Almost everyone has heard of King Arthur Pendragon. The once and future king. Ruler of the knights of the Round Table and friend of Merlin the enchanter.
And as such, I think that the BBC took a great risk in portraying Prince Arthur the way they did.
When Arthur made his first appearance on screen, I must say that I was surprised not to like him. I had gone into the show expecting to like him, and yet his first scene left a very bad taste in my mouth. This Arthur was far from noble, kingly, and gracious. This Arthur was a selfish bully, who thought that he was the greatest thing since sliced bread.
His second scene improved him a little in my estimation, but mostly because of Merlin's uproariously funny lines. He and Merlin definitely play well off of each other, and the first step towards me liking Arthur was Merlin becoming his servant... and the look that passes between them after that. LOL!
The second episode was a giant leap in the right direction. In this episode we were shown the other side of Arthur. The side that is frightened of failing. Of disappointing his father. Of being anything other than a confident unbeatable Prince. Sure, they didn't say that in as many words, but the lesson of duty is very clear. Merlin complains about it at the beginning of the episode, and by the end we have been shown that although Arthur has more privilege than Merlin, he also bears his share of duty. A duty which requires him to never lose.
Along with a greater understanding of Arthur's life (and the reason he behaves so pridefully?) comes a greater sympathy for him. The show also goes out of its way to show us flashes of the justice and nobility which are characteristic of Arthur's legends.
He frees Lancelot. He saves Merlin's life by fetching the poison antidote. He helps save Gwen from being wrongly executed for sorcery. And I believe that he has truly come to like Merlin as a friend. Whenever Merlin has done something idiotic, Arthur has at least tried to take the fall for it. Or at least help Merlin get out of trouble. Two examples...
- When Merlin tries to take responsibility for magically healing Gwen's father.
- When Merlin claims that Arthur's cup is poisoned.
The other dynamic that I like about the way this character is written, is that the change doesn't come from nowhere. There has been a gradual building up of trust and friendship between Merlin and Arthur, which explains why Arthur would risk his life for Merlin. Along with Morganna's influence, of course. I don't think he would have had the strength to disobey his father if she hadn't encouraged him.
Both she and Merlin have had a positive influence on him, and in Lancelot's case, he was able to do the right thing without any encouragement from either of them.
I, personally, am very excited to see how the writing team continues to develop this character. They have given him just the right balance of flaws and virtues to make him interesting, and give him room to soar. Plus they have surrounded him with people who are equip (yet have issues of their own) to help him in his journey towards being the King Arthur we all know from legends.
I think that there may be more than two sides to this particular coin...
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