Adaptations on the legend of King Arthur usually fall in one of two camps, historical drama (2004's King Arthur) or fantasy (Excalibur). Camelot falls firmly in the realm of fantasy. Unless you believe in magic, then maybe you consider it a docudrama. However, even though we find ourselves in a world with magic, the setting is easily identifiable as Middle Ages England. The rustic atmosphere, collapsing architecture and warring territorial rulers help place our characters firmly sometime after the fall of Rome and before Egbert c. 839.
"Homecoming" begins with an argument between King Uther Pendragon and his daughter Morgan. She is obsessed with succeeding her father to the throne and is willing to stop at nothing to get there. Morgan a fledgling wizard shape shifts herself to appear as a young girl in a successful attempt to get close to her father and poison him. On his deathbed, Merlin urges him to sign a document before he dies by reminding him of his son.
The first time we see Arthur, he's sleeping with his brother Kay's girlfriend. This peak into Arthur's persona will no doubt play a larger part in the series. Especially once we learn that his new interest, Guinevere is the wife of one of the men sworn to protect him. Through flashbacks and stories told to Arthur in the first episode we learn his penchant for going after someone else's wife was passed to him from his father. Arthur is the product Uther's affair with a married woman, Igraine. This was made possible through Merlin and his ability to make Uther appear as Igraine's husband. Merlin's price for this favor? Uther had to give the child born from the affair to Merlin.
Much of the first episode is Merlin getting Arthur to Camelot to claim the throne while Morgan and Uther's rival King Lot form an alliance to take Uther's kingdom for themselves. The most significant moments are Morgan's refusal to accept her brother as the heir, Arthur killing King Lot's son in self defense and King Lot retaliating by killing the woman who raised Arthur.
In "The Sword and the Crown" Merlin must find a way to convince the public of Arthur's rightful place on the throne. He is on the brink of war with King Lot and Morgan and without the support of his subjects he won't put up much of a fight. To legitimize Arthur's crown, Camelot gives us a new twist on the story of The Sword in the Stone. The myth and legend is that whoever is able to pull the sword from the stone is the legitimate king and destined to unite all the Britons. The twist added by Camelot is that the legend was started and propagated by Merlin himself so that when the time was right he could put his chosen successor on the throne. The sword was placed there by Merlin and he was the only person who knows how to release it. Merlin uses his magical ability to tell Arthur how to release the sword who then falls from the water fall cliff.
Morgan begins communing with a mysterious power in the forest. Unexpectedly, she shows up at Camelot to warn Arthur of an impending attack by King Lot. During the impending battle, Arthur's mother's death is avenged when her husband, Ector kills King Lot but loses his own life in the fight. In the aftermath, Morgan once again visits Camelot. Arthur pleads with her to join him and they can rule together. She's has no interest in sharing power with a brother she doesn't know or respect. Merlin suspects where Morgan is getting her new found strength and warns her against getting involved with something she doesn't fully understand.
Now let's go over the good and bad of Camelot. One of the major strengths of Spartacus was the perfect casting. Camelot wasn't as successful with their casting. Eva Green is spectacular as Morgan. She's absolutely beautiful but with enough strength bitterness in her performance to really bring Morgan's scorned vengeance to life. I haven't seen enough of Joseph Fiennes as Merlin to make a definitive statement. He's been OK so far but well below terrific. I would watch Claire Forlani read silently for two hours so I'm not going to complain about her in the role of Igraine. Where Camelot falls well short of expectations is the casting of Jaime Campbell Bower as Arthur. His portrayal of Arthur constantly reminds me of Mark Hamill in Star Wars. If you're wondering, that's not a good thing. Bower is too fair, thin faced and completely lacking in stature to pull off a convincing Arthur.
The question then is how successful can a show be if the lead is the worst aspect of the production? We'll see I guess. I can say that I've yet to watch a scene in which I wasn't bothered by Bower as Arthur. The producers of Camelot better hope this is exclusive to me and not the universal experience of its audience. The other issue facing producers is managing expectations of the potential audience. Arthurian legends cover a vast realm of fantasy and historical territory. If a viewer turns on the show expecting knights in full plate armor and a Merlin casting spells like a Celtic Gandalf then they are likely to be disappointed. Merlin up to this point is more of an adviser to the king than a magic wielding wizard. Arthur himself doesn't believe in magic. The armor and costumes are more fitting of the early middle ages with leather armor supplemented with chain mail. If the show can catch the attention of the fan looking for an exaggerated historical drama with some crazy Celtic magic thrown in I think Camelot can be successful. Oh and it's Starz so there will be plenty of nudity, blood and sex.
Random Thoughts:
- I loved James Purefoy as Mark Antony on Rome and he brought that same energy to the role of King Lot on Camelot. Unfortunately, he's dead by the end of the second episode.
- People who tune in expecting to see the Lancelot and the Round Table are going to be disappointed. A lot of fans probably don't realize Lancelot wasn't added to the Arthurian mythology until much later. I don't know if he'll ever be a character in Camelot but he definitely won't be one in season 1.
- There's really no challenger for eyes on Friday night.
No comments:
Post a Comment