COUCH POTATO: Camelot on Starz

Being an avowed King Arthur nerd, I get excited whenever a new movie adaptation of the stories comes out, so I was eager to see Camelot, a series that debuted on Starz last week.

options

COUCH POTATO: Camelot on Starz

POSTED: Wednesday, April 6, 2011, 12:30 PM

Filed Under: TV Couch Potato

At the start of the show, my doubts seemed justified. It was seriously melodramatic, and the writing was so clichéd — Merlin, dramatically bowing: “The king is dead. Long live the king” — that it made good actors look absurd. The anachronisms were blatant: Would a man in 600 A.D. have a shaved head and goatee? Would a young Arthur really unleash sarcastic phrases like “thanks a lot”? Also slightly bothersome was the fact that Arthur, as played by Jamie Campbell Bower, looks like the love child of Chris Martin and the middle Hanson brother. How had Joseph Fiennes and Eva Green, two respectable actors, gotten themselves into this mess?

But despite myself, as Camelot went on, I began to accept it on its own terms — putting my surface concerns aside to enjoy aspects of the show. It remained difficult to fully suspend disbelief and immerse myself in its world; not for a moment was I unconscious of the existence of actors and writers. But if you ignore the haircuts, Camelot has plenty of visual appeal, with its rich depictions of the countryside, medieval villages, and ruined castles. Beyond that, it effectively explores what may be the legend’s most important, and often forgotten, theme: national unity. Arthur comes to power at a time when British warlords are killing each other left and right, and it’s his task to bring them together. But, as T.H. White’s Merlin points out in The Once and Future King, it takes more violence to end the bloodshed. Is that violence justified? Does Arthur have a right to impose his will on the country for its own good? Camelot looks poised to reflect on such questions.

Meanwhile, I did start to like Bower’s Arthur for his mixture of wide-eyed uncertainty and a desire to do right. Maybe it’s just because I’m addicted to the legend — but I’ll give this show a chance.

1 | 2

Posted by Matthew Cantor @ 12:30 PM Permalink | Post a comment

Comments (0)

Behind the scenes of local film A Man Full of Trouble
What we're trying to do this weekend
CONCERT REVIEW: The Postal Service @ The Mann 6/17
ICEPACK ILLUSTRATED: Sunny, Tony and the return of Do No Harm
NOW SEE THIS: Salinger film trailer
ICEPACK ILLUSTRATED: Indian fare rules, Dunder Mifflin lives on, Tom Jones is a god
CONCERT PHOTOS: The National/Dirty Projectors @ The Mann Center 6/7
REVIEW: Archer Live! @ the TLA 1/11
CITY PAPER WRITING CONTEST 2013: Send stories! Send poetry!
ICEPACK ILLUSTRATED: Pink. Diner en Blanc 2. Breaking Glass and Milkboy at the movies. And so on.

About this blog

Featuring everything from event roundups to concert reviews and sex talk, City Paper's Critical Mass is a space for off-the-wall coverage of Philly's A&E scene.

Follow Critical Mass editors Patrick Rapa and Emily Guendelsberger on Twitter:

@mission2denmark | @emilygee

Search this blog:

Topics:

Blog archives:

June
May
April

March
February
January

Past Archives: