MERLYN & Company

The limited series

THEMIC EXPLORATIONS

  • TIME (a recurring theme in Mr. Brody;s writings) Memory vs. fact / complex flashback structure — [might this become increasingly sophisticated in its layering as it does in the book or is that too esoteric an idea? (FROM DB)]

  • MAGIC as a natural resource (recycled through Faerie and replenished through acts of mortal honor)

  • REGRET/REDRESS as a human cycle of self-correction

  • CONSCIENCE as central to human development and evolution. The shift from the comfortable, generalized opposition to war and weapons of violence to the expanded rejection of pre-enlightenment male supremacy must come naturally enough that the viewer has self-inoculated against the cheap thrill of Nimue’s arrival with the sword. By the time we get to the challenging of the Judeo Christian legalistic replacement of conscience in demonizing the Knowledge of Good and Evil the viewer can trust that the suggestion we make to replace obsolete constructs is — if not perfect — at least well-intentioned.

  • LOVE as transcendent

  • The power of both FORGIVENESS and TRUST.

  • CRITICAL DISTINCTIONS: glamor/beauty glory/honor ethics/morality [build this list out as discoveries come to light]

  • SYMBOL (written/internalized) This idea that starts with ‘story imagery’ in the book and becomes literal imagery on the screen lies at the heart of this thing.

  • PERSONAL GROWTH — Merlyn’s quest for redemption, Frankie’s discovery of his own intellectual capacity, Vivica’s slow realization that she actually is the hero at the center of her own story, Sofia’s gradual acceptance of a world more complex than the one she has allowed herself to believe . . . this plays through all arcs. MUST BE ABSOLUTELY clear in Merlyn’s ep-10 decision NOT to kill the soldiers who have been shooting at him and his friends.

  • The shift from Dark Age into Renaissance (through plague) — might there be early set dressing before they leave NY that plays to this? [Shot compositions throughout that mirror internalized period art framings? Shot mirrorings from modern world to remembered histories too]