Merlin 508: The Hollow Queen

Hmmm... Merlin seems to be alternating between really good episodes and "meh" episodes (last week's) lately, and this was another good one! 

Although she still doesn't know Merlin is "Emrys" (and thus her mortal enemy), Morgana does realise he has done a lot to protect Arthur and foil her plans on many occasions and so finally launches a direct assault on him as a prelude to a plan to assassinate Arthur. She knows him well enough to find the perfect lure for a trap and he falls for it hook, line and sinker! Took me a while to see it coming and there were some moments that truly surprised me and had me going "woah!". Merlin really had me worried there! 

 

 

A comedic consequence of the trap was Arthur having to fend for himself in Camelot resulting in some very funny moments when it was obvious he could barely even dress himself properly without help! All of the sudden I was reminded of Mary in "The Secret Garden"... 

Gwen is still firmly under Morgana's influence, and together they set up a new plan to have Arthur assassinated involving a nasty King from a neighbouring kingdom who seems to be as fierce an enemy of magic as Uther ever was! Thanks to this we finally found out what happened to Morgana and Aithusa (dragon) in those "two dark years"! That guy is one sadistic bastard and I found myself feeling sorry for Morgana for the first time in a long time! The feeling didn't last long though...

So Merlin and Gaius know for sure that Gwen is aiding Morgana, and Gwen knows (or suspects) that Merlin knows... how long will they keep this up? How on earth will they be able to get Arthur to believe Gwen has turned against him? Is there any hope for her? And how much longer 'till someone else finds out about Merlin's secret (and doesn't die 5' later)? At least the promos for next week's episode look promising! ;o)

Very funny review and analysis of the episode over at Billie Doux.

Elements from Arthurian Legend

• The usual (Arthur, Merlin, Gwen, the Knights, Morgana).

• The Round Table finally reappears! Sure took them a while to repair it...

• Another mention of Arthur's wish to "unite the five kingdoms" which would be a reference to Arthur the High King of Britain who ruled over a united Britain to defend it against the Saxon invaders.