Merlin Lamia Review

Lamia. No seriously that actually her name.

Enough of battling with ourselves, time to battle some mythological creatures. If you think about, when was it when Merlin fought against the creatures of the old religion? For the most part, its been about Arthur's rise to power and the obstacles he has to overcome. Oh, and that pesky half sister that Uther fathered. Kidding, honestly its great that Morgana has come out with her evil deeds instead of playing the whiny ward. Although she doesn't appear in this episode. This season, we see a more human side as all the characters deal with their situations. This episode, Lamia, shows this to a great extent.

If I were to strip down the plot to its bare minimums, you would find a plot point that has been used many times. Evil chick appears innocent. Strapping young men fall to their knees to help her. She basically screws them by killing them. Well technically since Merlin is a family show, made them very sick (remember that boys, cause girls indeed have cooties. And cooties kill). Although you half expected her to be some tortured soul, but that is never usually the case. Lamia enjoyed the attention very much.

Another element introduced in this episode was Merlin's sudden ability or rather knowledge of medicine. Since when? Last time we saw Merlin attempt to heal someone using medicine (Season 1's The Beginning of the End), but messed up. In addition, every time Arthur was hurt Merlin resorted to using magic to heal him. I guess all those years of gathering herbs for Gaius paid off. In whatever sense it made, it was something to get Merlin to that village. A starting point to the trail to Lamia.

So Merlin, Gwen and the knight (minus Arthur) head to the village to sort out the problem. Merlin tries everything but is unsuccessful. So they head back to Camelot, but run into slave traders struggling with a girl. Gwaine being, well Gwaine, jumps into the fray followed by the other knights. They save the girl, Lamia, and are instantly bewitched by her. She takes an instant dislike to Merlin and later to Gwen. Just to save us from pointing out the obvious, she doesn't like Merlin cause he got magic, and Gwen is a woman. The two people she cannot control.

So what does any bad girl-monster with a bunch a men under her control do? Why take them back to her place and kill them all (lets call it soul sucking). One by one bites the dust, and Merlin has had enough. Merlin battles her, but is saved by Arthur in the end. In a way Merlin could have saved himself, but it would mean that he would have had to use magic in front of Gwen.

In short this episode was great. Merlin and Gwen took matters into their own hands to save everyone. Not to mention we saw more of Gwen taking up arms, and becoming the queen she will be one day. Now next episode, everything will go to hell. Watch the preview below to see what I mean.