Infuriatingly, Merlin has started to slip back into old ways after a run of strong mid-season episodes. "The Labyrinth Of Gedref" is a mildly diverting time-waster that doesn't significantly develop the characters, or push the mythology any further along. Even the title is misleading, as the eponymous maze provides a backdrop for only a few moments near the end...We open with Prince Arthur (Bradley James) hunting in the forest with two knights and his manservant Merlin (Colin Morgan), where he ruthlessly kills a rare, mythical unicorn. After presenting the creature's signature horn to his impressed father King Uther (Anthony Head), Camelot faces the penance for this slaughter: the kingdom-wide failure of vital crops and a drought. As the people face starvation, an enigmatic sorcerer called Anhora (Frank Finlay) appears to Arthur, revealing that the curse can only be lifted if the prince atones for his sin by passing a series of tests...
The problem with this episode is that, not for the first time, the audience are several steps ahead of the characters. It's blatantly obvious what's going on to anyone with a passing knowledge of fantasy programming, so it takes a good fifteen minutes before we're all on the same page. Then, save for a few moments, the story unspools exactly as you'd expect. Arthur's morals are tested in various ways (allowing a peasant to steal grain to feed his starving family, therefore demonstrating his merciful side, etc), until the final test inside a labyrinth involving two goblets -- one which one must be drunk by either Arthur or Merlin, who know that one is poisoned.
It chugs along at a slow pace, again sidelining a number of characters. Recently, Uther and Gaius have melted into background just as badly as Gwen and Morgana have tended to all season. The focus is on Arthur and Merlin, but the story doesn't really push their friendship into new areas. Morgan and James have an agreeable chemistry together, but even they struggle to overcome this plodding, predictable storyline.
A few token comedy moments (one involving Merlin serving Arthur rat meat during the famine) are dragged out too long, and the episode doesn't even make full use of Frank Finlay as Anhora. Finlay's mystical character is just the kind of elder wizard Merlin needs to appeal to the kids (can we switch him for the stupid, cyrptic dragon?), and he looks superb in his white robes, but that's as exciting as he's allowed to get.
There really isn't much more to say. It's always nice to venture beyond the castle grounds, the forest scenery was suitable lush and enchanting, the unicorn was a strong visual, and the climax on the shores of a rocky beach was a memorable setting. But this is all cosmetic niceties; the fact remains that the story was a bland fable, and didn't offer anything new or invigorating. It's the penultimate episode next week, so I hope Merlin can pull itself out of the doldrums. It did well to overcome a tepid start, and I thought the series had started to turn things around by episode 6, but the standalone episodes usually have no significance to the bigger picture and are crippled by unimaginative plots, cliches, and workmanlike execution.
Writer: Howard Overman
Director: Stuart Orme
Cast: Colin Morgan (Merlin), Bradley James (Prince Arthur), Richard Wilson (Gaius), Anthony Head (King Uther), Angel Coulby (Gwen), Katie McGrath (Morgana), Frank Finlay (Anhora) & Richard Riddell (Evan)
