O Rei do Inverno

So I love anything that has to do with King Arthur and Bernard Cornwell is one of my favorite writers so to have him do an Arthurian book series was awesome!! I love the tv version of "The Last Kingdom" by him and was really hoping this would be similar but sadly it's not even close. The creators/writers of the show either never read the books or decided to just ignore them entirely. I've watched all 5 episodes to air and every one makes me more disappointed in what could've been a great show. Outside of the fact it's very different from the books the acting, writing, casting, and overall production is just bad. Only gave it a 5 cause I love the legend and original books so much.

Bernard Cornwall's Winter King trilogy are three great historical fiction novels centred around the legend of King Arthur. The books are full of characters, intrigue, action and compelling plot lines, all told with Cornwall's excellent skills that bring 4th century Britain to life.

So seeing a TV adaption with string source material filled me with excitement. Sadly, this series, while broadly following the books had inexplicably replaced strong characters with the cast from a day-time TV soap, with a similar dilution of any of the colour, depth and visceral action that make the books so compelling.

In truth I struggled through watching this with a constant sense of irritation and disappointment as the characters I so enjoyed in print were portrayed with all of their interesting flaws, eccentricities and depth of character removed. This felt like ordering for steak and red wine for dinner but being served tofu and water.

The most compelling aspects of the books is that they actively try to remove the anachronisms (wooden hill forts, ponies and spearmen instead of stone castles, warhorses and swords), and they look up at the legendary characters from the viewpoint of Derfel. Legendary characters sweep into Derfel's life, have impact, then leave. They keep their mystique because of the viewpoint we have of them. The show desperately wants to shift this viewpoint to Arthur and make it his story, which rather misses the point.

Straight away we start with the king in a stone castle and Merlin with some huts in a forest because that is the stereotypical settings for a High King and a Druid. Gone are the hill forts that gave the books an iconic setting, instead this adaptation just feels like churned out rubbish; wannabe Game of Thrones, Uthred or LotR.

That the characters have all had their personalities put through the wash is the final nail for this show. The worst examples are that Merlin isn't chaotic, Nimue has lost her bite and Morgan is bland. They've lost the very traits that drive their character arcs.

The Winter King is even better than I expected would be. It tells the story of how of former monk turned warrior, Arthur Pendragon, became known as King Arthur and the lord of war. My only hesitation was that the role of Arthur went to Iain De Caestecker who I only knew from Agents of Shield. His character in that was more of a nerdy scientist so I thought I would have a hard time buying him as Arthur. I was wrong. He is terrific as the lead here. Actually, the entire cast is great here except for the actress who plays Nimue. She's awful and badly written. If you're a fan of this story and King Arthur then this will not disappoint. It's a must watch for any Arthur fan.

It's hard to quantify why this show doesn't work. Certainly the historical inaccuracies turned me off, especially the language - who in the fifth century asks, "Gotta minute?"

But it's way more than that - mediocre acting, uninteresting characters, a plot as slow as a soap opera, and no beauty or elegance whatsoever. I'm not really into fight and battle scenes, but I would have welcomed a few in the first episode, in place of the violent beatings and degradation it contained.

Game of Thrones has huge pluses over this show, including internal consistency, and gorgeous actors with true talent.