S01E02: Cursed

[kieyra]

Quote

Shaken and alone, Nimue presses ahead on her quest, as flashbacks reveal a harrowing encounter years ago that changed the course of her life.

Airdate: 07/17/2020

[paulvdb]

I was a few minutes into this episode when I realized that I don't care about Nimue or drunk Merlin. The only character I liked was Nimue's mother and she's dead now. So I'm out.

[Guest]

I want to like this but it’s too slow, too unnecessarily violent and too unrelentingly dreary. The animal CGI was so bad. The worst part for me if there was too much time being told how special and magical Nimue is while watching her run around helpless most of the time.  

Edited July 18, 2020 by Guest

[kieyra]

31 minutes ago, Dani said:

I want to like this but it’s too slow, too unnecessarily violent and too unrelentingly dreary. The animal CGI was so bad. The worst part for me if there was too much time talking about how special and magical Nimue is while watching her run around helpless most of the time.  

Yeah ... I watched a lot of this pretty early today and I didn’t want to be the first to post this stuff, because I’m sure there’s an audience for the show and I don’t want to scare people off. But yeah, they needed to put a lot more effort into the writing and character development to catch my attention. Seems like it was “make it look vaguely like Game of Thrones” first, worry about creating three dimensional characters ... way later, or never. It’s all kind of flat and humorless. 

[thuganomics85]

Yikes, that CGI Bear was somehow even worse than the wolves in the last episode.  Made the whole big moment/death comical instead of important and pivotal, which is what I'm thinking it was suppose to be.

I normally dislike wiseass kids on shows, but Squirrel might actually be my favorite right now, since everyone else is so boring, and I kind of love how little fucks he has about taunting a Murderous Emo Monk, who could kill him with a flick of his wrist.

Right now, the issue I'm having (besides this just being way too slow) is that it feels like it is aiming for something that is similar to a kind of Y.A. show or film (like The Hunger Games, Divergent, etc.), but it has mixed it with TV-MA violence and gore, and it makes it a tonal mess.  I feel like if should have picked a lane (either more family-friendly or more adult), and stick with it.  Because I'm not sure if it is really going to satisfy anyone at this rate.

 

[kieyra]

44 minutes ago, thuganomics85 said:

Right now, the issue I'm having (besides this just being way too slow) is that it feels like it is aiming for something that is similar to a kind of Y.A. show or film (like The Hunger Games, Divergent, etc.), but it has mixed it with TV-MA violence and gore, and it makes it a tonal mess.  I feel like if should have picked a lane (either more family-friendly or more adult), and stick with it.  Because I'm not sure if it is really going to satisfy anyone at this rate.

Again, have to agree. They threw a whole bunch of stuff in there; imagery from half a dozen other genre IPs, names from Arthurian legends, this fantasy trope and that, weak attempts at subverting a few of those tropes ... and then under-wrote all of it, like they were afraid that we might get distracted if they included polished dialogue or characterization. 

[Kirjava]

Maybe if I had read the book (or books?), all of this would have made sense and felt significant, but as it was I spent the whole first episode asking "Why do the villagers hate and fear Nimue when she's not the only magic user in the village?", "Why do these guys in red cloaks hate the magic users so much?", "Why did that kid's hand turn green when the leaf touched it?" "Why couldn't the fairies fly away from their attackers?" "Why does the king let the red cloaks torture and kill his citizens with impunity?" "What is that?" "Where are they?" "What are the rules and cultures of this world?" "Why?" "What?" "Why?"

When I first watched GoT I had never read the books, but at no point was I confused about who the characters were or what their motivations were or what the hell was happening. If you're going to turn a book into a show, you need to establish the world and its characters. I would honestly take clunky exposition over whatever the hell this is.

The flashback to the bear attack really should have been the beginning of the first episode. It would have helped to establish Nimue as a character. It would have explained why the villagers hate and fear her in particular since she's been targeted by some powerful magical entity. It would have demonstrated how much of an outcast she felt despite her mother's love and the friendship of Pym and Squirrel, and why she refused the position of Summoner and wanted to run away. 

Are there limits to Nimue's magic? Can she only summon it sometimes but not others? Or has she suppressed her magic because of her bad history and now it just bursts out when she's particularly upset?  We haven't had anyone really explain why one of her own people can say something rude and she makes his bow strangle him, but while the red cloaks are slaughtering her whole village and she's being chased by wolves she just runs or cowers instead of using her magic, or even trying to use her magic.

[chaifan]

I agree with pretty much everything posted above.  They've tried to cram way too much into the first 2 episodes, haven't developed the characters, rely on a lot of rather overdone fantasy realm tropes.  (Why do all fairies sound like they're on helium?)  Also, having 2 male characters run around in hooded cloaks - Merlin and the evil Monk - gets confusing. 

This reminds me a bit of Witcher - I dropped it after a few episodes because I just didn't care about any of the characters, and found it rather plodding and dull. 

[shrewd.buddha]

On 7/19/2020 at 5:09 PM, Kirjava said:

We haven't had anyone really explain why one of her own people can say something rude and she makes his bow strangle him, but while the red cloaks are slaughtering her whole village and she's being chased by wolves she just runs or cowers instead of using her magic, or even trying to use her magic.

Unfortunately, there was too much running and cowering and not much evidence of being resourceful or trying to help anyone else but herself. For that, I mostly blame the writing and directing.
(And why does her hair always seem to hang perfectly over her shoulders? )
I'm guessing at some point Nimue will unleash her powers in a big way, but for now she is supposed to be still discovering them. It just seems as if she would have had a little curiosity about what she could do since the age of 5 or so - - especially with all the alone time she had because she was the village outcast. 

But the scenery is lovely..

Edited July 22, 2020 by shrewd.buddha

[SnarkyBear]

Didn't even bother to finish this episode. I realized I just didn't care & it was all rather silly. I had all the same questions as above - why are they mixing Arthurian legend, Killer Monks & "Fey" (is that a known fantasy thing?) people in a mystical Avatar-lite setting (which I'm guessing is just that one wood)? It's a hot mess. Honestly, if actual fairies existed & they lived where regular humans could see them for centuries, would the Church act like they are some sudden demonic atrocity that must be destroyed? & this just annoyed me - after that one monk attacks her & is taken away by roots, she looks up & the sight makes her throw up. So I'm expecting this monk to be in gory pieces or something. Come to find out, he's just been wrapped up in roots & is still alive! THAT made her thrown up? 

[iMonrey]

Quote

When I first watched GoT I had never read the books, but at no point was I confused about who the characters were or what their motivations were or what the hell was happening. If you're going to turn a book into a show, you need to establish the world and its characters. I would honestly take clunky exposition over whatever the hell this is.

To be fair, GoT doesn't have the kind of magic that a show like this does. And when magic plays a key role in a story you really need to lay down the ground rules. I agree with the comments above, Nimue's powers have been inconsistent and vague. The nature of the "fey" has not been explained well either.

It's also too bad they got rid of Pym, because she lent the story a much needed injection of humor. Nimue is just way too emo and self pitying. The writing is not doing this character any favors, it's hard to care about her.

I still find the show an easy watch and what's not to love about Floki as Merlin? Original programming is becoming scarce, so I'll stick with it.

[deathisyourgift]

On 7/24/2020 at 5:32 AM, SnarkyBear said:

why are they mixing Arthurian legend, Killer Monks & "Fey" (is that a known fantasy thing?) 

Mixing Arthurian legend and fae or fey (why is that in quotes) isn't unusual.  I mean, Morgan le Fey is kind of known for being from Arthurian legend.

On 7/24/2020 at 5:32 AM, SnarkyBear said:

Honestly, if actual fairies existed & they lived where regular humans could see them for centuries, would the Church act like they are some sudden demonic atrocity that must be destroyed?

Well, nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition.

[tennisgurl]

They are really cramming a lot of stuff into this arent they? I know its only episode two, but I am super confused about the nature of this universe. So are the villagers like human/fae hybrids or something? They can apparently do some magic and have what seems like some kind connection to spirits, and we also saw that dying fairy in the first episode, what connect do they have with the fae? Most of them just seem like normal people who live in the woods though. How are these people any different than the random people we see living in the castle or by the docks? Why do the red cloak Templars want to kill them? Why do the villagers hate Nimue so much if magic use is common and they are pals with the fae and have magic high priestesses and healers and stuff? Because she got scars from a "dark god"? Why do the red cloaks hate magic so much anyway? Just a vague is "its evil and unholy and demons" that writers always give religious fanatics who hate magic because of reasons? But why actually? If magic has been around for so long and seems to be a pretty well known part of the world, why all the killing now? Because of a drought? Is this the first drought this place has ever had? In fact, if the fairies and the villagers have magic, why are they getting curb stomped by guys whos biggest technological achievement is a pointy stick and monk with a Hot Topic gift card? Having fae and gods and stuff in Arthurian lore is fine (and pretty common in a lot of versions of the stories, where Nimue herself is fae sometimes) but we need to set up some rules. 

I think this backstory for Nimue would have worked better if her powers made her respected but also put a ton of responsibility on her, like she was being prepared to take her mothers spot one day as head priestess, so she didn't have much time to make friends with other kids or get matched with a future husband, or the elders kind of kept her apart from everyone to prepare her for her duties, and some people were resentful of her or saw her as more of a great future sorceress and not a normal person, so then she would still feel isolated and distanced from her village, but without her whole village being a bunch of assholes for no reason, and could also give her more feelings of guilt, like the one time she tries to get out and have fun and be normal, this happens. No wonder she isn't all that sad about it being burned to the ground, the only decent people around apparently were her mom, Pyp, and the kid. 

The tone in this show is all over the place, sometimes being kind of YA novel, and other times going for more of a dark GoT vibe. At least with Merlin, you have a pretty consistent tone to his scenes, I have no idea with most of the rest of the show. Nimue herself is still a blank slate, I am waiting for her to get more interesting. 

Edited July 28, 2020 by tennisgurl