Larry Force

I love the fantasy genre, and I think Willow was fantastic. I am a huge fan of LOTR, D&D, Pathfinder, and I also liked the original 1980s Willow movie. Lately, there have been issues when adapting familiar fantasy worlds into new stories. Shows like The Witcher and Rings of Power are in a difficult position, because they either need to break from book canon, or render their shows completely predictable to any committed fans. Even if they try to stay with the original canon though, often times, writers know the canon less so than the fans. It's all a big mess usually, and it's a bad time for both fans and the studio. Willow is set in a fantasy world that is both well established for nostalgic purposes, but unexplored enough so that writers can express a great deal of creativity without worrying about stepping on the toes of giants. In my opinion, this setting was a fantastic idea, and the original movie being from the 80s allowed the movie world to have aged in real time before they tell the story of Elora Danon (which was set up pretty well by the original movie via prophecy). The tone is unique from most fantasy, because it doesn't take itself too seriously. Characters have humor, and as a result, feel more human. There are only 8 episodes, but you see an array of different emotions from each character, and their motivations are more 3 dimensional than most. I can honestly say that by the end, I loved most of the characters, even Kit, who was unbearable for the middle part of the story, only to come up as one of the better characters towards the end. But that was also a great aspect of the show. Every character was DEEPLY flawed. Nobody was perfect, and the writers knew what they were doing when they did that. While each character in the main cast was capable of great heroism, they still felt very human and relatable. My only complaint is that there was a little too much meta humor, but that's mostly just because I've seen a lot of that lately, so it feels a little tired. But I genuinely had to rewind some dialogue at points because I couldn't hear it over my own laughing. (The horse scene with Boorman was one I distinctly remember) So, overall, the humor is actually really fantastic. If you walk into this expecting a dark, gritty, story firmly grounded in reality, this won't be your show. But if you like great characters, humor, and a good coming of age story for a group of teens, this will be a great show to watch. 5/5 from me, and I really hope to see any future season(s).

This is the first entry in the MCU I can confidently say that I hated. The show's finale was spent eliminating any plotlines that were marginally interesting with a wave of the hand that introduced dozens of plot holes. The storylines with Emil Blonkski, Daredevil, or even her tailor would have been incredibly interesting if they had taken any time to develop them, or if they spent any time developing Jen's character beyond being one of the most insufferable human beings alive. No conflict felt meaningful, and at the end I just felt like I wasted my time watching this series. If they make a season two, they need a wildly different direction, and every writer that touched this season should be moved into a nuclear waste storage facility, because we can't risk anymore of their toxic excretions getting out in the world.