'Miracle Workers: Dark Ages' Episode 7: Peter Serafinowicz kills it as the homicidal king with 'core hurts'
King Cragnoor (Peter Serafinowicz) hasn't had much to do in 'Miracle Workers: Dark Ages' besides crushing a few skulls, roaring at his underlings and murdering his siblings on screen. It has been a one-note performance of a tyrannical king under whose fearsome eye, Prince Chauncley (Daniel Radcliffe) struggles to find (and keep) his humanity.
However, this episode's script truly lets Serafinowicz flex his comedic muscles as he goes to therapy for the first time. He has a breakthrough moment when his therapist tells him "You're enough" just when he's about to leave after a few probing questions about why he chose to wear his armor for the visit. After drawing his sword and scaring the sh_t out his counselor, he collapses on his knees weeping.
The next day, high on the medicinal concoction he got for his rage, he is in an almost soporific state of mellow niceness as he hooks arms with Prince Chauncley on their walk, picks flowers (and eats them) like a gentle cow and talks about how therapy has helped him deal with his "core hurts". Serafinowicz handles the transition nicely going from the insult-spewing king to the caring dad that Prince Chauncley has always wanted.
Of course, this state of affairs is too good to last. By dinner time he has decided that therapy is not for him. Prince Chauncley realizes things are back to the same-old-same-old when he asks for advice about courting Al and King Cragnoor replies "you should murder her".
He also takes particular delight in telling Chauncley about how he 'fired' his therapist by burning down her hut for charging him for an hour when their session lasted only 50 minutes.
He is like a glorious mob boss who has been forced to confront his demons and doesn't like it one bit. "Change makes you weak", he says, before choking and breaking a hand of the servant who dares tells him they have run out of food.
At the end of the episode, after Chauncley has helped Al save her dad from being eaten by a goat, he verbally abuses the prince for "helping a peasant". We like the tyrannical king persona just fine because it gives Daniel Radcliffe a chance to perfect his 'puppy eyes' look, full of disappointment and sadness. But we also loved how this episode brought out the "softer" side of King Cragnoor the Heartless even though it lasted for too short a while.
'Miracle Workers: Dark Ages' airs Tuesdays on TBS at 10:30/9:30c.