The Dark Tower
Well, I'm not excited about writing this review as I usually am. There were some things I liked. Some not so much. After the impact of last weeks ep, this one fell short. Quite short.
The idea of psychological torture may seem new, but it was used against Uther in s3, right down to the mandrake root, so no new information there. A nod to continuity, though, and I do like how it was executed. Morgana actually seemed a bit more layered this ep. It was nice to see Gwen and Morgana interacting again, abeit not as friends. If we didn't know Morgana to be a loon, we might believe she cared for Gwen, even a little bit. A shadow of their past relationship. I thought Katie did a rather good job this ep.
**Ensemble**
Gwen and Elyan are visiting their dad's grave. Nice to see them interacting as siblings, especially since there isn't much time left. On their way back to Camelot, the Knights chat about a love interest of someone's and are surprised Arthur hasn't mentioned it to Gwen. Gwen says "Arthur never tells me anything"..... WHAT!!! We were told Gwen was his sounding board, his 'good counsel', the one he trusts above all others, blah blah blah. I found it rather strange the writers would put that in. A flaw in the Epic Romance? My, my.
They come to a meadow. The horses are frightened by snakes. Wow!!?? That's so new and fresh! What a brilliant idea! *snort*. It would have been great if the 'killer rabbit" of Monty Python fame were the culprit this time. Anyway, two Knights are bitten by said magical killer rabbit, I mean snake. We know Sir Leon won't die as he's immortal. Sir Percival is up for grabs. During the ruckus, Elyan sends the Queen away, presumably to keep her safe. Alone. In the woods. Hmmm. Why oh WHY did not one of them go with her? Isn't that standard procedure? Sheesh. Stupid Knights being stupid. Idiocy for plot point.
**Ladies**
We see Morgana hiding behind a tree as Gwen rides away. Once Gwen is a safe distance from the Knights, Morgana magically pulls Gwen from her horse, knocking her out. Once Gwen awakes, Morgana confronts her. Apparently, Morgana has games to play and she wants Gwen as her playmate. Gwen is not thrilled with this idea.
**Gents**
The Knights are back at the castle infirmary. Gaius is rattling off things to Merlin. Leon and Percival are on cots being attended to. Arthur comes rushing in, asking what happened. Elyan explains they were attacked by a killer rabbit and Arthur is confused, wondering where Gwen is. All the Knights and Merlin look to each other, waiting for the other to explain. Elyan mans-up and tells Arthur he's lost her; that she disappeared. Arthur is upset and tells them they ride at dawn. Now, at first I thought 'why the hell are you not leaving now!!', but I suppose we're to realize they can't track at night. So, I give it a pass. Also, although I would expect Arthur to be a bit more demonstrative in his anger that his wife is lost, at night, alone, and should want to string someone up by their privates, I thought for what the writers gave him, Bradley was very good here. You could see his worry, need to act, and fear for Gwen.
Later, Merlin and Arthur are in Arthur's chambers. They have a chat about Gwen and Arthur dismisses Merlin for the night. Before he leaves, Merlin tells Arthur they will find Gwen; that he will make sure of it. Then Merlin offers his hand, they share a look, Arthur takes Merlin's arm and they have a Knights handshake. Okay. I like that they did this, but I also found it strange. Is it minimizing the significance of the Knights bond/handshake or showing Merlin as an equal? Not sure if I like either. Merlin is not Arthur's equal, in Arthur's eyes. Maybe I'm overthinking it, but I found it to be out of place.
Now, since I've seen the ep only once, the events from here on out may be out of order, but I think it'll all be covered....
Off the boys go on the quest of the week. They reach the location of Gwen's disappearance, see tracks and head in that direction. Night falls so they make camp. Arthur gets very upset they aren't soldiering on. The Knights are none too keen to approach Arthur, so Merlin tells them to chill and he'll do it. He talks Arthur down and gets everything set to rights. You rock, Merlin. He says to Arthur they'll hunker down for the night and will continue tomorrow. As they're sleeping, Leon screams and wakes from a bad dream, startling everybody. He starts talking about his dream and Percival pipes in saying he had the same dream. They then go back and forth in sharing parts of the dream. I really liked this. Since they were the ones bitten by the rabbit, is it possible they share a magical nightmare? Hmmm. Oh, and Gwaine lets everyone know he was dreaming about pie that tasted like cheese or cheese that tasted like pie. Either way, it sounds good. Gotta love Gwaine. It reminded me of my grandpa, who always had a slice of cheddar cheese atop his piece of apple pie. Made me smile.
Back to the dream. Merlin says it has to be magic because why else would the two men who were bitten share a dream. Arthur is listening to the description and decides the dream is telling them Gwen is in the dark tower. Dut DUT DUMMM.
**Ladies**
Gwen is now awake and is being dragged, her hands bound, behind Morgana's horse. Morgana stops and offers Gwen water. Gwen doesn't take it, so Morgana poors it out. Daylight arrives and Gwen is still being dragged. She falls down. Morgana says something and they keep moving. Maybe that's when she offers the water....IDK. Not all that interested, really.
**Gents**
Now that it's daylight, the boys resume their quest to the Dark Tower. The only problem is there's an enchanted forest between them and said tower. I LOVED THIS PART!!! It was Disney's 'Sleeping Beauty'! My favorite princess story, right down to the blonde prince wearing his red cloak, cutting through the thistle to save the maiden. YEAH!! said my 12 year old self still hiding inside me.
So, they think they're heading in the right direction and end up walking in circles. Arthur is distraught and gets very angry as they've lost a day. Bravo, Bradley. Well done. Merlin again takes the lead and tells Arthur they'll get some sleep as it's getting dark and then resume their mission.
Merlin awakes as his magical senses are on high alert. He takes a walk and finds a woodland sprite who says her name is Queen Mab (nice reference to Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet). She tells Merlin to use his GPS to get out of the forest. Like the Dragon, she speaks in riddles. However, when Merlin asks her to please refrain from this very annoying behavior, she says she'll speak in rhyme. Damn! Foiled again!! She does call him Emrys, so I guess the writers haven't, at least for now, forgotten Merlin is the be-all-end-all in sorcery. I really liked this character. She was sassy, but in an 'am I evil, am I not?' way. I'd love to see her again.
**Ladies**
Morgana and Gwen are now at the Dark Tower. Morgana locks Gwen in a room with no light. Once the door is shut (The way is shut. It was made by those who are dead, and the dead keep it. The way is shut.....Sorry, vague LOTR reference), Gwen starts to hear screaming. And so the psychological torture begins.
**Gents**
The boys continue on their quest to get out of Fangorn Forest (Sorry, can't help it). Merlin gives some lame arse excuse on how he can get them out of there. He says he can smell the sea................... REALLY, MERLIN? Of course, the Knights and Arthur figure he can't do any worse than they have, so they follow Merlin. Because they're playing follow the leader, Merlin can use his 3d glasses to find the way. As Gomer Pyle would say, "Surprise, surprise!" Merlin gets them safely out of Ent territory.
**Ladies**
Back at the tower, Gwen is in the dark, mandrake root hanging from every surface of the ceiling. She sees visions of creepy Merlin, Elyan, and Arthur. Morgana hears her screams and invites her to lunch. They have a nice chat. Morgana tells Gwen she spent some time in purgatory and that it sucked. She's surprised Gwen is unaware of this. Once lunch is over, Gwen is returned to solitary confinement.
**Gents**
The boys now have to trek to the Dark Tower. It's a long arse walk, but they get there. Before they can enter the Chamber of Secrets (man, I am all about the movie references today), they follow the staircase used in "The Eye of the Phoenix". Once at the top, they're faced with the first major scene of "Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark".....you know the one....before Indiana gets the golden idol, he has to jump the stones in the right pattern or be hit with poison arrows? Yeah, that. Elyan decides he has to go because Gwen's his sister and he's the dumb arse that lost her. With the help of the Knights, Merlin and Arthur, he finishes first in the hop-scotch tournament and gets through the door.
**Ensemble**
Elyan finds Gwen. She's now housed in a different torture chamber. This time there's a floating sword to ward of ne'er-do-wells. Elyan valiantly fights the flying sword, to no avail. If I hadn't been spoiled, I would have been very surprised Elyan died. He never got much screen time, but I thought he had a gentleness about him, very similar to Gwen. I thought he was cast well.
Finally, the Knights, Merlin and Arthur arrive, but alas, it's too late. Elyan is in Gwen's lap and she's sobbing over his body. Nice work by Angel.
Okay. As usual, interaction between Gwen and Arthur is peculiar to me. Gwen is sobbing over her dead brother, and what does Arthur do? Does he run to his wife, scoop her into his arms, cry with joy that he's found her and grieve with her for Elyan, not wanting to let her go now that she's with him again? No. NO. He sits down next to Elyan and practically ignores his just recently found wife. WTF. I mean, good gaad. What is up with these writers?
Apparently, the return journey (I don't think there will be a return journey, Mr. Frodo...gaahh! Stop me now!) back to Camelot was uneventful as we're already there, at the lake, setting Elyan adrift. It's a simple, but very nice scene; reminiscent of Freya and Lancelot.
Now we're in chambers with Gwen and Arthur sharing a bed. Arthur's asleep while Gwen lies awake. That's right. We've finally seen the married couple in the sack. Anyhoo, Gwen slips out of bed, takes a walk and meets up with... can you guess?...that's right...Morgana! Shocking. SHOCKING, I SAY! They do the usual Morgana/Morgause thing of seasons past. Gwen is to be the new 'baddie in the castle under Arthur's nose', or if you prefer 'Enchanted Gwen'. Insert any episode from any previous season/series. Nothing new here, folks, keep moving.
**Summary**
As you can tell, I didn't take this ep too seriously. I think my favorite parts were the shared dream and Sleeping Beauty. A lot happened in this ep and at the same time, nothing happened. Oh, Merlin has a new trick. It's hardly magic, really, compared to what we want to see from him; what we HAVE seen from him. Remember s1, when he was kick-arse without even trying? Yeah, me too.
The writers have yet again reset the story arc. In two back-to-back eps, the entire season/series has been sent back years. YEARS. S5e6 and where are we? NOWHERE. As Jethro would say "We're stuck....In the middle of nowhere!!" and Jethro would be right. Round and round she goes, where she stops, unfortunately, everybody knows.
The only improvements I've seen is Arthur trusts Merlin more, takes him more seriously. It's hardly enough this far into the show. As my friend would say "SELBE SCHEIT VERSCHNEIDER TAG". Same shit, different day.
The idea of psychological torture may seem new, but it was used against Uther in s3, right down to the mandrake root, so no new information there. A nod to continuity, though, and I do like how it was executed. Morgana actually seemed a bit more layered this ep. It was nice to see Gwen and Morgana interacting again, abeit not as friends. If we didn't know Morgana to be a loon, we might believe she cared for Gwen, even a little bit. A shadow of their past relationship. I thought Katie did a rather good job this ep.
**Ensemble**
Gwen and Elyan are visiting their dad's grave. Nice to see them interacting as siblings, especially since there isn't much time left. On their way back to Camelot, the Knights chat about a love interest of someone's and are surprised Arthur hasn't mentioned it to Gwen. Gwen says "Arthur never tells me anything"..... WHAT!!! We were told Gwen was his sounding board, his 'good counsel', the one he trusts above all others, blah blah blah. I found it rather strange the writers would put that in. A flaw in the Epic Romance? My, my.
They come to a meadow. The horses are frightened by snakes. Wow!!?? That's so new and fresh! What a brilliant idea! *snort*. It would have been great if the 'killer rabbit" of Monty Python fame were the culprit this time. Anyway, two Knights are bitten by said magical killer rabbit, I mean snake. We know Sir Leon won't die as he's immortal. Sir Percival is up for grabs. During the ruckus, Elyan sends the Queen away, presumably to keep her safe. Alone. In the woods. Hmmm. Why oh WHY did not one of them go with her? Isn't that standard procedure? Sheesh. Stupid Knights being stupid. Idiocy for plot point.
**Ladies**
We see Morgana hiding behind a tree as Gwen rides away. Once Gwen is a safe distance from the Knights, Morgana magically pulls Gwen from her horse, knocking her out. Once Gwen awakes, Morgana confronts her. Apparently, Morgana has games to play and she wants Gwen as her playmate. Gwen is not thrilled with this idea.
**Gents**
The Knights are back at the castle infirmary. Gaius is rattling off things to Merlin. Leon and Percival are on cots being attended to. Arthur comes rushing in, asking what happened. Elyan explains they were attacked by a killer rabbit and Arthur is confused, wondering where Gwen is. All the Knights and Merlin look to each other, waiting for the other to explain. Elyan mans-up and tells Arthur he's lost her; that she disappeared. Arthur is upset and tells them they ride at dawn. Now, at first I thought 'why the hell are you not leaving now!!', but I suppose we're to realize they can't track at night. So, I give it a pass. Also, although I would expect Arthur to be a bit more demonstrative in his anger that his wife is lost, at night, alone, and should want to string someone up by their privates, I thought for what the writers gave him, Bradley was very good here. You could see his worry, need to act, and fear for Gwen.
Later, Merlin and Arthur are in Arthur's chambers. They have a chat about Gwen and Arthur dismisses Merlin for the night. Before he leaves, Merlin tells Arthur they will find Gwen; that he will make sure of it. Then Merlin offers his hand, they share a look, Arthur takes Merlin's arm and they have a Knights handshake. Okay. I like that they did this, but I also found it strange. Is it minimizing the significance of the Knights bond/handshake or showing Merlin as an equal? Not sure if I like either. Merlin is not Arthur's equal, in Arthur's eyes. Maybe I'm overthinking it, but I found it to be out of place.
Now, since I've seen the ep only once, the events from here on out may be out of order, but I think it'll all be covered....
Off the boys go on the quest of the week. They reach the location of Gwen's disappearance, see tracks and head in that direction. Night falls so they make camp. Arthur gets very upset they aren't soldiering on. The Knights are none too keen to approach Arthur, so Merlin tells them to chill and he'll do it. He talks Arthur down and gets everything set to rights. You rock, Merlin. He says to Arthur they'll hunker down for the night and will continue tomorrow. As they're sleeping, Leon screams and wakes from a bad dream, startling everybody. He starts talking about his dream and Percival pipes in saying he had the same dream. They then go back and forth in sharing parts of the dream. I really liked this. Since they were the ones bitten by the rabbit, is it possible they share a magical nightmare? Hmmm. Oh, and Gwaine lets everyone know he was dreaming about pie that tasted like cheese or cheese that tasted like pie. Either way, it sounds good. Gotta love Gwaine. It reminded me of my grandpa, who always had a slice of cheddar cheese atop his piece of apple pie. Made me smile.
Back to the dream. Merlin says it has to be magic because why else would the two men who were bitten share a dream. Arthur is listening to the description and decides the dream is telling them Gwen is in the dark tower. Dut DUT DUMMM.
**Ladies**
Gwen is now awake and is being dragged, her hands bound, behind Morgana's horse. Morgana stops and offers Gwen water. Gwen doesn't take it, so Morgana poors it out. Daylight arrives and Gwen is still being dragged. She falls down. Morgana says something and they keep moving. Maybe that's when she offers the water....IDK. Not all that interested, really.
**Gents**
Now that it's daylight, the boys resume their quest to the Dark Tower. The only problem is there's an enchanted forest between them and said tower. I LOVED THIS PART!!! It was Disney's 'Sleeping Beauty'! My favorite princess story, right down to the blonde prince wearing his red cloak, cutting through the thistle to save the maiden. YEAH!! said my 12 year old self still hiding inside me.
So, they think they're heading in the right direction and end up walking in circles. Arthur is distraught and gets very angry as they've lost a day. Bravo, Bradley. Well done. Merlin again takes the lead and tells Arthur they'll get some sleep as it's getting dark and then resume their mission.
Merlin awakes as his magical senses are on high alert. He takes a walk and finds a woodland sprite who says her name is Queen Mab (nice reference to Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet). She tells Merlin to use his GPS to get out of the forest. Like the Dragon, she speaks in riddles. However, when Merlin asks her to please refrain from this very annoying behavior, she says she'll speak in rhyme. Damn! Foiled again!! She does call him Emrys, so I guess the writers haven't, at least for now, forgotten Merlin is the be-all-end-all in sorcery. I really liked this character. She was sassy, but in an 'am I evil, am I not?' way. I'd love to see her again.
**Ladies**
Morgana and Gwen are now at the Dark Tower. Morgana locks Gwen in a room with no light. Once the door is shut (The way is shut. It was made by those who are dead, and the dead keep it. The way is shut.....Sorry, vague LOTR reference), Gwen starts to hear screaming. And so the psychological torture begins.
**Gents**
The boys continue on their quest to get out of Fangorn Forest (Sorry, can't help it). Merlin gives some lame arse excuse on how he can get them out of there. He says he can smell the sea................... REALLY, MERLIN? Of course, the Knights and Arthur figure he can't do any worse than they have, so they follow Merlin. Because they're playing follow the leader, Merlin can use his 3d glasses to find the way. As Gomer Pyle would say, "Surprise, surprise!" Merlin gets them safely out of Ent territory.
**Ladies**
Back at the tower, Gwen is in the dark, mandrake root hanging from every surface of the ceiling. She sees visions of creepy Merlin, Elyan, and Arthur. Morgana hears her screams and invites her to lunch. They have a nice chat. Morgana tells Gwen she spent some time in purgatory and that it sucked. She's surprised Gwen is unaware of this. Once lunch is over, Gwen is returned to solitary confinement.
**Gents**
The boys now have to trek to the Dark Tower. It's a long arse walk, but they get there. Before they can enter the Chamber of Secrets (man, I am all about the movie references today), they follow the staircase used in "The Eye of the Phoenix". Once at the top, they're faced with the first major scene of "Indiana Jones and the Raiders of the Lost Ark".....you know the one....before Indiana gets the golden idol, he has to jump the stones in the right pattern or be hit with poison arrows? Yeah, that. Elyan decides he has to go because Gwen's his sister and he's the dumb arse that lost her. With the help of the Knights, Merlin and Arthur, he finishes first in the hop-scotch tournament and gets through the door.
**Ensemble**
Elyan finds Gwen. She's now housed in a different torture chamber. This time there's a floating sword to ward of ne'er-do-wells. Elyan valiantly fights the flying sword, to no avail. If I hadn't been spoiled, I would have been very surprised Elyan died. He never got much screen time, but I thought he had a gentleness about him, very similar to Gwen. I thought he was cast well.
Finally, the Knights, Merlin and Arthur arrive, but alas, it's too late. Elyan is in Gwen's lap and she's sobbing over his body. Nice work by Angel.
Okay. As usual, interaction between Gwen and Arthur is peculiar to me. Gwen is sobbing over her dead brother, and what does Arthur do? Does he run to his wife, scoop her into his arms, cry with joy that he's found her and grieve with her for Elyan, not wanting to let her go now that she's with him again? No. NO. He sits down next to Elyan and practically ignores his just recently found wife. WTF. I mean, good gaad. What is up with these writers?
Apparently, the return journey (I don't think there will be a return journey, Mr. Frodo...gaahh! Stop me now!) back to Camelot was uneventful as we're already there, at the lake, setting Elyan adrift. It's a simple, but very nice scene; reminiscent of Freya and Lancelot.
Now we're in chambers with Gwen and Arthur sharing a bed. Arthur's asleep while Gwen lies awake. That's right. We've finally seen the married couple in the sack. Anyhoo, Gwen slips out of bed, takes a walk and meets up with... can you guess?...that's right...Morgana! Shocking. SHOCKING, I SAY! They do the usual Morgana/Morgause thing of seasons past. Gwen is to be the new 'baddie in the castle under Arthur's nose', or if you prefer 'Enchanted Gwen'. Insert any episode from any previous season/series. Nothing new here, folks, keep moving.
**Summary**
As you can tell, I didn't take this ep too seriously. I think my favorite parts were the shared dream and Sleeping Beauty. A lot happened in this ep and at the same time, nothing happened. Oh, Merlin has a new trick. It's hardly magic, really, compared to what we want to see from him; what we HAVE seen from him. Remember s1, when he was kick-arse without even trying? Yeah, me too.
The writers have yet again reset the story arc. In two back-to-back eps, the entire season/series has been sent back years. YEARS. S5e6 and where are we? NOWHERE. As Jethro would say "We're stuck....In the middle of nowhere!!" and Jethro would be right. Round and round she goes, where she stops, unfortunately, everybody knows.
The only improvements I've seen is Arthur trusts Merlin more, takes him more seriously. It's hardly enough this far into the show. As my friend would say "SELBE SCHEIT VERSCHNEIDER TAG". Same shit, different day.