The Red Lake
Morgana & The Church
Episode 4 of Cursed begins with Morgana hitting herself with a rock; a ploy to make it seem like Nimue overpowered and knocked her out. When she’s brought back to the church, Abbess Nora is exiled and thrown into a carriage as Iris watches on, desperate to gain entry into the Red Paladin ranks. Realizing that she has no place in the church anymore, Morgana enlists the help of fellow nun – and lover – Celia and prepares to leave for greener pastures. Not long after Morgana leaves, Sister Iris walks away from the church smirking as flames burn and rage into the sky.
Nimue & Arthur
Imprisoned, Arthur rides toward Father Carden but it’s clear there’s tensions brewing between the Paladins. It’s just the distraction Arthur needs as he picks the lock, knocks out the guard and flees into the woods. Nimue strings up her boat and meets a man named Dizier who happens to be her contact. He bundles her into the back of the carriage and they make haste for Gramaire. The carriage stops near the gates and Nimue is forced to continue on foot. She makes it into Gramaire and, despite being public enemy number 1, marches up to the guards and asks to see Arthur. Eventually she does come face to face with him and questions Arthur over where the sword is. Of course, the Red Paladins have this in their possession and this prompts her to head back out onto the road. Thankfully she finds the horse-drawn carriage by the side of the road; the Sword Of Power sitting idly by on the seat. As she wanders down to the stream, she finds the paladin guards washing themselves. Despite being outnumbered, Nimue makes short work of the men until one sneaks up behind and starts drowning her. Thankfully Arthur arrives and saves Nimue’s life. As they continue walking, the duo happen upon a Fey resistance hidden in the woods called Nemos.
Pym
Pym shows up safe and sound at a house down by the docks in Hawksbridge with a man intending to marry her. Slipping out, she heads down to the town square where a girl is strung up and burnt at the stake, proclaimed to be The Wolf-Blood Witch. As she starts mopping down by the docks, Pym has a run-in with two monks before eventually being saved by a handsome man whom we soon learn is a Viking called Dof.
Merlin
Merlin arrives before Lord Rugen in a strange realm and asks him about Father Carden. After dancing around why he’s really there, they eventually discuss the Sword of Power as Merlin promises to help and bring the sword to him rather than Uther. In another room, a brilliant green flame hungrily dances to the ceiling; this is the Fey Fire which originally forged the Sword Of Power. This is exactly what he’s looking for too and after outwitting Rugen and taking some of the flames for himself, he flees. When Lord Rugen catches wind of what he’s doing, shrieks pierce the air. Merlin is chased outside after drawing on Widow’s strength to give him her horse.
The Review Write-Up
As Cursed nears the halfway point of its run-time, the biggest problem with this series comes from the under-developed relationships. Morgana and Celia’s romance could have been a great inclusion here but instead it feels half baked and lacks chemistry. It also doesn’t help that the series never makes it very obvious which town or area characters are in and it only adds to the confusion. With a bit of expository text every time we cut characters, this could have easily been solved. Also, how did Pym survive? The last we saw she was being taken away by Red Paladin monks so hopefully we get some answers in the episodes to come to explain this. For now though, Cursed delivers another disappointingly forgettable slice of drama.
