Knightfall: The Black Wolf and the White Wolf

Knightfall: The Black Wolf and the White Wolf | Season 1, Episode 3 | Air Date: December 20, 2017 | Rating: 8/11 |

*SPOILERS AHEAD* If you didn’t know that this space is where episode recaps (with random bits of commentary) occur, now you do. So if your mind’s not ready to know exactly what happened in this week’s episode of Knightfall, avert your eyes. Now. You’ve been warned. 

Ready? Let’s roll.

Wedding plots and family secrets revealed as the search for the Holy Grail continues…

Master Godfrey has come home.

In one part of Paris the Templar Knights bid farewell and lay Godfrey to rest (we’re going to miss you, Sam Hazeldine) while in another, Queen Joan comes to the awful realization that she is pregnant…with Landry’s child, of course. Awful because she and King Philip haven’t had sex together in two years and immaculate conception really isn’t a common occurrence. Joan relays a telling story to her maid, Sophie, of the first and the last time that she angered the king, so rather than face his inevitable wrath, Joan sends Sophie on a mission to purchase an herbal “cure.” But before committing to such a drastic measure, Sophie urges Joan to tell the father and even explore the possibility of running away together. Such a sweet girl, that Sophie.

The Family Ways:

During their daily sword fighting training session, King Philip guilts Landry into acting as their marriage counselor, asking Landry to speak to Joan on his behalf. With a “Landry, you have no idea what it’s like to experience that woman’s passion and then to be so far from it” –plea that settles on Landry with appropriate awkwardness (celibate or not, sleeping with his wife or not, that is one uncomfortable line to subject a monk to), Philip plans a celebration to honor Landry’s promotion to Master of the Temple and give him a reason to approach Joan. Unfortunately, when he does it’s to tell Joan that he needs to step up his newfound Master of the Temple game and be worthy of the title and recovering the Holy Grail. In other words, their affair must end. Of course, this is the last thing that Joan wanted to hear and, heartbroken, she resorts to the “cure.”

Landry, King Philip & Queen Joan

During the festivities, De Nogaret and Gawain whisper. With the broken betrothal between France and England’s Prince Edward still fresh and possibly leading to war, De Nogaret and the Earl of Oxford (Oliver Maltman) also whisper: ambassador Rodrigo of Catalonia’s (Enrique Arce) young assistant revealed himself to actually be Prince Lluis of Catalonia, himself. Rather well and sneakily done of the young prince (King Philip, Queen Joan and Princess Isabella all approve of his charade) and he even commits the full force of Catalonia as France’s allies if needed, but he’s also managed to annoy De Nogaret and the Earl of Oxford to the point where they both feel that he must be dealt with. Was nice knowing you, Prince Lluis.

Draper (Nasser Memarzia) is proving to be the sharpest knight in the temple drawer, this time by figuring out what the key found inside Godfrey is for. Granted, it wasn’t much of a stretch that the key goes to the same lantern as the first clue, but how it goes on the lantern is, well, the key. Another illumination: this time revealing a familiar family crest and where they guess the Grail to be located. When Landry and Tancrede arrive at the dilapidated family estate, it turns out to be Godfrey’s family home and the caretaker reveals the story of the black and the white wolf.

Tancrede

Marcel (the black wolf), tried to kill his brother Raymond (the white wolf), but Raymond survived to forgive his brother. Such an act of mercy drove Marcel to devote himself to God and a new man was born: Godfrey. Years later when Godfrey found the missing Grail (how, exactly?), he made Raymond drink from it which completely healed him. Just as the caretaker (aka Raymond) is about hand over a scroll with the location of the Grail, one of those damned Muslim ninjas (aka  a Saracen) just happens to be skulking around in the shadows, kills Raymond and steals it. The scroll ends up completely burned in a fireplace, but Landry and Tancrede have Nassir, a wounded but still alive Saracen, for information.

So Landry and Tancrede return to the temple with the Saracen in tow much to the angst of many of their brother knights as the Saracens are considered sworn enemies: Draper treats him, prophecies of gloom and doom ensue and Gawain ( who especially loathes them) threatens to – literally – go medieval on the Nassir … who mysteriously ends up dead…

…to be continued.

Landry & Queen Joan  

Notables:

• This episode was pleasantly strategic: Gawain’s animosity towards Landry is reaching a dangerous place and I’m positive that Landry’s dismissive, “Shouldn’t you be training initiates?” didn’t sit well on Gawain’s pride. And if anyone is physically (let alone emotionally) in need of the Grail’s fabled healing powers, it’s Gawain.
• De Nogaret’s bare bones atheism is downright admirable as his faith clearly lies in the tangible which is not a bad thing for a lawyer/counsel. What’s not admirable is that he continues to get his creep on by spying on Princess Isabella and Prince Luis through a strategically located peephole as they consummate their love. Didn’t we have this conversation last week? Eww.
• This week, it’s Pope Boniface and Landry’s turn to have a heart to heart.
• Parsifal has two run-ins with Adelina: the first ends with a knee to the groin (ouch) and the second with Adelina slyly relieving Parsifal of Marie’s ring. Apparently, Adelina has been targeting Parsifal…but why?
• Raising an eyebrow towards initiate Pierre (Joey Batey): he seems a bit grudging towards all of this Templar Knight business and he was tasked with watching the Saracen before he was murdered…and then was nowhere to be found. Too obvious?
• If there’s such a thing as #TeamTancrede, I’m on it. That said: don’t let me down.

Quotables:

• “I try not to lose my head…or the heads of those who work for me.” (Ambassador Rodrigo of Catalonia)
• “Landry, do you really believe that you are the first Templar to succumb to the temptations of the flesh?” (Pope Boniface)
• “This is Nicholas, my assistant. He fetches me wine and wipes my behind when I need him to.” (William De Nogaret)

Next week’s episode: “He Who Discovers His Own Self, Discovers God”