Merlin
Episode Three: “The Mark of Nimueh”
BBC One, Saturday 4 October 2008, 6PM
Written by Julian Jones
Directed by James Hawes
Created by Julian Jones, Jake Michie, Johnny Capps, and Julian Murphy
Warning: this review contains some spoilers. If you’d rather not know what the story is going to include, bookmark this page and read it after viewing.
These days, a reasonable SFX budget can assure viewers won’t be distracted by a man-in-a-rubber-suit monster or a clearly painted image of Camelot. But it’s still easy for your suspension of disbelief to falter; all it takes is to have your main characters entering locked, presumably seldom-visited tunnels, and viewers can’t help but wonder… who keeps all those flaming torches lit along the walls at regullar intervals?
On paper, at least, this third episode of Merlin showed greater promise than its predecessors. Camelot’s water supply is being poisoned by the powerful sorceress Nimueh (played by former Bionic Woman Michelle Ryan). Among those affected is Gwen’s father; despite Gaius’s warnings, Merlin uses his powers to help—only to see Gwen sentenced to death for practicing magic. So the episode both concentrates the forces against Merlin and also teaches him about unintended consequences.
That the episode doesn’t quite work is certainly not the fault of the cast; thankfully both Anthony Head and Richard Wilson get more to do in terms of both screen time and character. And again James Hawes directs with verve and vision. The “birth” of Nimueh’s Afanc monster—think a man shape made up of teeth and slime—is a truly attention-grabbing journey through the underground spring.
The problem, sadly, is the script. For a start, it’s never made clear if having the slimey Afanc in the water actually causes the deadly disease or if it’s just there to protect the water supply from prying investigators. As for Nimueh herself, she is kept out of the action throughout—just an observer watching proceedings (as all TV witches do), through her analog rather than digital cauldron. During the episode this makes her seem far too passive a figure to matter, although her discovery of Merlin’s magical abilities at least promises more direct action in future episodes.
The script does have its moments, though; there’s genuinely witty dialogue between Merlin and Gaius, and we also get some of the meat behind Uther Pendragon’s absolute hatred of magic—because it represents far too powerful a rival to his own rational dominance of the world. Not only that, his blinding hatred of anything—or anyone—touched by magic is challenged by Prince Arthur, although obviously in this absolute monarchy, not even the heir to the throne can countermand an order to execute Gwen. Yet, here again, suspension of disbelief wavers; we’re given no idea of the legal system in place in Camelot, no reason why—if Uther Pendragon is indeed the absolute monarch he seems—Gwen isn’t executed on the spot. The only reason is that a delay of two days—later brouught forward—gratuitously gives Merlin a plot-driving deadline.
Talking of gratuitous, this script also fails to justify having the dragon in the Camelot basement; its role as plot advancer could have easily been filled by Merlin’s human mentor Gaius, and probably should have been. As it is, you can almost hear the plot creaking as the dragon’s advice ensures Merlin goes monster hunting with Arthur and Morgana.
All told, this episode’s an improvement on what has gone before, but for a work of fantasy fiction, it still suffers from the fundamental problem of failing to hang together—and that could be a fatal fllaw.