Writer: Julian Jones
Director: James HawesCast: Colin Morgan (Merlin), Bradley James (Prince Arthur), Richard Wilson (Gaius), Anthony Head (King Uther), Angel Coulby (Gwen), Katie McGrath (Morgana), John Hurt (The Great Dragon, voice), Michelle Ryan (Nimueh) & Keith Durham (Tom)
Merlin conjures up a mild improvement with its third episode, written by co-creator Julian Jones, and guest-starring Michelle Ryan as evil sorceress Nimueh. Here, the water of Camelot is infected by the arrival of a hideous Afanc creature, dropped into the sewers by Nimueh for reasons of ill-explained revenge -- although she clearly has history with Anthony Head's King Uther...As peasants start dying of a mysterious plague thanks to the Afanc's presence, court physician Gaius (Richard Wilson) – despite showing a surprising level of knowledge about microscopic viruses for someone living in the Dark Ages! – is unable to find a cure. Only Merlin (Colin Morgan) has the power to save lives, but can he risk using magic with King Uther blaming sorcery for this epidemic?
"The Mark Of Nimueh" benefited from having a half-decent storyline; one that included a few compelling problems for Merlin to overcome, like Gwen (Angel Coulby) being wrongly accused of witchcraft because of Merlin's decision to save her dying father with magic. The addition of a clay-based monster lurking in the sewers added to the fun, and the clearly unconvincing Afanc avoided becoming laughable thanks to thrifty visuals and quick editing from director James Hawes. It was also quite refreshing to have a non-CGI monster in a fantasy TV drama, for once.
Good to see the actors settling into their roles, too. Morgan is already relaxed and likeable, but a better rapport was established between him and Coulby's Gwen. Katie McGrath has yet to make an indelible mark as Morgana, but she was used better here and is a pleasant screen presence (think Eva Green meets Keira Knightley). The fact she's sensed the chemistry between Gwen and Merlin might help her character get more involved in the show now, particularly in light of the fact we know Gwen is destined to marry Arthur (Bradley James) and Morgana will become a mortal enemy of them both. Mind you, I'm not sure if this show actually intends to provide a direct link to the established legend, so we could be misinterpreting events as clever foreshadowing. Is Morgana also practising magic in secret, for example? Or is this series happy to reimagine Morgana as a non-magical young woman?
The lovely Michelle Ryan is the week's big guest-star, but she's frustratingly kept in the background for the whole episode – to stare into a pool of water, like a wicked witch in panto. It would be unforgivable, were it not for the fact Merlin clearly intends to return to Nimueh's story (as early as next week, actually), and she'll doubtless become the Lord Voldemort to Merlin's Harry Potter. Hopefully Ryan will exhibit a streak of Disney-level malevolence, as befits this show's aesthetic – although I can't help thinking someone older would carry more weight and command in the role.
Overall, there were signs of improvement here. I liked seeing Arthur show some backbone in front of his father, and ruminating on his own vision of Camelot's chivalrous future. And I'm surprisingly quite eager to see Arthur and Merlin start building the foundations for their legendary friendship, because the actors work well together. The story itself was well-paced, if still suffering from predictability and a sense of genre routine that will bore adults. The scope of Merlin has also been fixated on just a few locations (I'm desperate to get a wider sense of this world), and Merlin's magical abilities are almost laughably tedious so far (making doors open and covering books with blankets; often accompanied by big orchestral music that just makes everything look like a parody.)
I understand that Merlin's a warlock-in-training -- but, to paraphrase Gandalph, if he's stuck being a "conjurer of cheap tricks" for too long then kids will lose interest in him as a fantasy icon. At least infer that he has some truly awesome potential, a la Harry Potter in the earlier books. Merlin's regular chats with the annoyingly cryptic Dragon (John Hurt) about his "great destiny" isn't enough to get us get excited about the future. And I'd prefer the dragon CGI budget be spent elsewhere, personally.
4 October 2008
BBC1, 6pm
