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.