Stream It Or Skip It: ‘El Cid’ On Amazon Prime Video, A Series-Length Story About The Castilian Medieval War Hero

The legend of El Cid, a Castilian knight who is a war hero in medieval Spain, that most of us know best is the 1961 film directed by Anthony Mann, with Charlton Heston in the title role. While it was hailed as one of Heston’s best performances, having an American play the legend wouldn’t fly these days (at least Heston’s co-star was Sophia Loren). A new five-part series on Prime Video brings a more Spanish-centric view of the legend.

EL CID: STREAM IT OR SKIP IT?

Opening Shot: A combination of drawings and wooden puppets to show the fratricidal battles between the brother kings of Castile, Aragon and Navarro. His father died fighting for Leonardo I, the king of Leon and Castile. He left his young son, Rodrigo Diaz de Vivar, his sword. It’s the mid-11th century.

The Gist: After his father’s death, young Ruy is taken by his grandfather, Rodrigo (Juan Fernandez), takes him to Leon in order for him to train as a knight and exact his revenge on Fernando (José Luis García Pérez) as an adult. But first, he has to be a page, and the next we see Ruy (Jaime Lorente), he’s training under King Fernando’s oldest son Sancho (Francisco Ortiz).

Sancho is next in line to the throne, but he’s an impulsive type, but his younger brother Alfonso (Jaime Olias), is more logical and considered. He’s annoyed that Sancho is next in line, but the person who’s even more annoyed is Urraca (Alicia Sanz), Leonardo’s oldest, who thinks her mother Sancha (Elia Galera) should have the throne, since it’s her family’s lineage. Urraca is definitely more in Alfonso’s corner, but Alfonso has other ideas about his sister, ideas that are sickening to think about, even in medieval Spain.

Urraca is plotting with the bishop Don Bernardo (Juan Echanove) and Flaim (Carlos Bardem), a top official, to overthrow Fernando from Leon, as he has forsaken Christendom for the spoils of war. She doesn’t want anyone hurt, but Flaim has doubts that can happen, no matter what he tells her. The takeover will be at the joust, where his brother Ramiro (Ginés García Millán), the king of Navarro, will be in attendance. Flaim tasks Ruy’s grandfather with finding the person to plunge the knife into Leonardo.

Ruy, who is in conflict with a squire named Orduño (Pedro Alvarez); he is betrothed to Jimena (Lucía Guerrero), a handmaiden of Urraca’s who seems to be very attracted to Ruy. Sancho promotes Ruy to squire in order to help him deal with Orduño, but also because of Ruy’s skills. Ruy is enraged that he has to serve the son of the man who betrayed his father, but his grandfather assures him there’s a long game to be played. When Ruy gets wind that Flaim and his grandfather are plotting to take out Leonardo, he’s conflicted about whether to stop it.

During the joust, where Ruy helps set up Sancho’s mount, Sancho manages to get to the finals, despite Urraca’s attempts to sabotage her brother’s mount so that Alfonso can be next in line. Ruy chases and kills the killer his grandfather hired, and gets a stab in the shoulder for his trouble. Flaim has no idea who could have done it, but the senior Rodrigo has a good idea.

What Shows Will It Remind You Of? In a lot of ways, this version of El Cid is being set up as a Spanish Game Of Thrones, minus the dragons.

Our Take: The legend of El Cid has been committed to film many times, most notably in the 1961 epic film starring Charlton Heston and Sophia Loren. In this 5-part series, creators Luis Arranz and José Velasco are trying to expand Ruy’s world and show how he advanced to become one of the greatest knights Spain has ever seen. The problem is, there are so many characters and conspiracies to keep track of, it’s hard to figure out who’s trying to murder who and for what reason.

What could have been a clear story about Ruy’s ascension, the loves of his life, and the revenge he gets on Leonardo, the first episode becomes a series of muddled scenes involving conspiracies, incest, cousin marriages, and other details that just get in the way. Instead of sweeping in scope, the plot becomes dull and confusing, at least until the extended jousting match, which woke us up because it didn’t involve two people talking about killing someone in the family.

The performances are generally pretty good, especially Lorente as Ruy, and the costumes and sets are excellent. But the show is such a snooze that the performances and look don’t save the show.

Sex and Skin: Besides Alfonso’s being naked before getting in the tub, and his weird advances towards his sister, there’s nothing.

Parting Shot: After Flaim tells the senior Rodrigo that “someone has betrayed us,” Rodrigo stares at the dagger that he knows has his grandson’s blood on it.

Sleeper Star: Lucía Guerrero is a standout as Jimena, who we think will factor into later episodes.

Most Pilot-y Line: We know that Fernando and Ramiro are brothers, but we couldn’t tell the two of them apart in the scenes they were in together. Maybe one should have had a shorter beard.

Our Call: SKIP IT. El Cid is epic in scope, with tons of characters. But the show is too confusing in some parts and too boring in others to recommend.

Joel Keller (@joelkeller) writes about food, entertainment, parenting and tech, but he doesn’t kid himself: he’s a TV junkie. His writing has appeared in the New York Times, Slate, Salon, RollingStone.com, VanityFair.com, Fast Company and elsewhere.

Stream El Cid On Prime Video