Birds

Beastmaster Episode Review

In which Sharak's not an eagle, he's a man.

I Predict

Given that they didn't even try to name it something else, I'm betting that they are going for the typical Monsters Attack! template. Dar and Tao will wander into town in the middle of a bird attack, investigate a little, meet the person controlling the birds but not realize it.

As she (we can see her in the ad) realizes that they are getting close, she'll take control of Sharak, Dar's eagle friend, and send him to kill Dar. There may or may not be a mention of Sharak's background as a sorcerer turned into a bird here. Dar doesn't know about it, and the Ancient One doesn't look to be available. Dar will eventually "get through" to Sharak and break the Bad Guy's control.

A big "ironic" ending in this story model is often that the Bad Guy will get pummeled by her own creatures, so expect a scene of her shrieking as we get a starling-eye's view dive bombing her.

Was I Right?

They find the two bird-hunters in the forest, instead of wandering into a town, but I was right about them meeting Aviana, the woman controlling the birds, and not realizing she was behind the attacks.

The thing that made me sit up and take an interest in this one was that not only did Sharak's past come into play, we got to see him in human form explaining it all to Dar. The writer took full advantage of the situation to have Sharak's struggle to break free of Aviana's control pop him back to being a man. (Nice chest, by way.) I really liked his conversations with Dar and wish they hadn't been so rushed.

The ending explanation of how/why he turned back into an eagle was pretty good, too. Faced with a choice between being a bird and going splat at the bottom of a cliff, I'd be a bird. They needed to do something about the blue-screen, however. The falling effect was lame.

Iara is growing into a winning character, though I would have thought she'd be able to kick Aviana's butt rather than get into a hair-pulling contest. And nice try from the actress trying to "charm" a bird into telling her who's controlling the birds. Slinking up to a parakeet cannot be easy.

What We Learned

• If someone doesn't start talking soon, Iara will make this forest a real quiet place.
• It's against the law of nature to seek revenge. (Yeah. Right.)
• Sharak's not an eagle, he's a man.

What Did I Think?

Good use of the story concept to pull in existing characters and backstory.