Katie Cuthbertson

This is currently trending at #1 on Netflix today. Don’t believe it. Run away. The writing on this is one colossal train wreck, and that is after one episode. This purports to be an adaptation of the legend of King Arthur (before he was king) and the Sword in the Stone...except that the protagonist (not Arthur) is female and a member of the Fae. And at the endnof yhe first drawn-out episode, that is still all I can tell you for certain. There is no discernible plot. Characters appear but are seldom introduced, so you have no real idea who they are, why they are here, and why you should care. Some of them disappear as pointlessly as they came, having added nothing of value. The time period is unstated and apparently up for grabs. According to the legend, Arthur ruled in the 5th or 6th century. But the mode of dress of the present king (again, not Arthur) and his court looks to be anywhere form the 12th to the 15th century. The sound quality is poor. Dialogue is, at times, partly to largely unintelligible, but then other scenes (being chased through the forest by wolves for example), have an excess of sound. Merlin as a character is inexplicable, and that is all I will say about him. Tangential to that, however, and just as inexplicable, is a scene that MIGHT be attempting to tie in with the current legend of the ravens in the Tower of London. (At least I can come up with no other explanation.) Bit this is problematic and anachronistic on two fronts, if indeed that is what is being implied...because the Tower of London was built by William the Conqueror — in the 11th century — and the first known mention of ravens being kept in residence in the Tower is during the Victorian era (the 19th century). At any rate, it was a fairly elaborate set up to have zero explanation, but that seems to be this show’s M.O. so far. Then there is the female lead. From the first episode, she comes off as a spoiled, i secure, and immature brat. Her own people dislike her, but we don’t really learn why. There is a scene that is perhaps meant to explain it, but she is being bullied and simply retaliates, so that is a murky bit of evidence, at best. Seems guys who don’t know her really like her eyes, though. Random? Yes. But that’s how this show rolls.