During last long weekend holiday, I was intrigued to watch this series which was already released on Netflix a couple of weeks earlier. Again, this was another one of their original series and as the premise was interesting, one of my favorite genre, I would not pass this one up. OK so let's get on with it.
Brief Story Line
Set in Britannia during the medieval time, a young fairy (or referred to as Fey) named Nimue (Katherine Langford - Knives Out etc) was considered an outcast and always felt she did not belong. She tried to escape to another place and accompanied by her best friend Pym (Lily Newmark) where they met with a young cut-throat named Arthur (Devon Terrel). However, when Nimue's village was attacked by group of mercenary priests called Red Paladins led by Father Carden (Peter Mullan - The Vanishing, War Horse etc), she was given a task by her mother to deliver an item to Merlin the magician (Gustaf Skarsgård - Vikings TV series etc).
Nimue embarked on a dangerous adventure to fulfill her mother's wish where she would face various obstacles and challenges. During her adventure, she also met with a nun named Igraine (Shalom Brune-Franklin) who would support her cause. Meanwhile Red Paladins assigned a ruthless assassin called Weeping Monk (Daniel Sharman - Fear the Walking Dead TV series etc) to destroy all Feys and other non humans. Nimue not only has to escape from the Red Paladins but also from the chase by King Uther Pendragon (Sebastian Armesto) who wanted to take the item from her.
So what would happen to Nimue and what would be her role in the Arthurian legends? Find them all in this series.
End of Brief Story Line
I mentioned above that fantasy is also one of my favorite genre. In here, the fantasy was set during medieval time and much related to the Arthurian legends. Those who are familiar with this would likely know about King Arthur and his famous round table knights plus the legends surrounding him. For me who had seen some movies/series related to it, it took a bit of getting used to, since there were quite a lot of changes here on the persons and the story. Personally to me, the re-imagining were OK and entertaining enough.
The series itself has a rather familiar plot where a young woman forged by time and condition had to face so many obstacles and challenges to fulfill her mission with friends and enemies she met along the way. And to my surprise, the obstacles seemed to be quite abundant in here (like really a lot!). There were some romance added to spice things up too. What I liked about the series was that it has some nice fight scenes with some suspense, although you have to manage your expectation as it is certainly not up to the level of those more big budgeted series like Game of Thrones. The visual effects were pretty decent but less than spectacular.
The standard 10 episodes was perfect for me with each having duration of around 50-55 minutes. My most favorite were episodes 7 and the season finale. While 7th was great because it showed Nimue's new found ability, the 10th was definitely a favorite because it showed the culmination of everything built from the previous episodes. Plus it also has a fantastic ending that truly magnified the importance of having a second season. Btw, I noticed that the series was based on (I think) graphic novel by Tom Wheeler & Frank Miller (the creator of Sin City, 300 and few others).
The cast were generally good in their roles with my favorite obviously the lead Katherine Langford as Nimue, the character Merlin (awesomely portrayed by Gustaf Skarsgård) and the mysterious Weeping Monk with his amazing fight skills. Oh I also like Peter Cullan in here as the villainous Father Carden. In addition to the names I mentioned in the brief story line, there were also Matt Stokoe as Gawain and Bella Dayne as Red Spear, plus one character Sister Iris the nun (performed by the young Emily Coates) who truly surprised me with her acting.
All in all, this was quite an adventure. Since I was quite open minded when watching the series, I pretty much enjoyed it. Despite based on graphic novel, the color and tone of this did not feel very dark, in fact it was lighter than I anticipated. There were some violence but not up to the level of gruesome and disturbing and it did not show nudity even during the love making scene. As long as you are open to the different angle of Arthurian legends and not expecting a really epic showdown & comparing with other similar type of series/movies, then this one should be quite entertaining.
Mike's movie moments rating: 4 out of 5 stars
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