Review: Merlin 4.9: Lancelot du Lac

Guess who's back? (With a brand new track.)

I've oft mentioned how Merlin's main problem is that we know exactly how it's going to end, and any deviation from that path feels like a waste of time. It also spends a lot of time not bothering, reverting to status quo whenever something interesting happened. This week saw an incredibly tiresome plot development riddled with plot holes, that saw no such reversion. It wasn't clever, or funny, it just stank of false tension. A returning Santiago Canberra was fully wasted by the writer, showing that it's not only Julian Jones that hates Merlin's plotline.
     This week saw the exploitation of the Arthur/Guin/Lancelot Love Triangle, a key part of arthurian myth. Because of Jones' strange decision in the premiere, this was accomplished through means that I found rather dull - Morgana (the world's most formulaic villain) brought him back to the Land of the Living as her willing servant upon the news that Arthur and Gwen had become engaged. Now, with a trusted Knight under her full control, she proceeded to use him to assassinate the main members of Camelot followed by Arthur himself. Right? Oh wait, no. No. That's what should have happened, and what Morgana tried THREE EPISODES AGO. Instead, she decides to user Lancelot to exploit Gwen's love for him and break up their marriage, preventing her from becoming Queen.
     As it turns out, Gwen doesn't love Lancelot. Like, at all. So, as in a few previous episodes this series, Morgana throws a spanner in the works and makes sure Gwen gets a "Love-Lancelot" bracelet. Very specific, these magical spells. Anyway, everything goes according to plan. Everything. Merlin, despite discovering that Lancelot is a Shade and has been brought back from the dead to commit Morgana's bidding, and that he's been conspiring with Agravaine who is now definitely Morgana's tool as well... did nothing. Absolutely eff all. At the least the forumulaic stories allow our characters some competance; Merlin knew what he was doing, there.

Despite this episode being written by a woman, I'm going to
act like a completely sexist female stereotype and lust after
all of the men that I happen to set eyes upon.

     With 12 minutes to go, I was waiting for the story to be resolved. To get Gwen out of Arthur's bad books, to reveal Lancelot's true nature. But apparently the public love having their time wasted, as we are now expected to accept this as a real plot development. There are so many interesting and fascinating ways to have resolved this plot without hitting the reset button. But now Guinevere has been expelled from Camelot upon pain of death. It's inane.
     I'd perhaps be able to accept this ridiculous turn of events if it appeared that this was a huge multi-episode affair, but the way this episode concluded and our preview of the next episode indicated something much more disturbing. This is set in stone, a single episode not even written by the series' producer changing everything. It's already happened this series, but there the outcome meant positive progress. Here, we're stuck with possibly another series of time wasting and idiocy. Long live the bloody king.

Thanks.

NEXT WEEK: A mind-control plot with a random monster. Number fucking 4 this fucking series.
P.S. Thank god the Merlin web designers have put in a full gallery of images for this week.