The Bastard Son and the Devil Himself episode 5 review: Gory ending to lush episode

The Bastard Son and the Devil Himself premiered on Netflix on October 28, 2022, bringing an acute new angle to a Young Adult series by Sally Green.

The brutally different show gave a glimpse into what an R-rated fantasy show could look like, while also emphasizing the factor of not taking itself too seriously. The fifth episode was an ideal example of what the series aims to be.

Having just crossed the halfway mark, The Bastard Son and the Devil Himself did not hold back from a colorful exploration of various facades within the magical world of Fairborn and Blood Witches. Each of them are intricately bound by familial politics and struggles for power.

The grayness of the characters and the lack of absolute good or evil was one of the defining factors that set this episode, and all the episodes that followed it, apart.

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The Bastard Son and the Devil Himself episode 5 review: A magic wand in technical proficiency

The fifth episode of The Bastard Son and the Devil Himself started off in quite a compelling manner. It saw Nathan (Jay Lycurgo), Annalise (Nadia Parkes), and Gabriel (Emilien Vekemans) traveling through the beautiful lands of the French countryside. The cinematography's evident focus on the lush greens around is one of the better things on the screen.

The plot was expected to get thicker by this point and it did. With the teenagers running into the Ozanne clan, the episode started looking interesting by the first quarter. With Nathan's history and heritage, he was, of course, welcomed like a messiah of sorts, but there was a persistent air of dominance that was depicted in a very subtle and measured manner.

This was one of the more consistent things about The Bastard Son and the Devil Himself. The pacing of the show was so well-thought out that not a single episode or sequence felt boring or out of place.

Going back to the fifth episode, it had a lot of sequences that are conventionally a part of young adult novels like Annalise and Nathan's budding romance. Some of their scenes had some incredibly well-defined technical work, like their passionate sequence in the field that ended with Annalise blowing out a shed with her powers.

However, the most brilliantly done sequence in this episode of The Bastard Son and the Devil Himself was the ending. In a finale that pulled out all the trays of brutality from the cupboard, the trio and the Ozanne family witnessed an uncanny amount of violence as the Fairborn witches decided to invade the Ozanne home.

Battles in fantasy adaptations rarely have this amount of blood and violence. It was so quick and well-developed, it had a certain air of comic influence in it.

With a kid stabbing her father, blood and brains being blown out, and an air of total collapse and violence, this episode ended on a note that would make even the finale look dry (no spoilers intended).

Anyhow, from this point on, the show does not look like it is slowing down and it will hopefully continue to surprise viewers in a positive way.

All the episodes of The Bastard Son and the Devil Himself are now streaming on Netflix.