Merlin: Revenge of the Fallen

So far this season, I’ve come to learn that there are two sides to Arthur Pendragon. First, there’s the sensitive prince who wants to help the people of Camelot and not be such a harsh dictator like his father. Then there’s the other side, which is far less appealing. He’s a prideful, arrogant brat who thinks he’s better than everyone else (to put it simply). Unfortunately, in this week’s episode, we’re left to deal with the latter.

A mysterious black knight rudely interrupts the coming-of-age festivities taking place for Arthur by blasting through a window. Everyone is, naturally, caught off guard and the Knights of Camelot pull out their swords, ready to fight. Everything is taking place in slow motion, from the sword-brandishing to the capes blowing dramatically in the wind. It’s delightfully corny, and you get a sense that even the show doesn’t take itself too seriously. This might be a turn off for some viewers, but I love it!

All corniness aside, the Black Knight throws down his gauntlet symbolizing a sword fight until the death against a single combatant. Before Arthur can take up the challenge, however, another Knight of Camelot, Sir Owain, picks up the gauntlet. As the Black Knight leaves, the camera cuts to Gaius and Uther looking more concerned than usual.

We soon find out why this is – Gaius has recognized that the Knight bears the crest of a certain Tristan Dubois…a man who has been dead for twenty years and was killed by none other than King Uther. Things are only just getting started! Tristan is Uther’s brother-in-law, who blamed the King for the death of his sister who died giving birth to Arthur. Tristan had challenged Uther to a mortal combat and Uther won. Up until this point, we haven’t had much back story about Uther and why magic was banned from Camelot. This episode will answer a lot of questions about that!

Before we find out more, though, it’s time for Sir Owain to go up against the Black Knight. After striking at him with what should’ve been a deadly blow, the knight is virtually unharmed and Owain can no longer hold him off and is killed. The Black Knight throws its gauntlet down again, and Arthur is once again beaten to the chase by Sir Pellimor who puts himself up as the Knight’s second victim. Arthur is really getting annoyed by all this now as he wants to have a go at the Black Knight. He has really become overly confident of his fighting skills.

A quick visit to the Dubois grave confirms Gaius’s fears when he and Merlin see the tomb is broken and empty. We find out that the knight, obviously, cannot be killed and the dead corpse can only be vanquished once it achieves what it has come for – revenge on Camelot through the murder of either Arthur or Uther.

The Black Knight beats Sir Pellimor in the second fight, and before anyone even realizes what he has done, Arthur takes matters into his own hand and throws down his own gauntlet before the Black Knight. Stupid, stupid boy. At least now Merlin has something to do as he goes off to find a solution to help Arthur beat the Knight.

Now things are getting intense between Uther and Gaius. “No one but you or I will know the secret of Arthur’s birth,” says Uther, and he intends to keep it this way. Gaius, however, believes Arthur should know. But know what? What is this secret? Answers begin to come to light just a few seconds later after Gaius leaves and Nimueh – the series’ evil sorceress – comes into the scene to pay Uther a visit.

We find out that once upon a time, Uther and Nimueh were actually – gasp! – friends and magic was allowed in the kingdom. Believing his wife to be barren, Uther asked Nimueh to give them a son. Unfortunately, as mentioned before, his wife died. It’s explained to us that “that is the law of magic. To create a life, there had to be a death.” The death can be completely random, however, and Nimueh was not aware it would be the Queen’s life which would be taken. This is a very different side to Nimueh we are seeing; she seems much more human and real as opposed to a type of witch out of a Disney animation with her evil cackle. This conversation between the two enemies does not change Uther’s stance on magic and he instead decides he must be the one to face the Black Knight, not Arthur.

Meanwhile, Merlin has figured out how to save Arthur – all he needs is “the great sword begotten in the dragon’s breath.” Well there are swords aplenty in Camelot, and sure enough, there also happens to be a dragon! Merlin goes to see the Dragon who uses his fire-breathing abilities to put magic into the sword and it becomes the weapon to defeat the Black Knight. The Dragon warns, however, that it must be used by Arthur, and Arthur alone. In the hands of the wrong person it can evoke great evil. Merlin promises the Dragon only Arthur will handle the sword. … until Uther comes across it, unaware of its magical capabilities but still recognizing it to be a strong sword. Naturally, he decides to use it since Arthur will no longer be fighting.

At Uther’s command, Gaius has had Arthur drugged with a sleeping draught and locked in his room so he does not fight the Black Knight. Needless to say, Arthur is not a happy camper when he wakes up and realizes what is taking place.

Uther and the Black Knight commence battle. The fighting gets brutal and very physical – the Knight’s helmet falls off at one point to reveal his decaying, ugly face. This somehow worked as motivation for Uther to finally stick the sword into the dead corpse and the Black Knight then explodes like fireworks. Victory!

While everyone is celebrating the Black Knight’s defeat, the Dragon calls out to Merlin who now has to admit that Arthur never used the sword. The Dragon then lets out this huge cry of anger, which sounds so melodramatic, and commands Merlin to take the sword and hide it from mortals so it can never be found. So Merlin runs into the forest and throws it into a lake. Is that really the best hiding place he could think of?

All in all, there were some great moments in this episode. Learning the truth about Arthur’s birth was certainly a highlight, as was the meeting between Nimueh and Uther. It’s nice that Uther’s character was given more depth and more to do in this episode.

For another take on this episode, check out Uther’s Bane by J.B. Perlow.

Season 1, Episode 9: Excalibur (August 2, 2009)

For more on Merlin, click here.

Sundays at 8/7c on NBC

Photographs courtesy of NBC Universal and Nick Briggs