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“The Shannara Chronicles” recap (1.10): One with Nature

Previously on The Shannara Chronicles, our favorite Trio found Safehold, Eretria realized her blood was the key, so she used it to open the Bloodfire, and Amberle ran inside.

And the Bloodfire turned out to be the portal to a shiny beach.

A woman tells her that they’re out of time, and Amberle recognizes the voice as one she’s heard her entire life. And that’s because the voice is her own.

She tells herself to face her destiny, and Amberle tries to give her Bloodfire counterpart the seed. But it turns out, she is the seed.

Still in the chapel, Wil yells at Eretria to wake up, because he can’t lose both of his girls at the same time. He cries and his elfstones glow. He presses them against Eretria’s chest and wishes with all his might. Eretria wakes up, confused and worried about Amberle.

When Wil says that Amberle walked through the fire, Eretria knows she needs to open it again. She can barely stand, weak with blood loss, open wound in her hand, but for Amberle, she does it. She stumbles to her feet and puts the spire back in her wound. The fire opens up again, and Wil starts shouting for the elven princess.

Shiny!Amberle tells Amberle that her feelings will hold her back if she lets them, that the decision to sacrifice herself is hers and hers alone. Amberle freaks out, because she knows what this means, and she doesn’t want it. It’s like in Buffy’s “Prophecy Girl”; Buffy wanted to quit being the slayer. She doesn’t want to die. Shiny!Amberle says that she has doomed us all and Amberle follows Wil’s voice off of Bloodfire Beach and into her lovers’ welcoming arms.

But the celebration can’t last long. The last leaf of the Ellcrys has fallen, and the demons are free.

The Trio grabs their ever-present torches and try to get out, but soon find themselves being chased by trolls. Eretria locks Amberle and Wil on the other side of the gate, saying she’ll hold the trolls back, that it’s her duty to make sure Amberle makes it back to the tree, and heck if she’ll fail that mission.

Amberle hates this plan.

But Eretria insists. This is her sacrifice, and she’s making it willingly. She kisses the wrong elf goodbye and turns to fight the trolls, the Brave Little Rover.

Amberle and Wil run outside, and they watch more trolls go down into the tunnel. The two of them hate this, and it kills Amberle to leave Eretria, but she knows it’s what her rover wants. So they go, for Eretria.

Battle looms in the distance. Amberle’s forgotten handmaiden is having a rough go of it. Everyone is fighting and dying.

Wil and Amberle are riding along a beach at sunset, but they can’t even enjoy it because of the whole impending apocalypse thing.

But as they get closer to the Ellcrys, they see the demon army. They have to hide out until dark so they can get past them undercover, and Amberle conveniently knows of a lovely little underground sex den.

Amberle says she wishes they met under different circumstances, but Wil says they’ll make it work. She’s talking like it’s over; he’s talking like it’s just beginning. He’s sure they’re going to be fine, and she agrees. She’s not afraid anymore. Eretria inspired her, and she knows what she has to do.

She tries to tell him that she’s the seed but ends up telling him she loves him instead. They have sex despite the fact that they should probably get some rest before going to war, and when they’re done, Amberle declares everything perfect. Which. There’s a demon war going on, and you left Eretria for dead. Also, I’m pretty sure we were all queerbaited. So, I’d argue it’s not perfect.

Using Wil’s elfstones, they make it to the Ellcrys, and Amberle is ready to do what she has to do.

She turns to Wil and tells him: She’s the seed. She has to become the Ellcrys. They cry and kiss goodbye, and it’s time. Amberle goes into the tree, and as soon as she’s out of sight, the demon army crumbles to dust. The tree springs to life and everyone is saved; everything is safe. Well, everything except our PrincessRover ship.

Wil caresses his princess tree and yells at Allanon because he knew all along that she would have to become a tree. But he tells him it doesn’t matter what he knew or what Wil thinks because the choice was her own in the end.

Wil decides if he can’t have his princess, he should, at least, save his rover, so he rides off back to Safehold.

In Safehold, Eretria is dragged by trolls to their leader, and when the leader’s mask is pulled off, her face is wrought with surprise. She exclaims, “It’s you!”

And that’s it. I won’t lie; I’m a little disappointed. Maybe it’s because it was a short show, but I feel like why even have Eretria say those things to Amberle in the pool if they weren’t going to explore the possibilities of Princess Rover? Why not just have her have an ex-girlfriend and let that be the end of it? Why not have her kiss both Wil and Amberle goodbye? I feel like they should have either committed to it fully or not done it at all, this in-between stuff feels icky. Also, I thought this show was about fierce, badass women, but things didn’t turn out well for any of them. Amberle’s handmaiden almost got raped and then had to watch someone get bludgeoned to death. Even the woman who was dating the prince-turned-king with her awesome ear-armor got a sword through the gut. Somehow it ended up being about the men in the end. Which I guess was foreshadowed by it being called The Shannara Chronicles and Wil being the Last Son of Shannara or whatever, but Amberle seemed so at the center of it. And now she’s a tree.

What do you think? Am I being too hard on the show? Do you think if we got a second season, Eretria’s queerness would ever be mentioned again? Is that the end of Amberle and her perfect face?

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