‘Cursed’ Netflix series:
Analytical review
Netflix released its new Fantasy
adventure drama ‘Cursed’ on 17 July 2020.It was one of the most hyped show from
Netflix. Katherine Langford plays the lead role in the show along with Devon
Terrell as Arthur, Gustaf Skarsgård as Merlin, Daniel Sharman as Weeping
Monk/Lancelot, Sebastian Armesto as Uther Pendragon, Lily Newmark as Pym, Shalom
Brune-Franklin as Igraine/Morgana, and Peter Mullan as Father Carden. The
series portrays the medieval period, before King Arthur. It is an Arthurian
tale which based on a sword which is considered the symbol for the power. It
consists of ten episodes having a run time ranges between 40 to 60 minutes.
ABOUT
Feys are different creatures
similar to humans. Nimue is a fey girl tries to run away from the village. Red
palatins, the church army, tries to wipe out the feys and hold the supreme
power by taking the sword in possession. Red palatins attacks Nimue’s village
and kills people including her mother. As per her mother’s last wish Nimue escapes
from the village to hand over the sword to a man called Merlin. The Iceland
king and the king of pendragons are also trying to capture the sword. During the journey, she had to face lots of
challenges and overcomes different problems. Who is Merlin? Is Nimue able to
hand over the sword to him? What were the problems she faced during travel?
First season of cursed discusses all these questions. Watch and find out the
answers.
POSITIVES
The base story of the show is an
interesting factor. The show is already stated that it is an Arthurian story,
before the king Arthur wielded the sword. And during the beginning it says
before Arthur the king the power of sword chosen a queen. Cursed is trying to
convey the story of that unknown woman called lady of the lake. Lots of TV
shows are based on King Arthur, but it is a fresh one as it stated.
Medieval periodic dramas are
always focused on a king or kingdom or the wars they led. But this one upholds
a feministic nature by focusing on the evolution of an ordinary woman into the
Queen. Even Game of thrones shows the story of Daenerys Targaryen it is not
completely focused on that or never showed a feministic nature. This one makes
a difference by considering the story of a Queen.
Cinematography and Visuals are
the important factors to be mentioned. Even at some lagging portions, good
visuals and cinematography helps to keep the viewer engaged. It has a good
graphic novel style which makes it visually important.
NEGATIVES
The show is very slow at the
beginning which had nothing interesting to convey. First few episodes are
boring and lagging to a great extent. It kills the interest to watch the
further and there are lots of unnecessary scenes which again make the show
boring. Predictability is also a great problem which hinders the enjoyment. It
offers no exciting twists or events.
VFX is an important thing for
this kind of series. But here the VFX quality is not much great. There is a
scene in which Nimue fights with wolves. We could feel lack of good visual
effects clearly in this scene.
The fights are not much engaging
and not well choreographed. Some fights are satisfying but most of them are
not, especially, Katherine Langford’s fight scenes. She performs not too well
in the fights.
For a woman oriented story a
strong performance from the lead actress is the back bone. But Katherine fails
in portraying a strong leading queen role. Her performance in emotional and
romantic scenes was really good but couldn’t provide best as Fey Queen.
Other important characters are
not explained well or didn’t get much space to exhibit them. This is a main
drawback and affects in understanding and enjoying the whole story. Proper
character explanation is needed to create an attachment with audience. This
drawback pulls down the effect of show.
OVERALL VERDICT AND RATING (STRICTLY PERSONAL)
Those who are interested in
fantasy-periodic dramas can try this one. It is enjoyable if you watch without
any expectations. Even though it lags first becomes interesting after few
episodes. It is a good story with some troubles in execution. Overall it is
good but not great.
Rating: 6.5/10
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