‘Knightfall’ Season 2, Episode 7 ‘Death Awaits’ Recap: Despair

The Knights Templar near their final days after their surrender to the French in Knightfall. As they travel the road to Paris, some of their brothers die along the way. Nothing awaits them other than a cold cell in the dungeons as well as the horrifying thought of being burned alive. Despite these terrible images, the Templars hold on to their faith. In times of persecution by man, the Lord, and their brotherhood, are their only sources of strength.

On Monday night’s episode of Knightfall, the Knights Templar face their fates as dictated by the French Monarchs. Landry (Tom Cullen) and Tancrede (Simon Merrells) suffer torture under King Philip (Ed Stoppard). Meanwhile, Princess Isabella (Genevieve Gaunt) betrays Queen Margaret (Clementine Nicholson), making her marriage to Prince Louis (Tom Forbes) invalid. As the Templars suffer heavy losses, they cling to their faith and each other.

Demoralized

History

King Philip’s ruthlessness reaches beyond an average person’s limits. After binding the Templars in chains and making them travel on foot, bearing a sizeable amount of firewood, he has Grandmaster Jacques De Molay (Matthew Marsh) tied to the stake. In a kangaroo court comprised of the townsfolk of Paris, William De Nogaret (Julian Ovenden) reads the charges against the Templars. Also, Pope Clement (Stephen Fewell) seconds these accusations, inciting the crowd to cheer and hail insults at the Templars. To further demoralize the Templars, De Nogaret has Kelton (Daniel Campbell) recite lies against them. In Grandmaster De Molay’s final moments, he utters that God will avenge their deaths and serve justice in his terms. Shocked, the rest of the Templars could do nothing but watch as the fires consumed the Grandmaster’s body.

Mutilated

History

Thinking that witnessing the Grandmaster’s death is not enough, King Philip tortures Tancrede. He wishes to find the Templars’ hidden stash of gold, but Tancrede does not yield despite having a portion of his forehead’s skin removed. Also, King Philip has a torture device meant to squeeze a person to death made for Landry. He indulges himself in seeing Landry suffer, but Landry does not let King Philip’s antics affect him. Seeing this, King Philip decides to let Landry’s suffering end temporarily, shifting his attention to killing the other Templars instead.

Devil Incarnate

History

The French King’s brutality does not manifest itself in mistreating the Templars alone. Without any proper means of explaining herself, King Philip has his men arrest Queen Margaret, set up by Princess Isabella. After hurling insults and giving his verdict on her, the King has Margaret bound in chains, stripped of her gown and rid of her lengthy hair, then locked away in a tower. Upon learning of his wife’s fate, Prince Louis orders his father to free his wife, but to no avail. Instead, the king goes as far as humiliating his son in the throne room. Margaret and Louis could do nothing but scream in anguish as they begrudgingly accept their new fates. That evening, Louis confronts his sister, Isabella, about Margaret’s imprisonment. Isabella does nothing short of a disapproving look, confirming Louis’ suspicion.

Gawain (Pádraic Delaney) suffers the same fate as the Templars once he decides to turn against the King. Since Tancrede revealed no leads to the Templars’ gold, Gawain volunteers to search for the gold instead. However, he unexpectedly finds Ann (Claire Cooper) and Grecia (Louise Bond) as well as Landry’s daughter, Eve. Filled with pity for Eve and anger against King Philip for ordering the murder of innocent children, Gawain returns to theFrench Castle. Once there, he attempts to slay the King and, were it not for De Nogaret’s call for reinforcements, almost succeeds in doing so. Unfortunately, French soldiers got hold of him and forced him onto a table, letting King Philip nail his injured ankle.

Final Prayers

History

Having learned of his daughter’s security, Landry accepts whatever his fate may be. In their last moments together, Landry, Tancrede, Gawain, Vasant (Joseph Ollman), and two other imprisoned Templars hold hands to pray the Lord’s Prayer. Rhone (Dean Ridge) later joins them, freed from his cage that hung outside. The Templars are then bound to the stakes. De Nogaret enjoys every bit of lighting the first stake, letting the others hear the cries of their burning brothers. Unable to contain himself, Kelton tries to take back his statements but unfortunately, has his actions backfire as the King hands him over to the townsfolk eager to slaughter him. No words came from any of the Templars as they waited for their time to perish.

‘Knightfall’ Season 2, Episode 7 ‘Death Awaits’ Final Verdict

Knightfall’s second season only has eight episodes, and many (such as myself) wish that it had more. It also would have been nice to have longer war sequences similar to this season’s fourth episode. Still, this chapter is arguably one of the best in the show. Letting the enemy gain the upper hand and having the viewers watch the protagonists suffer is not something one would normally wish for, but this episode presents such in a way that is both believable and acceptable. At last, we are about to find out the fate of the soldiers that once prided themselves as Executioners of Christ, later disgraced as heretics which marked the end of their order.

Knightfall continues Monday, May 13th with ‘As I Breathe, I Trust the Cross’ at 10/9c on History.