A CURSED Train Wreck 

This episode's first half was fine. By the end though, there were enough poor writing choices, I realized I needed to just rant. That actually worked out pretty well for me, as it allowed me to focused on the technical stuff first, then transition into the writing. Decent structure for the video. I did also just finish season 1 of Dark and can't wait to release an extremely positive review of that. DARK is amazing and you all did me a favor in recommending it. Edit: y’all there is a different between “clean” clothes, and looking like they came fresh out the dry cleaner.

Netflix shows are like a coin flip at this point

oof, wasn't going to watch this show because it looked bad from the trailer, but dang, now that Daniel has called me out, and that sword fight at the end looked SO bad, I might need to experience it for myself. . .

"he must be a king!" "how can you tell?" "he doesn't have shit all over him" that monty python line just really resonated with me and the comments about the clothes

“She’s running through the woods and she’s being chased by stock wolf sound effects” 😂😂

Can’t stop laughing about the Tokyo drift horse.

I like how CW is shorthand for poor quality in shows except for when it comes to how hot an actor is. If the actor is CW hot, they’re pretty hot imo.

It's like they tried to mimic the nostalgia of the BBC show, Merlin, but forgot how to, well, write some fantasy

My problem with the clothes isn't that they're clean. People had hygene. My problem is that nearly all the clothes look brand new

One recurring pain when there are wolves in fantasy screenplays: Wolves attack low. Not flying through the air to catch an arm, not standing on two legs trying to lick face, and not standing around inside the reach of something possibly dangerous. Wolves nip at achilles' heels and hamstrings, nip and retreat, rinse and repeat, until the prey can't stand up any longer! *sheesh*

I hate this whole: "Ugh, I'm so magical and cant control it... wyayyaaaaaaaaaaaaa, bluuurrr... must run away now because I'm so overly powerful with my magick I cant controooolllll"

My favourite part is when Nimue and the kids hide in a house filled with hay amidst a burning village. Me and my wife broke when that happened.

My favorite telling of the Arthurian Legend is Merlin. I love that show. Yeah the ending is a bit rushed but, I still feel like they did a good job ending it in 5 seasons. I wish you would do a review of that instead of this trash show.

It’s like someone suggested Merlin should be “like Floki” but something went wrong somewhere and they literally just cast Gustaf Skarsgård

So when the glowing eyed bad guy become visible my exact response was “oh no he’s hot”

Boy, the actress playing Nimue can’t seem to land a solid role to save her career.

That was what bothered me the most about this series: they have magic powers and nobody, NOBODY uses them to kill the Inquisition or even defend themselves (like.... once in the all serie Nimue goes all tree power on their ass- dozens of them- but in a one on one fight or when it's very important-NO). Or to cure someone who's dying, even though that's proven to be possible. WHAT THE HELL.

[sarcasm]"This is medieval times, despite how clean our clothes are."[/sarcasm] I can already see a tear streaming down Shadiversity's face.

Netflix: We’re rewriting the Arthurian Legend, but with a woman!! Fates/Stay Nights: First Time?

"Then the deer starts telling her some ominous sh*t" . . . Drugs 'r bad m'kay

It’s hilarious to see a drunk, disheveled Merlin walking around in perfectly clean and ironed clothes.

So I have a kind of recommendation. There is a show called Merlin (obviously about the Arthurian Legend), it‘s a bit older, the CGI isn’t great, but the humor and chemistry between the characters is so amazing.

Sees black robed figure in woods: "Hey, it's Kylo Ren!"

'Everything changed... When the Red Paladin nation attacked...'

The pink, sassy, eating-calmly-fruits Daniel is my favourite Daniel.

"Nobody expects the Spanish Inquisition!" That made me laugh out loud, it fit perfectly :D

Weird thing I noticed in the first episode was the use of the term "Holy Roman Emperor", as in a "the following decree has been made by the...". Like did no-one understand the setting? Its clearly not Roman Britain, and they discuss the "viking shores" so its clearly well past Roman Britain, so why is a bounty being offered in denarii, a Roman currency, by what is intended to be a Roman figure? Plus a lot of weaponry that are designs of later periods. That's leaving out that clearly someone had heard the term "Holy Roman Empire" and just gone "thats the same as just Roman right?".

This was a great (and hilarious) review! Certainly will not watch

It's funny how you mentioned 'Netflix quality show' expecting it to be good, as if we haven't seen the output of Netflix in recent years. 'Netflix quality' is slowly becoming the new 'Syfy oroginal'.

Daniel: “Well I don’t know anything about ships” Also Daniel: *is writing a nautical fantasy series*

When the first episode ends with that blood spilling in the screen like a cheap 3D movie I laughed harder than in any comedy I've watched in the last 3 years or so

Oh ok, so they casted Gustaf Skarsgård to essentially reprise his role as Floki, just with a different name? That was subtle...

You forgot to mention that she runs into the village as it is being attacked and just runs around confused "OMG, what do I do, what do I do?" Why did she run into the damn village as it was being attacked? She didn't seem to be trying to save anyone or find someone or anything, she just becomes a victim who was easily captured because, duh, you ran into your village as they are killing your people. I watched more episodes and they abandoned the best friend and the kid with no explanation and no concern by our main character - meh, didn't really like them anyway. As I continued to watch the show I found myself not really caring what happened or whether I would ever watch anymore. It turned into background noise as I worked on my computer. There were some cool things in the show but they had a lot of just bad crap. Arthur was just a petty criminal and liar - have no idea how he was supposed to be anything like the original character other than his name. Our "heroin" seemed to have no real purpose, especially once Arthur stole the sword from her. There was nothing really done with her being "chosen". Of course, I only watched a few episodes but my point is the writers never drew me into the store and never got me emotionally connected with the characters. Arthur was an unredeemable bad thief. Nimue (however you spell it) was unhinged, constantly screwing up and of no help to anyone and had no real redeemable qualities. Merlin started to become interesting but they seemed to rewrite his character from a drunkard to an old has been wizard who was now soberly trying to become what he used to be I guess? The main inquisitor was just 100% evil and a psychopath bent on killing anyone he could label as a "witch". Then the assassin was just a super powerful bad guy who just was doing things to move the plot forward but had no motivation or back story so... bad ass threat for reasons. All in all I stopped the show when I finished my work and have had no interest in watching any more of it.

The girl who plays Morgana is an old friend of mine - she’s the sweetest and I just want to watch this because I want to see her do well!

The main character's friend gets taken away in front of her eyes and she doesn't do anything. Doesn't even use her "scary" powers to help her. Couldn't make it past episode 2. Watch the last kingdom on Netflix instead

I'm still laughing at Arthur's Tokyo drifting horse... XD

Guess I’ll just go watch Merlin again

Oh my gosh, the blood effects when she cut the heads off of the wolves were AWFUL. I will say this: “Trollhunters” did asshole Merlin pretty well.

When i saw the glowing red eye bad guy i was like, hello kylo ren, long time no see

The moment I saw the 13 reasons why girl as the main character I was like "yeah this show is going to be shit", glad I didn't even watch it because it truly looks awful

At least the show wasn't lying about what it was XD

I laughed out loud when they rode up on the village and saw that it was under attack and she was like "I'm going to ride directly into the middle of this for no reason" and her friend was like "WTF nooooo" and she was like "I can't hearrrr youuuu, wheeeeeeee"

Netflix has really outdone themselves with this crap.

I literally watched the whole season by only skipping solely to the parts where the crying monk was present, as he was literally the only character who I cared about or even interested in during this entire season.

I just watched the first two episodes they actually get worse, by the way you never learn where the arrows came from it’s just not explained

That blood spatter transition was an iconic component of the delightfully tongue-in-cheek 'Spartacus: Blood and Sand' on Starz. I can't imagine that's the tone they were going for here.

This show is like season 8 of GoT in that it's so bad the best to come out of it is watching rants and discovering new entertainment commentary channels 🙃

If you were a true equestrian you’d know “ Tokyo Drift Horse” is a thing....you just don’t want to be riding it at the time.

Daniel I want you to know that the name Nimue predates most known language conventions so “Nim-way” is just as correct as “Nim-ewe”

witch leader mother gives daughter sword, daniel "it's Arturthian legend you know what sword it is" Me - It's Callandor!

The fact that the Weeping Monk (Daniel Sharman) was actually on a CW show had me laughing lol.

"Tokyo Drifting Horse" is my new favorite concept. Hilarious!

Wish I could get a beer with Pink Berry Daniel😂

Nitpick...I think: I believe it was some random lord Merlin owed money to who sent the goons, and he *works* for the King, hence why he could come and go from the castle as he pleased What seems to be implied with him threatening the guys is that they're terrified of him doing magic but he was bluffing to scare them off. The one eyed woman talks to him as he leaves pointing out he didn't actually do anything and the rumours are he's lost his magic

i only managed to make it to the cringey sword fight where nemuir is just swinging around this very real sword that could easily take a chunk out of Arthur if he doesnt dodge in time.

This reminds my of when I used to call Isengard "Is-sengard" not "Eyes-sengard" when I read LotR as a kid and it still sounds better to me.

“cw quality crap” yes

Yeah I’m with ya. I’ll just watch Merlin for the......upteenth time instead.

I haven't watch Cursed, but I am laughing so hard at this review, I bet you are way more entertaining anyways...

The limited set you keep referencing looks a lot like Puzzle Wood in the Forest of Dean, but with loads of extra colourful flowers. I've been there and it's an awesome place, but now I notice it in EVERYTHING: Star Wars, Merlin, Doctor Who, Huntsman etc

When you show the "slaughter" scene around the 9:20 mark, what is with the dude in the middle of the screen (in front of the burning house) who is just sort of flopping around in place with his axe? He raises for a strike, but then halfway through it turns into a weird dance. Is that intentional, or just really bad acting?

watch DARK, you won't regret it.

I haven't watched one of your videos for a few months now, and coming back to them I have to say you are just getting better and better at this. Seriously towards the end I realised that I just enjoyed the video because it was you talking, and the content wouldn't have mattered anyway. Great job and keep it coming.

Is it wrong that I hate everything about this show, and yet still want to know what happens in season 2?

Arthur looks like how I imagined Aladdin when I was a kid :))

That’s so funny you mention Monty python, because as soon as u showed the old man with the boy, I thought, “this setting and video quality looks like Monty Python and the holy grail”!!!!

I watched the scene where the Spanish Inquisition guys pillage a village like 5 times to focus on a different guy every time. My favourite was one just stabbing the air, or pretending to stab someone off of a horse... He looked like a 9 year old kid pretending to be a knight, it was great.

I just want to point out something: Clean clothing in medieval times... Yes it is possible. What we often see in media, with peasants, and farmers with extremely muddy clothing is that... A stereotype that we should beign to leave behind. People knew about cleanliness, and they did take care of washing their clothes. Plus, costumes were quite colorful and vibrant instead of these, dull, darkish tones we often see in series and films.

Isn't the clothes being clean one of the few things this show did right? Doesn't Shadiversity and that community complain about shows portraying Medieval people as unclean, uneducated lot when that actually wasn't true?

Man, go read "The Warlord Chronicles" by Bernard Cornwell. Best Arturian retelling in any medium, you won't regret it!

I think that the scene with the bad guy and the little boy where we don't hear the fighting until we see it is forgivable because using dramatic license adds to the effect of such an extreme contrast. Of course, it is noticeable. They should have had the wagon farther away from the action. But, like you said, "They didn't have a lot of room to move around."

*The good:* - Merlin and The Weeping Monk. *The decent:* - Nimue, Arthur and Father Carden. - The CGI - Whenever the show decides to be a dark fantasy instead of a teenage romance drama. *The bad:* (Literally everything else!) - Most of the action is poor and choreography is cringe even compared to Xena from the 90's. - The writing is mostly garbage. - Pacing is all over the place. - Most of the dialogue is poor. - Several of the characters and their motivations makes no sense and are all over the place. - Whenever the show decides to be a teenage romance drama instead of a dark fantasy. There's a period at the end of the show when there's an alleged siege going on, but guess what, characters literally come and go as they please from said city that's allegedly under siege... I'm not at all bothered by the talk about "woke" or "forced diversity in the wrong setting" (I enjoyed BBC's 'Merlin' back in the day """despite""" a black actress for Gwen, and I have no problem at all with black actors for Arthur and Morgana), but this show deserves it's low rating: 4/10.

It feels like CURSED is embarrassing the bbc MERLIN sieries

I'd love to see your reaction of how Nimue has a tooth pulled out so she can enter a city, and just leaving two scenes later.

I love that the deer gets shot in the side but the hunters walk toward it from it's front.

merlin lost his magic but not everyone knows it, i got far enough into the show to know that lol

27:30 you can't tell me that isn't a stuffed animal 😂

The woman doesn’t clarify with fire or ice???!!! Very rude!!

I love how your personality always surrounds and cradles all your videos. A lot of people who do reviews try to put on an air of stuffy professionalism that isn’t who they are. You review as yourself. Your background in fantasy and sci-fi is all the credibility you need. I appreciate it

omg. please power through the rest of the season, because believe it or not, it gets WORSE. and I would love to watch your reactions to the rest of this monstrosity.

I knew this was going to be some edgy teenage drama crap when I saw the trailer, but boy oh boy this is apparently even worse than I anticipated. I've seen fan-made web series that look better than whatever this abomination is.

21:05 What is the red guy with the axe trying to hit? His horse?

Hey' it's the middle ages, drinking alcohol was safer than drinking water.

He's just some random guy called Arthur. He is not THE Arthur and never will be. Period. God, I hate this show.

my immediate thought when Arthur showed up in the wooods with the grils was

30 minute rant review? This meal is large, spicy and delicious.

10:32 “he looks like a CW model actor” OKAY can we talk about how that’s Daniel Sherman who was, in fact, a CW model actor!?

The hunters at the beginning also come in from the *completely* wrong direction. The scene transitions look like the load screens in a video game.

Honestly some stuff people compare to CW is so much WORSE than CW stuff. Like The 100 is better produced than this crap

I’ve watched the whole season (yes, I was pretty desperate for something to watch), the first two episodes are terrible, especially because of the writing that often doesn’t make much sense. From the third episodes it improves a lot, there are always some “problematic” things, but they are balanced by many positive things. I especially enjoyed the world building, there were some interesting takes, and the world and history are vast and fascinating, leaving you to want to know more. Overall after watching it all it was worth it if you exclude he first two episodes, you just have to deny their existence. The main problems throughout the whole season are due to extremely bad writing, especially considering that it was done by a “professional”, and some minor issues due to the budget.

When I saw the first shot of the woman in the water, I thought 'strange women lying in ponds ... - for those that don't know, it's from Monty Python and the Holy Grail.

This review is spot on. My parents recommended it but we literally couldn't make it past the 1st episode for pretty much these reasons.

lol you are a champion i had a facepalm in the middle and went "I'm done."

I'm dying at the credits scene. That's like straight out of one of the Simpsons' treehouse of horror episodes.

So it essentially looks like they just told the actor for Merlin to "Do Floki from Vikings again" lmao.

This is expressing every single thought I had about this pilot and is now one of my favorite videos ever, THANK YOU!

Imagine having watch so many inacurate series and movies set in medieval times that you're convinced that people at that time didn't know how to keep their clothes clean...

When I saw the trailer, my first thought was that this looks like a bad fantasy Joan of Arc

Option three for the blood thing: The person who filled the bucket did indeed notice it but was just ordered to fill it in the rain, not to make sure it was water so they did not care.

I watched the entire season and two of the things that I have issue with is the magic and the use of characters. Nimue's magic is basically a get out of jail free card and then there's an assassin/revenge character who starts off strong in their introduction but then they just hang out in the background not doing much of anything until the end. I also take issue with Arthur's hair. Either let him have short hair or give him a believable wig. Don't put a tiny ponytail on him because it just looks stupid.