Arthur Padron was just an average teenager trying to enjoy his gap year before college. Then he met a girl named Lynn, and touched the magic sword she had with her. Arthur soon discovered that he is the modern-day reincarnation of King Arthur himself. Lynn turns out to be the reincarnation of the great sorcerer Merlin, and the sword is Excalibur itself. They’re also joined by Elliot, who is the reincarnation of Lancelot. The modern reincarnations of the Knights of the Round Table are scattered across modern-day America. Arthur, Lynn, and Elliot must set off on a cross-country roadtrip to recruit the reincarnated knights. However, though magic is returning to the world, so too are dark forces. It’s sure to be an adventure of Arthurian proportions.
I first became aware of Friday Knight Fights from the weekly new releases thread on the r/audiodrama subreddit. The premise sounded interesting, so I decided to give it a try. I enjoy urban fantasy, and I enjoy Arthurian Legend. There have been a few other works that utilize the premise of Arthurian characters reincarnating in the modern-day. However, it is not how many times a premise has been done, but how well you execute it, that truly matters. Personally, I’d say that Friday Knight Fights did a pretty good job handling its premise.
Season one is split into two alternating parts. One part takes place during everyone’s freshmen year at college, while the other takes place one year earlier, and shows how everyone met. Each episode will features scenes relating to both plot lines. Usually, the freshmen year plot line starts off the episode, and then we transition to the one year earlier plot line. Also, in case you’re wondering, the sword on the cover art is Excalibur, and the red threads are the red threads of destiny.
The title of the series is obviously a reference to the movie/television series Friday Night Lights. Admittedly, I have seen either that movie or the television series, but I’ve heard good things about them. So far, Arthur hasn’t become part of any football team. Of course, as uncoordinated as Arthur is, that might be for the best. I also get some hints that anime might have been influence on Friday Knight Fights. Some points, usually halfway through the episode, there will be little bumpers where the name of the series will be accompanied by some dramatic music. Animes frequently do that as well; off the top of my head, Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood, KonoSuba, and The Way of the House Husband all do that. Come to think of it, the general plot of Friday Knight Fights wouldn’t be too out of place in an anime.
Now, let’s talk about the voice acting and should design. One of the biggest strengths of Friday Knight Fights is its absolutely stellar cast. I could tell from my first listen that the cast were all extremely talented and hard-working. I don’t know if any of them have prior experience in voice acting, but I see very bright futures for them all. Now, having said all of this, I need to do a bit of tough love. The audio quality, while overall passable, can have some noticeable inconsistencies at times. There will be sometimes when characters will have a noticeable background hiss accompany their dialogue. Also, there’s always a little bit at the end of each episode, after the credits, that feels like it was incidental recordings left in by accident. So, definitely want to even out those audio levels and remove that background hiss.
Scenes that involve a lot of action will often music and sound-effect. This is good, and I very much support this. You also sometimes get this in incidental scenes. For example, there’s the scene where Arthur and Elliot go on a shopping spree in the style of a 1990s rom-com movie. I do feel that maybe more of the less dramatic scenes would benefit from a smidge more ambient noise, and perhaps even a bit of music at times.
Speaking of music, let’s not forget them theme music. Overall, I do enjoy the theme music. It reminds me a bit of the theme music from the audio drama Red Rhino. Though, to my knowledge, nobody from Friday Knight Fights was involved with Red Rhino. So, it could be coincidence. I could never get into Red Rhino, unlike Friday Knight Fights. My biggest compliant is that Red Rhino was so busy trying to be metafictional and post-modern it forgot to tell an actual story. Thankfully, Friday Knight Fights does not have that issue. I also liked how the theme music played alongside the finals scenes of the season one finale. It reminds me of how certain animes also do that.
Now, let’s shift gears and talk about the characters. Arthur is a complete and utter dork who often trips over his own feet. Oh, he might attempt to look cool, but he often just makes an even bigger fool of himself. The Knights of the Round Table, and especially Lynn, frequently rib him and poke fun at his expense. All of the being said, as the series progresses, Arthur slowly grows into a competent leader. His plans and battle tactics are, more often than not, genuinely good and well thought out. We get hints of the king he will one day become. However, he’s still got a long way to go before he’s ready to measure up to the legends. But for all his dorkiness, he’s still endearing, and we want to see him succeed. Arthur is voiced by Ian Kennedy.
Lynn is Arthur’s left-hand woman. The position of right-hand woman has been filled by Elliot. That being said, Lynn does not spare Arthur any snark and sarcasm. In fact, she’s often the one who instigates it. But when the chips are down, she’s always there for Arthur. Lynn, being the reincarnation of Merlin, is quite skilled in magic. However, she’s even more adept when it comes to modern technology, particularly computers and hacking. However, she insists that her hacking skills don’t have anything to do with magic. In fact, her hacking skills are how she was about to track down Arthur and the Knights. Oh, and Lynn also shops at Hot Topic, but she’s mildly embarrassed about that. Lynn is voiced by Charlie “Rat” Sutton.
Elliot is the reincarnation of Lancelot. She has a sunny disposition, and is almost always bubbly and cheery. She has her occasional moments of ditziness, but that just makes her get along with Arthur even better. In fact, much like their medieval counterparts, they get along famously. Of course, if you know your Arthurian Legend, you’ll know that Lancelot had an affair with Queen Guinevere, which set off a series of events that eventually lead to the downfall of Camelot. Oh, but don’t worry, Elliot had promised that she won’t sleep with Arthur’s wife. Well, Arthur is currently single, but the point still stands. Elliot is voiced by series creator Ashton Lorelle. When I first started listening to Friday Knight Fights, I assumed that Ashton was exaggerating her accent. Elliot sounded almost stereotypically Southern at times. However, if the pre-show ads are anything to go off of, that’s apparently more or less how Ashton actually speaks. Of course, I’m not really in a position to be remarking on that sort of thing. Nobody who hears me speak ever guesses that Shreveport, Louisiana is where I’m from.
Anthony is the first Knight that Arthur, Lynn, and Elliot find. He is the reincarnation of Tristan. Anthony is…uh, cool, like, a really nice guy. Okay, I’m just gonna be real with you guys. Anthony kind of gets outshone by the more colorful members of the cast. If they were the Avengers, he would be Hawkeye. Anthony’s primary character arc revolves around finding out who Princess Isolde reincarnated as. We’ll get into that once we get to the spoilers section.
I think Gerry was easily my favorite character. He is the reincarnation of Gawain. Gerry’s fully name is Gerard Butler. No, not the one you’re probably thinking of. Gerry is the life of the party, but he has a very laidback and chill. He also usually the one who organizes parties. He sounds like one of those people who is dumb as a brick, but also completely lovable. The only thing Gerry truly hates is the color green. This is an obvious nod to the legend of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight. Gerry loves to party, but he loves his mommy even more. In fact, Gerry initially doesn’t want to go to college if it means be away from his mom. Gerry is voiced by Tyler Gonelli, who also handles the music and sound design for the series.
Arthur has a cousin named Carlos. Unsurprisingly, Carlos turns out to be the reincarnation of Kay, who was King Arthur’s stepbrother. Well, in some retellings anyway. Lynn mentions that not all retells of Arthurian Legend are accurate. Personally, I thought that Friday Knight Fights had a pretty brilliant explanation for the inconsistencies within Arthurian Legend. The characters have reincarnated over the centuries. So, it isn’t that the chroniclers were being inconsistent, or changing details, they were recording different incarnations of the Arthurian characters. That also handily explains why the Arthurian Legends don’t mesh with the archeological record of 5th Century Britain. Stone castles, knights, and countless other iconic Arthurian elements hadn’t been invented yet in the 5th Century. Carlos is voiced by Mateo Rodriguez.
The exact number of Knights of the Round Table varies from legend to legend. On the low end, some source say there were only twelve. On the higher end, however, other sources claim there were anywhere from 150 to over 300. I bring this up because there’s a lot of obscure Knights out there. Oh, sure, you’ve heard of Lancelot and Percival, or maybe you’re familiar with Gawain or Bedivere because of English class. But have you heard Sir Lucan the Butler? I should mention that, in this case, butler doesn’t mean what it does in modern times. A medieval butler was someone in charge of the royal household and royal court. As such, Lucan was on par with Knights such as Kay and Bedivere.
I bring all of this up because Arthur and the gang eventually meet a girl name Lucy, and she is the reincarnation of Lucan. She’s not to thrilled about being The Butler. I suppose she wasn’t paying too close attention to the visions of her past lives. Lucy is the daughter of the dean of the university everyone eventually decides to go to. Said university is famous for its medieval studies program, and the town around the university has a lot of Arthurian themed shops and cafes. Lucy initially seems like she’ll be a spoiled mean girl character, but she turns out to be pretty nice. Lucy is voiced by Sydney Jones
Okay, so what if one of the reincarnated Knights doesn’t want to relive the old legends? Oh, don’t worry, we get our answer in the form of Poppy. She’s the reincarnation of Percival. She initially doesn’t want to get involved, but she comes around with time. Though, she does make Arthur promise that they’ll actually change things this time round, and won’t just repeat the old stories. Poppy gets along quite well with Lynn, especially when it comes to messing with Arthur. Also, Poppy wears glasses, and is basically blind without them. As an aside, I love that Poppy’s episode took place at Medieval Times Chicago. I went to Medieval Times Dallas for a field trip in sixth grade. Sure, Medieval Times plays a bit fast and loose with actual history, but it is tons of fun. I had an absolute blast, and would gladly go again if I ever got the chance. Poppy is voiced by Hannah Steele, who also acts as director and co-writer for the series.
Rounding out the cast is Delilah. She is the reincarnation of Bedivere. Delilah loves volunteering for just about everything. She even volunteers as part of a Catholic church choir, despite the fact that she is Jewish, and is raised by two gay men. She’s no slouch in a fight. In fact, she picked up quite a few self-defense skills from her time volunteering various hospitals. Arthur found this out the hard way. To be fair, he did kind of come across as a creep. He lured her into one of the church’s back rooms and ask her to touch his sword. He meant Excalibur, since touching it is how everyone gets memories of their past lives, but that’s not how Delilah interpreted it. Carlos has a crush on Delilah, and its hinted that she returns his feelings. Interestingly, in the original legends, Kay and Bedivere were quite close. Delilah is voiced by Strummer Steele.
Okay, now we’re getting into the spoilers. If you don’t want any of that, turn back now.
Last chance. You sure you want to continue?
If everyone who wants out is gone, let’s get into it.
Okay, first things first, Anthony’s love quest. The love quest ends in a way Anthony didn’t expect, but I certainly wondered about. Many of the male characters from the original legends were reincarnated as girls. So, it would stand to reason that at least some females characters are boys this time round. Well, it turns out I was right. Isolde has been reincarnated as a boy named Sawyer. Anthony initially doesn’t take that well. Though, he also admits he hasn’t really given much thought to his sexuality. One talk with Gerry later, and Anthony has patched things up with Sawyer. I’m not opposed to Anthony coming around to loving Sawyer, but I felt like things moved a bit too fast. At times it almost reminded me of the part of Spamalot where Lancelot discovers that he is gay. Or maybe Gerry is just that good? He’s not too bright, but he does have excellent people skills.
In other relationships, Arthur and Elliot become a couple. I had kind of suspected that this might happen. I thought that, instead of having with Guinevere, Elliot would have an affair with Arthur. Though, Arthur hadn’t found Guinevere yet at that point. We also know that something bad happened with Elliot the pervious year. She had considered tossing Excalibur into the lake where Lynn first found it. Did she try to go through with it? But then another thought occurred to me. What if Elliot wasn’t who she claimed to be? What if, somehow, she was Mordred, but wanted to be good this time around? But no, it couldn’t be, could it? How would she hid something like that from Lynn?
Well, lo and behold, I was half correct. The person claiming to be Elliot was indeed Mordred, though she prefers to be called Dread this days. However, she’s just as evil as she was in the original legends. Also, she’s the one who gave Lynn in info on how to find the Knights. It was all according to Dread’s scheme. I mean, I suspected this might be coming, but still, damn. Wait a minute, Mordred was Arthur’s son in the original legends so…oh no! Arthur was in a relationship with his reincarnated son! I mean, they aren’t biologically related, but still. Well, that’s going to make season two very interesting.
Oh, and Arthur found his Guinevere. She’s a girl he had a crush on name Winnie. Yeah, I saw the one coming a mile away. Most of the characters have names that are evocative of their Arthurian counterparts. Lynn is Merlin, Lucy is Lucan, Gerry is Gawain, Poppy is Percival, and Arthur is…well, you know. I would have been more surprised if Winnie hadn’t turned out to be Guinevere. I saw it coming, but that’s not a bad thing. It will be interesting to see how Winnie interacts with the rest of the cast come season two.
And from the looks of it, season two is going to be even more amazing than season one. We now know how the gang meet each other, and who the villains they’re up against are. Personally, I can’t wait to see what adventures we’ll be going on in season two.
So, there you have it. Friday Knight Fights is a modern-day urban fantasy adventure of Arthurian proportions. It follows characters from Arthurian Legend being reincarnated a modern-day college students. Season one was really great, and I eagerly await to see what season two will bring. From the looks of things, it will be just as great, if not even better.
Well, I think that should do it from me for now. I will see you guys next time.
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