With reports of the death of one of Arthur's (Bradley James) oldest friends and a sorcerer, Osgar (Andrew Tiernan - who never plays a nice guy. Ever.), on the loose, the knights of Camelot venture out to wreak vengeance. In a confrontation with Osgar, Sir Elian (Adetomiwa Elun) and Sir Gwaine (Eoin Macken) get thrown about a bit and Arthur learns that an ancient trio of soothsayers, the Disir (Frances Tomelty, Sian Thomas, Helen Schlesinger) have cast a judgement upon him that will affect his destiny. In defending Arthur, Mordred (Alexander Vhalos) is injured and with Arthur seeking to save his new knight, Merlin (Colin Morgan) is forced to confront his own feelings regarding Mordred.
Well, after complaining that the knights weren't given anything to do in the last episode bar look pretty, the entire opening of the episode was devoted to banterous conversations from the residents of the Round Table. Hurrah! It was a good moment of levity, particularly in Mordred's hazing for his first quest, and allowed us to see a bit more of the wider cast. It didn't last too long though as the episode once again became predominantly a two-hander between the ever-excellent Bradley James and Colin Morgan.
Morgan's performance is always solid and was on display again here in his manipulation of Arthur with the biggest shocker of recent times; Merlin states openly that 'magic has no place in Camelot.' And he was doing so well! It's been apparent that we're moving towards the big revelation for Arthur that Merlin is one of the old religion's most powerful affiliates but we took another massive step back here. It was clear that Merlin considered this a worthy sacrifice for getting Mordred out of the way but in terms of development, it didn't necessarily feel like the right direction.
Speaking of Mordred, he's finally back in the picture after being largely absent for the last two episodes and without any real evidence, the music keeps telling us to hate him. The show's score has never been too invasive but this week, it felt like they needed to let us know that Mordred was SINISTER and DANGEROUS by increasing the volume every time he appeared on screen. In the big reveal scene when a very-alive Mordred is seen on the steps of the castle, the music was so loud and stereotypical that it distracted from any drama that the reveal had. It felt a bit like that moment in Kill Bill Vol.1 when The Bride sets eyes on Vernita Green for the first time and the Ironside theme music plays in a comical 'oh look she's angry' kind of way. Not the best association for a fantasy drama to have in one of its most dramatic moments.
Despite that distracting bit, it was, for the most part a solid episode, but it felt like it mostly made retrograde steps rather than developing the characters further. Whilst we get that Arthur now relies on Merlin's wisdom (we've had a scene in each episode so far, just to make sure we get it), the 'magic has no place' moment took the relationship back to earlier series. Likewise, Gwen seems to have gone from kick-ass warrior queen back to supportive, loyal servent Gwen, constantly telling Arthur how great a king he is. It's frustrating, because everything was going so well on both counts. Now I can't help but feel that is has some ground to make up.
Gwen looks to be getting a more central role next week (though admittedly this is through kidnapping so still not great) and is all set for a showdown with Morgana who seems to have an every-other-episode contract now. With some spooky happenings and Morgana's stare-of-death, let's hope it's a little more progressive than The Disir.
- Becky
You can read Becky's review of Another's Sorrow here.
You can follow Becky on Twitter @beckygracelea
Or follow her blog beckygracelea@wordpress.com
No comments:
Post a Comment