Netflix's Cursed is an underwhelming spin on the legend of King Arthur

The Witcher, this is not. 

Netflix’s new fantasy series Cursed is based on a book by Tom Wheeler and Frank Miller. Considering the latter is responsible for some of the most famous comicbook runs ever (Daredevil, Batman, 300, Sin City), the show's creative team alone makes it worth a look. That, and the wait for The Witcher Season 2 is getting painful. 

Cursed is a reimagining of Arthurian legend. You’ve heard plenty about King Arthur, his legendary sword Excalibur and the Knights of the Round Table by now, but someone you haven’t heard very much about is Nimue - the Lady of the Lake. Netflix’s new drama dives deep into a very familiar world of magic and fantasy, but throws in a couple of twists and turns to keep things fresh.

Is it worth a weekend binge? Well, that depends. 

Whosoever wields this blade

Cursed is a dark fantasy story. That much is evident when it shows the corpse of a three-faced baby in its very first episode. The magical world Nimue lives in has also been desecrated by the barbaric Red Paladins, whose sole focus is to weed out anyone and anything remotely supernatural in origin. Horned beings who look a lot like humans are forced to shave their horns down to blend in. A young girl with scales on her skin hides in the back of a caravan to escape death. 

The message isn't very subtle. Every magical creature is essentially enduring the Salem Witch Trials of their time, only with less trials and more immediate death. If you look different in this world, you’re executed with violent prejudice. A sadly relevant theme that still hits close to home today. On the nose though it may be, it does give this particular Arthurian adaptation the depth it desperately needs. The villainous Red Paladins are cruel and wicked enough to keep me watching, if only to see their inevitable end. 

The Paladins aren’t the story, however. The story is Nimue - a young Fae woman whose village is slaughtered by these ruthless murderers. She ends up alone and left with nothing but an urgent mission from her mother: deliver Excalibur to the sorcerer Merlin. Unfortunately, this show’s version of Merlin is less of the wise, bushy-bearded type and more of the magic-less, cantankerous and lone wolf type. He wants nothing to do with all this violence, and who can blame him?

Things start slowly

Cursed is constantly bouncing back and forth between multiple characters and their plotlines, which means that there is a lot to set up in its first few episodes. While I really enjoyed its setting and twists to Arthurian lore, I ended up being pretty disappointed by its writing - which is a shame, because the quality of these first few episodes really hinge on viewers getting to know its characters. 

But they're all so boring. Most of the main characters are just mish-mashes of tropes and archetypes you’ve seen before. Nimue herself is a strong enough lead, but her journey relies so much on other, less interesting people. The show’s spin on Arthur being a rogue mercenary was enough to make my eyes roll, and then they introduce Gawain - and of course the two of them start vying for Nimue’s affection. Because when I watch a fantasy show, the first thing I’m looking for is a generic love triangle and romantic melodrama. 

They're not all bad, though. While Nimue runs for her life through forests and convents in search of Merlin, the sorcerer is on an interesting journey of his own. After witnessing a series of supernatural omens, Merlin flees the not-so-benevolent King Uther to find their source - much to his own chagrin. Gustaf Skarsgård does a great job with the character, injecting him with just enough roguish charm to make his misadventures actually worth watching. 

Beyond the Red Paladins and King Uther, the show’s villains come twofold: Father Carden and the Weeping Monk. Father Carden is compelling enough, if not only due to Peter Mullan’s commanding presence onscreen. He obviously firmly believes that he’s doing the right thing by cutting down those different from him left and right, which makes him a hateful, but worthy foe to Nimue. The Weeping Monk’s motivations are much more enigmatic, and one can't help but wonder - what does he want out of all this?  

Where the show goes wrong

It’s funny, despite all the new things Cursed tried to do with the Arthurian mythology - I ended up feeling like I’d seen it all before somewhere else. The moment we see Nimue flee her village to find her destiny for example, we know that she’s going to come back to find everything burned down. Star Wars, anyone? The story just ends up being too predictable because of this trope-filled writing. Everything it tries to do is unique to King Arthur and his stories, but outside of them? It feels generic and stale. 

In the first half of the series, episodes would slow down to a crawl in order to properly flesh out the world Nimue has ventured into - but it hardly feels necessary. Nimue stumbles from one location to the next, meeting forgettable characters and seeing places that won’t matter in the next episode - so why would I care now? The show’s setting of magic and terror is rife with potential, but it utterly fails to introduce memorable enough characters to flesh everything out. 

That being said, even as the poor man’s Witcher, Cursed still has something to offer for fans of the fantasy genre and Arthurian myth. It’s hard to not feel excitement when Arthur wields the Excalibur for the very first time, or when Merlin steals magical fire from a treasure hoarder. If you’re just looking for a fantasy series with a fairly impressive budget, this will suit you just fine. There are some pretty great action sequences here and there, if you're in it for sheer spectacle. 

Verdict

Cursed paints over the tapestry of Arthurian legend with themes of racism, religious persecution and finding yourself amidst all that chaos. There's a nugget of brilliance in that premise. Nimue's journey takes her across a rich world full of magic, but this show wastes that potential with a slow start, predictable storytelling and wooden characters. I’d probably just rewatch The Witcher instead. 

***

Cursed is out in full on Netflix today, on July 17, 2020. Check out our interviews with the creators of Cursed: Tom Wheeler and Frank Miller. We also interviewed the show’s cast: Katherine Langford, Gustaf Skarsgård, Devon Terrell and Daniel Sharman.

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