Pendragon Cycle: The Price of Failure

Previously, he was portrayed by Gabriel Byrne, Eric Bana, and Eddie Marsan. If you know your Arthurian legend, you know Uther Pendragon has an important role to play. In fact, there wouldn’t be an Arthur without him, but the Pendragon Cycle hasn’t reached that point yet. For now, he has plenty of fighting to do. Frankly, his brother, [contested] High King Aurelius has trouble convincing him not to fight in “The Price of Failure,” the fifth episode of Pendragon Cycle: The Rise of Merlin, based on Stephen R. Lawhead’s novels, which premieres today on Daily Wire+.

It is one thing to recruit an army. Keeping it together is even more challenging (as George Washington would later learn). Unlike Washington, Uther expects blind obedience from the temporarily subordinate kings. Aurelius is willing to be more diplomatic, but Uther just cannot help himself. He is genuinely spoiling for a fight.

Aurelius needs a wise counselor like Merlin, but the Christian mystic is trying to recruit Custennin, the King of the North, but it is not going well, for very personal reasons. Thanks in large part to his brother’s arrogance, Aurelius must fend off a very Medieval challenge from King Gorlas, man to man, to maintain his crown.

So far, creator Jeremy Boreing and the co-writers (Josiah Nelson for “Price of Failure”) have largely structured the series into two-episode mini-arcs, so it is not surprising this installment has little sense of resolution. However, it culminates with a thoroughly satisfying hacking-and-slashing duel. Perhaps more than previous episodes, this chapter really gives viewers a taste for the realities of Dark Ages combat.

It also contains some striking Christian symbolism. Yet, Boreing and episode director Ryan Whitaker integrate these visuals in organic ways that never feel didactic. This sixty-minute-plus installment further serves as a great feature showcase for Finney Cassidy and Myles Clohessy as the royal brothers, with standout guest stars Chick Allan and Steve Varnom adding plenty of grizzled steeliness as Gorlas and Custennin. However, the series has gone too long without an appearance from Emree Franklin’s Morgain.

With episode five, Pendragon Cycle continues to shine as one of the best epic fantasy series of the last ten years, but many genre viewers are missing it, because they hold a political grudge against its streaming platform. The smarter (and more entertaining) play would be encouraging nonpolitical content from Daily Wire+. Highly recommended fans of Arthurian fantasy and Medieval epics, Pendragon Cycle continues today with episode five.