TV REVIEW: Merlin - The Disir

Arthur has angered an ancient goddess and must quest (again) to avenge the death of a knight and face his accusers. Naturally things go wrong and Merlin has a tough decision to make about how to advise his king.

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

TV REVIEW: Merlin - Another's Sorrow

This week, Morgana is back in the game as she carries out a fiendish deception that fools the entirety of Camelot, including Merlin, in order to trap Arthur and kill him once and for all. 

After Odin (Fintar McKeown), an old enemy of Camelot, takes the country of Princess Mithian (Janet Montgomery) and captures her father (James Fox), it becomes apparent that it's another plan from Morgana (Katie McGrath). With Mithian as captive, Morgana heads to Camelot and deceives Arthur (Bradley James) and Merlin (Colin Morgan) with her old woman guise. The knights set out to rescue the King but Morgana's trap lays in wait.

For more casual fans of the series, it may not have been obvious that this episode saw the return of several old faces. As was oft-repeated, Odin has been Arthur's sworn enemy for a while now, after Arthur killed his son way back in the second series and then retaliated by killing Uther. Princess Mithian also returns, having escaped an engagement to Arthur in the last series; their relationship isn't really commented on by any party but the gallant king naturally rushes to her aid when she asks for it.

Which leads us on to the next discussion point; old Morgana. We've already seen ageing spells with Merlin (who makes a very convincing and funny old man) and now it is Katie McGrath's turn. Rather than the comical and mischievous performance that Colin Morgan gives, McGrath goes full sinister, creeping and skulking about whilst controlling the entire situation. It's an impressive display and one that further demonstrates McGrath's development. It does help that her character is finally written for a bit more successfully (likewise with Gwen) which gives both actresses more to work with. There was also a lovely, rare moment between Arthur and Gwen (Angel Coulby) which shows how their relationship has progress in marital bliss.

However, for the most part, this episode has been the most lacklustre of the series, devoid of the tension that had made the first three episodes so compelling and generally not as involving as many previous episodes. The plot was as transparent as one of the castle's anachronistic windows and held little in the way of actual excitement. The Odin-Arthur feud was more than a little strained, although I was pleasantly surprised by the outcome. And when are people going to start listening to Merlin when he has a bad feeling. He's a wizard and he's ALWAYS right. 

What is also beginning to look a little odd is the lack of interaction with Arthur's knights. I mean, these are some of the most famous Sirs in history, Gwaine and Percival in particular, and yet they barely have a line; they just skulk awkwardly in the back of scenes. Eoin Macken has always been a highlight as the rakish Gwaine and is afforded a couple of lines and an admittedly welcome cheeky grin, but it's a far cry from the time he has been given in earlier episodes. Also, much was made about Mordred's threat to Arthur but he's barely been seen since, not even appearing in this episode. Some of my favourite moments in past episodes have been the interaction between the excellent ensemble cast but they've been reduced to set-dressing.

The next episode will hopefully correct some of these niggles and also apparently features the magical version of the Black Spot. Arthur could be in trouble... will Merlin be there to save him? Well, yes.

- Becky

You can read Becky's review of The Death Song of Uther Pendragon here.

You can follow Becky on Twitter @beckygracelea
Or follow her blog beckygracelea.wordpress.com

TV REVIEW: Merlin - Arthur's Bane Part Two

After last week's doom-laden opener, Merlin and Arthur find themselves captured, Gwen is becoming a calculating warrior queen, Morgana is angry and evil and Gwaine has still not found his shirt.

Arthur (Bradley James) and Merlin (Colin Morgan) find themselves trapped and on their way to Ismer as captives, held by an old acquaintance, Mordred (Alexander Vlahos) who may or may not be Arthur's bane. Morgana (Katie McGrath) meanwhile has been having all sorts of nasty nightmares and as we know from previous series, that doesn't tend to end well for the people around her. Speaking of which, her new right-hand man Ruadan (Liam Cunningham) has found out that his daughter and secret agent Sefa (Sophie Rundall) is being held as a traitor and sentenced to death by Gwen (Angel Coulby). Gaius (Richard Wilson) still seems to have a dying wig on his head but is also acting once again as the conscience of the Queen while Gwaine (Eoin Macken) is being helped a mysterious glowing alien thing.

The darker turn that Merlin has taken this series is really working in its favour, upping the ante not only for the characters but also for the audience. I'm still quite impressed that a programme I had originally only watched for a bit of light entertainment when there was nothing else on has becoming something so interesting and involving. This is probably due to the improving quality on the show all round but in particular, the writing has become a lot more focused. Before, the action would have been punctuated with unnecessary comical scenes to lighten the mood which also succeeded in slowing the pace, but across this two-parter, each scene is tightly constructed within the wider episode. The trademark humour is still there of course, but it is grim and less frequent and the show is all the better for it.

Another way in which the show has completely won me over, particularly in just these two episodes, is how well they are writing for Gwen now. Finally, after four series of being saddled with lame romantic subplots, either with Arthur or Lancelot, Angel Coulby has been granted some excellent scenes and is really flying with them. She's still the gentle Gwen of old but with a new steely, royal exterior and is proving herself to be a fine tactician with her intentions to lure Ruadan to Camelot by threatening his daughter Sefa with execution. Likewise, Katie McGrath's Morgana has had a few years to stew in her anger and is all the more fun for it. The confrontation between Arthur and his wayward sister was such a fantastic scene and McGrath's performance has really grown from the evil-grinning of old into truly capturing the hatred that Morgana feels towards her family.

The alien thing turned out to be the Euchdag, the very thing that Morgana was searching for. I must admit, the scenes with this creature were the weakest of both episodes for me because, primarily, it looks like a cast off from Farscape and not the medieval magical creature I would have personally imagined. It's a small niggle but it distracted from what was going on elsewhere. I'm also not entirely sure why it picked Gwaine to help, other than for the writers to conveniently demonstrate that it was benevolent. Maybe it will come back later on in the series, leading to more of a focus on Gwaine if that relationship was to continue. It does some rather odd to set it up and then abandon it. The other actors playing the knights don't always tend to get much of a look-in bar battling alongside Arthur and it would be interesting to see a couple of episodes, not necessarily entirely focused on them (the show is called Merlin after all), but with a little more time given to the knights of the Round Table.

Another small niggle (and I am really nitpicking now but it did bother me) was the use of all the slow-motion in the fight sequences all of a sudden. Whilst it does, at odd moments, look cool, for example Arthur taking out one of the slavers in an impressive slashing move, it can also look a bit silly. During Ruadan's one-man raid of Camelot, the slow-motion at first did fall on the cool side, but then it carried on a bit too long. As he walked away, it stopped looking bad-ass and started looking like Liam Cunningham was attempting a bad Reservoir Dogs impersonation. On with the positives though, it does emphasise that the actors are the ones doing the fight sequences and they are therefore all the more impressive. However, can we not over-use it please? A couple of times, it looks awesome. After that, I want to hit fast-forward.

As I said, they're both small niggles and overall the quality has been so good that it's hard to see if the rest of the episodes are going to be able to match this fantastic opener. We've got plenty of plot-lines to pursue, particularly now that Mordred has become a Knight of Camelot (it's not going to end well, is it?) and Morgana is wounded and possibly even more rageful (that's definitely not going to end well). Also, now that Merlin knows what Arthur's bane is, what is he going to do about it? And will Arthur ever find out that his best friend has been saving his life all these years with magic? I really hope so.

Next week appears to feature a guest appearance from the Horn of Gondor with some shiny new resurrection powers which could mean that evil Giles - I mean Uther - is back in the picture for an episode. Family reunions eh? What a joy.

- Becky

You can read Becky's review of Arthur's Bane Part One here.

Follow Becky on Twitter @beckygracelea
Or follow her blog beckygracelea.wordpress.com

TV REVIEW: Merlin - Arthur's Bane Part One

The new series of the BBC's surprisingly successful magical fantasy Merlin gets off to a dark and moody start as knights are captured, dragons appear, and the titular wizard has a vision that could change everything.

The first two series of Merlin were, let's be honest, pretty terrible; it was lightweight, cheesy, throwaway entertainment to wile away the Saturdays until Doctor Who came back. But then something odd happened. It started building in more Arthurian mythology than it had before, weaving it into storylines in neat and clever ways, the performances developed from two-dimensional stereotypes into people you actually wanted to see onscreen, the writing became tidier, the comedy sharper and perhaps most importantly, it got a little darker, which always makes things interesting. I'd always followed Merlin as a bit of a curiosity (and for a small crush on Bradley James) and it has been rewarding to watch it grow into the compelling programme that returned on Saturday.

Last series ended with the long-awaited wedding between Arthur (Bradley James) and Guinevere (Angel Coulby) and the promise of prosperity for Camelot while Merlin's (Colin Morgan) magic remained a secret and Morgana (Katie McGrath) escapes to plot and smile evilly for another day. It's been three years since then; Camelot's entered a golden age, enjoying untold peace and harmony, Arthur and Guinevere are still happily married and her dresses are considerably more *ahem* enhancing than they were before. But all is not entirely well as Gwaine (Eoin Macken) and Percival (Tom Hooper) have gone missing heading north towards Ismir, Morgana's stronghold. Arthur sets out to find his loyal knights, despite the obvious risk while a traitor in Camelot alerts the sorceress to his plan, allowing her to set a trap. Merlin meanwhile has a vision that shows him Arthur's death at the hands of an old acquaintance. And Gwaine got his shirt off. Again. So that was nice.

The first episode was a tightly structured first parter, building us up steadily for the second episode whilst having enough of a narrative to stand as a good instalment in its own right (though because I'm an idiot, I missed the whole 'Part One' bit of the title and yelled angrily at the cliffhanger - it was a long day). It also seems to be very much a post-Game of Thrones depiction of fantasy, with more care given to effects and new locations than we've seen before, particularly the snowy expanses of Ismir. The darkening of the subject matter, for example, with the loss of the knights and unflinching decisions when it comes to dealing with traitors, suits this slightly grittier version of the Merlin we know and love.

While I'm starting to get annoyed with Arthur's wilful ignorance of Merlin's magic (how stupid are we meant to think he is?), this episode did remind me of why I enjoy the show in the first place. The chemistry between Morgan and James as the two leads has always been a highlight with banter and deep and meaningful moments in equal measure. Both actors bring a great sense of fun to their relationship and thankfully the writing has improved so much that the comedy between the pair no longer feels as forced as it used to. It does tend to mean that the other knights get sidelined a little with the central pair, but the focus on Gwaine and Percival's plight as new members of Morgana's topless sweaty army suggests we may see a little more development for the other members of the Round Table.

Another major character development is that Guinevere is FINALLY given something more to do than pine after Arthur and tell him how great a king he's going to be. Instead, we see that royal appointment is really starting to suit Gwen, offering tactical advice at the Round Table whilst also demonstrating some fierce judicial skills. Coulby looked more than capable of going all warrior queen when she deals with Camelot's traitor. Katie McGrath has also managed to increase her range in the gap between series as thankfully, she no longer finishes every scene with an evil smile, just to remind us of how evil Morgana is. That's really evil by the way.

What gives me hope for this series is the inclusion of Arthur's death from the very beginning, tying it in neatly with the Mordred aspect of the story from the original mythology. Yes, they've not done the whole Mordred was a product of an Arthur-Morgana incestuous tryst storyline but as it's Saturday night family viewing, I think we can forgive them that small rewrite. But most importantly, it seems they're prepared to end the Arthur-Merlin story properly - with the death of Arthur and the fall of Camelot. People seem to forget that though Arthur and Merlin manage to create this utopian idyll of chivalry and romance, it fails for a variety of reasons, but mostly because Arthur can't remain the paragon of virtue that he's set up to be. Mordred exploits that weakness. I just hope that the showrunners are brave enough to go the whole way and not necessarily give us a happy ending.

But there is one thing that's nagging me slightly... what on earth was that alien thing?

- Becky

You can follow Becky on Twitter @beckygracelea
Or follow her blog beckygracelea.wordpress.com