“Your magic is his only hope!”

And so things start to get interesting…

With Gwen now well and truly under Morgana’s spell, the once gentle maid has now changed into a devious Queen will a vial of Morgana’s poison to kill Arthur. Although the exact plan hasn’t been fully revealed to us yet, it would seem Morgana hopes Arthur’s death would mean Gwen would take the throne only for Morgana to sweep in and take the power – probably thus releasing Gwen from her enchantment. Who know doubt will be devastated at her actions.

All is going to plan as Gwen, Arthur and Merlin take a ride to mark their Anniversary (doesn’t time fly) Why did Merlin need to be there again? When a trap set for Arthur throws him off his horse. The Knights discover the saddle has been tampered with, so Arthur confronts his kindly stable hand, Tyr Seward (played by Game Of Thrones, John Bradley), who denies all knowledge and genuinely is happy just to serve his King. With evidence showing no other option he’s subsequently sentenced to death by Arthur for treason. Merlin, as always feels something’s up as his suspicions of Gwen start to pique, thus discovering that Tyr was threatened to keep quiet about who he saw tampering with the Kings horse or his mother will be killed. Tyr refuses to reveal who the person is saying: “No. if it means me dying instead of her then so be it, I’d rather die.” The person in question being Gwen.

Tyr is as likable a character as you could find; a kindly timid soul, which made Gwen’s actions of murdering the poor man even more shocking. Gwen will be horrified when released from the spell – that’s if it’s not glossed over like the bracelet incident of 4.9, which upset many and is still unresolved; never to be discussed again.

The one thing Merlin hasn’t lost is the ability to show the humour amongst the darkness, and we have some great scenes with Colin Morgan as Dragoon insulting some Knights and the cooks “Poisonous flans.” Nice to see Merlin given the chance not to be the butt of the joke for once. I didn’t like the appearance of the older Merlin in the last series, but its worked better this time round. Also his banter with Gauis juxtaposed with his upset when he heals Arthur was a proud father/son type moment.

THEORY ALERT:
I have a theory about the story arc; Gwen and Mordred – Personally I think Morgana has enchanted Gwen to take the focus off Mordred. I believe Morgana and Mordred are in it together with the stabbing in episode 2 merely a ruse to put them off the scent and make Arthur entrust Mordred into his knights. Mordred is really the plant – Gwen is just distraction. Of course I could be WAY off. Let me know your theories in the comments below.

However distraction or not it’s giving Angel Coulby some proper action and dialogue to sink her teeth into, which has been sorely lacking for a while. Also we finally get glimpses of the Arthur/Gwen relationship although how much is genuine under the spell adds a hefty question mark.

This episode felt a lot more focused and in-tune with the story arc, with tender moments, humour and danger immersed into a fully enjoyable episode. Only six episodes left – looking forward to the twists and turns to come, and how close or way off my theory is?