Legacy is a recurring theme in Shannara, as the show takes place in that moment in time where everything seems to be the effect of some cause years ago. But that is how history works, even after the world has been destroyed in nuclear fire. Although prior to "Paranor", much of the season's musings and talks about the past have been mostly talk and mysterious second meanings, this episode forces its characters to confront their pasts in real and tangible ways. In many ways, this is the best of Shannara when its characters confront the past - whether they be real, imagined, or through time travel.
After reaching Paranor, Bandon is trapped by Allanon into a prison in the hopes of keeping him contained forever. But Bandon's contingency by infecting Flick is what leads to Wil and Mareth disobeying Allanon to retrieve the Warlock Lord's skull. Allanon himself denied himself that he could be Mareth's father, but the results say otherwise when access to the skull definitely requires a druid and a Shannara. I had some reservations about the show sidelining Allanon again during the start of the season, but having Mareth at Wil's side makes the decision to do so easier to swallow as Malese Jow shares as much chemistry with Austin Butler as he does with Manu Bennett. Part of it is how the show wants to present itself - beautiful young people adventuring in a dangerous, fantasy world - but part of it is also that theme of legacy in this show. It's probably not by simple choice or need for bombast (or more beautiful people sitting near a watering hole looking more beautiful) to have Wil and Mareth travel back and meet a young Shae Ohmsford, nor is it an accident for Wil to have so much influence in his past as he searches for the skull. Given how much more of this season is about Wil trying to reconcile what he knew about his father's memory and legacy, there is bound some substantial developments in the future.
Eretria's past also surfaces as we learn that Cogline is also a druid, mirroring Wil and Allanon's roles of protector and ward. Whereas Wil is a descendant of a legendary hero, Eretria on the other hand is almost a dark mirror of Wil, with her fate more tied into the realm of demons as part of her family history. It's also with Eretria and Cogline that the show returns to the small glimpses its post-apocalyptic setting since the premiere, something that was sorely missing and almost felt that, in my opinion, was nearly excised at the expense of the show's overall increase in quality. There's something odd but settling seeing Cogline having set up a prison for a wraith by mashing together druidic magic and good old fashioned jail bars coursing with electricity. In any case, it will be interesting to see as the show continues not only to divide Eretria from Wil, but starts to cause them to diverge in completely opposite ways.
Jax, meanwhile, has remained somewhat nebulous, though we learn his bounty hunting career and his old soldier days are more connected than expected. It's a little odd for him to hold a particular connection to one soldier under his command (unless he's dropping off his gains to other widows of the border legion), but it drives home the point nonetheless. It's only when the Crimson arrive and kill a little boy (a little too cartoonishly evil even for justifiable fanatics like the Crimson) that forces Jax to rethink his worldview. For Jax, the intrusion of the Crimson into his memory of what I assume are better times and better friends eventually drive him to draw a line in the sand against the Crimson than to merely use them as a means to an end. On the flip side, Queen Tamlin is the one character who doesn't really have much in the way of active development. Her legacy is just as important as a major political player in the world, but at an individual level, much of what we learn about her is simply told to us. If it's not from Lyria or Tamlin's her words herself, it is from the words of Bandon or Cogline, repeating the course of the last war and her decisions. Whereas Jax receives the less wordy explanations interspersed by vague flashes or the past, Tamlin is the one that feels like we're reading a history textbook, having facts recited to us.
Regardless, whenever Shannara leans heavily on the past and thoughts of legacy, it generally shines brighter. "Paranor" is a strong showing as it brings to surface a lot of the mystery of the characters and the world, and the way both are influenced by the recent and distant past. In a sense (though I haven't read the books), Shannara is a show about a generation of people and how they want to forge a future, but with a past that sometimes keeps them from doing so. Whether it is some family pedigree, or some ancient and malevolent evil, they are all sort of the same. Sometimes a little too similar.
Miscellaneous thoughts:
- Not simply interesting to learn that Cogline is a druid, but he's definitely a different kind of druid. He has this affinity for technology and/or electricity that was hinted at in the premiere, and even his magic attacks have this electrical feel to them. This is even before his steampunk-esque getup.
- I'm not entirely one for time-travel stories (you'd have to best 12 Monkeys), so I feel like Wil and Mareth in past-Shadyvale feels more like idyllic-dream-world-unforunately-invaded-by-wraiths as a prison for the skull than an actual time machine. But we shall find out.
- I liked the framing of Allanon and Bandon on opposite sides behind the cage, as if they were the angel and devil speaking into Wil's ears.
- I'm not entirely a fan of the episode hanging on that cliffhanger despite the fact that the remainder of the season is being aired two episodes at a time. The Shadyvale jaunt could definitely have been a single episode if planned for.
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