Meta: A Merlin Retrospective Part I

It was ten years ago today that the first episode of Merlin aired. Yes, you read that right: ten years. Not five, but ten. A solid decade.

All these years later, I have to admit that I haven't really given the show much thought since its conclusion. No matter how good preceding episodes or seasons might be, if a long-running story doesn't stick the landing, an audience has little reason to return to it.

And despite a rich premise and a wonderful cast, the show never made good on its promises. Storylines were spun out in endless circles, entire swaths of character development occurred off-screen, and the central hypothesis of the whole show (that Arthur and Merlin would build a magic-friendly kingdom of peace and glory together) never actually came to fruition.

In my mind, Merlin came to an ending at the end of the third season, with a finale that certainly has a lot of threads left dangling, but which also leaves our main characters in a good place. Sure, stopping here means we don't see Arthur become king, Guinevere become queen, Morgana get defeated or Merlin finally revealing his secret – but then seasons four and five didn't bother capitalizing on these developments either; not to any meaningful extent.

May as well quit when you're ahead.

And don't get me started on the fandom. My previous fandom was also my very first fandom: the BBC's Robin Hood, which spoiled me with its chilled-out attitude and ability to conduct reasonable discussions.

In comparison, the Merlin fandom was one giant screaming cesspit of misogyny and racism, in which slash shippers seemed certain that if they levelled enough harassment and hatred at Angel Coulby's Guinevere (who incidentally walked off with the closest thing to actual character development and a satisfying narrative arc) they would get to see Merlin and Arthur make out at some point.

This plan didn't work, and it's to my continual joy that both Angel and Katie McGrath (another target of relentless ire) have enjoyed consistent work since Merlin wrapped up.

But despite the ups and downs, I can't disregard the five years I spent with Merlin. (You know all those episode summaries on TV Tropes? Yup... that was me). Back in those days I had to wait for episodes to be uploaded onto YouTube, was working with extremely limited Broadband, and didn't have a Tumblr account (I would just lurk on other people's dashboards in order to see all the GIFs).  Heck, I didn't even have this blog. Those were the days of LiveJournal, where you can still read my reviews of season four and five episodes.

But I have fond memories of watching Merlin clips and homemade MVs on YouTube, and of the imaginative scope the show afforded me in the way it left so many stones unturned; so many avenues unexplored, that new ideas and story possibilities sprung up in my own head.

So I wanted to do something to commemorate the beginning of Merlin, and so have dug out the extremely long retrospective I wrote at its conclusion. Because it was first published on LiveJournal, which has no mechanism for seeing how many hits a singular page is getting, I have no idea how many people read it when it was first posted. However, I saw it talked about and linked to a few times in the wider fandom, so I suspect it was one of my more popular offerings...

So here we go at last. As always, I find I have a lot more things to say about the end of Merlin than I initially thought: some positive, some negative. So this will be the first of four posts containing my final thoughts and impressions and questions and observations and rants and miscellaneous commentary of the show.

There is a fine line between snark (which is fun) and complaining (which is not) and for the last season I’ve tried to be more of the former and not the latter, though I do have some reservations about key aspects of the show that I need to get out of my system. But I’ll get to that in time – for this particular post I want to remain positive and look back on some of the best episodes of Merlin's run.

So from each season I’ve taken three of my favourite episodes and examined why exactly I thought they worked so well. It’s long, it’s rambling, but it’s done now, so I may as well post it.

Season 1

The Beginning of the End

My how fatalistic that title seems in hindsight. This is an important episode not just because it introduces Mordred, but because it was the first time the show creates a real moral quandary for its characters and refuses to give an easy answer to its resolution.

On the one hand, we have a premonition that a certain individual will one day become a great enemy, but on the other, a good person can hardly let an innocent child die. Forgive me for bringing Godwin’s Law into this, but at some point in our lives we’ve all been asked That Question: if you had the chance to kill Adolf Hitler as an infant, would you take it? Here, Merlin is faced with a similar dilemma.

This is also the first time that the show really makes use of its source material. Up until this point, viewers may be excused for being rather blasé about the show and its simplistic storylines, but anyone who knows their Arthurian legends would have gradually found themselves wondering – could this child be who they thought he was?

The final scene in which Arthur asks for the boy’s name is the first (and possibly the finest) “mythos” moment of the show, and the ominous music, the dim lighting, and the infamous line: “my name is Mordred” was a pitch-perfect end to the episode that marks the show Growing The Beard. It was a scene that only this particular incarnation of this particular set of legends could have pulled off.

Although Arthur certainly gets to show a strong, heroic side to him – not only in defying his father, but breaking the laws of the land in order to uphold his own personal code of ethics, the episode really belongs to Merlin and Morgana.

In the early seasons, these two had the most intriguing dynamic on the show. Merlin was aware of Morgana’s abilities, but you also got the sense that – regardless of her ignorance – Morgana detected something in Merlin as well. I think the shipping for them started in earnest with their exchange concerning magic and Morgana’s line: “what if magic chooses you?”

But even this early, it's clear to see that that Morgana has a gift for manipulation – she knows exactly what buttons to press in order to get Arthur to help her, and it makes for an interesting character trait: that Morgana is pretty terrible at getting things done herself, but is a master at getting other people to do things for her.

And in comparison to Morgana taking decisive action in order to save the boy’s life, Merlin finds himself caught by indecision. To trust the dragon’s word or to remain true to his own morality? In light of the events of the final episode, the answer remains open for debate.

There were also two harrowing scenes between Uther and Morgana, first when he grabs her by the throat and pushes her back into a chair, and later when he coldly informs her that he'll break his promise to her father if she defies him again. You can see in Morgana's face that she's truly unsettled, and that Uther crossed a line.

It’s clear at this point that the father/daughter aspect of their relationship had not yet been decided on by the writers (they started dropping hints in S2, and it’s difficult to imagine Uther behaving this way toward Morgana after the paternity reveal) but it takes that particular dynamic to a very dark place, not only sowing the seeds for Morgana’s growing resentment toward him, but effectively muddying the waters of what is already a complex moral situation regarding Uther’s tyranny and Mordred’s impending execution.

And then there was Mordred himself, as initially played by Asa Butterfield. I’ve already discussed in my review for The Diamond of the Day that the characterization of Young!Mordred and Teen!Mordred seems to have been reconfigured at some point from a budding sociopath to an introspective anti-hero, and that part of the former’s appeal was the ambiguity that came with the child’s behaviour.

It becomes clear right from the get-go that Mordred has the ability to (quite literally) get into people’s heads, and so the effect he has on Merlin, Arthur, Guinevere and Morgana is suspect. Are they helping him out of common human decency, or is their protectiveness generated by Mordred’s power, which compels them to take such terrible risks for his sake?

The question lingers regarding how much of their actions are based on free will, especially when you take into account the way Morgana describes her strange “bond” with Mordred, Gwen’s instinctive uneasiness around him, and that Merlin’s final decision is determined by Mordred’s pleading in his mind.

Of course, this mystery was never expanded on, but within the self-contained drama of this particular episode, it lends it a sense of suspense and foreboding that is handled extremely well. The audience is “tricked” into rooting for the safety of the child, only for his uncanny nature and the strange influence that he seems to have on Morgana, Merlin and Arthur to slowly creep up, hinting as to his identity and carrying on all the way up to the denouement.

Storywise, it is a very tight plot. I can't think of a single gaping plot-hole (except maybe why Mordred and his father were in Camelot in the first place) and all the characters acted with intelligence and in keeping with their characters. Asa in particular projected just the right blend of innocence and spookiness.

The Beginning of the End: the first genuinely good episode of the show.

Excalibur

It was a toss-up between this and The Moment of Truth, and though Truth wins out for character, Excalibur carries the best plot (it’s still a close one though).

In terms of the dichotomy between Arthurian legend and the show’s original mythos, a wonderful job is done of introducing a fundamental component of the story in a highly innovative way.

The best part of any prequel is getting to see how all the familiar pieces of the story come together for the first time, and Excalibur is brought into the tale in a natural and organic way, letting us revel in our pre-emptive knowledge of what exactly this sword is and what it means for all the characters involved. It certainly whets the appetite for future events considering the name “Excalibur” is never uttered, and that Arthur never interacts with it at all – or even realizes that it exists.

As an extra bonus, the episode also sheds light on the show’s unique premise regarding the banning of magic in the kingdom. There have been a few hints in previous episodes as to animosity between Uther and Nimueh (yeah, this show actually had continuity and foreshadowing once, as when Uther examined the afanc’s shell in The Mark of Nimueh and muttered: “will I never be rid of her?”) and now they come face to face for the first – and sadly, the only – time.

Tying in Nimueh’s vendetta against Camelot with Uther’s hatred of all things magical was a pretty neat idea, and it shed so much light on each character’s motivation. The idea that they were once allies brings a whole new angle to their hostility and the current attitude toward magic in the kingdom.

The scene in which Uther is brooding alone in the darkened throne room, only to turn and find Nimueh watching him with is another of my favourite scenes, and the way the candles dimmed just before her appearance was another eerie touch.

This is also Uther’s episode in the sense that he becomes sympathetic for the first time, at least in regards to Arthur. Despite not answering Nimueh’s question (“you wish you never had a son?”) by the end he’s very adamant about how precious Arthur is to him, and we see first-hand how far he’ll go to protect his son. It also highlights his innate hypocrisy and guilty conscience, two traits that will come back to haunt him in later episodes – at least temporarily.

It does however open up the question as to what exactly Uther thought the consequences of Nimueh’s spell truly encompassed. She seemed pretty convincing when she told him that she didn't know Ygraine's life would be forfeit, even though she knew that the magic would demand a death for Arthur's birth.

So was Uther pre-warned about this? Did he know it was a risk that Ygraine might die? Or did he just assume some irrelevant kitchen drudge would pay the price? And what was Nimueh hoping to get out of this whole arrangement?

The theme of the cyclical nature of vengeance continues with the inclusion of Tristan de Bois as the Black Knight. Whereas Uther and Nimueh have each been corrupted by their thirst for vengeance, leading them to a complete disregard for the lives of innocent people (in Nimueh’s case) or paranoia and genocide (in Uther’s), Tristan de Bois is more of a device, but an effective one.

As Ygraine’s brother who was killed by Uther in his attempt to avenge her death, his curse on Camelot ends up being the impetus along which the plot is drawn. Mostly silent and implacable, he’s all the more chilling for having killed two knights of Camelot and withstanding a magical fire attack at Merlin’s hands. The way he simply stands in the courtyard and waits is especially creepy.

Plus he appears to be a deliberate nod to the ballad of Gawaine and the Green Knight (sans Gawaine), especially with his fairly memorable horse-backed leap through a stained glass window into a room full of people to throw down his gauntlet.

A good Arthur episode too, even though he remained oblivious as to most of what was going on. Still, the fact he was prepared to fight Tristan because he doesn't think that he's above the Knight's Code was a nice contrast to Uther, who bends the rules in order to protect his son. 

It highlights the difference between them, but at the same time father and son are very alike – despite their lofty talk on rules and laws, both are extremely emotional. As we find out here, the root cause of Uther’s genocide was the death of his wife, and in later episodes Arthur too throws caution and common sense to the wind when a threat is posed to the woman he loves.

The girls had little to do, but it’s always worth noting that it’s Guinevere who provides Merlin with the sword he needs with which to forge Excalibur in the dragon’s breath. A shout-out also to Sirs Owaine and Pellinore who (rather touchingly) take up Tristan’s gauntlet in order to protect Arthur, and Geoffrey of Monmouth, who gives Merlin the information he needs to create Excalibur.

And again, it ends on a perfect note of mysticism and beauty when Merlin heads out in the morning light with Excalibur to throw it into the Lake of Avalon, awaiting the right time for its retrieval. The music and lighting throughout this sequence was especially gorgeous.

To Kill The King

Sigh – remember the days when you knew the Morgana-centric episodes would be the most complex and interesting ones?

This was very much the episode in which Morgana takes her first steps toward the dark side, and it’s dealt with in an incredibly fitting and logical way. Guinevere’s father is caught fraternizing with alchemists, Uther’s paranoia and zealousness kicks in, Tom is unjustly executed, Morgana is furious on her friend’s behalf and so organizes an assassination attempt with the original perpetrator. And yet at the last moment, sitting at Gorlois’s grave, Morgana decides not to go through with it.

You can draw a straight line from the Uther/Morgana interaction at the grave – in which Morgana confronts Uther with his actions but backs off when he assures her of her own importance to him – to the Morgana/Morgause scene in The Fires of Idiosholas – where she states that she had the chance to be his assassin but didn’t go through with it because “I thought he cared for me” – to the Morgana/Gwen scene in The Coming of Arthur, in which Guinevere has to remind Morgana of her father’s death, and Morgana replies: “I forgot you too had suffered.”

That’s spot-on characterization, as each time Morgana loses more of her credibility regarding her reasons for wanting Uther dead, replacing her just cause with her own grievances.

Trying to untangle Morgana's motivation proves interesting, particularly at the grave scene, and the dialogue between her and Uther wisely remains ambiguous. To what extent was Morgana spurred on by Tom’s death? Or was it her long-held grief over Gorlois that was the prime factor in her treason, for which she appropriates Gwen's loss as her own?

Did Tom’s death really open up that old wound, or did Morgana just use Gorlois as an excuse to get Uther out into the open where he could be more easily assassinated? How much of it was also motivated by her anger at being thrown into the dungeons for the night? Or guilt for her own complicity in helping Tom escape?

And how sincere was Uther? When Morgana asks: "are you saying you were wrong to have Tom killed?" it's obvious that Uther has to choke out that: "yes," indicating that he doesn’t regret executing an innocent man so much as he’s trying to end the current estrangement between himself and his ward.

After assuring Morgana of her own importance and apologising for the pain he’s caused her (he notably makes no mention of Gwen or any possible reparations for her) she accepts his rather skewered apology and warns him of the impending attack.

Also telling is that Morgana (presumably) never thinks to tell Guinevere that it was she who encouraged and abetted Tom in his failed escape attempt, and that it is she who stabs Tauren (a fellow magic-user) in the back when he is no longer of any use to her. Worst of all, by this point Gwen has completely disappeared from the story. Whereas the episode ends with both Merlin and Morgana getting hugs from their father-figures, we are left to imagine what Gwen might be doing, the only person who has truly lost something in this episode.

And yet in one very important way, this is Gwen’s most important episode. In a culture in which entire movies are built around “heroes” going on bloody murderous rampages in the name of avenging their loved ones, the fact that Gwen has enough goodness and integrity to forego any desire for vengeance is the first sign that she’s the future Queen.

As Excalibur demonstrated, the Great Purge was the result of vengeance, as is Nimueh’s current vendetta against Uther. In this episode, Morgana starts going down the same path. Vengeance begets vengeance, but for Gwen, the cycle of hatred stops with her when she tells Merlin that she will never seek revenge against Uther, for doing so will make her no better than him (Morgana's character arc in a nutshell). I think it’s her finest moment, and naturally it’s all but ignored.

Arthur is low-key, but gets a couple of nice scenes with both the girls. With Gwen he starts off formally assuring her of the security of her home and job before turning back and giving her a genuine (and somewhat guilty) apology.

Later, he organises Morgana’s release from the dungeon cells, leading to their best scene together. I was always a little unsure about the tone of their relationship in these early episodes and what exactly the writers/actors were striving for. Unresolved sexual tension? Sibling-esque squabbling? I’ve no idea, but the scene in which Arthur comes to release Morgana from her chains should have been the consistent dynamic between them: a little guarded around each other, with a dose of grudging respect, both opposed to Uther in slightly different ways, but ultimately on opposite sides.

Other neat touches here and there: Merlin feeling the power of the Mage Stone and letting it lead him to Morgana, some sweet friendship moments between Morgana and Guinevere (as of the later seasons, there have been some arguments that Morgana never truly cared for Gwen, which makes no sense on seeing the genuine sympathy she displays toward her here) and a very rich colour palette which starts off warm and ends up cool and dark in varying shades of green (specially Morgana’s stunning forest-green velvet cloak which is probably my favourite bit of costuming for her).

Tauren is a brief but effective antagonist (though with enough depth and motivation to avoid the term “villain”) and Tom’s death has a lasting impact on Gwen and the way she interacts with those around her.

Also worthy of note:

The Moment of Truth, in which the Merlin cast meets The Seven Samurai and return to Merlin’s home village in order to do battle against bandits.

Lots of fantastic character interactions here between every conceivable pairing (highlights include Arthur/Merlin’s handshake, Morgana/Guinevere’s hug, and the first sign of the Arthur/Guinevere ship), a great action sequence in which the girls were not only involved but integral, an exploration of Merlin’s responsibilities in keeping his magic a secret and the strain it puts on him, and three great guest-stars: Joe Dempsie as Merlin’s childhood friend Will (not only the guy who's willing to point out the dark side of the heroes’ actions and question Merlin's own motives, but a character who represents Merlin’s own desire to openly use his powers), Alexander Siddig (our first entirely non-magical villain) and Caroline Faber as Merlin’s lovely, lovely mother Hunith.

The Labyrinth of Gedref, which sits a little uneasily within the arc of the show (it’s essentially filler which not only pushes the reset button on Merlin/Arthur’s friendship, but contains significant events that are strangely never referred to or build on in future episodes) but is a classic fairytale concerning hubris and redemption with plenty of Arthurian overtones.

Season 2

The Nightmare Begins

Oh look, another Morgana-centric episode makes the list. Amazing really.

But again, Morgana’s plight of being a magic-user under the rooftop of a fanatical magic-hater makes for a gripping storyline, especially when her powers are become increasingly harder to control or understand. The opening sequence is especially chilling, in which Morgana’s eyelids flutter in her sleep, and her power manifests externally in the lighting of her candle, the smashing of the vase and later in the shattering of her window.

Her near-hysterical rush to Gaius’s chambers and her meeting with Merlin might just be their best scene together, especially in the way in which it's staged – with Morgana inching closer, pleading for understanding, a series of emotions flitting over Merlin’s face (fear, compassion, indecision, temptation) and the tragic “passing of the moment” in which Merlin chooses to remain silent and Morgana slips away from him.

This is one of the last times in which Merlin’s compassion overrides his blind obedience to the dragon, deciding to ignore Kilgharrah's warnings and help Morgana by getting her in touch with the druids. For a few precious hours Morgana is happy: reunited with Mordred, under the care of the wise druid Aglaine who advises her against bitterness and hate, and among her own people. Alas, it’s not to last.

In a rare case of casting Arthur into a negative light, it is he that leads the knights of Camelot in an attack against the peaceful druids, mistaken in the belief that they’ve kidnapped Morgana.

And it’s here that the darker side of Morgana is again revealed to Merlin: though her fear and desperation is palpable, she’s also willing to let the hostages that Uther has taken back in Camelot die should she not return. Merlin is caught in the middle, trying to protect his people and the knights at the same time, and though he manages to save lives with the use of a magical mist, he’s unable to save Aglaine or prevent Morgana from being taken back to her prison of fear.

Like all the best tragedies, the story contains a lack of communication, lost opportunities, near-misses, and failure to trust. Morgana remains sympathetic, but has definitely taken a step forward in her story-arc: not only by accepting that she has magic, but in acquiring further reason to hate and fear Uther. And though it ends on a hopeful note, with another great Morgana/Merlin scene in which the former tells the latter that “one day magic may be a force for good,” all the pieces are in place for her inevitable fall.

The episode is also notable for its original storyline. In a series which seems to be made up of a grand total of four plots (someone tries to kill a Pendragon, someone needs rescuing from the dungeon, a false romantic lead comes to town, Arthur screws up and has to make amends) this is an entirely unique premise.

Almost everyone in the cast gets something interesting to do, and amidst all the chaos, it’s easy to forget one of the more disconcerting scenes: as the druids flee in terror, Merlin is witness to Mordred killing a number of knights just with the power of his own scream.

Lancelot and Guinevere

It was a tossup between this or Sins of the Father, and had the latter not ended the way it did (with a pressing of the Big Fat Reset Button) it would have been a shoe-in. However, the writers chickened out, and what could have been the show’s most pivotal episode ends up as the anti-climactic end to a slow boiling story-arc.

So Lancelot and Guinevere it is. I have a soft-spot for this pairing, and for the Arthurian love triangle in general: the only literary love triangle I find remotely palatable. Though I wish Santiago Cabrera’s availability had allowed them to explore it further and in more depth, this was pretty good set-up, what with each character portrayed sympathetically, Guinevere given good reason to be attracted to both men, and an inconclusive finish that suggests the storyline will be picked up later on.

Morgana and Guinevere get to have a neat girl power sequence after they’re ambushed by bandits (though I always thought that it should have been Morgana and not Guinevere who twisted her ankle, which would have led not only to Gwen holding back the men whilst Morgana made her escape, but also explained why Morgana didn’t accompany Arthur and Merlin on their rescue mission) and Guinevere puts on a great performance as a noblewoman.

Again, that she’s so often dismissed as a distressed damsel in this episode gets my goat, as clearly Arthur and Lancelot’s efforts would have been pointless if it hadn’t been for her charade.

The conceit of two suitors approaching a damsel in distress from different directions, each one unaware of the other’s existence, is a good one, and handled well by the writers in which Arthur’s uncharacteristic vulnerability in admitting his feelings about Gwen to Merlin is juxtaposed with Guinevere and Lancelot’s quiet murmurings through the grate of her cell.

Even as Hengist’s ever-increasing threats make us urge Arthur on, we know that an unpleasant surprise is waiting for him when he finally arrives, and that his fantasy of playing the part of Gwen’s knight in shining armour will be dashed.

Which leads to that campfire scene. This is one of the actors’ finest moments, particularly since most of it is done without words:

Guinevere is feeling guilty because of the awkward situation, but also a bit overwhelmed by Arthur’s presence (and what it means) and slightly defensive considering he was the one who broke things off with her. Arthur is having a right sulk because things haven’t worked out the way he wanted them to, but he’s also deeply hurt and aware that his past rejection of Gwen has sent her right into Lancelot’s arms – and of course, there’s that ever-present sense of insecurity when super-noble-and-awesome Lancelot is in the vicinity.

And once Lancelot starts picking up on the reason for all the tension, Arthur saves face by making a snotty comment and trying to make it seem like he doesn’t really care. And it backfires totally because now Gwen is just as hurt and angry.

And honestly – this moment right here is the best bit of acting Bradley has ever done: when he goes from flippant to appalled in the space of a second at what he’s just said. He even does a tiny recoil when he sees the look on Gwen’s face. Considering that the Arthur/Guinevere interactions in this episode encompassed only one line: “time to go!” it’s amazing how much they managed to convey with their expressions alone.

So this is another rare episode in which everyone is given something important and interesting to do, and no one acts stupid in order to further the plot. The Wildereen (I never figured out how to spell that) were lifted straight out of The Princess Bride (but hey, if you’re going to steal, steal from the best) and James Cosmo takes a one-dimensional character and packs him full of hammy (yet legitimately threatening) goodness.

The Fires of Idiosholas

Sixty-five episodes in all, and this one is undoubtedly my favourite. It’s the one I could watch countless times for its near-perfect structure, pacing, continuity, characterization, atmosphere and emotional punch. It hits every note and does so flawlessly.

From the opening sequence with Morgause bringing the Knights of Medhir to life, to Arthur and Merlin's return to Camelot to find the entire kingdom unconscious, to the cat-and-mouse games throughout the halls of the castle, and finally the double-whammy of Merlin being forced to poison Morgana and the cliff-hanging finish of the dragon's escape – every scene builds onto the next one, the suspense is racketed up with each passing moment, and there is no superfluous nonsense.

Morgause's plan had a simple elegance to it that was carried out (almost) flawlessly and Merlin/Arthur made a fantastic team as they grappled with the situation and tried to cope with each new crisis as it occurred.

I think what I loved most about the plot was how the suspense was upheld by Arthur and Merlin each trying to adapt to the ever-changing circumstances and act according to new information as it emerged. Arthur initially tried to get hold of the (non-existent) remedy from Gaius, only to give it up when they found themselves cut off from the physician’s quarters.

He then agreed to the plan of disguising Uther (with the slight caveat that it be as a servant instead of a woman) only to realize it was pointless on discovering that Morgause was behind the attack (obviously she would recognise Uther no matter what he was wearing). His final act in the episode is trying to follow-through on their last idea of using the abandoned horse and cart outside – another plan that becomes obsolete when Merlin takes action on his own.

Meanwhile, Merlin is working through his own ideas and you can see his internal thought-process at work as he tries to apply logic to the situation. He spots the Knights of Medhir from the battlements and realizes that there’s an extra rider – but who?

He covers for Morgana with the excuse about Gaius’s remedy, and then shares with her his theory that she’s being protected by her magic – which would naturally make him immune as well, were it not for the fact that he very soon begins to feel the spell's effects.... which means that whatever is protecting Morgana is a clear indication that she’s involved (confirmed when the Knight of Medhir doesn’t go through with killing her).

From there it’s down to the dungeons to get the information he needs from the dragon, and the steady build-up to the poisoning scene begins...but I’ll get to that.

What's so appealing is the wonderful tension of so many different agendas coming together, a pattern of little successes and reprieves followed by set-backs, where plans were continually formulated only to be discarded, where common sense was utilized without anyone knowing the full picture of what was happening, and a constant cat-and-mouse game taking place throughout the castle.

Though Arthur is naturally oblivious to what's going on, this is one of the rare occasions in which his ignorance doesn't render him incompetent or unconscious. He initiated the search for Uther, he made sure Guinevere was secure, he knew that something was up with Morgana, he effectively fought the Knights of Medhir, he lugged Uther almost single-handedly around the castle, and he kept one step ahead of Morgause at all times.

And right beside his physical attempts to negotiate the situation was the more subtle thread of the intellectual Merlin trying to apply his own knowledge to the situation and Morgana’s clumsy attempts at deflecting attention from herself.

Morgana was also fascinating. I was frustrated throughout season two that she remained so passive and easily-led when it came to her allegiances, but since that was the course the writers took, it made for some interesting characterization here.

Her innate narcissism manifests when she tells Morgause that her reason for turning against Uther is because “he cares nothing for me”, and again with the sad implication that in her panic over what was happening throughout the castle, she simply left Guinevere on the cold floor. It was a pity we didn’t get a scene in which Morgana walks around the castle, watching in horror as everyone fell asleep around her, but it made for a striking moment when Arthur and Merlin find her as the only one still awake.

Later, irony abounds as Arthur leaves Morgana alone with Uther and a naked sword, and it appears that despite her words, she can't go through with killing him herself.

So many great little touches: the call-back to Morgana's assassination attempt in To Kill the King, the chilling slow-motion scenes of the Knights of Medhir galloping towards the city, Merlin and Arthur watching from the battlements as they approach, and then their stunned horror when they feel the weariness of the spell come over them, Arthur's look of hatred when he first sees Morgause, the way Morgause senses Morgana’s poisoning and begins to react in the same way (putting her hand to her throat), Uther sadly playing with Morgana’s trinkets in the aftermath of the spell, and that delicious side-long look that Merlin and Kilgharrah give each other as he's loosening the chains.

There's even time for a touching love scene (Arthur putting Gwen on the bed and lifting the curls out of her face) and comedy (Merlin trying to wake up Gaius, and then having a little giggle when Uther starts snoring).

But the most powerful scene in this episode (and in my opinion, the entire show) is of course the poisoning scene. The lead-up to it is foreboding enough: first when Merlin is seemingly called across the room to retrieve the bottle of hemlock, and later his split-second decision to flee when the Knight of Medhir advances on Morgana – not to mention all those little hints and warnings that Merlin gives, which Morgana either doesn't pick up on or just ignores.

It’s not until it’s clear that Arthur’s life is in immediate danger (by Morgana’s own admission) and that she’s not going to fess up to anything that Merlin acts.

Colin and Katie just nailed this scene. Perhaps the most heart-rending thing about it is the fact that the act of poisoning Morgana is disguised as an act of kindness. When Merlin first offers her the flask, she declines – it is only until Merlin pretends to drink some of it himself before handing it to her with the words: “here, you can have the rest” does she take it with a smile of gratitude. He turns away and wipes his face. She drinks and gives a confused little cough.

But it's not until she sees Merlin’s face that she understands what’s happened to her. And then she tries to bat him away as he reaches for her, before letting him hold her and clutching his arm as she begins to die. That's easily the most powerful scene in the show. They never topped it. Arthur’s death doesn’t even come close (don’t kill me).

So yeah, I love this episode. I could rave on some more about it, I really could. I think the only false note was Arthur's blasé attitude about the deaths of the Camelot knights that rode off with him and were killed at Idiosholas, but apart from that, this episode doesn’t miss a beat.

Also worthy of note:

Sins of the Father; the episode that is striking not for what it is, but what it should have been. It not only introduces Morgause in what is perhaps the most badass entrance given to any guest character on the show, but brings to light the true circumstances of Arthur’s birth and Uther’s culpability in Ygraine’s death...at least temporarily. It’s the “temporarily” that prevents me from giving it top marks, particularly as the revelation is never truly brought to light (Arthur has a throwaway line in The Wicked Day which suggests he knows that Ygraine died because of magic, but this is never explained or explored).

In any case, it was a brilliant episode up until that final, fatal misstep: a lack of physical abuse or ridicule between Merlin/Arthur (in fact, their campfire scene in which they discuss their missing parents is one of their best), an intriguing bond formed between Morgana and Morgause (with the introduction of the healing bracelet), the enigmatic nature of Ygraine’s appearance (was she real? Or was she a construct designed by Morgause?) and fantastic performances by everyone involved, particularly during the Uther/Arthur confrontation.

Sweet Dreams; granted, it’s filled with unfortunate implications concerning love potions and the “punishment” dealt out to Lady Vivian – as well as the presence of two utterly unappealing villains – but if you try and take it in the spirit with which it’s made, it remains the only comedic episode of the show that manages to be genuinely funny (unless of course, you find fart gags to be the height of comedy).

Bradley James and Georgia Moffet as the enchanted lovers are at their hammy best, and Guinevere gets to save the day not with physical prowess or magical abilities, but with the Best Damn Kiss Ever (at least, since the last one).

The Witch’s Quickening: a mess, but an interesting mess. This is what happens when you rush a character arc, for what had been unfolding so elegantly with Morgana in the first one-and-a-bit seasons is now suddenly squished into a single episode after sitting in stasis for the duration of a season.

There’s simply too much going on to register the full impact of any of it, yet at the same time they definitively turn Morgana against Uther and Camelot, the episode becomes inconsequential considering so much of the character interactions and developments are forgotten about later (in the very next episode, Morgause seduces Morgana “from scratch”, so to speak).

As such, the figure of the slimy, manipulative Alvarr becomes obsolete. His back-flipping druid girlfriend seems to have been included only to establish him as a sleaze and Morgana as an easily-led fool. The reintroduction of Mordred and the plan concerning the Crystal of Neahtid is dropped like a hot potato. Merlin’s telepathic confrontation with Mordred after he tries to prevent him from escaping the Camelot knights is never picked up again. The implication that Mordred was the mastermind and Alvarr the puppet is hinted at, but never confirmed or followed-up on. Arthur is boorish and abusive throughout.

And yet there are a little flashes of insight here and there: Morgana’s palatable loneliness, Merlin’s glimpse of the dragon’s release in the crystal, the implications surrounding Alvarr’s escape and the power shift between Uther and Morgana... it’s just a pity that it wasn’t explored in more detail.

Season 3

The Tears of Uther Pendragon

In terms of plotting, suspense and visual flair, I honestly think this two-parter was alongside the best the show had to offer, packed full of great ideas and memorable scenes. More importantly it genuinely felt bigger in scope, plot and characters, and though this expansiveness sadly didn’t last, it was a promising start and remains the best series opener of the entire show.

The only strain is of course Morgana, and it’ll always be a terrible disappointment to me that the writers did this to her. Where's the ambiguity, the hesitation, the remorse? Why have the crux of her character-arc take place off-screen in the gap-year? Why take such an interesting character and turn her into a one-dimensional villain? Just...why?

But I liked the fact that Morgana is clearly devoted to her older sister, almost to the point of hero-worship. It’s a shame the show never explored or even clarified the fact that Morgause rather cold-bloodedly used Morgana to achieve her own ends in The Fires of Idiosholas (how exactly did Morgause explain the poisoning scene to Morgana?) and continues to do so here.

Certainly she loves her half-sister, but she continues to manipulate and control her. Morgana has essentially gone from Uther’s decorative court ornament to Morgause’s willing pawn, and she still has little agency of her own.

I also felt robbed of a proper Morgana/Gwen reunion. Morgana has absolutely no reason to hate Gwen at this stage, and it would have been a great arc to watch the two girls attempt to rekindle their friendship only to learn that their allegiances now fundamentally lie with different people.

Gwen should have been a Morality Pet to Morgana – someone who exists as evidence that any given villain is not all bad, and still capable of love and affection. To completely jettison the bond they had was a huge disappointment, and a waste of a good subplot in which Gwen tries to help and protect Morgana, only for Morgana to keep pushing her away and eventually harden her heart against her.

Also irritating was the scene in which Morgana kills the guard. It's not that she kills an innocent man to protect her secret, but that she does so with a smile on her face. Bwuh? There was absolutely no indication whatsoever in the first two seasons to indicate that Morgana would take sadistic pleasure in killing a man.

How much more powerful this scene would have been if she had panicked, stabbed him with her dagger, and whispered "I'm sorry" as she pushed him off the battlements. They could have even kept the scene in which she cold-bloodedly finishes him off the following morning (guiltily and hesitatingly), thereby demonstrating the lengths she'll go in which to protect herself and defend her cause, which in turn would have been a lovely reflection of Merlin using poison in The Fires of Idiosholas.

As it played it just felt like a ridiculously heavy-handed way of telling us "oh, she's EVUL now."

On the other hand, Morgause is still a great character. Her plan is solid and elegant (for the most part), she has sympathetic motivations, and she looks like a total badass marching around in her armour and bending Cenred to her will. Yes, she underestimated Arthur, but in some ways I don't really think he was part of the equation. Her goal at this point was simply to destroy Uther and raze Camelot to the ground (or at least hand the spoils over to Cenred).

It's only later that her plans change to reinstate Morgana on the throne, in which case she needs Uther alive to recognise her and Camelot standing for her to rule.

And for the most part she was remarkably effective here: she gets Morgana into the castle with the tools she needs to torment Uther and raise the dead, and convinces Cenred and his army to attack from the outside. She was only defeated by her ignorance of Merlin's powers and the somewhat dodgy narrative idea that the undead army were completely essential to the fall of the citadel (even though Cenred’s army seemed to outnumber Camelot’s ten-to-one).

But another great moment that sadly comes to nothing (the show is good at these) is when Morgause confronts Merlin in the forest. It was wonderful how she twigged to the fact that there was something special about him, and I'll forever regret that she didn’t pursue this line of thinking further.

Her plan to chain him up instead of dispatching him once and for all was the only real stupid move that she made in the episode, but the first time I watched this scene, I remember being really excited at what I thought was happening – that she suspected Merlin had magic and that the chains were some sort of test: if he could escape, clearly there was more to him that met the eye. (And if not, he was dead anyway).

But I appreciated the use of magic in the episode and the little touches of continuity. We saw Morgause's scrying crystal again, and the mandrake root was scarily effective (though it led to another missed opportunity: although it was established that magic-users can hear its screams, this didn't play any part in how Merlin or Gaius found it).

It was a nice touch that the staff used to raise the dead came from the rowan tree on the Isle of the Blessed, as was the moment in which Merlin and Morgause each felt its effects when Morgana drove it into the ground.

The Merlin/Morgana scenes were electrifying. I loved the shot of Morgana catching sight of Merlin over Arthur's shoulder as she hugged him, as well as the threatening scene in which she pulled Merlin into the alcove (the same one she dragged him into back in Le Mort d'Arthur – nice twisted reflection of that).

Finally there was that wonderful scene down in the catacombs. It was their best scene together, hands down, and just for a second you could tell that Merlin almost reached her. And despite the quaver in her voice when she says: “there is no other way,” it was interesting to note that Morgana once again brought the entire argument back to herself – her fears, her persecution. And then that final scene in the throne room with them staring each other down: I remember thinking "oh, it is on." Still gives me tingles thinking about it.

There are plenty of other little scenes here and there. Merlin's display of power among the scorpions was nifty: at first he chants a spell to repel them, but as he begins to panic he just roars at them, and that instinctive magic is even more powerful. The scene in which he finds the mandrake was also good (though as I said, it was strange that they didn't capitalize on the fact that magic-users could hear its screams), especially the Scare Chord that kicked in when he banged his face against it and that Morgana's hand just missed him when she reached under the bed.

I'm torn over the Dragon scenes: on the one hand, I liked that he is in Merlin's power and therefore forced to behave, on the other, I think that his torching of Camelot and its innocents was forgiven far too easily.

His dismissal of Morgana as a force for evil is hypocritical in light of this, and rather bizarre considering they have the same goal of getting rid of Uther. I suppose you could say that he knew she was Uther's child...but then, so is Arthur, and the Dragon is all about getting him on the throne. It's difficult to know where his information is coming from or how to judge it – and naturally, Merlin never asks.

Uther played the deranged king very well, and the apparitions of Queen Ygraine and the dead children served to remind us that Morgana and Morgause have just cause in their crusade against him. The "Macbeth" scene in which Uther freaks out at the drowned child invisible to anyone else in the room (while Morgana watches with delight in the corner) was another one of my favourite scenes, one that displayed not just his guilty conscience, but her implacable hatred of him. It wasn't enough for Morgana to simply kill him; she wanted to make him suffer as well.

Cenred was fun, especially since we could now put a face to the name that had first been mentioned all the way back in The Moment of Truth (he was the king that refused to help Hunith and Ealdor). It was not only his double-entrendre "I don't think with my sword", but the fact that he really meant it: he didn't want to sacrifice hundreds of lives just for Morgause. The two of them had a great dynamic – he's no puppet, but she's no fool, and both knew how to wind the other up.

Arthur handled himself well throughout the two-parter, and I especially liked that moment when he sat in Uther's chair in the council chamber, effectively assuming power and making a difficult decision. Full props to Angel Coulby for getting a line like "worry is not a wise counsel" and actually making it sound good.

Also, I loved arrangement of the scenes between Arthur/Gwen and Arthur/Merlin. That moment when Merlin hands Arthur his sword and voices his quiet confidence in Arthur's destiny is one of the best scenes between the two of them, especially when it's followed by Arthur's equally soft assertion that, yes, wise is what Merlin is (though there’s an interesting difference between the two conversations: Merlin says: "I trust in your destiny," and Gwen says: "I trust you, Arthur.")

Visually, the whole thing was stunning. Directors, cinematographers and costume-designers clearly love Katie McGrath, as one of the clearest memories I have of this episode was how stunning she looked with her swirling cloak and billowing dresses, swooping through the castle halls and emerging out of the mist and gliding in slow-motion through the forest trees. At times she looked like something out of a Tim Burton film.

Later, the siege was incredible and remains the best action set piece of the entire show. It managed to capture the chaos of battle whilst remaining coherent, what with sequences on the battlements, the lower town, the courtyard and the infirmary. There was also the great sequence in which Morgana was prowling around the eerily deserted citadel, hearing the distant booming of the battle in the distance.

And they actually made good use of the old "hiding behind the door" cliché when Gaius was looking for Morgana. I jumped when I first saw it. In many ways these two episodes, especially following on from The Fires of Idiosholas and The Last Dragonlord, were the height of the show. There was so much fascinating set-up in the past two seasons, and now that the time for pay-off had arrived, it looked as though it would deliver. Sadly that was not entirely the case, but it was certainly exhilarating while it lasted.

More to come in Part II...