Camelot

Fourth episode reeled me back in after the third episode. I agree with everyone else on the actor playing Arthur. There's something off about him. I understand taking a boy and molding him into a king, but so far I haven't seen anything upstanding about him. I thought they were going to tease the Guinevere/Arthur romance for awhile until her husband died in battle, but Arthur's coming across as a jerk.

The Morgan storyline was the most interesting. Eva Green is great. The Excalibur story was tragic. It's hard to tell if Merlin killed the blacksmith on purpose or not, and why Merlin didn't want him to present the sword. Was Merlin planning on telling Arthur a mythical story regardless maybe? How did the nun know about Morgan's use of magic? Did she see her do it, or was it something they maybe taught at the school as well?

And that is a beautiful sword.
 
Fourth episode reeled me back in after the third episode. I agree with everyone else on the actor playing Arthur. There's something off about him. I understand taking a boy and molding him into a king, but so far I haven't seen anything upstanding about him. I thought they were going to tease the Guinevere/Arthur romance for awhile until her husband died in battle, but Arthur's coming across as a jerk.

The Morgan storyline was the most interesting. Eva Green is great. The Excalibur story was tragic. It's hard to tell if Merlin killed the blacksmith on purpose or not, and why Merlin didn't want him to present the sword. Was Merlin planning on telling Arthur a mythical story regardless maybe? How did the nun know about Morgan's use of magic? Did she see her do it, or was it something they maybe taught at the school as well?

And that is a beautiful sword.

I got the impression that the nun had been sort of a personal tutor to Morgan with her magic, and that the school in general taught it.
 
It's hard to tell if Merlin killed the blacksmith on purpose or not, and why Merlin didn't want him to present the sword. Was Merlin planning on telling Arthur a mythical story regardless maybe?

And that is a beautiful sword.

I got the impression that Merlin had a vision that the blacksmith was going to kill Arthur if he presented the sword to him. I think killing him was an accident.
 
I dunno, his death looked pretty intentional to me. I saw it as Merlin purposely preventing that vision.
 
So Starz has Camelot, Showtime has Borgias, and HBO has Game of Thrones. Which one of them do you guys think are becoming a great series?
 
^ Funny, I was just talking about that in the The Borgias thread. Like what I said there, The Borgias was the surprise for me since I thought I would like that the least BUT that is now a close 2nd for me after Game of Thrones. I'm very close to giving up on Camelot. Eva Green's character is the only one I like (with Fiennes' character a distant second). I really hate Arthur and his arc. I'll probably give it a couple more episodes but for now Camelot is not holding up well for me.
 
So Starz has Camelot, Showtime has Borgias, and HBO has Game of Thrones. Which one of them do you guys think are becoming a great series?

Game of Thrones is a little hard to follow, though once you see more you'll probably get it. It has the most potential since it's more than 1 season. Borgias is a good second and will probably get more exciting soon. Camelot is getting crappy.
 
It's a bit unfair to compare them because each has had a different amount of episodes air thus far (TB-5, Camelot-4, GOT-2). With that said....

1. Game of Thrones has the chance to be something really special. Something that HBO will be able to hold alongside The Sopranos and Rome (and perhaps Boardwalk Empire one day) as one their crown jewels. It is brilliant two episodes in and feels more like a huge cinematic epic as opposed to a TV drama. And the way the books are supposed to play out (I haven't read them) we're in for 7-8 (they're supposedly going to break one book into two seasons) great seasons.

2. The Borgias is more in the traditional vein of Rome or The Tudors. But where it succeeds beyond the amazing casting of Jeremy Irons as Pope Alexander VI, is that it is surprisingly addictive. The Renaissance is an era not usually explored in film or television. In fact, if not for the Assassin's Creed games (which this series overlaps the stories of), I doubt most people would know who the Borgias were. But this is one sick twisted family that inspired Mario Puzo to write The Godfather. And each episode we watch the Pope and his house descend a little further into depravity, corruption and sin. However, if you know anything about Cesare Borgia, the real juicy stuff won't happen until the next season. Given the history of what happens, I don't see it running for more than 3-4 seasons. But as we're covering the happy, safe stuff now and it is already great...it should be a very memorable show.


3. Camelot is just blah. The moment Eva Green dies (and Morgan will die this season, probably at the end) the show will become unwatchable. Unless the writing improves 20-fold and the actors who play Arthur, Guinevere and Merlin change their portrayals radically, this show is just meh. Not completely awful, but nothing good or noteworthy about it either (other than Eva Green). It's just the definition of mediocrity, in my opinion.
 
However, if you know anything about Cesare Borgia, the real juicy stuff won't happen until the next season. Given the history of what happens, I don't see it running for more than 3-4 seasons. But as we're covering the happy, safe stuff now and it is already great...it should be a very memorable show.

I think it's just a miniseries. Honestly, it just as well be even though I really like it. It wouldn't be the same without Irons once Rodrigo is dead.
 
It's not a miniseries. It's only 10-episodes and we're halfway through without [blackout]Cesare having killed Juan yet or invaded Romgana. Never mind Lucrezia becoming an incestuous femme fatale who has an out-of-wedlock baby whose lover and second husband both get whacked by Cesare/Micheletto.[/blackout] It's a series meant to replace Showtime's The Tudors which ran for 4 seasons documenting the life of Henry VIII, the six wives he went through and all the violence, death, reformation and one Elizabeth his reign brought.

The Borgias is supposed to be their next Tudors. Here's how I think the series will play out in a nutshell:

Season One: The rise of Rodrigo Borgia to Pope Alexander VI and his early struggles for power. Lucrezia will go through her first husband and grow from naive child to adultress manipulator. Cesare will grow tired of his father's scheming and become his own man. The season will (likely) end with Cesare murdering his brother, Juan, and leaving the clergy (a first for a Cardinal to do in history) to become the new Captain General of the Papal Armies. Cesare will politically marry a princess of France to align interests to stop the French invasion and after the Duke of Milan's portrayal, Rodrigo will annul Lucrezia's marriage. Whether Cesare or another Borgia does something awful to Giovanni Sforza, I don't know. But I hope so.

Season Two: Cesare will become a great military leader and consumate his marriage with France. He will use their military power to his advantage. He'll probably do some more of his famous conspiratorial assassinations. Lucrezia will become pregnant with Pedro's baby even though she is supposed to be publicly a virgin. Cesare will have Micheletto kill the servant. She will be wed to a second husband, Alfonso of Naples, who does bad things to her. Cesare finds out and kills him himself. He and Lucrezia will finally embrace their incestuous relationship. I'm not sure what Rodrigo will do this season.

Season Three: Cesare descends into complete debauchery. Incestuous sex with Lucrezia, many affairs. He and the French finally invade Romgana and he reaches the heights of power. He even prevents an assassination plot from his generals and burns them all alive. I really hope they do that awful scene where he personally executes, while on horseback, men, women and children who are tied to burning posts in St. Peter's Square while Rodrigo and Lucrezia watch on, hopefully in horror. Meanwhile Lucrezia has become her father's daughter and presides over Rome in the Pope's absence. The Pope and Cesare's excesses (Rodrigo would have at least one orgy in this season in which Lucrezia was in attendance) causes della Rova to succeed in a forming a conspiratorial plot to poison the Pope and his general. The Pope dies, Cesare does not. In the final episode, Lurezia washes her hands of her family's sin and corruption, leaving Rome forever and in an epilogue we read of Cesare dying in battle to reclaim his power four years later.

That is based on nothing I've heard about the show, but what happened in history. It would make for a fantastic series with 2 and 3 becoming increasingly ****ed up. My guess about [blackout]Cesare murdering Juan this season[/blackout] seems almost inevitable from the previews of upcoming episodes.
 
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.Glad to see the renew, but I don't think it was ever a miniseries:

Here is Showtime's playlist of promotional material labeled SEASON ONE from early three weeks ago on Youtube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jI5vl7Zjtd4&feature=list_related&playnext=1&list=SL

If it was a miniseries, I think it would have been set later on in the Borgia rule. Probably around the time the game Assassin's Creed Brotherhood is set if a little earlier
 
Glad to see the renew, but I don't think it was ever a miniseries:

Here is Showtime's playlist of promotional material labeled SEASON ONE from early three weeks ago on Youtube:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jI5vl7Zjtd4&feature=list_related&playnext=1&list=SL

If it was a miniseries, I think it would have been set later on in the Borgia rule. Probably around the time the game Assassin's Creed Brotherhood is set if a little earlier
 
So Starz has Camelot, Showtime has Borgias, and HBO has Game of Thrones. Which one of them do you guys think are becoming a great series?

Right now, I find it all a bit over-whelming. I don't feel like watching three medivel shows at the same time. I'll check out Game of Thrones and Borgias later on in the year.
 
Well The Borgias is set during the Renaissance. ;) So, you should have no trouble watching that show.
 
Initially I thought Camelot was going to be the superior series of the three but lately I've found myself enjoying Game of Thrones much more. I agree with Catman that watching all three at the same time can be over-whelming. Maybe I'll drop two of them for now and just focus on one.
 
I think my bias is already seen from my above posts, but I highly recommend just dropping Camelot. Game of Thrones and The Borgias are very different shows, but both are excellent.
 
..she saw her stepmother in the mirror, who she hates.
 
I think I am going to watch one last episode (ep4) and see if it changes my mind because thus far I havent been able to get into it like I had hoped.
 
I thought this episode was a big improvement. Arthur didn't act like a whiny ******* and you actually could believe he was a suitable king. It was also good getting more insight into the nun and how Morgan is gaining supporters.

Also, when they first arrived in that village and Arthur said he was king, I kept thinking of this scene:
 

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