Merlin Review: Goodbye, Sir Lancelot

When we last left off with Merlin, the titular character found himself a victim of the doroka – ghostly spirits who come out to play at night and freeze their victims to death. Though Merlin has been hit by a doroka, he’s still alive, but his time appears to be limited. Lancelot volunteers to take Merlin back to Camelot in hopes Gaius can cure him before it’s too late.

My big question is: why didn’t Merlin die upon impact from the doroka? Everyone else we’ve seen keels over instantly. Is it because of Merlin’s magic? But if that’s the case, why didn’t the Knights and Arthur find it suspicious that Merlin wasn’t dead? Obviously, I’m not saying I want the young warlock dead, I just prefer consistency in my shows. Or did I miss something, perhaps a throw-away line explaining it?

Moving on. While resting on their journey to Camelot, Lancelot encounters “these bubbles” by a lake, as my brother put it. They remind me of faeries, but… in bubbles. These magical beings have healing powers and the ability to protect the two from the doroka. The following morning, Merlin wakes up feeling fresh and ready for action, so he and Lancelot return to catch up with the Knights and Arthur on their way to the Isle of the Blessed.

Back in Camelot, we see a glimpse of the queen Gwen will become. Upon hearing that Agravaine plans on closing the gates to the city, Gwen tells him straight up: “You are wrong.” She gives a passionate speech that gets the court to side with her and Agravaine agrees to keep the gates open. When Agravaine tells Morgana about Gwen’s interference, the evil witch freaks and orders her killed. To get on Gwen’s good side, Agravaine says he wants to “seek her counsel” – in the evening – in his bedroom. Creeper!  Since Merlin is still technically a family-friendly show, nothing happens, but while Gwen is being accompanied back to her home, Morgana does her signature “blast people off their feet” spell and leaves Gwen unconscious for the doroka to find. Luckily, Gaius gets to her first.

On the Isle of the Blessed, Arthur, Merlin and the Knights find the tear between the two worlds that needs fixing. The only way to stop the doroka from causing terror is by offering a human sacrifice. Arthur is ready to hand over his life, but Merlin wants to be the one to do it. But while Arthur is knocked unconscious by Merlin to stop him from making a stupid mistake, and Merlin is busy chitchatting with the gate keeper of the torn veil, Lancelot keeps his earlier promise to Gwen to protect Arthur “with his life” and walks through the veil. He’s gone and so are the doroka.

The two-part season opener for Merlin worked really well and has set the tone for the rest of the season. One of my gripes with this show in the past is that I never really felt the story moving forward. But with the death of Lancelot now, I think the writers have shown they mean business. To kill off such a popular character in only the second episode was definitely not something I was expecting, though some people probably guessed it would happen.

Season 4, Episode 2: “The Darkest Hour, Part 2″ (originally aired January 13, 2012).

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Merlin airs Fridays at 10/9c on Syfy.

Images courtesy of Syfy.