At the beginning of the episode, Veran’s brother Harka (Mackenzie Crook) sends Hella (Laura Donnelly) on a mission. He wants her to track someone down. Divis (Nikolaj Lie Kaas) takes Cait (Eleanor Worthington-Cox) to a cave so she can recover from her fall. After the intro, we see that Phelan (Julian Rhind-Tutt) has started a new life under a different name. Phelan is not too concerned with the Romans traveling that far north. He believes that they’ll be safe for the time being. Then, he speaks about his sister and pretends she is still alive. Phelan’s wife is pregnant and on the verge of giving birth.

Phelan goes on about his normal day. He gets along with the others and seems to fit into the village very well. That night, Queen Antedia (Zoe Wanamaker) is brought into the town in a cage to be auctioned off. She is humiliated but goes along with it well. After that, Kerra’s head is brought onto the stage to be sold. Phelan begins bidding on the head in hopes of winning. In the end, Phelan wins the head. Veran tells the group that it is time to divide and go elsewhere. He tells everyone where to go but his rival is not happy with his commands. He wants to know what Veran’s strategy is.

Quane (David Bradley) tells Willa (Jodie McNee) that the tribes do not know what they’re up against. Emperor Claudius (Steve Pemberton) tells Aulus (David Morrissey) that he can stay in Britannia. He wants Aulus to wipe out the druids and Domitius (Paul Chahidi) is going to stay with him. As the Emperor leaves, Amena (Annabel Scholey) speaks with Aulus. Veran tells another druid about Ania (Liana Cornell) and everything she has sacrificed for the tribe. Veran is promptly called out by his rival, Rock. He wants to know what the gods told Veran about the dead man. Quane and the others are not happy that Willa has betrayed them.

Willa and Quane reluctantly admit that it is true. Rock challenges Veran. Divis tells Cait that she is lucky she didn’t suffer more. Cait is not happy that Divis has made her fast for two moons. He reminds her that he was a druid before she was born. He claims that this is her path and she must walk it alone. Meanwhile, Phelan has a change of heart and intends to leave his wife. However, he doesn’t say anything when he learns that his wife has given birth to a boy. Veran gets angry at Willa and tells her that she has betrayed him. Quane has fled and he encourages her to do the same. Ania learns that Veran and Rock will participate in combat.

The winner will cut off the other man’s head. Phelan goes to his wife and tells her the truth about his past. She isn’t willing to accept it. Phelan is tortured by the locals until he agrees to stick with his new identity. After that, the showdown between Veran and his rival begins. Rock or Rook is allowed to strike first. However, Veran does something to make the sword very heavy. Therefore, he is only able to lodge the sword into Veran’s face. Veran gets to go next and he cuts the man’s head off swiftly. Phelan decides to flee. He takes his sister’s head on his way out. However, he is captured by Hella a short time later.

Veran’s wound is tended to. Aulus gives Vitus (Gershwyn Eustache) orders for tracking down Cait. Amena watches as the army brutally slays helpless women. Phelan is taken to Harka. They chat a bit before Harka tells Phelan that he has something he wants him to do. Phelan asks about his name and he wants to know how Harka fits into all of this. He says that he is all of this.

 

Britannia Review

At times, Britannia showed great promise this episode. The beginning scenes with Phelan were very good. However, they were overshadowed by the show’s over the top antics. It tries too hard to be shocking and I find that annoying. I believe Britannia could be much better if the writers would only take it more serious. There are plenty of topnotch actors and actresses. The story is somewhat in-depth as well.

The only problem is that the good parts are blurred by the insanely stupid scenes. While it was interesting to see Queen Antedia back, the scenes featuring her were silly. Seeing Phelan’s new life was very interesting. However, I am not sure why they felt the need to torture him for 10 minutes. If the show would change things up a bit and drop the shock attempts, I think it would be much better. Nevertheless, this episode was a big improvement over the last one. It scores a 6.5 out of 10. Catch up with past recaps of Britannia on Reel Mockery!