Merlin
Episode 12: “To Kill the King”
BBC One, Saturday 6 December 2008, 7.25PM
Written by Jake Michie
Directed by Stuart Orme
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.
After last week’s disappointing episode, the series bounces back with a much darker story that develops and pushes many of the main characters to new limits while raising questions about their fundamental motivations.
Gwen’s father, the blacksmith Tom, unwittingly helps a sorcerer named Tauren who uses a magic stone to perform the ultimate alchemy—turning lead into gold. As Tauren escapes, Tom is arrested by Arthur and thrown into Camelot’s dungeon, awaiting his trial and eventual execution for conspiring with sorcerers—”justice” being swift, and blinded by anger, in Uther Pendragon’s kingdom. Building on the series’ earlier clashes between Uther and his ward, this episode finds Morgana—briefly herself in possession of the magical stone, and showing some sign of the character’s traditional magical background—aiding Tom in his escape from the cells. Unfortunately, he is subsequently caught and—surprisingly, given his connection to a main character—killed. Angered by the injustice caused by Uther’s hatred of sorcery, and also her guilt at making Gwen an orphan like herself, Morgana decides to throw her lot in with Tauren, promising the sorcerer to lead an unprotected Uther into his hands.
The tone of this episode is, for once, uniform and—all for the better—surprisingly dark, as characters we’ve come to understand move genuinely towards their own personal catastrophies. Merlin, having overheard Morgana’s dealings with Tauren, is unsure whether he should try to save Uther, and is obviously unsettled by the dragon’s advice not to interfere—frankly, the dragon’s antipathy towards Uther should be ringing a few alarm bells in Merlin’s mind by now, given that even Gaius believes Arthur is not yet ready to be king.
Much needed depth is given to Uther and Morgana’s relationship thanks to the former’s revelation of the depth of his friendship with Morgana’s father—the only knight in Camelot who was strong and brave enough to question his monarch’s decisions. This revelation—Morgana had always viewed Uther as the man who had sent her father to his death—is the slightly disappointing reason given for her ultimate change of mind that rapidly brings the story to an all-too-sharp conclusion.
So, at the last minute, she saves Uther from Tauren and his men—with a little unrecognised help from Merlin, of course, after Gwen tells him that the death of Uther would in no way compensate for the loss of her father. It’s a shame; the potential betrayal of Uther by his ward could have provided the basis for a very effective series finale, but it would seem that the writers have other ideas.…