdom’s best interests at heart.
Lady Love: “Despite your aggressive, secretive, and often illicit tactics, I’m quite fond of you, Milus”
Milus: “I believe you left out godless. I’m fond of you as well, dear Love.”
It seemed at the start of this season as if Milus was going to be the biggest villain we’d encounter but by this episode, he’s turned quite heroic and probably the best character on the entire show.
Jessamy also makes a brief appearance after breaking out of her captivity and searching for her son only to find the dark mute hiding in the shadows of her house. She goes tearing through the castle and eventually finds Lady Love and the others plotting for the attack on Robinus and his men. Jessamy grabs a weapon to club Lady Love, but Milus puts an end to her uprising with a single punch. Jessamy is tied up and gagged until the Baroness decides what to do with her next.
And finally before the hunting party goes out to find Robinus and his men, Leon the Reeve finally starts to put the pieces of the puzzle together and he knows that “Gawain Maddox” and his friend aren’t who they say they are. He confronts Wilkin and that’s when he finally unleashes on him for being the person responsible for killing his wife Petra and now walking around the shire with her cross around his neck.
“The cross you wear around your neck belonged to my wife. She carried our child. Both were slain by the man who now wears it as a spoil of victory.”
~ Wilkin
Wilkin attacks and the two scramble about until finally Leon is on the floor and the Ventrishire punisher is standing over him with a sword to his throat. Leon swears he didn’t kill Petra (because he didn’t) and he holds up the cross as proof.
“I wear this not as plunder but as a reminder — God before crown”
~ Leon
Just as Wilkin is about to strike the death blow, he sees a vision of Petra for the first time in weeks and she wards him off from killing Leon. Petra’s ghost confirms that he wasn’t the man who took her life and Wilkin ultimately lets him go. One loose end that never gets tied up this week is the fact that Annora and her dark mute are actually the ones that killed Petra, but that wasn’t revealed. At least not yet anyways.
Band of Brothers
Wilkin gathers his army, which includes his friends Toran, Ash and Berber the Moor as well as his fellow scribe Aiden, who is a new friend after the two of them commiserate on religions that they both follow that aren’t Catholicism (Berber is a Muslim, Aiden a Jew). Milus has his paid soldiers of forture but at the last minute both Locke and Leon show up offering to help as well. Wilkin gives them the nod and off they go along with the dark mute to find Luca and the priest to save them from Robinus.
Along the road to the caverns where the crusaders are waiting for Annora to return, they also happen upon a secondary group of reinforcements — it’s the Wolf and his band of rebels. Wilkin explains to Milus that they are needed if the Archdeacon will be taken down and he agrees although he’s dying of curiosity to know how this bond was forged.
When Wilkin and the others finally happen upon Robinus and his army, the dark mute takes the first step out into the fray and tells the rest of the party to wait behind him.
He lays down two large pots and pours some kind of liquid over himself. Just as Cormac (Ed Sheeran) and the other crusaders get close to him on horseback, the canisters explode like cannons, which causes a massive fireball while also catching him aflame as well.
Wilkin and the rest of his men attack and the battle begins. It’s a short lived fight, however, because thanks to the dark mute and his explosion, the Archdeacon’s men are caught off guard and after a few minutes, Wilkin and the Ventrishire soldiers come away victorious. Unfortunately, the dark mute meets his demise after being burned alive but he knew going into this fight that he wasn’t coming back out again.
Finally, Archdeacon Robinus stands tall before Father Ruskin and tells his fellow holy man that if he strikes him down, there will be a special place in hell waiting for him. A moment later, Robinus falls dead thanks to a sword strike from Luca. When Cormac discovers his master is dead, he goes after the boy and Luca runs away as fast as he can while Wilkin gives chase.
Wilkin catches up but before he can go sword to sword with Cormac, Luca cuts his leg and he’s forced to hobble away while hoping to fight again another day. Wilkin embraces his ‘son’ and everyone returns home to celebrate.
A Happy Ending
Back at Castle Ventris, Milus reports back to Lady Love with all the good news before they share a moment while discussing the future of their little kingdom now that it’s clear she’s not having a baby. Milus says that soon enough they will be able to report back to the king that her child was lost because it was so special, God had to have him before he was even born. Lady Love thanks him for being such a good advisor and friend, especially in moments like these.
“My aggressive, secretive and illicit tactics are always at your service, my lady”
~ Milus
Milus’ work isn’t done either because he spirits away Jessamy while sending his own man-maiden to accompany her to Pryceshire where she will receive treatment for madness. It can be quite cruel, but at least Jessamy will be alive versus staying in Ventrishire where she would almost certainly end up dead.
On the way back to the castle, Milus makes a pass at Lady Love’s handmaiden Isobel and the two of them race towards the nearest bedroom to work out some aggression.
Father Ruskin returns to the chapel safe and sound and Annora mourns the loss of her lover while knowing all along that as soon as he left the castle, there was no return for him.
And finally, Lady Love and Wilkin are able to share some time alone together. She wonders if the vision they both had about having a child together was real and Wilkin promises that it was and will be.
Back in the Baroness’ chambers, it’s time for Wilkin and Lady Love to finally spend the night together, but she’s curious after all the deception and roles he’s played since arriving in Ventrishire, who she will be sharing her bed with?
Lady Love: “Tell me dear man — who am I to lay with this night? Honored warrior? Barley farmer? Maddox the punisher?”
Wilkin: “Which would you prefer?”
Lady Love: “Perhaps all three”
Wilkin and Lady Love both disrobe and crawl into bed together and she looks up at him and has only one question left on her mind.
Lady Love: “Do you love me?”
Wilkin: “I’ve always loved you.”
And that’s how The Bastard Executioner comes to an end and considering this is a Kurt Sutter show, a surprising and very happy ending at that.
