The trailers looked great so whilst I came to it open minded, I had reasonably high expectations to be entertained or at least teased to continue watching. After watching the first episode, I regret to admit that I was neither. I didn't expect it to be like GoT or Vikings, which seems to have been a common complaint by some of the viewers (I liked neither - stopped watching GoT after S1E4 and couldn't even finish the first ep of Vikings - I was just bored). What it could have been? I don't really mind. Just tell a decent story and create a drama that holds interest. I was bored throughout, and I was forcing myself to finish watching it to give it a chance. In today's environment with severe competition by international channels, Netflix, HBO etc, a new series needs to hit the ground running. There needs to be a twist, a hook or something why viewers want to watch. Breaking Bad starts with Walt waving a gun in the New Mexico desert in his underpants, a teaser of things to come, House of Cards with Kevin Spacey killing a dog in front of his house making a philosophical point and showing his character. Gomorrah has a couple of gangsters burning down an enemy boss' apartment. Etc etc etc. For me there was nothing alike here. The end of episode one does have a development but it is so obvious before the scene what will happen and is delivered in such a lukewarm fashion (and censored) that I just couldn't really care or get excited by it.
Firstly, it is clear that the direction, camera and actors tried. The production value is high, money was spent, visuals are beautiful and acting is not bad either. Having a TV seris about Slavs is desirable. There is a big gap in the market of all the Vikings, Germans, Romans et al. The problem is the script. The intro dialogue between the herbalist girl and one of the young protagonists is naive and contrived. Like every Slovak fairytale, there is an unpleasant stepmother who will try to marry off the protagonist girl to some inappropriate suitor. Cliches abound. Since it needs to appeal to the broadest spectrum of the miniscule Slovak viewing market, all the controversial parts are censored (sex and violenc). The sex scene didn't show anything and was contrived, embarrasing and absolutely not sexy. I am personally not a fan of sex scenes unless they are absolutely necessary for the type of the film or for the story, but here whilst there was logic to it there was no credibility to it. The violent scenes were also censored. For me episode one just doesn't know what this series actually wants to be. I am open to anything. Just give us a good story, tension and drama. So far they are absent.
