The title is a bit of a mouthful, but this Netflix drama based on Sally Green’s Half-Bad trilogy is well worth your time. This is a YA series, but it really leans into the ‘A’ of that – it’s a coming-of-age narrative, except with sex and drugs and a large death count with the gore turned up to 11.
It also has witches, but not the friendly type. Nathan (Jay Lycurgo) is a 16-year-old whose father, Marcus Edge (David Gyasi), is the most despised and feared ‘Blood witch’ in the whole Fairborne witch community.
Nathan’s mother was Fairborne, and when he reaches the age of 17, he will find not only what his power is (Fairborne only has one), but also whether or not he is a blood witch. On paper, it’s all extremely high fantasy, but The Bastard Son’s great triumph is that it doesn’t seem like a fantasy at all. Or, more accurately, it feels like a fantasy that is so based in reality that it is instantly relevant.
While The Bastard Son is a narrative about rival witch factions, it is also a love story. Despite his community’s complete suspicion of Nathan at the outset of the series, he is not the victim that he is in Green’s books. Lycurgo is a lanky streak of personality, a cheeky, sassy, humorous boy who brushes off his elder sister Jessica’s (Isobel Jesper Jones) incessant bullying with sarcasm.
He hangs around with the geeky people at school who are unaware he is a witch until he meets a new girl Annalise (Nadia Parkes), a Fairborne witch whose father is the Fairborne council’s leader. Annalise is also amusing and quirky, and she doesn’t care who Nathan’s father is; their connection is evident.
As the Fairborne resolves to prepare Nathan to battle his father, the drama plays with conceptions of virtue and evil. This entails whisking him away from his friends and family, including Annalise, who has no idea where he is, keeping him in a cage, and daily beating him to a pulp. Are the blood witches truly evil, and will Nathan be spared?
Nathan is tortured in Green’s superb novel, but showrunner Joe Barton, whose outstanding sci-fi The Lazarus Project debuted earlier this year, has chosen to be gentler with him. It’s a good decision that prevents the program from being mired down in the tragedies of his existence. Instead, he is surrounded by horrors.
Marcus, a shapeshifter, assaults and slaughters a Fairborne caravan. Jessica, who is cruel and merciless, derives enormous joy from hurting individuals she regards as adversaries. And let’s just say Annalise’s specific witchy power is exceptionally terrible and magnificent.
As a result, the stakes are enormous, and many people are slaughtered. However, The Bastard Son distinguishes out from the others by being an exceptionally enjoyable journey. Yes, Nathan and Annalise have gone through hell, and yes, he’ll die if he doesn’t collect blood from a family member before his 17th birthday, and yes, they’re all dead save one, and yes, she accidentally murdered someone, but it’s not all awful.
The action picks up as the two fly to Paris on a mission to contact blood witch Mercury, who might be able to remedy Nathan’s dilemma. The three create a deep friendship after meeting gorgeous alchemist Gabriel (Emilien Vekemans), a blood witch who has pledged to heal Nathan.
The Bastard Son is actually rather erotic for a drama about fighting witches. The surroundings are cool, the cast is lovely, the soundtrack is banging, and there is sexual tension between all three major protagonists, which allows for a bit more fluidity and ambiguity about who is into who. 
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The supporting cast is just as good as our protagonists. As Annalise’s father Soul, Paul Ready of Motherland and Utopia is a cowardly wolf in sheep’s clothes, drenched in carefully worded treachery. Jessica, played by Jesper Jones, is a fantastic villain; like Nathan, she refuses to accept her place as an outsider or a victim, albeit she enjoys her job as Soul’s enforcer.
On the other side is Celia (Karen Connell), the Amazon-like Fairborne in charge of Nathan’s training, who grows more sympathetic as the play proceeds. Its message is unmistakable: you are not your family. Don’t just accept what others say you are right and bad. And try to have fun since you never know if the following day may be your last – but it is consistent. 
The Bastard Son & The Devil Himself is a smart adaptation that takes the bones of the much-loved book and adds its flavor, establishing Barton as one of the greatest TV writers working today. Season two, please.
The Bastard Son & The Devil Himself is now accessible on Netflix.
