Merlin 1:9
This week, we get Uther almost dying at the hands of the Black Knight, and the forging of Excalibur.
I’ma tell you right now, that if a knight dressed in all black with a totally black horse bursts into your party, things are going to go bad. And also, it’s pretty likely magic is involved. Really, if someone burst into my house like that at all, I’d think there was magic behind it.
So of course we get more of Nimueh, who I really like, and we learn a bit more about her. She has the nerve to actually come in and have a chat with Uther, and surprisingly he does nothing about it but have a discussion. He’s going soft!
This night is naturally the best knight ever and cannot be killed. Oh yeah, it’s because he’s magic! He’s a wraith, and man when that helmet comes off it is a mess under there! Like you know how the orcs looked in Lord of the Rings? That’s what this guy was like underneath, teeth and all.
Anyway, the knight kills a couple of dudes and then Arthur is all oh no you don’t! He challenges the knight to a fight, but Uther knows what’s up and doesn’t want this fight to happen, so he has Gaius drug Arthur and Uther takes his place at the fight.
In the meantime, Merlin has the dragon forge a sword that can kill the wraith and assures the dragon that only Arthur will use it. But why on earth would that happen the right way? Because Arthur isn’t fighting, Uther uses the sword and the dragon is pissed, natch! He says Uther will only use it for evil, and he’s prolly right cuz Uther is kind of a beast. I mean, I loves Anthony Steward Head, but Uther is well, difficult to say the least.
To make amends for the whole sword debacle, Merlin takes it and throws it into the lake. Which I remember is correct for the legend, but don’t really remember how this all works out. Other than this is supposed to be Arthur’s magic sword Excalibur that he fights with…and doesn’t Mordred get a hold of that thing?
I feel like they have to do so much set up this season, introducing all these things key to the legend, that they have to figure out ways to do it. I can’t help but wonder if they would have had an easier time had they just followed the legend more closely. But whatevs, I don’t make these decisions.
Oh, and we do get official word in this episode that Morgana is not in fact Arthur’s sister in their version of the story. According to them, Igraine was barren and Nimueh used magic to get her to conceive, and Arthur was her only offspring. Anyway, I don’t think that particular detail is consistent from telling to telling, so I will let it go. Also I’m lazy and too tired to look it up.
