Merlin
Episode Nine: “Excalibur”
BBC One, Saturday 15 November 2008, 7.20PM
Written by Julian Jones
Directed by Jeremy Webb
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.
Sometimes, I do wonder about the good folk of Camelot; they’re rather slow on the uptake. At Arthur’s coming-of-age ceremony, a mysterious black-armoured knight gatecrashes (or should that be window-crashes?) the festivities, throwing down his gauntlet in a knightly challenge that leads to several previously unseen knightly red shirts biting the dust. Yet, while this dark knight never speaks, never takes off his helmet, seems impervious to any mortal wound, and generally spends his evenings standing stock still in the grounds, staring up at Camelot, it still takes most of the regulars a surprisingly long time to realize that something might not be quite right about the warrior. For, as it turns out, this black knight is a resurrected Sir Orwain, Uther Pendragon’s former brother-in-law, whom he slew in mortal combat decades before. And it looks as if no one—not even Prince Arthur—will be able to stand against this supernatural being’s quest for revenge.
If that seems in any way a trite introduction, it should not be taken as a dismissal of this episode; quite the contrary, “Excalibur” must rank as one of the most impressive in the whole run. Certainly in terms of the overall story arc of the series, some interesting secrets are revealed—perhaps most importantly, the revelation (at least to the viewers) that the sorceress Nimueh (Michelle Ryan, at last seen away from that blasted cauldron) used magic to enable Pendragon’s barren wife to give him a son—the unnamed price for this magic being that Arthur’s new life had to be balanced by the death of his mother. So at last we now know the personal, emotional reason behind Pendragon’s unyielding hatred of magic and all who practice it. And also, benefit from some good solid acting between Anthony Head’s Pendragon and Richard Wilson’s court physician Gaius, who is sworn again to secrecy.
That said, it is the increasing tension of this episode that really grabs the attention; building up to explosive fight sequences that are genuinely brutal and tightly edited—particularly the final showdown between Sir Orwain and Pendragon. The fact that Arthur is willing to go to his death on behalf of his father is genuinely moving, even though it’s clear that Arthur believes his father thinks more of courtly honour than him. That in turn leads to probably the most touching scene between the two men after victory over the undead knight is won.
That victory is down, unsurprisingly, to Merlin, who persuades the dragon to help create a sword sufficiently magical in power to destroy the black knight, and so ensure Arthur’s survival. No one calls or names the sword Excalibur, but—given the episode title—we can assume that it is indeed the fabled sword of the traditional Arthur myth. After the battle, Merlin even goes so far as to throw it into a deep lake so that the sword created for Arthur is not again used by anyone else—in particular, Pendragon, who unexpectedly stepped into his son’s place against the dark knight. That caused one hell of a dragon hissy fit, and leaves potentially untold problems further down the line for both Merlin and the other main characters. After all, even swords left at the bottom of a lake will turn up again sooner or later.
This was an episode that intriguingly looked both to the past and future of the main characters. Most importantly, though, it worked very well as an enthralling and exciting story in its own right. And, from the next episode trailer, it would seem that the revelations are set to continue.