The Hunters Heart Review
Review for Merlin 4x11: The Hunters Heart. There will be spoilers. Cuts still dead. I'll chase it up again.
Overview
So as we enter the final three episodes of this season, the tension gets thrown up a couple of notches and things start to come to a head.
Things are certainly going to get darker from here on in.
Episode Summary
This episode rather reminds me of “Utopia” from Doctor Who’s third season. While there are clearly plot points that relate to the final two episodes, and with hindsight episodes eleven, twelve and thirteen will probably be grouped together as a loose trilogy, this episode feels set apart from the following two episodes.
It was a very quiet episode for one thing, the proverbial calm before the storm. If I was being charitable - something I have been accused of in the past - I would argue it was much more of a character driven piece which I will explore much more below. However I can’t help but feel this episode was rather lacking in something.
Like the beginning of most two or three part episodes, this was all about the build-up, setting things up for the following episodes. The problem was I don’t think there was enough plot to carry the build-up. It seemed like the writers realised that the whole “stealing plans” storyline couldn’t hold up an entire episode so they had to insert the secondary plot point of the Nemeth Envoy.
Now while I realise what the point of the whole Princess Mithian thing was - forcing Arthur to reanalyse his feelings for Gwen and how he had dealt with the Lancelot incident - I do think there was a better way they could have done that. Princess Mithian felt flat and dare I say it rather Mary Sueish. She was pretty, a princess, good at hunting. In short, she was perfect.
If they really wanted to combine the two plot points, what they should have done was have Gwen discover about the theft of the plans and deciding to risk death go to Camelot to warn them, thus forcing a meeting between her and Arthur thus forcing him to reconsider his feelings.
That’s how I would have done it. Maybe I’m looking at this the wrong way though.
I did fear for a moment that we were going to get Magical Possession again. Fortunately it was averted and we got shape shifting instead.
The strength of this episode lay in its character exploration which I will explore below.
Merlin
Merlin’s role this season seems to have been turned from “Guy with Magic who will save the day every episode” to “Guy will give good advice and will tell his friends when they are being stupid.”
I thought there bits of this episode that showed exactly how far Arthur and Merlin’s relationship - from Servant and Master to Friends - has really come. The bit at the beginning where Merlin challenged Arthur without really saying anything and the end scene when he basically yelled at Arthur “You should know I wouldn’t do that unless the situation was really grave” really stood out for me. Merlin has gone from a mere servant to the King’s advisor.
I think what this season has gone out of its way to try and show us is that Merlin’s real strength lies not in his magical skills, but in the way he cares for his friends and will do whatever it takes to help them. Something that is much more important than the ability to set stuff on fire with your eyes.
Arthur (and Others)
Once again, exceptional acting from Bradley James in this episode. Switching effortlessly from formal king, to hurt twenty year old, to bumbling kid, to confused and lonely man.
He’s already to my mind proven himself to be a much better King than his Father and a much more human one to booth. You can’t imagine Uther ever giving up territory in order to let his heart rule. The people who surrounded Arthur while he was growing up have certainly influenced him.
I especially liked the scene near the end when Arthur asked Merlin for advice. When the Princess said earlier that Arthur did value Merlin’s opinion I nearly blew a gasket as we’ve never really seen any evidence of that. But here it is. And it was I thought a very touching scene.
The Bad Guy
So Morgana has the backup and the plans to properly invade Camelot - again. Well let’s see if this works any better than the last time did.
You do wonder what she promised Helios in return for his sport. I can only imagine land and or riches. Though judging by some of their earlier conversations other stuff leaps to mind.
Agravaine meanwhile seems to have picked up the Smirk of Evil. I really did think we were rid of that.
Conclusion.
While the character exploration in this episode was brilliant to watch, I do think it could have been a lot stronger.
Next Week: Oops. Camelot has been invaded again.
Overview
So as we enter the final three episodes of this season, the tension gets thrown up a couple of notches and things start to come to a head.
Things are certainly going to get darker from here on in.
Episode Summary
This episode rather reminds me of “Utopia” from Doctor Who’s third season. While there are clearly plot points that relate to the final two episodes, and with hindsight episodes eleven, twelve and thirteen will probably be grouped together as a loose trilogy, this episode feels set apart from the following two episodes.
It was a very quiet episode for one thing, the proverbial calm before the storm. If I was being charitable - something I have been accused of in the past - I would argue it was much more of a character driven piece which I will explore much more below. However I can’t help but feel this episode was rather lacking in something.
Like the beginning of most two or three part episodes, this was all about the build-up, setting things up for the following episodes. The problem was I don’t think there was enough plot to carry the build-up. It seemed like the writers realised that the whole “stealing plans” storyline couldn’t hold up an entire episode so they had to insert the secondary plot point of the Nemeth Envoy.
Now while I realise what the point of the whole Princess Mithian thing was - forcing Arthur to reanalyse his feelings for Gwen and how he had dealt with the Lancelot incident - I do think there was a better way they could have done that. Princess Mithian felt flat and dare I say it rather Mary Sueish. She was pretty, a princess, good at hunting. In short, she was perfect.
If they really wanted to combine the two plot points, what they should have done was have Gwen discover about the theft of the plans and deciding to risk death go to Camelot to warn them, thus forcing a meeting between her and Arthur thus forcing him to reconsider his feelings.
That’s how I would have done it. Maybe I’m looking at this the wrong way though.
I did fear for a moment that we were going to get Magical Possession again. Fortunately it was averted and we got shape shifting instead.
The strength of this episode lay in its character exploration which I will explore below.
Merlin
Merlin’s role this season seems to have been turned from “Guy with Magic who will save the day every episode” to “Guy will give good advice and will tell his friends when they are being stupid.”
I thought there bits of this episode that showed exactly how far Arthur and Merlin’s relationship - from Servant and Master to Friends - has really come. The bit at the beginning where Merlin challenged Arthur without really saying anything and the end scene when he basically yelled at Arthur “You should know I wouldn’t do that unless the situation was really grave” really stood out for me. Merlin has gone from a mere servant to the King’s advisor.
I think what this season has gone out of its way to try and show us is that Merlin’s real strength lies not in his magical skills, but in the way he cares for his friends and will do whatever it takes to help them. Something that is much more important than the ability to set stuff on fire with your eyes.
Arthur (and Others)
Once again, exceptional acting from Bradley James in this episode. Switching effortlessly from formal king, to hurt twenty year old, to bumbling kid, to confused and lonely man.
He’s already to my mind proven himself to be a much better King than his Father and a much more human one to booth. You can’t imagine Uther ever giving up territory in order to let his heart rule. The people who surrounded Arthur while he was growing up have certainly influenced him.
I especially liked the scene near the end when Arthur asked Merlin for advice. When the Princess said earlier that Arthur did value Merlin’s opinion I nearly blew a gasket as we’ve never really seen any evidence of that. But here it is. And it was I thought a very touching scene.
The Bad Guy
So Morgana has the backup and the plans to properly invade Camelot - again. Well let’s see if this works any better than the last time did.
You do wonder what she promised Helios in return for his sport. I can only imagine land and or riches. Though judging by some of their earlier conversations other stuff leaps to mind.
Agravaine meanwhile seems to have picked up the Smirk of Evil. I really did think we were rid of that.
Conclusion.
While the character exploration in this episode was brilliant to watch, I do think it could have been a lot stronger.
Next Week: Oops. Camelot has been invaded again.