The Bastard Executioner - General Discussion

[Guest]

Discuss The Bastard Executioner here.

[Guest]

Here's a link to FX's show page that contains some previews.

 

Popsugar weighs in and so does ScreenRant.

[Ohwell]

I'm in.  My only concern is that Kurt Sutter might give his wife Katey Sagal too prominent a role.  I saw enough of Gemma in SOA.

[Jenkins]

I'm in.  My only concern is that Kurt Sutter might give his wife Katey Sagal too prominent a role.  I saw enough of Gemma in SOA.

 

I didn't hate Gemma as much as others did (I could see why people hated her though), but I agree. I have ZERO interest in seeing Peggy Bundy in medieval times...

 

Really looking forward to this show though. Despite the hate Sutter gets, I really do enjoy his shows.

[taragel]

Sons was my husband's favorite show, though I decided to check out after the fourth season, so I've been reading the reviews with some interest to see if this might end up his new obsession. Sounds like a real dull slog from all the ones I've read. Sepinwall and Pozniewonick both panned it this morning saying it was messy and indulgent and the lead has no charisma. The only positive review I saw was from The Hollywood Reporter who said the lead is very charismatic and that it's very interesting. I'm inclined to believe the former ones. 

 

I doubt it'll have any impact on the ratings though anyway. His core audience will love more violence/nudity/etc. now in a GOT-like setting.

[Primetimer]

A new hero from the creator of Sons Of Anarchy Wales on his enemies.

Read the story

[Kel Varnsen]

On the plus side, with this show being set in the 14th century, Sutter won't be able to use his go to time waster: rock music montages.

[Ottis]

"On the plus side, with this show being set in the 14th century, Sutter won't be able to use his go to time waster: rock music montages."

 

Why would that stop him?

[petrelpelican]

"eventually FXXX, FXL, and FC."

That was a delightfully nerdy joke.

[generate789]

Shout out to the reviewer for name-dropping Thomas Middleton. The Revenger's Tragedy is the bomb.

[MargeGunderson]

From Slate's review:

"This show is monstrously fetid, a mound of gorgonzola stuffed into a dead catfish’s gullet, smoked in sulfur, doused with heavy cream and left to rot for weeks inside a port-o-potty in full sun.”

That actually kinda makes me want to watch it.

Edited September 16, 2015 by MargeGunderson

[Jenkins]

Wow, wonder what he REALLY thinks (quite the visual by the way).

 

Heh, at least my expectations aren't huge going in to the show. :)

[Kel Varnsen]

Why would that stop him?

You might be onto something. Maybe if FX starts ordering 90 minute episodes, he will retool it as a thing kind of like the Heath Ledger movie A Knights Tale, where it was set in medieval times but had a classic rock soundtrack. 

[Andyourlittledog2]

Oh, hell no!  I spent seven years with Sutter's Shakespearean Sons of Anarchy and although it was mostly a good show I cannot do this with him again. And I absolutely refuse to kneel at the altar of Katy Sagal again with this thing.  If Sagal is in it, Sutter will make it all about her and I love her and she is fantastic in these roles but too much is too much. 

 

Sutter and Sagal?  Nope. Nosireee. I am OUT. 

[ToniG]

This. I was willing to give it a try, but as soon as I saw Katy (and Kurt) were going to be in it, I passed.

[Picture It. Sicily]

I'm really not interested in seeing another promising show go off the rails because an egomaniac showrunner won't be able to stop himself from making his wife the center of attention.

[SimoneS]

Absolutely dreadful and that it was two hours long made the torture even worse. I cannot think of one redeeming quality, except maybe the mystery about the identity of lead character's father might be interesting. The acting was horrible all around and the plot was meandering and ridiculous, even the violence was tedious. It is hard to believe that the Chamberlain is aspiring to be the new lord, the King would surely marry off the Baroness to another loyal powerful lord immediately. Oh well, it can only go up from here so I will give it another two or three weeks.

 

I did notice that this is the second Sutter series where ethnic minorities get token appearances, not even substantial  supporting roles. This is on FX though. It has way too many shows with no or few minorities.

Edited September 16, 2015 by SimoneS

[bilgistic]

I'm really not interested in seeing another promising show go off the rails because an egomaniac showrunner won't be able to stop himself from making his wife the center of attention.

His wife...and himself, as a super secret surprise, except not, because his name was in the opening credits, as an actor. How'd you like that prelude to their love scene? They sure do like themselves. Good for them, I guess.

[Shriekingeel]

I bailed halfway in. Way too many aimless plots and subplots, and too many characters were over-the-top ridiculous, starting with the king guy right out of a Mel Brooks movie (I expected him to call the kid he was berating "shit boy" as a tribute to Mel's "piss boy" from History of the World), and Katie Sagal's laughable SNL-sketch character.

Awful.

[thuganomics85]

So.... I'm watching this despite never really getting into Sons of Anarchy, which I know is probably weird.  But the setting was enough to peak my interest, and I was curious to see Stephen Moyer in a role outside of Bill from True Blood.  The good news is that the setting was nice, and I thought Moyer was pretty fun as Milus.

 

Besides that, it was kind of a chore to get through at times.  I was rolling my eyes when, of course, the lead character's wife is brutally murdered in order to give him anger.  And I knew them taking the sheep fucker (I guess that's what passes for humor on this show?) with them, would bite them in the ass.  The fight scenes were bloody I guess, but not wowing me like they do on Vikings and such (although, nice going with the random ass shot in the first battle.  I guess that was suppose to be the witch?)  All the stuff with the original executioner was just to show that he was an asshole, so we would be fine with him dying, and the lead taking his spot.  Eh, nothing to see here.

 

I will always love her for Peggy Bundy, but wow, I honestly thought Kathy Sagal was awful here.  What was she trying to do?  That accent was ridiculous.  Worst then Brian F. O'Bryne's (and hilariously, his accent here was even better then his on The Last Ship.) And knowing that her silent lover/henchman guy is Kurt Sutter himself, just makes me think all of this is an elaborate way to full-fill a fetish of making out in front of a viewing audience.

 

Timothy V. Murphy playing the preacher really weird-ed me out, since I'm only use to him as villains (most recently in the second season of True Detective.)  I feel like nothing good can come out of him being a man of the cloth.

 

Honestly, my favorite moment might have been the random Matthew Rhys cameo.  At least he had a big-ass beard, so I didn't spend the entire time remembering that he's got a regular gig on a much better FX show.  When's that coming back, again? 

Edited September 16, 2015 by thuganomics85

[ShortyMac]

I don't know if this is really my thing. I didn't hate it, but I didn't love it, either. I like the setting and everything, but it was a lot to take in for one episode. I was growing disinterested in the last 45 minutes. Katey's accent was weird and that's all I could focus on when she talked. I had to watch with the caption on because I couldn't understand anything anyone was saying. I could barely read the words on the screen that displayed the locations. 

 

I'll probably give it another episode.

[Straycat80]

I'm on the fence with this one. I liked the time period and setting but I couldn't understand the accents in some scenes. Katey Sagal's accent sounded like a female Dracula.

I thought they were going to kill off every single character after that village massacre and there would be no one left. And I'm not a fan of child killing even if it is just on TV.

Judging by the previews it looks like dead wife haunts Wilkin on a regular basis and that will get tedious to me.

I'll give this maybe a couple more episodes because I don't watch anything else on Tuesday nights now that Zoo is over.

[placate]

The first hour was a big drag.  Ya ya, I get it, that one guy is a sheep fucker and I had to turn on closed captioning.  I knew Enorra was involved with the wife's death, because that's the kinda character Sutter writes for his wife.

 

The second half was decent.  I see the potential for this show.  I'd like an executioner sympathetic to the cause who helps the rebels with the information the Chamberlin gives him.  What I don't want to see is the Chamberlin seducing the Baroness so he can become the Baron even though he's gay.  No soap operish junk.

[tennisgurl]

Right now, I see the potential in this show. I like the setting, the acting is good, and I am interested enough in the characters. I think my favorite right now is the Baronesses long suffering ladies maid/servant. Her reactions to the Baronesses swim trip were the one real light spot the whole episode of grimmness. 

 

I liked Sons of Anarchy a lot the first few seasons, then I kind of went on and off as things got more and more convoluted and overly violent. Honestly, violence does not bother me. Its pointless violence that does. 

 

I`m willing to see where this goes. 

[solea]

This was fairly bad.  Draggy and badly acted a lot of it.  A bit of Gladiator and The Return of Martin Guerre thrown in, and something else... What could it be?  Something with a blond, shaggy protagonist hell bent on revenge, revenge, revenge.  Hmmm

[SimoneS]

I am looking forward to the convoluted explanation for the Baroness continuing to live at this castle. With her husband dead and no son, his title and lands will be inherited by his closest male relative. The Baroness should be packing to return to her family until another marriage is arranged with the king's blessing. 

[Chaos Theory]

I am not sure about this. I was going to watch it last night got about twenty minites in, realized it was two hours long and decided to hold off until the weekend. These overly long episodes killed me with SOA and I was invested in that show.

From what I did see though...it was very piloty. I do give a show a couple of episodes to impress me unless it bores me to tears like Public Morals did.

I will get back to you all when I actually do watch the pilot.

[Broderbits]

They did mention in passing that Katey Sagal's character was Slavic, so I guess that's what she was aiming for. 

 

I don't mind violence but this was too much for me, and yet so boring; I bailed during the slaughter of the innocents. Will check out next week's episode but not holding out much hope.

 

Why are we not calling this "Swords of Anarchy"?

[Febgirl]

I may just read this forum instead of watching the show-- infinitely more entertaining. 

[SailorGirl]

I may just read this forum instead of watching the show-- infinitely more entertaining. 

 

I'm with you -- I was excited for this show and I bailed pretty much after the first battle scene -- in other words -- within the first 5-10 minutes. I'm not a wussy by any means, but the close-ups of the body slashes and the blood eruptions were too much for me.

 

I set up the DVR to record the series, but am probably going to delete it.

 

I think the thread here will be infinitely more entertaining and I'll be able to follow the plot without having to actually watch. 

 

I do love Matthew Rhys but not a fan of heavy beards (can this lumberjack chic fad PLEASE already be over?), so I can wait for the Americans to come back to get my fix of him. . . 

[hammaboo]

It took until about the last 30 minutes of this show for me to even feel any interest.  And then it was a bit of annoyance of what I'd wasted my time on. 

 

I'll give it a few more tries, but it had better improve.

[Melissa56789]

Knowing absolutely nothing about the story, I had to watch the pilot episode twice to really understand the plot.

 

That said - how many of us think that the "new" Executioner is the Bastard Son of Edward Longshanks?  (and therefore half brother to Edward II) 

 

(He was a knight "favored" by Longshanks...and on the rise before he and his crew were sent on a suicide mission in Scotland by Vampire Bill of Trueblood)

[walnutqueen]

They did mention in passing that Katey Sagal's character was Slavic, so I guess that's what she was aiming for.

 

She missed by a fucking mile.  Quelle surprise (NOT).

 

I was completely underwhelmed by it all.

[tom87]

I was clock watching at 19 minutes in not a good sign.

[Arynm]

We had quite a lot of trouble understanding what was going on. We had to stop numerous times to try and figure it out. I also couldn't keep the characters straight, which is usually not a problem for me. Maybe they were all just too dirty/all wearing the same damn thing. I knew that the wife was going to die, her teeth were just too gross for a long term stay on this show. I thought it was interesting that the executioners wife didn't mind a bit that her terrible husband was dead and a new guy was stepping in. I guess anyone is better than the original guy. Plus, a woman alone with 2 kids would have had zero options at that time. 

I will watch again, I'm a sucker for period pieces, but they really need to pick up the pace.

[walnutqueen]

Yet another pile of steaming Sutter/Sagal dogturd.

[Ohwell]

I bailed after the first hour and turned to something else   Unfortunately, I can see right now that Katey Sagal will have a prominent role and I'm not looking forward to that.  Plus, the lead guy doesn't do anything for me.  I'll give it one or two more weeks before I decide to bail for good.

 

There were unintentionally humorous moments in this dreck--Sagal's, mushmouthed "Slavic" accent.

Edited September 16, 2015 by Ohwell

[bobbyjoe]

There were unintentionally humorous moments in this dreck--Sagal's, mushmouthed "Slavic" accent.

 

It's the funniest show of the new season.  Not intentionally, mind you, but hilarious.  Sagal's accent, of course, as you point out.  A lot of the battles where what was supposed to be super-gritty violence instead looked like slapstick made me have to check to be sure I wasn't watching Monty Python (the guy getting an arrow in the throat and the guy getting his hand chopped off particularly looked cornball as hell).  When they start shouting something about beavers when they're trying to figure out who the hooded guys were, and it's a BIG CLUE: where are those beaver dams?!!!!  Matthew Rhys in a beard because...ummmmm, okay.   Daenerys the Angel popping up several times.  The lead actor's "acting."  This was all a put-on, right?

 

I think all they need to add next week is some wacky sound effects, and they've truly hit comedy gold.

[VegetasMom]

I watched for maybe 10 minutes and turned it off.  Not in the mood.  Maybe I'll come back to it at some point.  

[Constantinople]

If a one hour pilot was sufficient for The Sopranos, The Wire, Mad Men, Breaking Bad and other shows that people have argued is the best ever, a one hour pilot should be sufficient for this POS.  Two hours strikes me as both self-indulgent and lazy.

 

To be fair, I didn't watch the entire episode since I fell asleep after 15 minutes.

[Pogojoco]

I'm a totally insufferable theatre major asshole, but it's "James Shirley", not John.

I'll see myself out.

[TrininisaScorp]

My husband and I really enjoyed SOA, so we thought we'd give it a try.  Pilots are often rough, but that was a looonnnggg 2 hours.  I think I've heard the words "self indulgent" and "lazy" a few times already and I've got to agree with all of you.  I underestimated the cast of SOA b/c they were at least able to elevate some pretty crap dreck.  I like Stephen Moyer (Vampire Bill!), but is he going for some scheming, darker version of Humperdink from the Princess Bride?  It's like he's camping it up on purpose.  The less we talk about the witch lady and her weird henchman (really Sutter?  You and Sagal are really going to do this?), the better.  I don't love the 300/Saw level of bloody useless violence.  Also, the main guy doesn't do anything for me.  I don't care about  him.  I might give it another episode to see if it becomes more enjoyable.  What a time to live!  If it sucks, there are 1 million other shows to watch.  Ha.

[Sandman87]

I watched it tonight. This show has tremendous snark potential: Good enough to watch, bad enough to make fun of. Like bobbyjoe said, comedy gold. I think I'll stick with it for a while.

I kept wondering about the electric guitars I heard during the show. Where did one plug them in back in the 1300's?

The guy with the sheep had me quoting Victor Borge out loud: "My father was a shepherd, ye-eh-eh-eh-es!" It's nice that he was able to put his castrating skills to good use later on in the episode. The guy with the sheep, I mean.

I have to wonder if there's some sort of market research telling producers that medieval/fantasy audiences want, nay demand, to see scenes of nobles taking dumps. First Tywin in GoT, now this. Maybe there should be an Emmy Award for "best dump." The constipated groaning would make this episode a shoo-in.

[GaiusB]

Uh, that was the worst historical/pseudo-historical show i have seen for very long time. I really love the genre, GoT, Rome, The Borgia, Vikings, Black Sails, Marco Polo, are amongs my favorite shows, and latest three had very slow start too, but this show seems to be hopelessly bad. I will give it more chance, but so far it fails in every department - writing, acting, production values.

 

I am so glad it was spelled for me that Witch´s accent is Slavic, i would not guessed it and i am from Slavic country. I also wish the plot was something more then reluctant hero/anti-hero wanting vengeance after his wife was murdered, That is about as much original and exciting as FBI agent solving crime or super hero fighting evil bad guys.

Edited September 17, 2015 by GaiusB

[Chaos Theory]

First off my problems with this have nothing to do with Sutter or Sagal (I like them both). I have issues with period Pieces. I may give this a few more episodes because I did really like SOA even to the bitter end but....it may get too complicated too fast for a period piece at least with SOA I understood the general poltics from the start which helped.

[hammaboo]

I will say that upon the rewatch, it wasn't too bad.  It's still clunky, but I didn't hate it so much.  The wife-haunting will get old if it's used constantly. 

 

I did really like the previous-executioner's wife just accepting him / the look on his face at the baby when he touched its head / his whispered "I'm sorry"

 

They are really tapdancing on the line though - are they trying to be campy, or are they trying to be a "serious" show?  There were some wild swings between the two.

[Chaos Theory]

Dogturd is a bit strong. I liked SOA. I just thought Sagals character in it should have been killed off a little (maybe a season) sooner. As for Sutter if you don't like violence for violence sake well then...there you have it.

[Guest]

I loved SOA.  And yet when I read WalnutQueen's post, my response?  Awwwww.  (laughs really loud) WQ, why you gotta say such things. (continues to laugh).

[Guest]

I kept wondering about the electric guitars I heard during the show. Where did one plug them in back in the 1300's?

 

 

A battery made of sheep dung?  Maybe?

[blackwing]

I'm so disappointed.  I absolutely love historical dramas, but especially anything medieval and anything set in Britain.  I loathe two hour premieres of any show.  They make watching a chore.  And this one was one very long chore.  Too many characters, I couldn't figure out who was who.  The acting is generally terrible.  I really didn't need to see Katey Sagal's butt and partial(?) breast.  Above all, it was just so dreadfully boring.  The only part that I thought was exciting was when he just killed Bill Compton's brother with a quick swipe of the blade.  The head just slid right off, they didn't shy away from it at all.

 

Isn't Stephen Moyer from England?  Has he spent too much time in America or playing Bill Compton?  Because he didn't seem to sound English at all.

 

I still saved it on the DVR, so may go back and give it a second chance.