Merlin (Colin Morgan) is approached by a young Druid boy, Daegal (Alfie Stewart), for help with his sick sister. Unable to refuse, Merlin embarks on a dangerous journey to help the boy, leaving Gaius (Richard Wilson) to cover for him and his duties for Arthur (Bradley James). Meanwhile, Camelot is about to play host to a visit from the Sarrum of Amata (John Shrapnel), a ruler known for his violent tendencies and casual assassinations. The Sarrum forms a key part of Morgana's (Katie McGrath) new plan to kill Arthur and Gwen (Angel Coulby) is only too happy to help. With Morgana ensuring that Merlin can no longer meddle and save Arthur's life, will the once and future king finally meet his end? Well, not just yet.
In case you missed it, it was announced on Sunday night that this series of Merlin was indeed to be the last, confirming rumours that have been going around for a while now. Whilst this is obviously sad news, particularly as Merlin has really hit its stride over the last couple of series, the showrunners were always open about the fact that they saw this as a five-series arc and I think it's very wise of them to stick to their original plan. This does mean of course that we now go into the final few episodes with the knowledge that they are building towards what is hopefully going to be a spectacular finale and a fitting end to the story of this boy wizard.
Returning to this episode, the over-arching narrative of Gwen's evil transformation continue with another impressive performance from Coulby that conveys the character's malevolent intentions with resorting to pantomime menace. I really enjoyed the frankness with which she approached the assassination plans, declaring outright that she just wants her husband dead. It allowed a nice element of black humour to creep into the show and further builds her role into something more interesting than doting servant. The scene in which Merlin and Gwen size each other up, each continuing the lie behind his absence was also fantastic, with both Morgan and Coulby having a battle of wills through only their eyes.
The story itself wasn't particularly groundbreaking beyond Gwen's obvious contributions but it does serve to highlight that Arthur really is a bit of a plank. After last week's poisoning (which could only have been committed by Gwen!) and this episode's failed assassination attempt, he's got to realise at some point that there is someone in the castle trying desperately to kill him. I mean, how many near-death experiences can one man take before he starts a stringent vetting system? However, the writers did build a huge amount of tension into it, particularly during the assassination itself which certainly made you question whether Arthur was going to get out of this one wound-free.
One aspect of the episode that was particularly good this week was the score. I've talked about the music before in Merlin though it is something that I do largely overlook (unless, as was the case before, the entire orchestra were doing their level best to tell me that Mordred was EVIL and SINISTER. Though still largely absent). This week, it worked well to build the tension, particularly towards the final scene and was an interesting mix of nursery rhyme style melodies and the usual string-led crescendos.
For the most part, this was a solid episode, progressing the story further without resorting to quick, unsatisfying resolutions. The Evil Gwen plot continues to intrigue and, with the news of the close of Merlin's story, everything is starting to build towards a big finale. I just hope the writers can pull off something truly amazing that gives these great characters, and the actors who play them, a really good send off.
- Becky
You can Becky's review of The Dark Tower and A Lesson in Vengeance here.
Follow Becky on Twitter @beckygracelea
Or follow her blog beckygracelea.wordpress.com
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