Critique: Cursed (Netflix Series) 2/2

*****SPOILERS*****

 

Merlin

Merlin is portrayed in what can only be described as ‘Jack Sparrow’: super drunk and super camp. Thankfully this ended with episode one, seeing a more thoughtful and proactive character.

After Merlin is saved from execution (what Uther’s mother calls ‘an exciting day’), he laughs. It’s not a laugh that I’d expected from Merlin’s character (or actor). But blimey! It had dry humour, irony, surprise, and a lingering sense of ‘oh fuck I’m gonna die’. It was perfect for the moment and really opened out the character.

Merlin helps Nimue control her magic, saying she could be a ‘Shadow Lord’. There’s the implication that these individuals lead the sorcerers; apart from Merlin being a fallen Shadow Lord, details are thin. Perhaps Odin and the Widow are also Shadow Lords.

 

Merlin is Nimue’s true father.

He teaches her how to use magic and shows her his memories with her mother. Seeing how parents snogging, grabbing and everything else that leads to sex on the temple’s alter (no less!),  Nimue shouts, ‘”No thank you. No to this, please.”’ That gave me a proper chuckle.

Nimue also sees her mother pull the Devil’s Tooth from Merlin’s body (how did it get in there?!) after which he loses his magic. Then Nimue’s mum says she destroyed the sword which sends Merlin packing. This explains why Merlin was genuinely surprised to learn the Devil’s Tooth still existed and it explains how he didn’t know Nimue was his daughter. And the alcoholism.

Sword has certain effect on people. Whenever Nim holds it, her speech becomes more epic and courtly, as if every sentence is part of a great speech. It’s the way only legendary figures speak, not how people speak in real life. YET. This only happens when Nimue holds the sword. Merlin often states that the sword changes a person, so seeing how it alters Nimue’s speech was a nice demonstration of that.

How did it get in Merlin? The handle was in his chest and the blade went down. So blade point start at chest and handle really high, longer than his arms could reach. We get memories of him using magic so that’s not beyond imagination. Still, it would be nice to get solid confirmation of what happened.

 

 

Human Characters

Arthur is Nimue’s love interest. Arthur tries to reassure Nimue into joining him in the hot spring by saying, ‘”I’ve seen a naked woman before.”’ Nimue responds with, ‘”And we are all very impressed.”’ Brilliant.

In this story, he’s Morgana’s brother. He also has a random fae, who wears a badger on his head, as an annoying sidekick. For twenty minutes. Why does tv kill all the quirky characters?

He gives up his ways as a sell-sword to help Nimue and the fae. Would he had bothered to help the fae if it wasn’t for Nimue? He does seem always aware of what’s wrong and right, even when he does something wrong, so I’d like to think he’d help the fae regardless.

Arthur’s skin tone is darker than Uther. This led to questioning if they were related or not. If he were a prince, he wouldn’t have such freedom unless he had guards or if he had people searching for him (which he didn’t) confirmed it. Considering the Devil’s Tooth confers kingship to its barer, this explains how Arthur could be Uther’s successor.

 

Morgana is both a nun and a key member of the fae resistance.  In a time where human and fae don’t trust each other, this is good to see. Her girlfriend (also a nun) dies as the nunnery burns.

She has more of a fighter’s heart than her brother, even though he’s the sell-sword. Morgana writes Merlin a note, saying if he doesn’t meet with Nimue, the Wolf Blood Witch would soak the land with Paladin blood. Nimue makes Morgana take it out and Morgana mopes because it was ‘the best part’. I can’t decide if this is funny and dark or if it’s funny because it’s dark.

Her nun girlfriend dies in the nunnery fire. Twice after this they see each other, as a gift from the Cailleach. After the first time, Morgana gets infected (?) by the Cailleach and her fighter’s spirit becomes single-minded and less tactful and remorseful.

Now, the Cailleach is my favourite Celtic being, being both powerful and benevolent. Yet fiction always makes her malevolent. There’s nothing wrong with being creative with the imagination of people past and present. There’s also nothing wrong with pointing out the truth of the matter: the Cailleach is good.

 

Uther’s mother is an intriguing character.

She’s always making poisonous meals. Even when she’s in a war tent, she has her hobby to keep her busy. Never mind Uther kept her locked in a tower yet doesn’t question how she escaped.

By Merlin she’s called ‘Queen Regent’. Um, no. Uther rules the kingdom so who and what is she regent for? When her husband died and their baby was yet to be born, sure, she was regent then, but you don’t keep the title of ‘regent’ after you’re no longer regent.

We also learn that Uther isn’t really the queen’s child. This means that the Ice King’s claim as true heir to the English throne is correct. (He is a Scandinavian raider. The story’s set too early to have Vikings. Mind you, time consistency isn’t this show’s forte.)

 

Iris the nun is only a child (reportedly) but this somehow makes her all the more awful.

After the Red Paladins reject her as a member, she asks God for a sign, has a temper tantrum for getting no reply, then sees Morgana’s cross in the ash. So naturally she burns the nunnery down. Some fae bring Iris to their safe-haven and she keeps on trying to kill Nimue but fails because she picks the wrong moments.

In the last episodes, Iris shoots Nimue who falls down the waterfall (this is painful because Squirrel taught Iris how to use a bow). As a reward, Iris is made a Trinity Guard. Red Paladins came for Merlin straight after the murder so maybe they saw what happened? Otherwise I’m not sure how the Pope would have found out apart from Iris telling someone (and really, who’s going to believe a woman in that day and age?)

 

 

Conclusion

So it looks like Nimue, the main character, is dead. Maybe. Ordinarily, I’d think there couldn’t be another series but the cliff-hanger was a bit too dramatic to not get answered. Even if she is dead, the Cailleach can bring the dead to the world of the living. Morgana can petition for this, especially under the influence of Merlin.

            Merlin and Morgana went gallivanting off with the Devil’s Tooth. Will he destroy the sword like he wanted or use it to help the fae like Nimue wanted? Fae coexistence with humans would be beneficial so someone both humans and fae trust. Such as a human that was the fae queen’s partner, like the brother of Merlin’s companion, perhaps? Arthur owning the sword that bestows true kingship would explain how he’d become king after Uther.

            Nimue was chosen by the Hidden to become the new ‘Summoner’. It was made out to be a big deal but it wasn’t explained what this meant. Yes, she can ‘summon’ the Hidden to do her will but her village knew this yet this was precicely why they didn’t want Nimue to be chosen. With her people dead, will this ever be answered? How do I summon the answer to this?

            It’s been an interesting take on the legends. With the church involved, I’d be surprised if the Holy Grail doesn’t make an appearance in the future (even though Christianity was a much later revision on centuries-old legends). The legends have been a useful framework: Arthur drove back the Scandinavian invaders; Lancelot was sinful but now is trying to redeem himself; Morgana is going to the dark side and has the next series to bond with Merlin.

            There’s a lot going on and still a lot to go on in this story. It’ll be interesting to see where it goes next.

 

Critique: Cursed (Netflix Series) 1/2

*****SPOILERS*****

 

This is a story about survival, genocide and the fight for the equality to simply be alive. It’s an epic story in the epic setting of Arthurian legend.

Nimue tries to save her fellow British fae from extermination at the hands of the Red Paladins. She carries the Devil’s Tooth, becomes feared as ‘the Wolf Blood Witch’ and is made queen of all fae.

There was plenty of humour but it wasn’t a driving force of the plot like in more recent shows. Considering the setting of Cursed, keeping the plot serious is highly appropriate.

 

First Impressions and Thoughts

The opening credits have artwork animations with an interested and potent style, even using it for scene transitions. Usually credit animations stay in the credits so it was good to see it incorporated elsewhere. If you make something beautiful you might as well show it off!

 

At first we see Nimue, the main character, bleeding under water. Then we see her in her village so we know the water was a vision of the future. Later there’s a scene of Nimue under water then she breaches the water with only her fist and sword, like how the Lady of the Lake hands Arthur the sword in mythology. Considering Nimue is one of the names attributed to the Lady of the Lake, this sets out to be interesting. She becomes ‘the Summoner’ in the first episode but it’s never mentioned again.

 

It’s set in King Uther’s England (5^th-6^th c. CE).

The reason why the dates were mentioned was because the Holy Roman Empire co-exists with Uther’s rule, even though this empire began in the 9^th c. CE. These time periods don’t align in real life but it’s Arthurian Legends, after all. Fiddling with the dates isn’t entirely unreasonable. (It makes you give the tv a lot of side-eye, though.)

The Red Paladins are a lay faction of the church, proud to show no mercy towards the fae (even though mercy is the entire basis of Christianity). King Uther lets the Paladins murder the fae until he learns Nimue has the Devil’s Tooth, a sword that bestows true kingship. His favourite pastime is being paranoid over his legitimacy so he seeks the sword out like a comfort blanket.

 

Before episode one begins properly, we get an introduction written on the screen. They spell it as ‘Savior’, in the American way, even though the show has British actors set in British mythology. This is followed by ‘In a time before Arthur’ before seeing both Uther and Arthur in that episode. The intro doesn’t lie, because ‘In the time before Arthur’ does mean ‘before Arthur ruled’, but it’s a tad misleading.

 

 

The Fae

There’s a huge variety in the fae. Their appearances were beautiful. But at the end of the day, they’re people, just like humans. They speak the same language, wear the same clothes, eat the same food and are equally wary of magic.

Nimue, Pim and Squirrel are of the Sky Clan, although what this entails isn’t entirely clear. We know they worship the Hidden, from whom Nimue can use magic, but it could be that all fae worship the Hidden.

The Fauns have antlers rather than horns: considering the UK has wild deer but not wild goats, this was entirely fitting. The Snake Clan have snake skin.

The Horns have horns growing from the back of their necks. If you were to ignore the enormous list of mythical humanoids and make your own, why would you create something so boring?

By far the best variety of fae is the moonwings. Simply Adorable! They’re essentially fairies, modelled on moths rather than butterflies. Short, paper white and fluffy! There’s one moonwing that’s human sized and its fluffiness is a long trailing coat. Maybe only one parent was a moonwing?

My favourite character is the Widow, who claims the souls of the dead. Her sighs are perfection and her magic is scary. She’s also friends with Merlin. We don’t see her much and Morgana kills her (taking her place) but she was good whilst she lasted. When Uther’s men leave Merlin to die, the Widow comes and he’s excited. The Widow lifts her veil and he sees Morgana, making him moan, ‘”NO.”’ Then Nimue comes to collect him and he says, ‘”Why can’t I die?”’ Really dark but really funny.

 

Squirrel (Percival) is a fae child who escapes the slaughter of the Red Paladins.

He gets captured to be torture. Squirrel threatens to stab the Paladin’s eyes out (as you do) so the Paladin turns his eyeless face to Squirrel and says, ‘”Too late.”’ That was funny, but not as funny as Squirrel calling the Paladin ‘a bloody idiot’ for sewing up his own eyes.

He is truly fierce, but considering how adorable he is, his fierceness just comes across as cute/funny. It’s why Gawain liked him and it’s why he helps Lancelot escape, despite Lancelot being the reason why so many fae died. He’s a character with a big heart (and a big appetite for stealing food but no one’s perfect).

Pim, Nimue’s bestie, starts off as the comic relief. She remains funny but does grow into seriousness.

Later she travels with some raiders who want her as their healer but also want an excuse to kill her. The raiders complain that the Beggars’ Coast isn’t profitable. So Pim suggests they raid the Red Paladins instead. Not only does this mean Pim gets revenge but it guarantees her safety as part of the crew.

Eventually Nimue and Pim meet up again but they soon split, Nimue reassuring her that, ‘”I’ll be fine.”’ Pim’s response was golden: ‘”I don’t care about you. I’m not alright.”’

Gawain leads the fae resistance as ‘the Green Knight’.

He thinks all humans should be killed indiscriminately because the Paladins kill the fae (children and all) indiscriminately. If you’re opposed to indiscriminate killings, then actively suggesting it is rather contradictory. Gawain does soften up a little.

After the Red Paladins torture him, he slowly dies. But then grass and flowers grow up around him and he’s pulled into the ground. Perhaps he’ll be resurrected? After how the Paladins made him die a horrible death, it will be interesting to see how his attitude to all humans has changed.

 

Odin looks a mess but he still has the most interesting appearance. He has a red jewel in place of his missing eye. His staff is a massive shepherd’s crook that holds a skull. He lives in caverns below his ruined castle.

His servants are likewise dressed in tatty clothes and scraggly beards. I did wonder if they were dead, considering that Odin rules the dead in Valhalla: dead bodies on earth would be a bit flimsy and filthy.

But I dismissed this when we see a dead Boudicca propped up in treasure hoard. Why would random people be animated but not the warrior he idolises? I suppose it could be a crush but it seemed more like admiration to me.