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| It's conducive to my good health if they're shirtless ALL the time |
SPOILERS AHEAD!
It seems that some time has passed since the end of Season 4 and Arthur
and Guinevere are well settled into married life. Unfortunately, after a length
of relative peace, that's about to change. Sir Gwaine was sent out with three
score of men six weeks ago and there’s been no word since. There's rumours
floating around that the Ismere estate is back in use and Morgana is the one to
blame.
Morgana's set up shop in the abandoned Ismere castle and has managed to
capture Arthur's men as well as many others from the surrounding area. Her
henchman, Ruadan, tells her to be patient while they search for The Diamair
that will be the answer to all their problems. She's understandably pissed and
we then see the extent of her desperation to find this 'key' as hundreds of men
are working - half-naked - underground, much like I imagine the seven dwarves
did in their mines. Only these men are seriously fit.
Arthur's loyalty to his Knights of the Round Table (there's a Round
Table now!) is admirable. He's intent on getting his men back and sets out with
Merlin, Sirs Leon, Elyan and others to bring them home. It's Gwen who suggests
that they attack Ismere from the West through Queen Annis' lands to give them
the element of surprise and I'm rather quite surprised to see how easily she's
acclimated herself to life as Queen. She's left behind as her husband goes off
into the unknown but has her new lady's maid, Sefa for company. Sefa is
adorable. She reminds me a little of Charlotte from Revenge and I'd like to see
her and Merlin get a thing going!
On their journey, they come across an abandoned village with its
inhabitants left for dead. Hearing an ominous call of 'Emrys', Merlin finds an
old man in a hut, lying dead by a pool of water. He has a strange symbol carved
into his wrist and as Merlin examines more closely, the man wakes! He warns
Merlin of Arthur's Bane and tells him of the imminent danger lying ahead,
ending with the words "even you cannot halt the never ending circle of
[Arthur's] fate" before he dies. Merlin is left reeling, but that isn't
the end of it. Images start stirring in the pool and Merlin watches as Arthur stands
alone in the aftermath of a terrible battle before being confronted by a young
man with dark, curly hair who then strikes him down ... I’m reminded awfully of
Mordred ...
In the meantime, Gwen and Sefa have a sweet heart-to-heart and we can
see that Gwen is becoming fond of this girl. She watches as Sefa leaves for the
night and then walks out of the castle grounds ... this can't be good. Of
course not. Sefa enters an abandoned castle and passes information about Arthur's
surprise attack to Ruadan. Even worse than simply being a spy, Sefa is Ruadan’s
daughter! Gwen isn't going to be happy ...
Merlin tries to warn Arthur of what he saw but of course can't say
anything about where his bad feeling is coming from. Again, Arthur reiterates
his duty to rescue his men and Merlin has a midnight walk to call on the dragon
for his advice. The dragon recognises the old man from Merlin's description as
a vates - druid seer - a race whose talent for prophecy is unrivalled even by a
High Priestess and whose words used to be considered a gift. If Merlin was
worried before, his worry has now been multiplied to triplicate.
We have some amusing light relief as Arthur and his men stop at Queen
Annis' castle for the night to rest before pressing ahead. Queen Annis
expresses a desire to see Arthur's 'fool' perform and Arthur being the man he
is, encourages Merlin to repay the Queen for her hospitality and their safe
passage. With the help of a little magic, Merlin does a little juggling and
'magic acts' with eggs and Arthur is left slack-jawed and once again unsure of
where he stands with his servant.
Ruadan powers on to Ismere to inform Morgana of the latest development
and she announces that they'll ride immediately. Arthur and co are ambushed
just as they are about to set off for the morning and Merlin manages to drag
his King to safety when he is knocked over the head. The rest of the men manage
to escape back to Camelot with the prospect of having to inform the Queen that
her King is missing and likely dead. She knows that they have a traitor in their
midst and it doesn't take long to latch onto Sefa who doesn't know what's about
to hit her. Sefa is sentenced to death for treason and we see that even Elyan
is a little surprised at just how easily his sister condemns someone to death.
In Gwen's defence, I'd to the same in her position.
Arthur carries on his quest towards Ismere despite Merlin's very
obvious, very vocal reluctance and they manage to get caught in a trap when
Merlin thinks with his stomach on spotting a pair of dead rabbits just lying in
the road. Arthur manages to lose his sword and they fall asleep squashed
together until they're cut loose the next morning by a band of men who know
exactly what their bounty is worth. Arthur bargains to let Merlin go but Merlin
valiantly steps in and announces that he won't let Arthur die while he's still
alive. A man steps in to stop this fallacy and we're faced with the
curly-haired man from Merlin's vision ... Mordred. Off they go to deliver their
prize to Morgana.
In a separate side-story, Gwaine keeps seeing some kind of flashing
light in the underground caves while he's working. With Percival to cover him
if their captors discover he's missing, he follows the light deeper into the
caves until he is clobbered over the head by Morgana's men and left for dead.
We return while he is still unconscious to see a creature straight out of
Doctor Who bending over him, chanting some mysterious language and looking very
much like it’s trying to cure Gwaine …
This season opener perhaps wasn’t quite as explosive as I was expecting,
but there was enough in this two-parter to have me on the edge of my seat and
pining for next week’s episode like crazy. Gwen looks beautiful and she’s the
only Guinevere I’ve ever come across in King Arthur re-tellings (book, film, television)
that I actually like. I’m of the opinion that Morgana has to die soon. They’ve
dragged out Morgana-as-the-bad-guy for much too long and we need something
different.
It’s great to see Merlin and Arthur back again. I’m a huge Arthur fan
(Bradley James in unbelievably hot) and I’m definitely looking forward to
seeing more Arthur-Guinevere moments. Sirs Gwaine and Percival are my
favourites of Arthur’s Round Table and seeing both of them shirtless for much
of the episode was … heavenly. More, please!
I’m very dubious about the reappearance of Mordred. He was the first
person I thought of when we saw him in Merlin’s vision, despite the knowledge
that the last time we saw him, he looked as shown below on the left; now he’s
the yummy goodness on the right. There’s no way that that many years has passed;
that’s the problem when shows don’t really have definitive timeframes. I need
some answers!
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| A little Cumberbatch-y, no? |
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| He's one scary kid |
The mystical blue Diamair/Euchdag was a shock and a half; I wasn’t
kidding when I mentioned Doctor Who. Monsters on Merlin usually take on the
form of mythical beasts like dragons, goblins, trolls etc and so this was a
little too sci-fi for me. Even something like a unicorn wouldn’t have fazed me,
but the Euchdag is just a bit too alien-y. We hear that she’s a powerful
weapon, carrying the gift of all knowledge and so it’s no wonder that she’s put
herself into hiding while Morgana is intent on driving her out. I’m not even
sure that Morgana even knows that she’s searching for a living creature like
this. I’m hoping that she’s going to be on Merlin’s side but I have no idea
whether or not all will be revealed to Arthur. Whichever way, Morgana isn’t
going to be pleased that the Euchdag has slipped her grasp for so long …
Sefa can’t die already. I have the feeling that she’s going to be a key
character now that we’ve seen that she’s pro-magic so hopefully Gwen will
soften up when Arthur returns safe and sound. I already mentioned that I wanted
her and Merlin to hook up and even more so now that I know that her father is a
sorcerer. I don’t think that she possesses any magical abilities, but it would
be lovely for Merlin to be able to confide in someone else in the palace
besides Gauis, much as I love him. Excited for part two!
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