Derfel gets a mullet in another frustrating episode of The Winter King

First, let me go over a few things I liked about the latest episode of The Winter King. Generally speaking, it’s a pretty show. The landscape shots of England are gorgeous; whatever mountainside they’re using to stand in for the Dumnonian stronghold of Caer Cadarn is especially striking. Partway through the episode — as Arthur is traveling to Powys to enter into a political marriage with Ceinwyn, the daughter of Gundleus’ uncle Gorfydd — he runs into Guinevere, who is splashing around in a misty pond at night atop her horse. The shot is beautiful.

Also, Derfel finally — finally — gets a haircut. After being officially accepted into Arthur’s service, Arthur’s men haze him by shearing off that stringy Spirit Halloween wig he’s been wearing for the past five episodes. Is a mullet the best choice for him? I dunno, but at least actor Stuart Campbell looks like he has real hair now.

Beyond that, “Episode 6” is more of the same. The actors are doing the best they can, but the producers seem intent on looking at Bernard Cornwell’s excellent Warlord Chronicles books, asking themselves, “What’s the lamest way to adapt this to TV?” and then doing that.

When Arthur met Guinevere

This is kind of the romance episode of The Winter King. Lunete breaks up with Derfel after she finally realizes what the rest of us have known for weeks: that Derfel’s first love is Arthur, his second love is Nimue, and his third love is the warrior lifestyle. Lunete is maybe eleventh. She’s better off without him.

Meanwhile, Arthur is trying to unite the disparate tribes of Britain against the threat of the Saxons. Most of the assembled chiefs support the plan, but Gorfydd is still mad that Arthur imprisoned his nephew Gundleus. To smooth that over, Arthur agrees to marry Gorfydd’s daughter Ceinwyn, thus cementing an alliance between Dumnonia and Powys.

We get some scenes that seem plucked out of the Game of Thrones handbook. Ceinwyn is nervous about this arranged marriage. What if Arthur’s mean? What if he’s ugly? Her friend Guinevere reassures her. There’s no reason scenes like this can’t work — there was lots of compelling drama over arranged marriages over on HBO’s Game of Thrones prequel show House of the Dragon, for example — but here they come off as rote, as floor model, as standard issue. If you’ve seen a medieval fantasy show over the past several years, you can predict what these characters are going to say before they say it.

Speaking of House of the Dragon, I was reminded of that show at the end of “Episode 6” when Guinevere walks into a feast meant to celebrate Arthur and Ceinwyn’s betrothal wearing a green dress. This is supposed to be the moment when Arthur sees Guinevere and falls head over heels in love, brand new betrothal be damned. But the way the scene is framed, shot and paced…it all falls flat. It feels ordinary, pedestrian, muted. There’s no lightning strike, no thunder clap, no sense that Arthur is about to throw away everything he’s worked for because his heart has been seized by destiny. It doesn’t feel any more important than any other scene in the episode.

I have no idea what the producers are thinking by doing it this way, but they’d do well to watch House of the Dragon. If you want to command a room by walking in wearing a green dress, take notes from Alicent Hightower:

The Winter King is a drama series that hates drama

There’s another big reason why Guinevere’s big entrance doesn’t work: because the show already introduced her beforehand. Like I said up top, Arthur runs into her by pure coincidence on his way to Powys. In the book, we first meet Guinevere at that feast, and the second we see her, we know it’s over. That’s it, Arthur’s gone. It’s incredibly dramatic. But the show brings her in way too early and drains all the drama out of the situation. Her entrance during the feast can’t have the same impact.

The show does this all the time, choosing the least dramatic option possible. In the books, both Arthur and Merlin are built up for awhile before they appear in person. When they finally do, we get powerful, memorable moments. But the show has put them front and center, so those moments mean nothing. We’re way too bored by the time we get to them.

And now Guinevere has joined that unfortunate tradition. Everyone even half-familiar with the Arthurian legend knows that Guinevere becomes Arthur’s wife. The trick The Winter King tries to pull is that it doesn’t tell us that this character is actually Guinevere; she isn’t named until the very end, at which point we’re supposed to go, “Ooooooohhhh, that’s Guinevere. I know her!” The show wants to have a big moment based on what it assumes we know about the Arthurian legend, rather than earning a big moment by using writing, directing, and acting to generate drama. It’s a bafflingly backwards strategy.

Look, I won’t lie: I’ve pretty much written off this series. I have more or less no faith that it’s going to get better. But I started this review journey and I’m going to finish it. Fasten your seatbelts, everyone.

The Winter Bullet Points

• Merlin is leaving to look for the Treasures of Britain in an attempt to unite the island through an act of magic. That should take him about to the point where we meet him in the book. Would that they had skipped right to this.
• One of the treasures of Britain is Excalibur, Arthur’s sword. As it does with Guinevere, the show makes sure to talk endlessly about Excalibur so we’re know it’s Important and Cool. Subtlety is not this show’s strong suit.
• Something disturbing occurs to me: Bernard Cornwell’s book The Winter King has five parts. The TV show The Winter King has 10 episodes. We’re at Episode 6, and we’re almost at the end of Part 2 of the book. I don’t think they have any intention of finishing adapting the book by the end of this season. That could explain why so much of it feels like plodding filler.

Episode Grade: D

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