Merlin 511: The Drawing of the Dark

"There are some paths woven so deeply into the fabric of the world Merlin that nothing can be done to change them."

It finally happened: Mordred has broken with Arthur and Morgana knows who Emrys is!!! The end is nigh indeed! The only thing missing is for Arthur to find out about Merlin, and based on the previews for next week I'm afraid that won't be until the final episode. *sigh*

Excellent episode! A story featuring a Druid girl wounded during an attack against Camelot soldiers finally got the ball moving on bringing the season series to its end (sniff!). At last we have the answer to the puzzle that is Mordred: is he just faking it to be close to Arthur in Camelot? Or does he truly believe in Arthur's vision (and the king himself) but something happens to make him break away and become the enemy? 

Throughout the season we kept seeing Arthur and Merlin make certain decisions, actions which I thought were all little bits of straw on Mordred's proverbial camel's back, and I kept wondering which would be the final straw... But nope. Right up 'till the end Mordred was a firm believer in Arthur's path, and sure that Morgana was wrong. It took a broken heart to basically shove him into the enemy camp, and a sense that Merlin had betrayed him (but just that last time, he knew he hadn't the first times).

 Young love reunited...

"Do not betray me now" Mordred to Merlin

there will be a price to pay for this...

That final betrayal is what results in Mordred breaking his own promise to Merlin: to never reveal the true identity of Emrys. He went straight to Morgana with that one piece of information she desired most of all, and now Merlin is going to be in serious trouble! His greatest defence was his anonymity...

"I bring you the news you have longed for"

For another take on this episode head on over to Billie Doux!

Elements from Arthurian Legend:

 

Rage-fuelled magic by Mordred

Aside from the usual (Arthur, Merlin, Guenevere, the knights etc.), we finally have Mordred declaring himself an enemy of Arthur and joining up with Morgana!
The show has gone the path of the once loyal friend turned bitter enemy, similar in a way to Mary Stewart's The Wicked Day, although here Mordred chose to leave Arthur and join Morgana whereas in that book he really had no choice, his fate (which he knew about and tried to fight) was pretty much dumped upon him by circumstances beyond his control. You could say that here Mordred was pushed away from Camelot by Arthur's decisions and Merlin's actions, except they each tried to help him... the druid girl Cara was the one who refused to change, but Mordred doesn't know that and so blames them. They'd better beware... vengeance is a powerful motivator.