DVD Review: Camelot (Season 1)

Starring: Joseph Fiennes, Jamie Campbell Bower, Eva Green

Description: In the wake of King Uther’s sudden death, chaos threatens to engulf Britain. When the sorcerer Merlin has visions of a dark future, he installs the young and impetuous Arthur, Uther’s unknown son and heir, who has been raised from birth as a commoner. But Arthur’s cold and ambitious half sister Morgan will fight him to the bitter end, summoning unnatural forces to claim the crown in this epic battle for control. These are dark times indeed for the new king, with Guinevere being the only shining light in Arthur’s harsh world. Faced with profound moral decisions, and the challenge of uniting a kingdom broken by war and steeped in deception, Arthur will be tested beyond imagination. Forget everything you think you knowthis is the story of Camelot that has never been told before.

Available Formats: DVD, Blu-ray, Digital Downloads

Buy it Now:

This review is based on DVDs received through the Amazon Vine program.

TDF Pamela’s Review:

In short, Camelot feels like someone saw how popular HBO series like True Blood are and thought, “Hey! Let’s do that to the King Arthur legend!” Camelot is a sexed up, melodramatic retelling of the Arthurian legends, and while it isn’t particularly bad, it’s not exactly great either.

The good stuff:
The casting is very good, and the actors all do a really nice job with the material they’re working with. Jamie Campbell Bower is pretty good as Arthur-as-a-young-man, playing the character as both intelligent and naive. He wants to do the right thing for his kingdom, but he’s still just a kid trying to figure out what on earth just happened to him. Eva Green starts off as a wonderful Morgan, a woman who is vengeful and power-hungry (a stereotype that I’m admittedly pretty tired of), though the character takes a turn for the cartoonish toward the end of the series. Joseph Fiennes is great as Merlin, playing the character much more morally ambiguously than many Merlins before him, and I’m actually sad that we didn’t have more Merlin in this series. Fiennes was one of the strongest actors involved. The other supporting characters are also well-played, from Arthur’s knights to Sinead Cusack as a Machiavellian nun.

The costuming and set design are both lovely if occasionally anachronistic. I really loved the costumes, and they do look appropriately medieval as long as you don’t try to figure out exactly when the series is set. The cinematography is also very nice, although the CGI leaves something to be desired.

The not-so-good stuff:
No matter how good the actors are, they just couldn’t save the show for me. The writing isn’t great and the pacing is atrocious. I spent half of the series bored to death, even though I’m sure I was supposed to be riveted based on all of the lying and obfuscation and magic going on. The entire season’s plot felt like it should have been the story for four episodes at most, and if they had condensed some of the more painful elements (the betrayal/romance storyline between Arthur and Guinevere, for example), the show would have been much more enjoyable.

The writers did try to turn some of the most familiar elements of Arthurian legend on their heads, but it just wasn’t enough. The big surprises in the plot are laughably predictable, and in the season finale, I spent half of my time saying “I told you that would happen” to my fiance as we watched.

On top of the pacing issues, I felt like the sex and nudity was just thrown in for titillation. Nothing wrong with a little tittilation, I think, but after about the fifth time we had lingering shots of the women’s breasts (and very little in the way of male nudity; come on now, Starz), I was over it.

I like Arthurian legend and I like seeing what new adaptations people come up with. Even though Camelot treaded a lot of new ground, it just didn’t tread it gracefully enough for me to really like it. It’s an okay series, but just that: okay. And since the series hasn’t been picked up for a second season, you won’t get much closure at all in season one. Unless you’re a big fan of the actors involved, I can’t really recommend this show.