The Bastard Son & The Devil Himself review: Colorful, gory & action-packed

The Bastard Son & The Devil Himself follows the story of Nathan, chosen by the Fairborn Witches to fulfill a prophecy that will put an end to their war against the Blood Witches. The series is now streaming on Netflix.

Story

Nathan, the son of the wolf, Marcus Edge, a murderous Blood Witch, grows up under the watchful eye of the Fairborn Council and his grandmother. They hope that he won’t grow up to be like his father.

As he is close to turning 17, the council begins noticing that he is showing signs of being violent, but instead of getting rid of him, they plan to train him to fight his own father.

A prophecy by a witch with a vision suggests that the wolf’s own blood will kill him. The Fairborn Witches believe that Nathan is destined to murder his own father and put an end to the clan war between the witches.

Things go sideways when Marcus Edge gets to the head of the Fairborn Council, leaving Soul, the chief executive of the council, with no option but to go on a rampage of his own.

Soul turns to a forbidden spell to steal the powers of other witches in order to kill Marcus, while Nathan breaks free from the Fairborn Witches to find Mercury, someone who can aid him in attaining his powers.

Performances

Jay Lycurgo as Nathan comes off as a decent lead, who struggles a bit because of the lack of work put into the character. Nathan is nothing but a good person trying to do the right thing.

Thus, it’s hard to root for him as he has no dark side. Oftentimes, other characters end up overshadowing Nathan once they get into the frame.

Nadia Parkes as Annalise comes off as an interesting love interest who gets her due, owing to the power her character possesses and the chemistry Parkes has with Lycurgo.

Emilien Vekemans, though introduced later in the series as Gabriel, takes the limelight away from Lycurgo for most of the time. There is also a good amount of tension built among these three leads, and they portray it very well.

Isobel Jesper Jones as Jessica emits the evil nature of her character well, and can easily be considered more villainous than Soul, who turned out to be the antagonist.

Positives

The show ditches the same old elements revolving around witches to bring a more down-to-earth and realistic tale. At first, it’s awkward to see magic mixed with modern-day weapons, but it all works fine, along with the well-choreographed fight scenes.

The gore is balanced adequately, so the show comes out a bit light-hearted with only a few scenes that are hard to watch.

Lastly, for a show centered around witches and gore, it’s quite colorful and the locations chosen are mesmerizing and fun.

Negatives

The first episode is a bit bumpy and tries to put everything together in one place, and it’s hard to get into the world that is being presented.

The show’s ability to keep you hooked manages to get you through that bump, with the next few episodes finally exploring each and every aspect of this clan war.

There is an episode dedicated to Annalise, which is quite fast-paced. Though her story gets everything right and tells a lot about the character, it’s questionable if the creators really wanted to explore that owing to that pace.

Verdict

The Bastard Son & The Devil Himself is an engaging, action-packed drama with a more realistic approach to the witches.

With well-paced episodes that end on a note that will leave audiences wanting to know what’s next, The Bastard Son & The Devil Himself is certainly binge-watch material.

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Also Read: The Bastard Son & The Devil Himself ending explained: Does Nathan put an end to the clan wars?