Review: Merlin 3.10: Queen of Hearts

The entire special effects budget for Series Three.

Once again, Merlin relies on the strength of its characters and the acting of its leads to craft a good story. This episode was a decent watch through the majority, although there were many areas treated a little too kiddishly for my tastes. This episode was written by Howard Overman (Writer of Misfits. His latest Merlin effort this series was the atrocious Goblin's Gold.), and it shows, with intense character drama and a comedic tone that ran alongside the tension instead of detracting from it.
     Morgana's prophetic dreams guided her to attempt to seperate Arthur and Gwen, preventing either from taking the throne. She organised a quiet meeting between them in the forest, and then led Uther to find them. Angry at finding his son with a serving girl, Uther (the bastard) orders Gwen banished. When Arthur says that he will go with her, and return to put Gwen on the throne, Morgana changes tactics and sets Gwen up as a witch. As she is readied for execution, Merlin cottons on and disguises himself as an aging wizard to clear Gwen's name.
     The romance between Arthur and Gwen no longer feels forced, with Overman's sublte and realistic dialogue allowing for plenty of touching but realistic scenes. In fact, everyone in the cast got great lines (except for Merlin, see below) and a good chance to stretch their acting muscles.
     I have only one issue with this episode, as captioned. While disguised as the old sourcerer, Merlin really fails to fit the part, meaning that he is more or less recognised by everyone (luckily only in the form of, "Have I met you before...?") I don't think this is Colin Morgan's fault; I think it's poor scriptwriting on the part of Overman, such a shame in an otherwise brilliant episode.
     Overall, Howard Overman's story may have some small issues regarding innapproriately placed humour, but otherwise it's a realistic, character driven piece that makes use of its main players well and never lets up the pace.
     Next week: Mindless filler!!!

Thanks.