Camelot "Homecoming" and "The Sword and the Crown" Reviews

Whether you learned of King Arthur through Tennyson, Disney, Excalibur or Monty Python, the one constant is that his legend and the interest in it endures. My personal favorite is T.H. White's "The Once and Future King." Fresh off the success of Spartacus, Starz will now try to capture the fantasy market with their take on King Arthur in Camelot.

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.

Spartacus: Gods of the Arena "The Bitter End" Review

"One day we will see proper reward for all we have done." Quintus Batiatus

The best and truest line of the Gods of the Arena series was delivered last. That line however was foreshadowing the events of Blood and Sand. On this day, all debts would be paid and all business would be settled.

The questions going into the finale were: How would Batiatus exact his revenge on Tullius for what he believed was the murder of his father? Could Gannicus bury his secret relationship with Mellita in his grief and hide it from Doctore? Would this be the day Crixus ascends to become the champion of Capua? What happens between Batiatus and Solonius to make them such bitter enemies in Blood and Sand?

With so many questions to answer tonight's episode had little time for things like gratuitous sex scenes or gladiators disrobing to wipe the sweat from a hard day of training away. The episode and Batiatus wanted to get right on with things as soon as his father's remains were interred to the gods. And the first order of business was Tullius.

Batiatus and Solonius are able to lure Tullius onto the streets of Capua unprotected by feeding him false information through his trusted spy Solonius. Once on the street is only a minor skirmish by Spartacus standards before he and Vettius find themselves taken prisoner by their assailants. Taken to separately, Vettius with Solonius and Tullius with Batiatus the prisoners are dealt their fates. Vettius is allowed to live if he leaves town while corroborating a story that Tullius had to hastily leave Capua to attend to urgent business in Antioch. Such fortune was not to be for the scumbag Tullius. Batiatus allows him to bargain and beg for his life before mortally wounding him and burying him deep within the walls of the new arena he himself has built for the city of Capua.

I was glad they settled the Tullius business early. This gave them time to build and create the rift that would arise between Batiatus and Solonius. Solonius is no longer going to be content as a sounding board and messenger for the house of Batiatus. He has plans of his own and takes advantage of his time alone with Vettius to cross Batiatus in the process. Instead of splitting Tullius' gladiators equally Solonius has Vettius sign them all over to him alone. This sets up a battle in the new arena between the gladiators of Batiatus and Solonius.

The gladiator scenes in the arena were exactly what we've come to expect from the series, bloody, over the top and highly entertaining. Out manned and out sized the gladiators of Batiatus are able to win their fair share of fights leading up to the primus. A group battle between the two houses culminating with a fight between the last two men standing to crown the champion of Capua. The problem with Batiatus' side is that the men are fighting not only the gladiators of Solonius but with one another. Dagan looking for revenge attacks Ashur, ultimately leading to Dagan falling in the arena. Crixus has his eye set firmly on Gannicus. When the brutal battle is down to four combatants Gannicus, Crixus, Ashur and the lone remaining gladiator of Solonius, Crixus attacks Ashur and gives him the injury that he will carry through to Blood and Sand. With one swing of his sword he breaks Ashur's leg and knocks him out of the battle area and out of the tournament. Alas, final victory will not belong to Crixus as he is knocked out of the arena by Solonius' gigantic gladiator. Gannicus inspired by his Doctore is able to defeat the giant in the most brutal and graphic death to date. The victory celebration is short lived for Batiatus as Solonius once again out smarts him and urges Quintillius to reward the gladiators efforts with his freedom.

OK let's talk about the good and the bad of all that transpired. The action and fighting is outstanding. It officially became an episode of Spartacus when a woman in the crowd ripped off her top and began waving her breasts around. Up until that point there had not been any nudity and an episode does not count until there is both blood and nudity. The entire series Solonius had been a weak messenger for both Tullius and Batiatus. Tonight we finally got to see the calculating snake we saw throughout Blood and Sand. Welcome to your home Solonius. They really packed a ton of backstabbing and animosity into about thirty minutes between Batiatus and Solonius. They battled as long and hard for the favor of Quintillius as their gladiators did in the arena. I'd have to say Gannicus may have won the battle in the arena but Solonius won the battle in the grandstand. One question I have about the battle in the arena though is where did Tullius get all these giants? I swear every one of his gladiators were a foot taller than both Crixus and Gannicus.

Here's what I didn't like though. The writers tried to bring the series back to being about Gannicus the same way Blood and Sand is about Spartacus. The problem though is Gannicus essentially disappeared for much of the series as we found more interesting characters to care about. By the time he wins his freedom, you either don't care much at all about Gannicus or you find him to be completely despicable and the way he leaves a conquering hero is epically unsatisfying. My only guess is that we are going to see more of Gannicus in the future. I don't think anyone can feel good about the unresolved issues between he and Doctore.

I guess "The Reckoning" was the climax of Lucretia's story line. She disposed of Titus and remained Domina of the house. Her role in the finale was marginal at best. The only significant thing she did all night was make Crixus shave and cut his hair. Which by the way I had been waiting for all season.

The highlight of the episode by far is the speech by Batiatus at the end. Since we already know how things turn out for him and Lucretia there is a tremendous amount of irony in what he says. We know though his gladiators rise to be champions and heroes of Capua, his house never reaches the level of greatness and notoriety for which he strives. I'm going to miss John Hannah and the passion he's brought to the role of Batiatus. No one will ever say "By Jupiter's Cock" with the conviction and fervor he was able to. The entire series was beautifully cast except for the role of Gannicus. I never warmed to the character nor the actor playing him. Some of the slaves could have been better but the major roles like Solonius, Tullius, Lucretia, Gaia and Titus were spot on.

The original programming on Starz is now rivaling that of Showtime and HBO. In fact I would put it ahead of Showtime at this point. I excited to check out Camelot and hopefully they'll produce another comedy on the level of Party Down. As for Spartacus, we say goodbye to a few characters we've spent two tremendous seasons getting to know. So long Batiatus, Lucretia and Solonius may you find your place among the gods by way of Jupiter's cock.