- Guinevere Arthur has always been portrayed as a noble leader of men, who himself was wronged when his wife Guinevere had an affair with his champion, Lancelot. Now it appears that the boot is on the other foot, as Arthur, overcome with desire simply because he dreamt of Guinevere (and who wouldn’t?), decides to seduce her. It’s hard to know where Arthur is coming from. In the first episode, he was portrayed as a bit of a Jack the Lad, who was sleeping with his brother’s girlfriend, but now, after meeting her twice and dreaming of her, we are meant to believe he is in love with Guinevere? Not just that, but her fiancé is Leontes, the man that saved his life last week. It’s a bit of a stretch, especially when it looks like everything he has struggled to gain could be lost, simply because he can’t keep his Excalibur in his scabbard. If you get my meaning. I guess that’s the thing, though. If Starz really want to give HBO a run for their money in producing quality adult programming, then the characters can’t simply be black and white, like in the BBC’s Merlin. Life isn’t simply right and wrong, especially in the Dark Ages. But, while it’s nice to see our heroes painted in a nice shade of grey, some of their actions didn’t ring true. I’m fully expecting this storyline to go all Tristan + Isolde over the next few weeks, with longing glances, secret trysts and the affair threatening to break the kingdom in two, but hopefully, it won’t be that predictable. Meanwhile, Merlin is ensnared by Morgan after Arthur accepts a dinner invitation. Considering how much death and destruction his half-sister has bought the young king, this did appear to be quite a stupid decision. He didn’t even seem that alarmed when he awoke to find her sitting in his room. Like I said, it’s hard to know exactly where Arthur is coming from or why Merlin places so much faith in him, especially when he currently seems to be nothing more than a petulant, horny, reckless man-boy. Merlin, on the other hand, seems content in letting himself not only be captured (as it seems he can escape at any time), but getting his toenails clipped by Morgan for some dark purpose. Though it’s great to see Fiennes and Green going toe to toe in the most dramatic and watchable scenes, one wonders why Merlin is allowing himself to get played like this, especially when he normally seems to be several steps ahead of everyone else. Considering what has gone before it, I was rather disappointed by this episode, not just by the predictable Arthur/Guinevere lust story, but by the fact that the new king seems to be a bit of an idiot, while his greatest enemy seems content to host dinner parties instead of doing something really evil. Still, perhaps this is just the calm before the storm. Read our review of episode 2, The Sword And The Crown, here.
