Willow | Chapter 5: “Wildwood” Episode Guide

Our band of heroes are on the run from the Gales. With little means of defense against the fearsome beings, Willow unveils a magical flamethrower of sorts. The group decides their only option is to flee to the mysterious Wildwood.

“The Wildwood is seductive,” Thraxus says as they enter the strange forest. Elora finds its beauty mesmerizing as a brooding Jade explains that the Bone Reavers who killed her family live there.

Willow attempts to continue Elora’s training in sorcery, emphasizing “a strict system of magical pedagogy.” Elora must learn to concentrate her powers, though she is impatient to use the fairy Cherlindrea’s powerful wand.

After surviving a possession by dark powers, Graydon has more than friendly affections for Elora, but is unsure how to act on his feelings. As Boorman explains his own theories of love, the warrior discovers bone fragments on the ground. Realizing they’re about to be ambushed, he assures his cohort that he has a plan.

Taken prisoner by the Bone Reavers, the companions meet the group’s leader, Scorpia, with whom Boorman has a checkered and romantic past. Scorpia resents the fact that Boorman survived imprisonment in the horrid troll-filled mines of Skellin but did not return to her side once he escaped.

Kit reveals her royal identity and their mission to save her brother, pleading to be set free. A vengeful Jade ridicules their captors. Scorpia has the others locked up, but keeps the hostile Jade behind, explaining that “she’ll make good sport.”

Imprisoned together, Graydon and Willow discuss the former’s preoccupation with Elora. As the latter sees it, Graydon must set aside his personal feelings to let Elora fulfill her destiny. While being held, they’re surprised to discover a community of Brownies, including Willow’s old friend Rool, who gives them a plan of escape.

Sharing another cell, Kit argues with Elora about her feelings for Jade. “I feel sorry for her,” Elora says of Jade, “for loving someone who can’t love her back.” The young sorceress-in-training reveals that she’s taken Cherlindrea’s wand as a means of escape.

Alone with Scorpia, Boorman tells her of his escape from the mines of Skellin, imprisonment at Tir Asleen, and how Madmartigan’s group failed to locate the Kymerian Cuirass. When she asks of the others, an angry Boorman mentions someone named Allagash, whom he hopes suffered at the hands of the trolls.

When Elora and Kit are recaptured, Jade draws a knife on Scorpia and a fight ensues. Scorpia discovers the mark of General Kael on her opponent’s neck, and reveals that she and Jade are the last of his children. Once slaves, Kael’s people had joined Bavmorda to earn their freedom. After Kael was defeated by Madmartigan, an infant Jade was taken captive and raised at Tir Asleen.

Willow and Graydon discover that a celebration has begun and good feelings have prevailed. The Bone Reavers serve no evil power, but desire to live peacefully and free. Jade “is reborn, bathed in the love of her family, and the values that we still fight for: freedom, rebellion, passion, and joy, ‘til the break of dawn!” as Scorpia says.

Dancing and music ensue as the group partakes in “truth plums.” Boorman and Scorpia rekindle their old feelings. A newly beardless Graydon tries to reassure Elora of his goodness. When she asks him who he is now, he explains that “I guess I’m still trying to figure that out.” Kit and Jade, however, continue to struggle to reconnect.

Beginning to question her usual confidence, Kit asks Elora for advice. She tells her to apologize to Jade. “Tell her that you understand,” Elora says. “Tell her that you want to get better, and that you’ll be there waiting for her when she’s ready for you to prove it.”

Willow reassures a despairing Graydon that he is a good person. “We all have doubts and insecurities,” the Nelwyn says, “you’ve just got to fight through those and be bold.” Willow admits that his own success has been as reliant on “dumb luck” as anything else. When Elora overhears his admittance to be an “aging, talentless hack,” she dashes away.

Alone in the woods, Kit opens up to Jade. She needs her, in every way. In spite of the revelation about her family, Jade doesn’t care that they come from opposing groups. After Kit apologizes, Jade reveals she’s in love with her. As they’re about to kiss, a creature suddenly appears and takes Kit away. The party is ambushed by trolls, and Willow is missing too.

The Wildwood was previously seen as Cherlindrea’s forest in the 1988 Willow movie.

In the script, Toth is likened to Lord Humungus, a memorable heavyweight character played by Kjell Nilsson in the Mad Max sequel, The Road Warrior.

The grotto Kit and Elora are imprisoned in is called the “Rattler” for the enormous snake skull that encloses its entrance.

The Bone Reaver encampment was shot at Lydney Park, a country estate in the Forest of Dean district in Gloucestershire, England.

The knights that seize Boorman in the tavern flashback wear the sigil of Galladoorn on their shoulder armor. This symbol was seen on a standard in the Galladoorn army in the 1988 Willow movie.

Kevin Pollock returns as Rool, and though he may have hung up the mouse hat he wore in Willow (1988), he now sports a comfortable pair of slippers made from animal feet.

Ganush wears the Brownie equivalent of a printed concert tour tee with a cool Eborsisk illustration on it.