S01.E07: Beyond the Shattered Sea

[AnimeMania]

Our heroes finally reach the place where all maps end: the infinite expanse of the Shattered Sea.

Streaming on Disney+ January 4th.

Edited January 4, 2023 by AnimeMania

[Cranberry]

That was long! And good!

Loved the training montage. Loved Graydon doing magic! It makes sense, as he's been watching and learning from Willow this whole time, taking notes and mouthing the spells to himself. Loved Kit and Jade finally getting to kiss after some homoerotic sparring. And Kit being the only one to have total faith in Elora!

Someone on Reddit suggested the Princess of Cashmere Airk's been talking to is the same one from Kit's story in the first episode. Clearly there's some weird time stuff going on in the city, and this princess is complaining about Cashmere's strict rules, so that would make sense. Here's that original speech again:

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She was a princess of Cashmere thousands of years ago, and she was, like, by all accounts, like, the most gorgeous woman that ever lived. So, the King invited all the knights and all of the princes to compete for her hand. The winner of each event advancing to the next until two remained. This cocky young knight of Galladoorn and this helmeted warrior from some far off distant land whose face no one had yet seen. And after a fierce battle, our mysterious stranger bested the knight, then removed his helmet. Can you guess who that was? It was Princess Taramis. Secretly entered the tournament to fight for herself, for a chance to, to choose her own future.

 

[thuganomics85]

More Game of Thrones alumni popping up with Julian Glover (Grand Maester Pycelle) playing the old man trying to delay the gang from crossing the Shattered Seas.  Of course, Julian also had a role way back on The Empire Strikes Back, so he is certainly no stranger to the sci-fi/fantasy genre!

Loved Kenneth the Mudmander and the little bond Graydon had with him.  And it looks like he has powers of his own thanks to his flute?  Not sure what to make of that.

I kind of want to meet Boorman's mom now.

I wonder where they filmed the majority of these scenes, because it really did look unworldly at times.

Noticed that Elora's hair is now more red again.

While I'm glad Kit/Jade finally admitted their feelings with one another, I hope Jade is used more in the finale because it feels like she was regulated to just Kit's loyal love interest for these past two to three episodes.

Mysterious woman is still shady as hell, but I wondering if the theory mentioned above is actually true and she isn't the Crone but that princess from Cashmere mentioned in all of those legends.  Or maybe she's both?

Curious to see how the finale plays out.

[Tachi Rocinante]

If she truly has been there awhile, she is either the Crone or an (un)willing servant.

[MissLucas]

Wow, lots of money shots in this episode - so much gorgeous looking scenery. Easily the best episode so far and not just because of all the landscape porn.

I was getting so annoyed with Elora dragging the ends of her weird wrap/top through all the mud that I'm not going to question where her new wardrobe was coming from. 

Finally the training montage we've all been waiting for! And it was fab - with added Graydon! The writing here was really great, everybody (except maybe Jade) had an interesting arc. The Crone sure knew how to get under Willow's skin. The idea of Zombie Silas returning home and killing everybody was really really creepy.

Boorman is a bit of an idiot though, of course the lux (?) isn't going to work when you plug it in randomly - after having told everybody that it must the right moment *sigh* why do it in the middle of the night with no threat around?

The slow progression of the relationship between Kit and Elora was great- their dialogue under a James Webb inspired sky set up Kit being the one who'd be willing to take the leap of faith beautifully.

No idea what's up with not-Dakota-Johnson but the Immemorial City looked fantastic. Also: Airk got a dark make-over and I'm not mad about it.

[iMonrey]

Oh, they did not cut Airk's hair!!

Finally we learn more about Kiaya and Ranon. Vague, but at least they addressed it. I wonder what other "adventure" Willow was on when Kiaya died. She was alive and well when he returned home to her in the movie. 

I really enjoyed Kenneth. I do think Graydon having magic was a little out of the blue though. Not sure where they're going with this whole thing with him and Elora. 

Agree the training sequence was great, felt myself bopping along to the music. 

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Someone on Reddit suggested the Princess of Cashmere Airk's been talking to is the same one from Kit's story in the first episode. 

I dunno, I think she's just the crone. Could be wrong, but there are so few cities in this world she had to be either from Galadorn or Cashmere. 

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Noticed that Elora's hair is now more red again.

Which doesn't make much sense. If they were bleaching it to disguise her identity you'd think it would have to grow out naturally. It's not like they used magic to turn her hair blonde. But maybe her own magic is turning it red again? Because that's a thing? 🧐

[Cranberry]

13 minutes ago, iMonrey said:

I dunno, I think she's just the crone. Could be wrong, but there are so few cities in this world she had to be either from Galadorn or Cashmere. 

Can't she be both? The story took place thousands of years ago, and her current form could be an illusion.

[AnimeMania]

5 hours ago, thuganomics85 said:

wonder where they filmed the majority of these scenes, because it really did look unworldly at times.

Pendine Sands Beach, Carmarthen Bay, South Wales

[Mr. Sparkle]

3 hours ago, iMonrey said:

Oh, they did not cut Airk's hair!!

I'm glad they have a barber in this abandoned city of mysteries. 

[Bort]

I got a kick out of the suspenseful background music fading and rising over and over as the old man attempted to tell about his quests.

Also really liked that Jade’s distraction before pulling the throwing star out of Kit’s arm was to wallop her in the side of the head.

And I liked Kenneth. That’s about it, I was kind of bored for this one.

[Mr. R0b0t]

Some of the best stuff of the season wrapped inside a bloated episode.  I wish this series was hitting harder.

[raven]

I feel like Graydon is hitting all the cues for an imminent "sacrifices self to save others" death:

Starting to find his purpose; can do magic; kind to Kenneth; confesses love to Elora.

I like him - be kind to Kenneth, you're a-ok - and don't want to lose him but now I expect to.

I thought this was a fun episode with great visuals.  I enjoyed the training montages.  It was nice to finally get a hint about Kiaya and Ranon.   The Mims vision talking about Silas coming back was creepy. 

You travel all that way - horseback, foot, Kenneth sleigh, etc. -  only for most of them to be all "welp!!  let's just go home" when they reach the edge???  Only Elora and Kit (I'm sure the others will join next week) were willing to try something?  I get not thinking about jumping but no one even said, "hey, let's check a little further along the edge".  Jeez.    The show should have spent more time with Willow's and Boorman's angst and worry if we were supposed to feel that they were at the end of their respective patience.  And hey, too bad, so sad for Airk?

I've been very critical about Kit, so props to her for having faith in Elora, which actually felt earned.

Happy that the princess is evil/the Crone because she was hitting every annoying "bad-ass princess" trope prior to that.

 

[Jediknight]

My Zod, the visuals in this episode were incredible.  Not a knock on any other episode, it's this episode was got-dang gorgeous.  Fantasy epic film gorgeous.  The shots of Elora and Willow training, Kit and Jade training shadows, Kenneth, and really everything.

Graydon's gonna be the one to be able to use the Cuirass.  He doubts himself for "killing" his brother, he's becoming a sorcerer, he put Kenneth's needs first.  He's gonna be the one that's deemed worthy of it.

[nodorothyparker]

Some of the visuals were stunning this episode, although I'm pretty amused that the much hyped Shattered Sea turned out to be the world's longest shallowest mudflat to apparently nowhere. Oh, we came all this way on this huge epic world changing quest but ran into an unexpected waterfall? Welp, guess there's nothing to do but give up and go home.  I'm giving the show the benefit of the doubt that was part of the confusion and madness Julian Glover's character was talking about the sea causing because it's otherwise too stupid for words. I'm assuming that they'll follow Kit and Elora over the edge next episode just because they may otherwise be standing there a very long time doing nothing.

As much as we've bagged on Kit, she and Elora supporting and believing in each other enough to make that leap together was nicely done. It did feel earned. Also love that Elora's hair is getting progressively redder with every time she does magic and no one even mentions it. As much as I was enjoying the various training montages, I kept wondering how all this squared with Willow earlier saying that he had to limit his use of magic to not deplete himself. I guess now that seemingly everybody including Graydon can do magic it's no biggie. 

So Airk has been spending most of his captivity dressed like another Val Kilmer character, The Doors' Jim Morrison, but got a magic haircut at the end to portend I guess going over to the dark side with the faux princess/maybe Crone? Okay. Let's see where they go with it heading into the finale.