Beautiful, blonde warrioress Morgause (Emilia Fox) arrived in Camelot and (not for the first time in this series) literally threw down the gauntlet for a duel against Prince Arthur. To avoid looking cowardly when challenged by a woman in front of freshly-knighted subjects, Arthur was forced to accept and later made to look a fool when Morgause defeated him and only spared his life if he agree to meet her in three days' time.You see, Morgause had information about Arthur's late-mother Ygraine (Alice Patten), and Gaius (Richard Wilson) soon realized the flaxen stranger is Morgana's (Katie McGrath) half-sister after he recognized markings on an enchanted bracelet she gave to her unwitting relation to prevent her recurring nightmares. Upon hearing that Arthur intended to meet with Morgause as he promised, King Uther (Anthony Head) forbade his son from leaving the castle, but Merlin (Colin Morgan) was duty-bound to help his master escape and the pair travelled to see what Morgause had to say about Ygraine, who died giving birth to her boy.
It wasn't really the story that engaged you in "Sins Of The Father", because it didn't reveal much audiences didn't know already, and went about things in ways that felt similar to previous episodes. But, it did present us with the compelling idea that Morgana has a blood relative Uther thought had been killed as a child. In fact, Morgause was smuggled to safety by Gaius and raised by magical High Priestesses to become a formidable enchantress. Therefore, we have the very real possibility that Morgause will be influential in tutoring her similarly-gifted sister in the ways of the "Old Religion" some day. If blonde Morgause is the benevolent sister, something tells me brunette Morgana's got the malevolent side of the gene pool deep inside her...
However, what really delighted me about this episode was Arthur's reaction upon hearing the truth about his family history, when Morgause used her powers so he could commune with his dead mother -– who told him how his father used the sorceress Nimueh's magic to help her give birth to a male heir, knowing that his wife's life would be taken to maintain a cosmic balance.The ramifications of this were huge, as the king has condemned many people to death for practicing magic, while hypocritically using it himself to father a son. Bradley James was particularly excellent as Arthur returned to Camelot full of rage and hostility, to fight his father in a genuinely exciting swordfight behind closed doors. There were heightened, almost operatic emotions as father and son came to blows – helped enormously because it wasn't obvious how the status quo could be restored, as it generally tends to in shows of this nature.
And, perhaps a little disappointingly, harmony was re-established -- but in a convincing way that proved nearly as gripping. Merlin managed to prevent Arthur committing patricide at the last millisecond, by lying to insist that Morgause was using magic to manipulate him into killing the king. To make Merlin's plan even more lamentable, Arthur had earlier shown signs of newfound sympathy towards practitioners of magic after hearing about his father's hypocrisy, but Merlin's lies to spare Uther's life have now made the young prince equally determined that sorcerers should be destroyed. In effect, Merlin's become a traitor to his own kind out of loyalty to the king that hates people like him – and who, rather darkly, later thanked Merlin for his intervention... but punctuated his kind words with a cold threat to keep events to himself.
Overall, in terms of pure emotion and mythology-expanding, "Sins Of The Father" was a notable highlight of a series that's proving to be one of the most consistent television shows on the box right now. It's really been quite a marvellous turnaround from a series that started off as charming, inoffensive and slightly dull. Emilia Fox made for a good guest-star, and I look forward to seeing more of Morgause, as there's clearly more to be done with her character. If series 2 has had one failing it's been the lack of an obvious plot arc -- but with Morgana's burgeoning powers, the arrival of her powerful half-sister, the strengthening of Arthur's hatred of magic (thanks to Merlin's lies to spare the king's life), and the prospect of the dragon being released, it feels that something's beginning to take shape.14 November 2009
BBC1, 6.05pm
written by: Howard Overman directed by: Metin Hüseyin starring: Emilia Fox (Morgause), Bradley James (Arthur), Colin Morgan (Merlin), Anthony Head (Uther Pendragon), Richard Wilson (Gaius), Katie McGrath (Morgana), Alice Patten (Ygraine), Angel Coulby (Gwen), Rupert Young (Sir Leon), Michael Cronin (Geoffrey of Monmouth) & Rhys Rusbatch (Guard)
