Talking dragons. Outlawed magic. Arrogant princes. Put-upon servants. Giles from Buffy. (Yes, I'm talking about Merlin.)You've read my advance review of the first two episodes of Merlin, which aired last night on NBC, but I am curious to know, now that the initial installments have aired, what you thought of the fantasy drama series.
Were you drawn into the swords and sorcery world that Merlin sought to invoke while also imbuing with a hormone-laden teen drama? Did you think that the second episode was an improvement over the first? Did you find the alternately campy/cutesy tone too much to handle? Were you intrigued by the, uh, subtext in the relationship between Merlin and Arthur? Or put off by the vast changes to the well-known Arthurian legends?
And, most importantly, will you tune in again next week to watch again?
Talk back here.
Comments
One important thing is disregard what is commonly held as Aurthurian Lore. It tends to pick and chose what elements are kept in place, and others are there but are different from what you expect. I consider it a telling of the Aurthurian legend sideways. For instance, in this telling Merlin and Arthur are the same age, but according to history Merlin was much older than Arthur. Lancelot, too, has only a glancing role in the first season, but according to lore played a much bigger part in Arthur's life. If you can get past those little idiosyncrasies you'll find some pretty good story telling. The second half of the season is markedly better than the first, as the actors and characters settle into their roles.
I hope they pick it up for season 2 in the US- I want to see how it all plays out-
There are too many overly critical people out there! I hope they don't ruin it for the rest of us and cause NBC to drop not buy the show's season 2.