jim-1543 1) When Trencavel is parleying with Simon de Montfort he speak of inquisitors. The conversation takes place in 1209, but the inquisition was not created until March 1233 (by Pope Gregory IX). 2) Simon de Montfort was not officer in charge of the crusader army which took Carcassonne in 1209. He was just one of several knights in the army. The officer in charge when the crusaders took Carcassonne was Arnald-Amaury, abbot of Citeaux. Simon de Montfort accepted the viscounty of Carcassonne in a council held by the victors in the taken Carcassonne. 3) Various scenes where swords are seen to penetrate chain mail are bogus, swords of that era could not do that.

Gordon Brown Have any of the previous reviewers actually watched it? It has nothing to do with the Holy Grail and simply refers to the Grail which pre dates Christianity.The plot was interesting and there was good use of the intertwining story. There are some unnecessary nude scenes (When are nude scenes necessary?) but I am not complaining. I enjoyed the scenes around Carcasonne and I think it will do their tourist board no harm. I agree with a previous reviewer that the modern part was a bit strange and you didn't really get why it was so important to them but overall I thought it was thoroughly enjoyable.

EdWrite Love the Cathars, would be happy to have one for a neighbour. The concept of liberal Christians that believed in equality for all, accumulation of wealth was bad, sex was healthy and believed in reincarnation is very interesting. The fact that, in the 12/13th century, philosophically they were kicking the roman catholic churches butt says a lot. Tying that in with the holy grail and mixing it in with factual historical references gave this mini series a lot of scope. The reference to carrying our past with us in our blood is very reminiscent of Frank Herbert's Dune and the inference of a genetic memory.However, the heavy handedness of the direction and use of cliché characters and tropes that did not make sense left me squirming in my seat. Especially in part 1 and the end of part II in the medieval period it felt as if the Cathars had some rabid twitter account saying "Dear bad guys guys want to know all our secrets?....". Yes we know it's the good guys against the bad guys but how come the bad guys seem to know more about what their counterparts are doing than they do? Damn you twitter account!!! Speaking of which, I felt sorry for Katie McGrath who portrayed a cardboard cut out of her Morgana character in the Merlin series. She's a good looking woman and a fine actress but did she seriously have to lose her clothes so often? She was only one of many flat characters with trite dialogue. There is one scene where she can see someone shake his head in response to a question she asks when she is looking away from him. At this point I was also shaking my head as the dialogue/monologue leading up to this point felt like a quick fix to try to explain her motivation for being such a nasty piece of work and failing miserably.When it came to the end it felt that I had only seen half the production. It felt as if a whole group of scenes had been cut out and re-spliced leaving me trying to figure how we got to F from A without B, C, D and E. If I'm being kind I would like to think that due to external pressures that a real cracker of a production is out there waiting to be shown at a future date.As it was I found myself just becoming more frustrated as things made less and less sense. Even the role of the grail in the end becomes diminished except potentially as lesson teacher to humanity.On the plus side Jessica Brown Findlay playing the medieval heroine was the closest to a fully formed character in the whole story and I'd like to see her in more roles. Production was good especially in the medieval scenes and the filming felt clean and slick. I now feel enlightened as I've had a chance to meet the Cathars, not to be confused with the Kardashians. Giving it 5 out of 10 as I feel like I only saw half of what could have been.

webbrchl I've just watched the first part of the mini-series, which has saved me the trouble of buying the book because, to be frank, it's awful. The subject matter (search for the Holy Grail) is hackneyed. The plot (innocent blonde haunted by historical visions and drawn in to solve a mystery) is uninspired. The screenplay is unconvincing. The violence and nastiness is a sad reflection of society if this is what people call entertainment. There are acceptable ways to portray violence in a novel or on screen without losing dramatic impact. It's not easy; it requires skill. This production ignores skill and takes the easy option, i.e. in-your-face, shock-the-heck-out-of-the-audience brutality. If the production is a true reflection of the novel, then Mosse should be ashamed. If it isn't, then she should sue.