Poisons
Gramaire
Episode 9 of Cursed begins with Merlin riding his horse until he’s ambushed by Fisherman who shoots him in the chest with an arrow. As he lies breathlessly on the ground, Fisherman reveals he’s poisoned the arrow tip. Fisherman’s monologue that follows however is just the distraction he needs to outwit the assassin and stab him in the heart with that very same arrow. Ector confronts Nimue over her leadership of Gramaire and their dwindling supplies. They have little time left until the armies arrive and their options are few and far between. To make matters worse, the Feys and other townsfolk are starting to squabble and in-fighting is becoming ever-more frequent. Morgana speaks to Nimue and tries to convince her to attack Hawksbridge and take that for herself. Given she commands The Hidden, Morgana tries in vain to convince her to use this to her advantage. Sister Iris starts to lose her mind and after burning her arm in the flames of a candle, back-dropped by blood-stained images of crucifixes, she vows to kill Nimue.
The Paladin Camp
Meanwhile, Abbot Wicklow – a man working for the Pope – shows up before Father Carden at his camp with the intention of overseeing their siege. There’s certainly no love lost between these two and after some verbal sparring, Father Carden sets up a tent for him. As he heads out, The Weeping Monk arrives with the battered body of The Green Knight. After being held up before Father Carden, Gawain is tortured by Brother Salt until coming face to face with The Weeping Monk. Calling him his Brother, Gawain tries in vain to recruit The Weeping Monk to their cause. When he leaves, Squirrel enters the tent and tries to free Gawain but spends too long doing so and winds up captured by Brother Salt. While Uther acts irrationally and starts causing hostilities between the Red Paladin and the state, The Weeping Monk questions Carden’s actions over torturing Squirrel. This quickly results in a swift slap across the face for his trouble.
Gramaire
Merlin arrives at Gramaire and stands before Nimue. He tells her they need to work together to protect the Fey but admits to trying to forge an alliance with Cumber the Ice King. Merlin asks her to join him in travelling to Beggar’s Coast to negotiate with this man. While she deliberates over what to do, Morgana and Arthur comes to blows over his way of trying to make peace with their Uncle. As Arthur mentions how reserved she’s been lately, Morgana sees another vision with the tiny spider. Back in the throne room Nimue receives surrender negotiation terms as Borley, Uther’s right hand man, shows up and promises the Fey kind to be saved. She agrees to the terms before dealing with more pressing matters in the throne room. Tensions flaring up between rival gangs results in her cutting off the hands of one of the men, much to the shock and disbelief of all in attendance. After this incident, Nimue speaks to Merlin about the power of the sword and its unyielding ability to force bloodshed upon its carrier. Merlin pleads with her to reconsider his offer. Nimue decides against this though and instead decides to take Uther’s offer given they will offer Nimue ships to take the Fey away. While Arthur and Nimue make love in the wake of this reveal, Eydis (the first-born daughter of Cumber) arrives before Father Carden and informs him that Cumber has decided to take up his offer.
The Review Write-Up
Compared to some of the other episodes in this series, Cursed delivers a better slice of drama this time around. There’s some nice twists and urgency here and everything is starting to come together for the climax of the season. Unfortunately Fisherman’s quick death and entire story arc has felt pointless in the context of this story. In fact Rugen in general has been a strange character with little screen-time or commanding presence. With the finale up next, the big question now rests on whether this one will wrap up most of its plot points or leave things wide open for a second season.
