The Bastard Son & The Devil Himself – Netflix Series Review

THE BASTARD SON & THE DEVIL HIMSELF on Netflix is a new series that features warring witch clans. It’s off to a good start, so check it out if you’re into this niche. Read our The Bastard Son & The Devil Himself Season 1 review here!

THE BASTARD SON & THE DEVIL HIMSELF is a Netflix series from the UK. In this series, you’ll get the story of warring witch clans; The Fairborn witches and the Blood witches. Basically, the good witches and the bad witches. However, it isn’t nearly this simple.

There are eight hour-long episodes in the season and it’s off to a strong beginning. However, you do obviously need to be into stories from the fantasy and adventure genres.

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The Netflix release The School for Good and Evil touches on exactly the same theme >

Continue reading our The Bastard Son & The Devil Himself Season 1 review below. Out on Netflix from October 28, 2022.

Good or bad?

In The Bastard Son & The Devil Himself, we follow the 16-year-old Nathan. We meet him in the first scene as a newborn. He is the illegitimate son of the world’s most feared witch – so yes, Nathan is “the bastard son”.

Nathan grows up knowing that his father was a bad guy. Also, he is constantly being monitored for signs that he may follow the same evil and destructive path as his father. Everyone seems to fear him even though he is, by all accounts, a kinder and gentler person than most around him.

When a witch turns 17, he or she gets their power, which means everyone is terrified of when Nathan reaches this age. Due to his father, Nathan is a blood witch, while his sister (half-sister as they have different fathers) is Fairborn.

Basically, he is bad and she is good. Except you are what you do, and while Nathan does good, his sister Jessica is evil. Being constantly pushed and provoked, Nathan will soon discover what kind of person he truly is.

Strong and efficient symbolism

Comparing the core subjects of The Bastard Son & The Devil Himself to racism or other kinds of fanaticism is easy and obvious. Then again, this is the case with most fairytale and adventure-based stories. And it works really well here!

Especially because the cast does a good job of trying to show the triggers for each character. Nathan is constantly told that he is bad, so he knows he has to be extra good (which he is naturally anyway).

His half-sister Jessica has always been told that she is good, so she behaves however she likes. Knowing that she is good means (to her and many of the other Fairborn) that she can do whatever she wants and still be good.

A very strong cast – both young and adult

As Nathan, we see Jay Lycurgo delivering a very strong and heartfelt portrayal of a young man doing his best to be good. No matter how much people treat him like he’s bad. It’s an important role and Jay Lycurgo (The Batman, Titans) does an excellent job of conveying the struggles and desires of Nathan.

And as Jessica, we get Isobel Jesper Jones, who manages to look sinister while also clearly believing she is always in the right, never the wrong. We’ll be seeing Isobel Jesper Jones again soon in the upcoming series  The Hunger Games: The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes (2023).

Other key characters are portrayed by Franc Ashman (Matriarch), Karen Connell (Nightflyers), and Kerry Fox (Mayhem, The Dressmaker) as the grandmother of Nathan and Jessica, Plus, Emilien Vekemans, Nadia Parkes, and Paul Ready (the UK version of Utopia). To name just a few!

Watch season 1 of The Bastard Son & The Devil Himself on Netflix now!

Joe Barton is the creator, writer, and showrunner of The Bastard Son & The Devil Himself series. It’s adapted from the novels by Sally Green, so there is more for you to check out if you fall in love with this world.

There are eight episodes in the season and three directors.; Colm McCarthy (The Girl with All the Gifts, Black Mirror‘s “Black Museum”) directed four episodes. Debs Paterson (A Discovery of Witches, the upcoming Willow series) and Rachna Suri each directed two.

If you like fantasy and adventure series with witches and other magical creatures, then you should definitely check this out on Netflix.

The Bastard Son & The Devil Himself Season 1 is on Netflix globally from October 28, 2022.

This review is based on the first two episodes.

Details

Creator: Joe Barton
Directors: Colm McCarthy, Rachna Suri, Deb Paterson
Cast: Jay Lycurgo, Nadia Parkes, Emilien Vekemans, Isobel Jesper Jones, Paul Ready, Roisin Murphy, David Gyasi, Karen Connell