With all my Heart Review

Arthur learns about Guinevere’s treachery and, on Gaius’s advice, kidnaps her and takes her to a sacred lake in order to break the spell. Merlin pretends to be an old woman so he can help.

So that was the resolution of the Evil Guinevere mini plot arc? I’m glad it’s over so Camelot’s story can move forward and in many ways tonight’s episode was exciting with a couple of terrific performances. But it tries far too hard to be “fun” (enough with the comedy music please!) and it fails to satisfy logically, forcing our heroes to act in odd ways depending on the needs of the scene.

Perhaps knowing that the audience has been waiting for a big reveal, the episode refuses to do the expected. We learn that Merlin has told Arthur about Gwen’s treachery in the first few moments (hell, it was in one of the BBC’s promo clips) and it’s a dark, tense little scene. About 14 minutes in it looks like Gaius is going to reveal that Merlin is Emrys but instead he says, “I have chosen… a woman!” These moments actually give the episode some momentum – with the threat of revelation removed we can sit back and enjoy seeing how things unfold. In the past we’ve been frustrated that Arthur and Gaius don’t listen to Merlin despite our hero uncovering a million plots in Camelot – this time, though, there’s no messing about; everybody believes Merlin right from the start. And when Merlin is concerned that somebody is watching them and Arthur says “One of your funny feelings again?” that’s clearly enough for him this time. A small but significant sign of Merlin’s continuing growth in Arthur’s esteem?

And yet later Arthur completely forgets that the Dolma is supposed to have taken Merlin hostage! It’s bizarre that one minute Arthur would be prepared to literally leap off a cliff in search of his fallen friend, but half an hour later doesn’t even notice he’s not there. The showrunners are obviously playing it for laughs at this point, but it just comes across as random and unnecessary. There are other examples of this. One minute Arthur is entrusting Merlin with drugging the queen, the next he’s putting in his place (“you’re the servant!”). It could just be meant as examples of the comfortable banter between the two of them, but other characters suffer convenient memory loss too: when Mordred confronts Morgana she says, “My quarrel isn’t with you Mordred!” Really? He stabbed her in the back and left her for dead then joined her sworn enemies on the Round Table, didn’t he? That’s cool now, is it? Meanwhile old Emrys, a character played for laughs the last time we saw him, is as serious as a schoolmaster when he confronts the Dochraid – he resorts to swordplay instead of sorcery and gives the old crone a couple of flesh wounds. Am I the only one who thought it was out of character for Merlin to respond so aggressively? Especially to somebody of the Old Religion, former ally of Morgana or not.

And part of the inconsistency this week comes from the mixed attempts at comedy. Gwen falling face first into a plate of bread seems out of place in a plot that is otherwise so dark. And then there’s Merlin as Dolma, the sorceress. It’s a funny idea, I guess, and it’s important to recognise Colin Morgan’s great voice acting, but this ancient sorceress shtick borders on parody. Merlin dragging up and sweeping his hair out of his eyes from time to time feels very pantomime. And is anybody there really falling for it? When he disguises himself as Emrys at least he has a beard to help the deception. Dolma just looks like Merlin in a black dress.

But Dolma does give Arthur a nudge towards reconsidering the role of magic. In an episode where Arthur has already accepted, while plotting with Gaius, that sometimes you need to fight sorcery with sorcery, it’s significant that Arthur opens his ears to the idea that magic can be used for good.

Episode Review Source: http://www.sfx.co.uk/