“The Pendragon Cycle: The Rise of the Merlin” is less than magical

By Molly Adkins

“This is to be Arthur’s story, but there’s more to Arthur than his birth.” So begins the Pendragon Cycle, a T.V. show produced by The Daily Wire and based on Stephen Lawhead’s 7-book historical fantasy series. The storyline is a retelling of the King Arthur legend, with the show largely focusing on Merlin.

However, despite the show’s title, we don’t actually meet Merlin (Tom Sharp) until the end of episode 2 (out of 7). Instead, we are instantly immersed in a lush fantasy world filled with many, many storylines. They’re hard to keep up with, and so are the unannounced time skips, but by episode 2, “The Vision of Taliesin”, they’ve largely converged into one main plotline featuring the princess of Atlantis, Charis (Rose Reid) and a bard of unknown origin, Taliesen (James Arden).

The worldbuilding could have been expanded, but the scenery is beautiful and the music, epic and featuring Celtic undertones, brings you into the story of Atlantis. The musical themes are prominent throughout the series; the score takes many emotional moments up a notch and the theme song really encompasses the feeling of an epic fantasy. Additionally, while the show looks to be low-budget, costumes and hairstyles do help to bring the world to life.

The confusing mesh of plotlines isn’t the only issue with “The Pendragon Cycle: Rise of the Merlin,” however. The show is filmed with awkward camera angles and moments, including a confusing (but hilarious) zoom-in on an angry bull. The show also isn’t great at setting up expectations and delivering, nor is it great at completely bombing those expectations in an impactful, plot-twist sort of way.

For example, one of our opening scenes in episode 1, “Island of the Mighty,” shows us a seemingly enslaved woman kneeling in a cage and praying to her gods. Moments later, a guard guides her out and she and her team are standing in an arena, facing bull cages. The bulls charge out… and instead of a fight, she flips over the bull, turning the entire gladiator scene into an apparent gymnastics competition. Five minutes later, and it turns out the girl is not enslaved, but in fact, she’s the king’s daughter, Charis. Throughout the first three episodes, there is no mention of why she was in that arena, and the plotline is rarely revisited.

“The Pendragon Cycle: Rise of the Merlin” felt like it was trying to be Amazon Prime’s Lord of the Rings spin-off, “The Rings of Power.” The location and scene transitions were very similar to those done previously, and even the costumes and the multiple-storylines-converged-into-one setup seemed to follow Amazon Prime’s lead.

“The Pendragon Cycle: Rise of the Merlin” stays true to the books in its strong religious theme. In fact, halfway through episode 2, it feels like the themes overtake the storyline, as we take a half-hour detour from the wars, land disputes and overall fantasy into a long scene of baptism and proclaiming the gospel.

Once episode 3, “A Fatherless Child” (set 75 years after the previous episodes) begins, we are following a new main character and his storyline. It’s easier to keep up with and become invested in, and does set up the rest of the show to be better than the first two episodes.

All in all, the first three episodes of “The Pendragon Cycle: The Rise of the Merlin” were not very compelling, with audiences agreeing that it fell short. However, the third episode did end on a promising note. If you’re a fan of the books, I’d give this show a shot and see what you think. But if you’re a passive viewer looking for your next epic fantasy obsession, this might not be what you’re looking for.

The first three episodes of “The Pendragon Cycle: The Rise of the Merlin” are now available to stream on The Daily Wire.

Molly Adkins is a senior Professional Writing and Information Design major and a lover of fantasy, myths and all things Sword and the Stone related.

Images courtesy of The Daily Wire.