THE WAYFINDERS: Episode 1.1: “Pilot”

Name: THE WAYFINDERS: Episode 1.1: “Pilot”
Item: THE WAYFINDERS: Episode 1.1: “Pilot”
Author: Review

"Mixed Worldview"

Family Content: -2 Extreme caution for older teenagers and adults.

Entertainment Quality:

	None	Light	Moderate	Heavy
Language
Violence
Sex
Nudity

Credits →

What You Need To Know:

THE WAYFINDERS is a live-action fantasy series on Angel Studios about three high school students who get stranded in a medieval fantasy world. The episode opens with a young woman named Zara, who can peek into the future, escaping from a rough looking swordsman on a motorcycle. Zara recruits three socially-inept teenagers at the local high school. They find themselves struggling to survive in a world populated with wizards, dragons and elves. Meanwhile, a corrupt power-hungry prince accuses them of being his enemies, as foretold by an ancient prophecy. Can the heroes find a way back home?

The first episode of THE WAYFINDERS is tells an exciting story with good performances. This pilot episode has excellent comedy, imaginative worldbuilding, and intelligent writing. Moreover, it has strong messages of teamwork, sacrifice and fighting evil. However, the episode of THE WAYFINDERS is weighed down by substandard effects, strong fantasy violence, explicit mentions of witchcraft and dark magic, and two exclamatory obscenities. So, the fire and magic effects are iffy at best, and the animation for the fantasy creatures is mediocre. MOVIEGUIDE® advises extreme caution.

Content:

(Pa, BB, OO, VV, N, M):

Dominant Worldview and Other Worldview Content/Elements:

A Pagan worldview with strong moral, occult and high fantasy elements, the world is inhabited with knights and other fantasy creatures, the three protagonists are socially inept teenagers who learn to cooperate despite their clashing personalities, the trio sneaks into a fortress and rescue a princess held under captive, the trio befriends a warrior who was wrongly imprisoned by a corrupt prince, a warrior sacrifices himself to let his friends escape, a teenage girl pretends to be a “witch” with her smartphone in order to trick a warrior, the villain discusses dark magic and an ancient prophet, and the trio learns to empathize and be brave with one another;

Foul Language:

Two uses of the “d” word;

Violence:

Strong action violence throughout, but no blood or gore, such as a motorcyclist uses his fire magic on a young woman, he also has her cornered on a ledge but she jumps into a truck bed passing on the road below at the right time after foreseeing the truck passing, a fortress is pillaged with fireballs and explosions, men engage in sword-to-sword combat and die onscreen, a prince uses telekinesis magic to “push” his enemies to the ground, a dragon burns several cavalry units alive, the teenage heroes knock out several guards, a man is shot in the back by arrows, the same man transforms into a werewolf-type creature and smashes a hallway of guards, and knights fight on horseback;

Sex:

No sex, but a warrior in his twenties admits to having a crush on a teenage girl;

Nudity:

Upper male nudity when a male warrior wears chest-revealing armor with his bare chest visible at all times, but otherwise no nudity;

Alcohol Use:

No on-screen drinking, but the heroes visit a tavern where humans and elves hold glasses of beer;

Smoking and/or Drug Use and Abuse:

No on-screen smoking or real-world drug use, but the villains mention these rare magic-granting crystals that are used as exotic drugs/resources;

Miscellaneous Immorality:

A woman causes a high school boy to eat a dirty sandwich, the same woman causes two students to fall down on the ground, the protagonists trespass onto private property, and a teenage girl pretends to be a “powerful witch” with her smart phone in order to trick a medieval warrior to do her bidding.

More Detail:

THE WAYFINDERS is a live-action fantasy series by Angel Studios about three high school students who get stranded on a chaotic medieval fantasy world. After meeting a mysterious woman, three socially-inept teenagers struggle to survive in a world populated with wizards, dragons, and elves. As the trio looks for a way back home, a corrupt prince accuses them as being his enemies foretold from an ancient prophecy. Can our heroes find a way out?

In episode one, simply titled “The Wayfinders,” a mysterious woman named Zara who can peek into the future barely escapes from a mean looking swordsman on Earth. Later that day, she gets an epiphany about “The Wayfinders,” a group of three unlikely teenagers who are the key to saving her world from a corrupt empire. Zara recruits her three heroes together at the local high school, hands them an esoteric checklist and leaves them to start their quest during a school field trip.

The Wayfinders are made up of Flynn, Cash and Oaklee. Flynn is a master at playing MMO games and hacking systems, but he lacks basic social skills. Cash is a talented football player who secretly wants to venture into Broadway acting. Oaklee is a female punk who grew up in a trailer park but lacks any meaningful connections in her life. The trio is treated as social outcasts by their school, but they learn to work together when their quest begins in earnest.

The trio stumble upon a broken magical golden orb, repair the device, and accidentally transport themselves across the universe. The teenagers are thrust into a world full of knights, wizards and dragons. Upon arrival, the trio learns that a corrupt prince has taken over the world. He seeks to stamp out the Wayfinders, three epic warriors who are prophesied to end his reign. The prince orders the capture of the teenagers.

Desperate for any leads, Flynn, Cash and Oaklee go on a quest to rescue a princess trapped inside a fortress. Will the three heroes find an answer on getting back home?

The premiere episode of THE WAYFINDERS is an enjoyable adventure for older children and teenagers. It’s filled with solid comedy, imaginative worldbuilding and decent acting. The best writing occurs when the teenagers use their modern technology against their enemies. In one scene, Oaklee uses her Bluetooth speaker to distract a platoon of guards. At the end, Flynn uses a smartphone app to trick a dragon into defeating evil guards. The dialogue is sometimes inundated with modern pop culture references such as Skyrm, Discord and TikTok. Yet, the writing remains at a consistent level.

WAYFINDERS is a shocking change of pace from Angel Studios. While other Angel productions are explicit in their pro-Christian messaging, WAYFINDERS has zero explicit mention of God or the Bible. WAYFINDERS has a mixed moral worldview with Christian and occult elements. The trio of heroes start off despising each other’s guts but slowly learn to work together as a team. The three teenagers bond over their struggle being accepted at school. Later, they develop bravery and cunning wits on their quest to rescue a princess. Lastly, a male warrior sacrifices his life to save the trio from evil guards.

However, the show is outweighed by its occult elements. The medieval fantasy world is filled with wizards, orcs, dragons, and knights. Oaklee, the teenage punk girl, tricks an opponent into thinking she’s a practicing witch. She doesn’t believe in witchcraft, however. The villains make use of telekinesis, fire magic, and “force push” powers. Finally, the trio visits a tavern full of mercenary orcs, elves and human swordsmen. The series doesn’t preach any pagan messages, but it is unusual to have this type of writing in an Angel Studios production. The same issue applies to the first episode’s production values.

In terms of production quality, THE WAYFINDERS is all over the place. The show is shot on location in Ireland. The showrunners made great use of Ireland’s vast landscapes, its real life castles, and a large number of background extras. The cinematography is also generally good. However, the episode falls apart when it comes to the visual effects. The fire and magic effects are iffy at best, and the animation for the fantasy creatures is underbaked. The series can be too ambitious to a fault.

The most objectionable part of WAYFINDERS is its strong action violence. No blood or gore are shown, but swordsmen are stabbed and killed during battle. The villains wield telekinesis, “Force push” powers and fire bending. A man turns into a werewolf-type creature and goes on a rampage inside a prison. A dragon swoops to the ground and burns two cavalry units to a crisp. Also, the villain hoards a rare blue magic crystal like a drug kingpin. This show has no official rating, but it verges on “PG-13” territory.

The first episode of THE WAYFINDERS is unique within the Angel Studios catalogue. This pilot episode has excellent comedy, imaginative worldbuilding and intelligent writing. Moreover, it has a strong message of teamwork, friendship and bravery. However, it’s weighed down by strong fantasy violence, light foul language, and explicit mentions of witchcraft and dark magic. MOVIEGUIDE® advises extreme caution.