The Winter King improves in Episode 2 as it hews closer to Bernard Cornwell’s book

I did not like the first episode of The Winter King, the new medieval drama on MGM+. Long story short, I read the source book by Bernard Cornwell when I was young, loved it, was excited when I heard it was getting made into a TV show, and then crestfallen when that show didn’t seem to have any interest in adapting the book Cornwell wrote. The Winter King is about the legend of King Arthur, but the main character is a much less famous character named Derfel, who observes Arthur as he tries to unite Britain against the threat of the Saxons. The first episode made it look like Arthur and Merlin were going to be the main characters while Derfel was pushed to the side. What’s the point of that? Why are you adapting this particular book at all if you don’t want to adapt what makes it different?

Happily, the show sticks much closer to the source material in “Episode 2,” which finds High King Uther Pendragon on his last legs, Derfel and his crush Nimue playing a will-they-won’t-they dance, and only one quick scene with Arthur and Merlin at the top of the episode. And what do you know? The episode worked much better.

Oh my god, he stabbed the baby

The plot of “Episode 2” isn’t exactly simple, but now that the series can dedicate the full hour to fleshing it out, it goes down pretty easy. Before King Uther dies, he arranges for Gundleus, King of Siluria, to marry his wife Norwenna. The idea is that Norwenna and their baby son Mordred will need a protector after King Uther is gone, and Gundleus could fill that role as well as keep the squabbling local tribes together.

Obviously, Gundleus does not keep his word. He shows up at Merlin’s compound at Avalon (changed from Ynys Wydryn in the book, I guess cause it’s easier to say, ugh) to collect his wife and new son, stabs baby Mordred to death, and then sacks the place. Gundleus rapes Nimue, who tries to intimidate him with a display of pagan ritualism, people are killed, and Arthur’s half-sister Morgan leads the survivors to the Dumnonian capital at Caer Cadarn. Just as Derfel and company are about to face down the much stronger forces, Arthur and his followers appear, saving the day.

So there was quite a lot of action in this one. I knew I was invested when Gundleus stabbed baby Mordred and I involuntarily yelled out “No!” It’s hard to find a taboo that hasn’t been violated on TV but The Winter King got there. Incidentally, Morgan reveals later that she switched baby Mordred with another baby, so the prince of the realm lives on. I felt bad for the peasant couple who lost their child, though.

The Winter King gets weirder, denser, richer

Why would a couple give up their child for this? Because being a follower of Merlin is kind of like being in a cult. This episode started getting into the weirder aspects of Cornwell’s series, which I liked. Magic isn’t exactly real in the world of The Winter King, but a lot of people think it is, which gives druids like Merlin and Nimue power. Gundleus believes that by raping Nimue he saps her of her magical power. She believes it too. There are currents running through the books that I didn’t see in the first episode but I did here, and the show is richer for it.

The characters pop more, as well. Nimue looks more like the fierce force of nature she is in the books, Derfel’s conflict was more relatable, and Morgan came off as melancholic but determined. All of this is there in the book; The Winter King just had to show it without getting in its own way. It did, and I’m happy about it.

Verdict

The show isn’t perfect. The budgetary limitations are kind of obvious at points, like when Arthur’s men start chucking spears at Gundleus’ men during the climax. Director Otto Bathurst makes some odd choices during intense scenes, blurring the screen or placing the camera too close to faces or objects. I can’t tell if he’s covering for something or trying to be artistic, but it’s weird.

Stuart Campbell and Ellie James are having a bit of a hard time convincing me they’re angsty teenagers as Derfel and Nimue, and I can’t shake the feeling that Campbell is wearing a (bad) wig, but I understand that these characters will grow into adulthood over the course of the series, and short of spending lots of money the show doesn’t have to digitally de-age them, there isn’t really a way around this.

So the show has a cheesy filter on it, but this episode at least entertained me while the premiere just laid there. It’s progress.

The Winter Bullet Points

• “Episode 2” is much more intense than the first, but the show is still sanding some of the harder edges off of Cornwell’s book. For instance, in the novel, Merlin and Nimue are lovers despite the fact that she’s basically a child. I get why the show would want to remove that aspect, but also, turning Merlin into a blank wise man cypher isn’t a great choice, either. In the book, he is — at best — an ambiguous figure, rather than an unalloyed “good guy.” I’d prefer the series lean into that.
• The show also nixes the bit where Gundleus takes one of Nimue’s eyes, as well as Morgan having facial deformities she covers with a mask. This is TV, after all; we expect everyone to be photogenic, for better or worse.

Episode Grade: B

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