In Review: The Shannara Chronicles – Druid

Synopsis: A year after the war of the forbidding, a mysterious figure interrupts Wil’s new life; Eretria reunites with someone from her past; Allanon uncovers a plot that could send the Four Lands into darkness.

Review: The second season of Shannara Chronicles picks up one year after Amberle sacrificed herself to save the Elkris. Wil is now a healer working with the gnomes and Eretria is living with Cogline and his people, but when a vision of Amberle tells her that an evil is coming. She becomes compelled to leave.

The world is still trying to find its feet again after the war. Allanon has found a cult led by Bandon. This cult is trying to resurrect the demons that the combined forces of the Four Lands fought to defeat.

If that isn’t enough. There is also an army of elves led by General Riga, which is seeking to put an end to all magic users and their main target is Wil who despite his new role as healer. He still wields the power of the Shannara stones.

This opening episode is setting a fair bit up and it also introduces us to a few new characters. One is the daughter of Allanon, who has sought Wil out to help her find him. The other is Lyra who has become a very good friend for Eretria and looks set to follow her in the quest to find Wil.

The performances from all actors were pretty solid and it was brilliant as always to see Manu Bennet return as Allanon, which gives the series a little more oomph in the acting stakes.

The new additions of Mareth (Malese Jow) and Lyra (Vanessa Morgan) are going to be fun to watch and the eventual reunion of Eretria and Wil is going to make for interesting viewing. Especially given her unrequited feelings for him. 

Much like last year. The post-apocalyptic future of this world combined with elves, humans, and gnomes lends a different vibe than we have seen in prior fantasy shows. The characters are likable. Even the villains and the performances are fairly consistent.

The action is fairly frequent in this opener. I enjoyed watching Eretria dispatch three trolls and Allanon’s fight was pretty compelling.

This was very much set up for the season arc, which has some potential to be a little more compelling than last year now that we know who the players are.