- Title: The Shannara Chronicles – Reaper
- wiki: link
Amberle‘s (Poppy Drayton) quest to take the seed to the Bloodfire gets off to a rocky start when the company is taken captive by the Rovers. Leaving Wil (Austin Butler) and the soldiers to die, Cephelo (James Remar) takes the Elf Stones and the Elven princess as his payment for Eretria‘s (Ivana Baquero) freedom. Eretria’s betrayal of her father figure marks an important turning point for her character choosing to become part of the quest (while also saving the series from going down a dark path given the desires of the Rovers’ leader). Despite his assistance later in the episode, it’s hard to forgive or forget Cephelo’s attempted rape of Amberle.
Eventually what’s left of the company run across the show’s latest demon: the Reaper, who has decimated the city where our heroes had hoped to find their guide to Wilderun. Through Cephelo’s assistance, and some radioactive waste left over from previous generations, the demon is defeated getting the group one small step closer to their goal. While visually impressive, the Reaper is taken out fairly easily.
The episode’s B-story returns the Changeling to the Eleven kingdom where it kills off a major supporting character in an attempt to throw a huge wrench into our heroes’ plans. We also see Allanon (Manu Bennett) teach Bandon (Marcus Vanco) how to better use his gift. The episode also marks the first appearance of the Gnomes who, in the opening flashback, murder Amberle’s father and later become the questionable allies of Ander (Aaron Jakubenko) and Tilton (Emilia Burns) who decide to free their enemy from the dungeon for his knowledge of the lands outside the Elves’ reach necessary to learn more about the Dagda Mor‘s (Jed Brophy) plans.