King Arthur for Grown Ups

Remember the King Arthur debacle of 2004? When the legend took gritty, historical turn (and I use the term historical, loosely)? Where Arthur wasn’t even a Briton, but a bloody damn Roman?

Or the First Knight affair of 1995? Where Arthur was like a 100 years old and, for some reason, Lancelot became king at the end? (Umm. . . spoiler alert?)

I’ve learned not to expect too much from adaptations of Arthurian legends. Despite allowing for a lot of leeway for them to be accessible and relevant for a new generation of viewers, despite shelving my expectations and personal Arthurian baggage, I usually find them lacking. And even though Starz impressed the hell out of me with Spartacus, I went into Camelot expecting to be disappointed because, well. . . just look at what we’ve had.

I’m thrilled to be wrong. Camelot on Starz rocks.

Nothing is certain. Camelot is an overgrown ruin with trees broken through the floor in the great hall. Arthur has nothing but Merlin and a few knights while every warlord in Britain rains hell upon him.

This is the kind of Arthur I like: an awkward kid facing a ton of opposition, but determined to be a different kind of a king, determined to be a good king. He’s not a member of an occupying force or the pampered son of a sitting king. He can be a king for the people because he’s of the people. The kid playing him, Jamie Campbell Bower, is believable in the role and gets his insecurities across without falling into annoying, whiny emoness.

Merlin, played by Joseph Fiennes, forgoes the robes and flowy white beard in favor of a shaved head and crazy eyes. He’s thought to be a sorcerer, although he dodges the issue; what is certain is that he hasn’t aged in twenty years and once made Uther look like the Duke of Cornwall. In the first two episodes, Merlin is more political mastermind than sorcerer, but it is implied that he’s responsible for placing the legendary sword in the stone centuries earlier. A very Bene Gesserit sort of move, creating a legend so it can be exploited later.

Morgan is great fun. She unapologetically ambitious and ruthless – the sort of qualities that made a powerful king back then. Eva Green plays her with a seething intolerance for everyone around her while also managing subtlety when necessary.

There’s a scene in the second episode where Morgan, surrounded by carnage, seats herself on the throne after a battle. It’s a very appropriate image: Morgan presiding over a court of the dead. She says, “Men will not be my way to this. So, I’ll find another way to take it.” At that point, Arthur does his Arthur thing, insisting it doesn’t have to be that way, they can work together, blah blah blah. For a moment, her face changes and we can see the seed of Arthur’s downfall take hold in her mind.

The showrunner, Chris Chinball, said in a recent interview that every generation needs it’s Camelot. With Camelot on Starz, I feel like I’m finally getting the Arthurian story for mine.

Lisa Fary is a graduate of the creative writing program at Florida State University and holds an advanced degree in Special Education. Her earliest influences are Princess Leia, Rainbow Bright, Astronaut Barbie, and her 6th grade teacher, Ms. Palmer. She’s angry that it’s 2010 and she still doesn’t have a hovercraft, but will accept a jetpack as consolation. That jetpack had better be pink with a rhinestone monogram.

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