The second episode of Lucasfilm’s live-action Disney+ Willow sequel series begins with a flashback to the period between the events of the original film and the new show, with a younger Willow Ufgood (Warwick Davis) visiting Queen Sorsha (Joanne Whalley) at the kingdom of Tir Asleen. The goateed and convincingly de-aged Willow tries to convince Sorsha to let him train the child known as Elora Danan in the ways of wizardry.
Willow and Sorsha don’t see eye-to-eye on this matter, and we learn that the queen has sent her husband Madmartigan off in search of a magical artifact called the Kymerian Cuirass. Then we cut back to the present, where the now-adult Elora Danan (Ellie Bamber) has been taken to the Nelwyns’ new underground home so Willow can indeed begin that training.
The rest of the Nelwyn remain unimpressed with Elora when she fails to demonstrate any immediate aptitude for magic, even flunking the “finger test” as performed by the previous High Aldwin (played by the legendary Billy Barty in the movie) though Willow is quick to remind his brethren that he also failed that test at first. It seems that though Willow has claimed the title, he remains as unsure of himself as a master sorcerer as Sorsha was in the flashback. We get some good interaction between Willow and his daughter Mims (now played by Warwick’s real-life daughter Annabelle Davis) before Elora goes missing in frustration and the team has to band together to find her. Meanwhile, present-day Sorsha sends out Commander Ballentine (Ralph Ineson from The Witch and BBC’s original The Office) to track down Elora Danan and bring the prophesized princess back to Tir Asleen, not knowing that Ballentine has been possessed by the dark magic of the Gales due to an injury he suffered in the previous episode. When Willow finds Elora at the riverside considering her place in this fantasy realm, he agrees to join her quest to rescue Airk if she helps him defeat the rising power of Bavmorda. Then the party heads west again, bidding farewell to the Nelwyn village, and Elora’s training begins in earnest.
We get some more information about Thraxus’s (Amar Chadha-Patel) relationship to the still-absent Madmartigan, while Kit (Ruby Cruz) and Jade (Erin Kellyman) confront their anxieties about the previously helpless kitchen maid they knew only as Dove being the key to the future of the realm. There’s also a nice scene between Graydon (Tony Revolori) and Elora when he comforts her after she becomes disenchanted with the idea of learning sorcery. The episode ends with Elora being abducted by Ballentine, just as she’s finally practiced herself into completing her first spell. It’s a tantalizing cliffhanger that will mean plenty of drama and action for the third installment next week, and a conclusion that will likely put to bed any lingering questions regarding Elora Danan’s true identity (a conversation that’s come up both among characters in-universe and among viewers such as myself). Now that the narrative has truly gotten underway and the characters are established, I enjoyed this second episode more than the first, and I’m especially loving the cover-song end credits music needle-drops that close out each episode– this episode’s example being a haunting new version of Donovan’s “Hurdy-Gurdy Man” by Australian all-female band Sir Jude. The great thing about this Willow revival being a series instead of a movie is that the story can take its time getting where it’s going and we can get to know the players involved, pretty much all of whom have already earned my attention and my concern for their well-being as they venture forward. But what additional dangers lie ahead besides the need to save Elora from Ballentine and his newly bedeviled men? Let’s find out together, shall we?
New episodes of Willow are released on Wednesdays, exclusively via Disney+.