Cursed

First major issue. Lot of reviews are about that this show cannot decide, if this is a proper fantasy for adults or teenage romance drama. I agree and add one thing to this idea, that balance between this two formats is weird and for me, as more demanding viewer, dumb. Add 2 stars if you are casual viewer.

Second major issue is a lore of that world. You start watching it like: " there will be some paralel between legend of king Arthur and Excalibur sword". And that is mistake. Only the names are similar. I like historical accuracy, but this is about something else and it should be mentioned for example in first 5 min of show.

Third major issue is "Netflix pattern" for this shows. So rebel teen got power, fighting against parents, want to run, then "unexpected" twist, ... :D So this is hard to watch again and again and again.

Dialogues and script. I have feeling that i have seen and heard it already in others fantasy shows or movies. So unoriginal. Acting is sometimes bad, sometimes good. Fighting choreography is ... is there at least :D

In general, good show for summer. With tons of blood in there not for kids, with weak plot and dialogues and lot of teen drama not for adults.

I tried, I really did. But something's missing. My feeling is the actors' performances. But I don't understand why, because they are, generally, great actors. Still, the dullness and lack of spark were disappointing.

There was a lot of promise here. Just having Floki (Skarsgard from Vikings) play a version of Merlin you have not seen before ... well as they say in Greece, that is all the money. Which is high praise, in case it does not translate as well as I think it does.

Having said that, the show is not just about Merlin. We do have more of the Arthurian legend ... well retold! You have people/names that you probably recognize ... but you will not really recognize the side of them as they are portrayed here. Unfortunately a lot of times the show remains bland and a bit vague in certain respects. And while it does not seem to hold back any punches ... it does resolve and use a lot of cliches. Which is a shame all things considering.

What is a shame for sure, especially for those amongst you who actually loved this way more than I ultimately did (and I wanted to love it more): there will be no season 2. And with so many characters future being ... not fully told or resolved ... you might not be too happy about the cliffhangers and the open questions this leaves you with.

That being said, it does have really good production values and it does look good (and is quite violent, more than some may like I reckon). Acting is good and if the "woke" and inclusive mentality of it all does not bother you, you will have a lot to discover.

***EDIT: I have revised my score after 7 episodes. Keep watching, it's rather gripping and there are some great actors here, known and new.. ***

Black Arthur? Why not. Nimuë of Arthurs age? hmmm Fey lore? Nice! Arthur a thief and cutthroat? Could work.

But: This show tries to contain so many stories it doesn't do right by any. The only decent idea was having Merlin be a bitter man. Then there's all the names: Igraine, Morgane le Fey, Ector and Bors... But Morgane is not a Fey, Nimuë is. Ector and Bors aren't even related. Hell, Uther Pendragon, father of Arthur and Morgane isn't related to either in this series!

It's like they used only the names of this beautiful legend, pulling them out of a hat every time they needed a new character. Worst. Ever. Adaptation.

About the bad dialogues spoken by good actors: read the other reviews.

I'm not sure what this TV series is trying to be.

On the one hand it has a lot of semi OK CGI gore and some pretty dark moments, and the acting is decent.

For some reason though, it occasionally flicks to some light hearted teen story line. The story itself seems to be all over the place, the lead female character seems to jump between some sort of badass that can control the elements when angry to a weepy powerless girl.

By the second episode I just turned it off, frankly, the story line was not engaging at all, which is pretty disappointing given the wealth of source material available.

The TV series really doesn't know what it wants to be, its seems they aimed for the middle line of the Witcher and Merlin yet failed to deliver on either.