The episode begins with the death of Sir Leon the Brave during a battle against Cendred’s army. A shell-shocked Arthur has to deliver the news to his father, who despite sending so many of his knights to slaughter over the years for personal vendettas and ill advised crusades, seems upset. Sadness quickly turns to joy, however, when Leon appears alive and well and informs them that a tribe of Druids found him and restored him to life.
Uther deduces that they must have used the mythical Cup of Life to do the deed, and instead of leaving it with the Druids, who you know, have managed to keep The Cup safe for hundreds of years, Uther in his great wisdom, decides to send Arthur too retrieve The Cup so that he can throw it in his Vault of Magical Trinkets. Arthur is all too happy to follow his father’s orders and he sets off with Merlin. The two are immediately kidnapped by a slave trader who has also somehow managed to capture Gwaine of The Luscious Hair. After much fighting and magical intervention, the trio escape, and Gwaine joins Arthur and Merlin for the latest adventure.
It doesn’t take long for the trio to find the Druids who are protecting The Cup. Arthur demands that they hand it over, but the Druids warn him that he is messing with powers he doesn’t understand. The Once and Future Princeling isn’t trying to hear that, though, and threatens to kill a druid BOY, unless they hand The Cup over. The Druids quickly comply and a satisfied Arthur leaves the cave, walking right into an ambush.
Cendred now has The Cup and creates an immortal army that marches straight into Camelot and seems to capture the kingdom with little resistance. Morgana is thrilled that at last one of her EVIL plans have worked and she crowns herself queen as a distraught Uther looks on. Uther doesn’t understand what is going on with his loving ward, so Morgana breaks it down to him that (a) she knows he is her father and she doesn’t appreciate him never acknowledging her, (b) she has been plotting against him and Camelot for nearly a year and he was too blind to see it (c) she has magic and (d) she hates his guts for everything, especially making her hate herself.
Morgana is thrilled that her coup has seemingly pushed Uther to the brink of madness, and now that she no longer has to hide her EVILNESS, she begins her glorious reign as Camelot’s Sovereign. But instead of legalizing magic, freeing the people from Uther’s oppressive practices, and showing the people why she is a better ruler than Uther could ever be, she decides that it would be much more fun to play dress up and be an even bigger tyrant then Uther was! She makes killing innocents the new national pastime and gleefully plots the murderers of former friends Leon and Gwen for their “betrayals.”
Meanwhile, outside of Camelot, a depressed Arthur finds hope when Lancelot, and his friend Percival, show up to help after being summoned by Merlin. Now, Arthur has the makings of a knighthood that he can take into battle against Morgana and her EVIL friends, but will it be enough to beat back an immortal army and restore Camelot to the light?
Merlin really found itself this season and I hope that the writers continue to build on the mythology that they have built. This season was really helped by the darker shift in tone and I look forward to seeing the show get even darker and more adult next season.
Being able to watch the beginnings of The Knights of the Roundtable is real treat from anyone who is a fan of the legend and watching Arthur knight men based on merit and not birth lays the cornerstone for what his kingdom is to become.
I have a few quibbles with Arthur’s characterization. I know this show is called Merlin, but Arthur is the King of Legend. We don’t need to see Merlin saving the day all the time. We need to see why Arthur will be the greatest king of all time. Also, enough with this blind loyalty to Uther. I know he is his father, but Arthur is a big boy now, he can see all the wrong that Uther has done and he needs to acknowledge it.
My only major complaint about this season was Morgana. While I liked that she went from spoiled princess to villain, I did not like that she was turned into such a one note character. I can understand that she hates Uther, I hate Uther, but to feel nothing but hatred for Gwen and Arthur, the two people she has been closets too her entire life was baffling. She could have still done bad things without being totally EVIL. This would have been a much better story if we saw her conflict about what she was doing and saw that she was motivated by something besides personal power. What happened to the Morgana of Season One and Two whose hatred of Uther was rooted in his tyranny? That’s the Morgana we should have seen this season, teetering on the brink of EVIL not totally lost to it.
All in all an excellent season and I can’t wait to see what Season 4 brings.
Questions/Comments
So…um… Arthur is into killing kids in order to get what he wants? I’m all for seeing Arthur’s dark side explored, but this seemed really out of character for him. Still, it would be interesting if the show plays with this a little. Arthur has no qualms about killing and let’s face it, you don’t become High King of all Albion by being a nice guy. Some of Uther had to rub off on him and it would be interesting to see how Gwen and Merlin would react to him doing some less than noble things to secure his kingdom.
How great was it seeing Uther on his knees being forced to watch Morgana crowned as Queen? Anthony Head played Uther’s anguish to perfection and I loved every minute of it.
Loved that the first thing Arthur did when he returned to Camelot was look for Gwen, but why is Elyan hiding in Gwen’s house? Had he already left his sister for dead?
Why did Morgana keep Gwen as her personal servant? Was she just too lazy to train another one? Did she get off on the idea “knowing” that she thwarted her own rise to the throne, or does she really still care for her?
Speaking of Gwen not only did she mention her dead father again (something I don’t want the writers to ever stop doing) but she also mentions that her mother was a Lady’s maid who worked for Leon’s family and that she and Leon grew up together. This was interesting and I hope it ties into something next season.
It was great watching Gwen use her detective skills to break Leon out of jail. Too bad that Morgana was on to her in a hot second, but hey, at least she tried.
Speaking of Gwen/Morgana, how much more interesting would this dynamic have been to watch if you had two friends who did not want to betray each other , but because of their views of what is right and wrong ultimately do. Was Morgana really hurt that Gwen chose Arthur over her, or just mad that Gwen lied to her? One of the strengths of this new interpretation is that Morgana/Arthur/Gwen/Merlin really loved each other. Why not play on that to add conflict.
Arthur and Gwen are clearly committed to each other at the end of this arc, and Lancelot, while accepting of this new dynamic, is still very much in love with Gwen. It will be interesting to see where this goes.
Seeing the roundtable and seeing and hearing Arthur act like King Arthur gave me chills.
Cendred, I barely knew yea, all that potential wasted. Too bad.
I LOVE LOVE LOVE Santiago as Lancelot and I think his friendship with Merlin is one of the most enjoyable aspects of this show. If I had one wish is would be that he could be a series regular.
It was nice to see Morgana show some emotion when her sister fell, it’s nice to know that she is still capable of feeling something for someone, but may I suggest that she take a page out of Morgan Pendragon’s book. Showtime’s Camelot may not get much love from me, but Eva Green’s Morgan is FANTASTIC and makes Merlin’s Morgana Pendragan look like she is just playing at being EVIL.
Gaius magic? Was I the only one surprised by that revelation or did I miss something in the earlier seasons? And am I to understand that he watched thousands of fellow witches and warlocks burn at the stack and continued to be Uther’s loyal friend and physician? What a guy!
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