Season 1 – The Pendragon Cycle: Rise of the Merlin

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Hotma Fani H @RT55323325 16 hrs ago There’s clearly a lot of money, ambition, and genuine affection for the source material behind Rise of the Merlin. The landscapes look gorgeous, the production occasionally feels impressively grand, and the Arthurian mythology gives the series a strong foundation. Then the writing walks in and starts tripping over the furniture. The biggest problem is how badly this show handles exposition and pacing. It throws characters, factions, mythology, time jumps, and political conflicts at you with barely enough breathing room to understand why any of it matters. Several scenes feel like they were chopped out of a longer story and stitched together by someone who assumed the audience had already read the books. The show also desperately wants to look like prestige fantasy. Unfortunately, occasionally it looks less like Game of Thrones and more like Game of Thrones ordered from a suspicious website. See more Steve B @Steve_from_DC 20 hrs ago A really good show that could become great if it gets more seasons. The acting, music, and cinematography were all excellent. Truly impressive work from an unknown cast. The writing and dialogue were above average - well above average by today's standards. I'm not familiar with the source material so I did find the narrative flow initially confusing and the editing could be tighter but those are minor quibbles. This is not GoT or LoTR and it's not trying to be (altho GoT is a deliberate subversion of LoTR). It stands on its own and has the potential to be the best telling yet of the Arthurian legend, which is rarely done justice by TV or movies. Looking forward to additional seasons. Kudos to Amazon for having the guts to run this against the vastly inferior (and more costly) Rings of Power. See more Valentina T @RT41170176 1 day ago I absolutely love this show. I think the plot and characters are very unique. I am used to Marion Zimmer-Bradley's "Mists of Avalon" and this blew my mind. To have The Merlin be the son of Taleisin and a Christian is a stork of genius. The people groups are very interesting and the characters are lovable and filled with complex story arcs. See more S D @staceleann36 1 day ago I loved the casting and the scenery. I recognized many of the sets, they were used in The Last Kingdom - same buildings, same interiors. I wish they could have built new unique sets for this. I enjoyed watching it for the most part. But it was confusing in the chronology of events and the way it kept going back and forward in time. It also kept cutting scenes short and suddenly changing scenes to a different location and event without showing the outcome of the previous scene. It often didn't explain what was going on and had confusing things that made me say, "what just happened? What's going on?" ie Merlin's taken as a child by hill folk, but his mother and family don't come looking for him and he's missing for 6 years? What family wouldn't look for their child? It ends with Merlin angrily pushing the sword into the stone, but doesn't give any clue as to why he would do that. Lots of strange, unanswered plot points. But I liked the costumes and the acting. See more Jonathan M @Jonathan555 1 day ago Good acting. Wholesome story (as much as it can be) Good v. Evil. What more can ask for? See more Ella D @RT59958781 1 day ago I studied the Mabinogion in college... and I love Arthurian legend & LOTR. So I guess I'm the audience. My expectations were none.. because I hadn't heard of this show - it just popped up on my Amazon Prime thread. .. probably because I watched parts of a tv series called Merlin a few years back. That series was fun and jovial. Instead - This one was more sincere, and actually took a stab at capturing the characters and themes of the Mabinogion (12th century ish) and other ancient Welsh tales that putatively took place during the Druids and the early conversion to Christianity in Britton. But again - there are some potential anachronisms here. Plato mentioned (lost) Atlantis around 350 BC... but maybe Charis is older than we think? Like hundreds of years old? The first 2 episodes could have been its own series. Honestly - I want to see more of Taliesin.. and Charis!! See more Read all reviews

The Pendragon Cycle: Rise of the Merlin — Season 1

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