The Bastard Executioner is a 2015 drama, which airs on the FX Network. It was created by Kurt Sutter, who is best known for The Shield and Sons of Anarchy. The series is a new realm for Sutter and is sent in the war torn 14th century Wales. As with other Sutter dramas, Sutter appears as The Dark Mute and Katey Sagal plays Annora of the Alders.

The series, which features 10 episodes, stars Lee Jones, as Wilkin Brattle. During the pilot, we witness Wilkin fighting for the king’s army. He is surrounded and overwhelmed, before being struck down. He is infested with some type of flying demon, before being saved by some mystical lady, after promising to give up the sword. Next, Brattle wakes up in his bed, where he is greeted by his pregnant wife.

After this, he teams up with some old allies to rob and plunder. Meanwhile, we’re introduce to Isabel Kiffin (Sarah White), who is engaging in intercourse with Baron Ventris (Brian F. O’Byrne). Afterwards, Wilkin and his crew of misfits kill some of the army’s men, before ransacking and looting their camp. Unfortunately, Baron sends his men to Wilkin’s camp and kills everyone, including Wilkin’s pregnant wife.

Wilkin Brattle vows to seek revenge, before being stopped by Annora of the Alders, who insists he will only kill himself. To prevent giving anything anyway and because I stopped around this point, I’ll stop here.

The Bastard Executioner Review

So, how is the show? Well, there were a few things that I liked. The time period is great and the villages were very cool. This encouraged me to watch the show, along with Kurt Sutter’s previous successes. I found the Isabel Kiffin character, which was played by Sarah White, to be very intriguing for some reason. Unfortunately, she was only shown a few minutes, if that.

Flora Spencer-Longhurst as Baroness Lady Love Ventris was also great. The rest of the characters barely differentiated themselves from one another. Of course, Katey Sagal did stand out for her horrendous Jamaican accent. Even the sleep lover was not compelling and the jobs fell flat.

Also, the attempt to throw religion into the show was definitely laughable. Crosses everywhere and priests, yet a borderline pedophile scene, child killing and baby killing. Yes, Sutter was obviously attempting to shock the viewer with the absurdities. In one sense, he did achieve this goal, with a shockingly bad show.

At some points, I felt the show was going to be so bad that it was good, but it just turned out to be bad. The story is painfully difficult to follow. I knew nobody’s name, until I looked them up afterwards and I barely care. Also, the video game like battle scenes are cringe worthy, as was much of the rest. If you’re going to watch any television shows this season, this one is well worth skipping. A 4 out of 10 is deserved.