Spoilers. After a twelve-week build-up, the season 1 finale of Merlin just about made the journey worthwhile. However, without the excellent performances of Colin Morgan and Richard Wilson, this wouldn't have been half as gripping, as Julian Jones' script didn't really excite until the last fifteen minutes..."Le Morte d'Arthur" utilized the show's two biggest clichés: a supernatural beast to slay, and a main character being close to death. It was Arthur's (Bradley James) turn to sit out the episode for the most part, as a snake-headed Questing Beast gives him a fatal bite that can't be cured by scientific or magical means. Gaius (Wilson) knows that the Beast, conjured from magic of the "Old Religion", is said to appear at a time of great upheaval, and is resigned to the fact Arthur will die from his wound. However, Merlin (Morgan) can't believe his entwined destiny with Arthur is at a premature end, so seeks guidance from the Great Dragon (John Hurt). The dragon tells Merlin the only way to save Arthur's life is to travel to the Isle Of The Blessed (ahem, Avalon), but that success will be of great personal cost.
Inevitably, this finale featured the return of evil sorceress Nimueh (Michelle Ryan), although her appearances seem to lose their lustre with each passing episode. Nimueh's story has always been more closely allied to Uther's tragic family history (Anthony Head), and essentially had its own mini-finale in "Excalibur", so didn't carry much punch when dealing with Merlin directly. As with Uther's infertile wife Igraine, Nimueh's magical help again came at an unreasonable price. After agreeing to give Merlin rainwater from the Cup Of Life to save Arthur, in exchange for his own life as fair payment, the universal forces instead chose to give Merlin's mother Hunith (Caroline Faber) an incurable, disfiguring disease. This twist may have worked better if Hunith had been more involved in the narrative this year, but her relationship with Merlin has barely registered emotionally after her two brief appearances.
Regardless, "Le Morte d'Arthur" worked well in the character moments – a collection of two-way conversations, mostly. Merlin was at the centre of these, and scenes where he debated the best course of action with surrogate father Gaius, or shared a heartfelt moment with Arthur after he regained his health, demonstrated how well this show has been cast. The relationship between Merlin and Gaius has been particularly well handled, and this finale reaped the reward when Gaius decided to take selfless, heroic action to spare Merlin's mother.
Really, the best moments of this finale all came in the last ten minutes – when Gaius had apparently given his life to Nimueh in order to spare Hunrith, as Merlin arrived too late to stop him. The climactic, revenge-fuelled duel between Nimueh and Merlin was sadly a disappointment -- thanks to poor choreography and a lack of imagination and budget -- but broadly worked and achieved its aim. Although I'm still at a loss to explain why an experienced, powerful sorceress like Nimueh could be defeated by struggling amateur Merlin casting a thunderstorm spell. Fortunately, such nitpicks didn't undermine the raw emotion of Merlin embracing dead Gaius in the pouring rain – even if the series chickened-out and resurrected Gaius now that Nimueh's death had restored universal equilibrium.
Overall, "Le Morte d'Arthur" was definitely a good episode that provided plenty of entertainment and managed to tug at the heart-string on a few occasions. It was just a shame Arthur's role was hugely reduced, along with Morgana's (Katie McGrath) – whose recurring nightmares were revealed to be precognition of Arthur's death by the Questing Beast. A notable highlight of the whole series has been how the Great Dragon's sage guidance has slowly been revealed as tainted by a selfish desire to escape captivity at any cost -- with Merlin deciding to turn his back on his supernatural adviser after being deceived...
The final moment, with the Great Dragon roaring in anguish in its cave, awakening Morgana in her chamber, seems to foreshadow the Dragon allying itself with Morgana instead. This will probably mean both Merlin and Morgana will try to get Arthur to the throne next year, for very different reasons. And Morgana probably won't be above trying to kill Uther to make that happen, despite her change of heart over killing the king last week – particularly now the dragon will be tipping poison into her ear...
So yes, some smart set-up for season 2 – including a scene of Gwen (Angel Coulby) making her feelings for Arthur known, at last -- but it was a shame "Le Morte d'Arthur" didn't give all its talented cast something memorable to do here, or craft a hero-vs-villain showdown to justify the season-long teasing over Nimueh's wickedness and Merlin's natural prowess with magic. But, taken as a whole, Merlin has been relatively successful thanks to strong performances and a commendable attitude about moral grey areas. If season 2 can embrace the Arthurian legend tighter, ensure there's more cohesion across the whole season, develop Merlin's powers, and remember to service all of its cast (especially poor Gwen, who was almost an extra at times), then Merlin will be the better for it.
13 December 2008
BBC1, 7.10pm
Writer: Julian Jones
Director: David Moore
Cast: Colin Morgan (Merlin), Bradley James (Prince Arthur), Anthony Head (King Uther), Richard Wilson (Gaius), Katie McGrath (Morgana), Angel Coulby (Gwen), Michelle Ryan (Nimueh) & Caroline Faber (Hunith)
