Merlin: Of Friendships, Famines, and Unicorns

After canceling last week’s episode of Merlin in favor of a sports tournament, NBC apologized to its viewers this week by airing two back-to-back episodes. Alright, so it wasn’t so much an apology as it was a way for them to catch up on their summer schedule, but whatever. I’ll take it!

The first episode of the evening brought us to Merlin’s village of Ealdor for the first time. Ealdor is being harassed and threatened by a group of raiders stealing their harvest and threatening the village with violence. Merlin’s mother, Hunith, journeys to Camelot to ask for help defending the village against Kanan and his cronies. King Uther sympathizes, but (and there’s always a ‘but’ with him), he cannot send an army to Ealdor because it is in another territory and that would signify an act of war.

Merlin decides to return to Ealdor with his mother. And now comes a dramatic, drawn out scene where Merlin tells Arthur good-bye and that he won’t be returning to Camelot because he needs to take care of his mother first. Obviously, we know Merlin will be coming back, but I guess the writers were just trying to get across some more Merlin/Arthur bonding screen time. It’s a medieval bromance!

Morgana and Gwen decide to tag along with Merlin, and Arthur eventually joins in on the trip half-way through. He couldn’t just come along in the beginning, you see. He needed his own separate, dramatic entrance because dammit, he’s Arthur Pendragon! I know this must sound as if I’m mocking the show in an awful way, but like I mentioned before, this sort of ridiculousness is what actually makes me tune in every week. That and Bradley James. But moving on…

Upon arriving at the village, we meet Merlin’s old childhood friend Will who is one of the few people aware of Merlin’s secret magical abilities. Will is played by Joe Dempsie who is best known as Chris from the British teen show Skins. Conveniently enough, the third season of Skins is currently airing on BBC America, but it’s nowhere near as good as the first two with the original cast including Dempsie.

Arthur believes the only way to beat Kanan and his men is by training the villagers to fight. Will is quite vocal in his belief that he doesn’t think this will work. He comes off as being very resentful of Arthur and perhaps even jealous of Merlin’s friendship with him. But maybe Will has a point: the villagers are not the strongest fighters and even Arthur is beginning to doubt his plans. Will also questions why Merlin won’t divulge his secret to Arthur and even Hunith thinks Arthur should know. Will this finally be THE episode where secrets are revealed?

Kanan and his men return for the attack and the villagers plus Arthur, Merlin, Gwen, and Morgana (who turns out to be one heck of a fighter!) begin defending Ealdor. It seems to be a lost cause, though, and Merlin knows he must do something about it. With Will standing by his side and Arthur in plain sight, Merlin conjures some sort of dust storm which gives the villagers a huge advantage and drives away the barbarians. Kanan’s not done, however, and begins a one-on-one battle with Arthur. Arthur manages to stab him, then stupidly turns his back before making sure Kanan’s dead to confront Arthur and Will about the dust storm. Before Merlin can say anything, Kanan uses his one last breath to shoot an arrow at Arthur. Will jumps in the way and is shot instead. Yes, he’s just sacrificed himself for Arthur (irony alert!).

On his death bed, Will tells Arthur he is the one who produced the dust storm sparing Merlin from revealing his secret. And then…he dies.

Following this episode, we find that Merlin and company are back in Camelot. The boys are on a hunting trip when Arthur heartlessly kills a unicorn. Bad move, buddy.

Arthur is very proud of himself and shows off the unicorn horn to the Court. Gaius isn’t as impressed; he informs us of a legend that says anyone who kills a unicorn will be cursed. Cue sniggering from Arthur who doesn’t believe a word of it.

The first signs of trouble come quickly, though. All the crop in the kingdom has mysteriously died overnight and all the water has turned into sand. Camelot is now facing a severe famine and drought. With no possible explanation, Uther declares the kingdom is under attack by – wait for it! – MAGIC.

A creepy wizard-looking guy is spotted by Arthur and Merlin wandering around the castle. They chase him down as best as possible and he finally appears to speak to them. Anhora, as he is called, is the Keeper of the Unicorns and he tells Arthur he is to blame for the misfortune that has fallen on Camelot. In order to save the kingdom, Arthur will face several tests to prove himself and make amends for the killing.

And once again, Arthur doesn’t believe a word of it.

While keeping watch over the small rations of food they have left for Camelot, Arthur and Merlin catch a looter. Evan, the looter, gives a sob story about how his children are starving. Arthur feels bad and allows him to leave with a bag of grain. The next day, water is back in the kingdom! Arthur has passed test #1!

Arthur and Merlin decide to track down Anhora in the forest. While on the search, Arthur meets Evan the Looter in the forest surrounded by bags of grain and fresh fruit. Evan’s sob story was completely made up and he begins taunting Arthur for letting him off the hook and being so kind-hearted, even to the point of saying Arthur is not worthy of becoming King. Arthur has heard enough and begins fighting Evan only to have him disappear and turn into Anhora. Clearly, someone did not pass test #2 and Camelot is now doomed.

Upon leaving the forest, Merlin and Arthur find out that every last grain of food has rotted. Not willing to believe there’s nothing else they can do to lift the curse (and also probably because he’s starving), Merlin goes back to Anhora and begs him to give Arthur another chance. Merlin mistakenly goes so far as to say that he knows Arthur’s a good man who would die to save his life. Well, if you say so…

Arthur must travel to the Labyrinth of Gedref to take part in the final test. He tells Merlin not to follow him, but we all know he will. In the Labyrinth, Merlin is captured by Anhora so he can use him in the final test. Arthur finally finds the exit to the Labyrinth which leads to a very scenic beach area.

The final test is a tough one: there are two goblets placed on the table in front of Arthur and Merlin. One of the goblets contains a deadly poison, the other is harmless. They each must drink one of the goblets in its entirety. After much debating and plotting, each one willing to die for the other, Merlin decides it would be best to pour all the liquid into one goblet. Arthur then quickly distracts Merlin, pours everything into one goblet and drinks it himself and passes out.

Note: passes out, NOT dead! What was in the other goblet was a sleeping potion. Because Arthur was willing to sacrifice his life to save Merlin, he proved himself a worthy human being and passed the test. The curse was lifted from Camelot!

I would say they all lived happily ever after, but the final two episodes don’t air until this Sunday!

Season 1, Episodes 10 & 11: The Moment of Truth and The Labyrinth of Gedref (aired August 16, 2009)

For more on Merlin, click here.

Sundays at 8/7c on NBC

Photographs courtesy of NBC Universal and Nick Briggs