Finally watched this week's Merlin, as I was exhausted last night and didn't have the energy to at that point.
I think this episode can be summed up with two words: Merlin's faaaaace! Or, perhaps: Colin Morgan, your faaaace! ♥♥♥
Loved the parallels between the Merlin and Arthur stories. Absolutely loved the scene in Arthur's room where he's angsting over fighting Uther in the tournament, and Merlin just tells Arthur what he (Arthur) already knows and allows him to draw his own conclusions. Fantastic piece of writing. Which sort of bugs me in a meta way, because we could have this every week, but instead some of the episodes are so clunky and clumsily written. Very frustrating.
Also, Morgana's machinations were much more palatable this week. Nice to see her doing some actual manipulating and scheming, rather than smirking all over the place.
My one complaint is that I'm kind of confused that the show seems to now be taking the stance that magic in and of itself is evil and corrupting, rather than that it's just a tool, and that power (magical or otherwise) is what corrupts. And that Merlin (and Gilli's father, etc.) was strong enough to resist that corruption, rather than just being a genuinely good person, who also happens to be powerful. I don't know.
Other than that, I loved pretty much every scene in this episode, which is a wonderful feeling. And the preview for next week's looks good, too!
I really need some Merlin icons.