Time Bandits Season 1 Episodes 7 & 8 Recap

This article contains SPOILERS for Time Bandits season 1, episodes 7 & 8.

Time Bandits season 1, episodes 7 and 8 are the final two episodes before the two-part finale, setting up what will hopefully be a good conclusion to Kevin’s story. Multiple changes have shown that however the season ends, it will be much different from the original Time Bandits movie ending. The movie ends with Kevin’s parents getting coaled, but that already happened in Time Bandits season 1, episode 2. A major plot twist at the end of Time Bandits season 1, episode 8 suggests the Time Bandits series will have a happier ending than the movie.

The 1981 Time Bandits movie was a fun family-friendly adventure movie, and the Apple TV+ series has carried its legacy while emphasizing the family elements. By changing the storyline with Kevin’s parents and adding in his younger sister, Saffron, the Time Bandits show has added more meaning to the fantasy plot. After Time Bandits season 1, episodes 5 and 6, episodes 7 and 8 saw Kevin, Saffron, and the bandits make actual progress in their mission of saving the coaled parents. This meant there was less of an emphasis on meeting historical figures, though they still traveled through time.

5 Kevin & Saffron Were Reunited In Time Bandits Season 1 Episode 7

Saffron Was Stuck In The Ice Age For Three Years

When Fianna coaled their parents at the end of Time Bandits season 1, episode 2, Kevin escaped with the bandits, leaving his younger sister Saffron behind. Fortunately, she also escaped Fianna, but in searching for her family, she wound up traveling through the portal in Kevin’s bedroom. At first, she looked for Kevin, going through the same portals she had. Time Bandits season 1, episode 7 reveals Saffron eventually gave up and settled in the Ice Age for three years, befriending a group of cavepeople. The episode also reunited the brother and sister.

Though Kevin had been briefly left behind at the end of Time Bandits season 1, episode 6, he found his way through the portal with the other bandits, winding up in the Ice Age. Saffron and Kevin never had a great relationship, but Time Bandits season 1, episodes 7 and 8 brings them closer together, especially once she learns their parents were coaled. Saffron and Kevin vow to continue the search for them together and never give up as she had. Still, they had their typical sibling bickering that provided some comedic relief between more emotional moments.

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4 The Chief Challenged Penelope In Time Bandits Season 1 Episode 7

The Chief Didn’t Want The Time Bandits To Take Saffron Away

To keep looking for their parents in Time Bandits, Saffron had to leave the community of cavepeople she’d become a vital part of. Time Bandits season 1, episode 7 played up the British humor the original Terry Gilliam movie used so effectively, with Saffron having taught the cavepeople modern British slang. Like Kevin, she imparted her knowledge to others in her own unique way. This made them very reluctant to let her go, with the village chief challenging Penelope, whom he felt challenged by as a leader.

Penelope’s challenge is known as the “walk of fear,” which involves walking to a far-off spot in the night and back. If you survive, you win the challenge. As per usual in Time Bandits, Penelope finds her way out of a sticky situation and wins the challenge, allowing Saffron to go with them freely. The impressed chief even asks Penelope to marry him, though she claims she’s still engaged to Gavin, her last fiancé, who could be introduced in the last two episodes of Time Bandits season 1.

3 Kevin & Saffron Traveled Back To Bingley In 1996

Kevin & Saffron Met Younger Versions Of Their Parents

The time bandits intended to send Kevin and Saffron back to present-day Bingley to save their parents just before Fianna coaled them. However, despite his progress, Widget still hadn’t completely mastered the map, and Kevin and Saffron wound up in Bingley in 1996 at the start of Time Bandits season 1, episode 8. They had traveled alone, so they couldn’t rely on the time bandits for help. Kevin and Penelope split up to meet with their parents to see what they could do, even though it was decades before they were born.

As such, their dad was a young teenager and their mom was just six years old. It was odd for Kevin and Saffron to meet the younger versions of their parents, but it was also touching. Kevin had never fully gotten along with his family, as they always made him feel like an outcast. Yet, Kevin gets along with the past version of his dad, while Saffron emotionally doesn’t want to leave her mother behind after three years without her family. This family bonding is sadly spoiled by Fianna’s arrival.

2 The Future Time Bandits Sent A Message To Their Past Selves

The Time Bandits Told Them To Save Kevin & Saffron

When the time bandits realize the portal is supposed to send them back to the Haddock house while Supreme Being and Fianna are there, they decide it’s too dangerous to go. Saffron and Kevin go through the portal without them, leaving the bandits to debate whether they should follow. Their minds are made up for them by their future selves, who appear through the portal and tell them they have to save Kevin and Saffron. It’s the first time their future selves have used a portal to communicate with them in Time Bandits, creating interesting possibilities for the future.

Future Widget left some other important messages through the portal as well, telling his past self, “Your understanding of the map is greater than you realize” and “time folds.” At the time, he doesn’t understand what he means but later realizes there are folds in the map that can help them time travel more accurately. After almost eight full episodes of Time Bandits, Widget has finally learned how to read the time map properly. While the discovery came late and could have saved them a lot of earlier trouble, it’s certain to become crucial in the final two episodes.

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1 Pure Evil Has Kevin & Saffron’s Parents In Time Bandits

Kevin & Saffron Prepared Them For When Fianna Came To The House

When Pure Evil wakes Fianna up to go after Kevin, Saffron, and the time bandits, there are two versions of her. This, and the bandits using the portal to communicate with their past selves, were hints that time and history were altered. This was proven at the end of Time Bandits season 1, episode 8 with the reveal that Kevin and Saffron’s parents hadn’t been coaled and were alive in Pure Evil’s Fortress of Darkness.

Widget sending Kevin and Saffron back to the wrong time to save their parents ends up working out and changing their fate. When Fianna shows up, Kevin warns the younger version of his dad to remember her. Saffron not wanting to leave her mother comes across as a kidnapping attempt, which leads to her learning hostage negotiation. As such, their parents were prepared for the day Fianna came and convinced her to kidnap them rather than coal them.

Kevin and Saffron’s parents being alive is a good sign for a happy ending in Time Bandits season 1, but the fight to save them isn’t over. Pure Evil still wants the time map and is holding the Haddocks as ransom for it. He asked them to come to the Fortness of Darkness, but it’s located on the one missing corner of the map, and finding it will likely involve Supreme Being somehow. The Time Bandits season 1 finale is setting itself up to be action-packed with some big plot twists.

Time Bandits (2024)

Eleven-year-old Kevin joins a group of time-traveling thieves on a comedic and perilous adventure. As they navigate through various historical periods, they embark on a mission to save Kevin’s parents and ultimately the world, blending humor with high-stakes drama in this adaptation of Terry Gilliam’s cult classic​.

Cast

Kal-El Tuck , Sarah Darkin , Lisa Kudrow , Tadhg Murphy , Rune Temte , Roger Jean Nsengiyumva , Kiera Thompson , Nikita Chronis

Release Date

July 24, 2024

Seasons

1