Merlin- Lancelot Du Lac Review

Morgana summons Lancelot's shadow.

For those of you who have been waiting for Lancelot's return, well he's back. For those who want to see Arthur and Gwen's relationship take the next step, this is the episode for you. For those who want things to die and explode, go watch a Micheal Bay movie. Lancelot Du Lac is a key episode this season, and some people claim this episode was the best one out of all the series. In a way it is. This episode causes a chain reaction. So lets break it down.

So for Arthur and Gwen fans, you can rejoice, Arthur is going to propose to Gwen and ask her to marry him. Although he unknownly makes the mistake of telling his uncle of this plan. Arthur explains to Agravaine Gwen's good qualities and mentions how she is good counsel. Agravaine mentions that Arthur can always talk to him, but Arthur still wants Gwen. Agravaine is slowly losing his control of Arthur and this is just the beginning. So in a panic Agravaine goes to Morgana and tells her this. Morgana mentions her dream from Season 3 about Gwen becoming queen and sets out to make sure Gwen doesn't sit on her throne. So she summons Lancelot's "shadow" to do her bidding. So what does that mean? Well it means a shadow is only Lancelot's body, but not his soul or memory.

Merlin and Giaus discussing Necromancy

So Morgana fills Lancelot on her orders and what he should know. Morgana makes sure that Lancelot knows to seduce Gwen and destroy the relationship between the two. So Lancelot heads back to Camelot with a story about how he survived. Everyone welcomes him and is glad to see him alive. Although Merlin begins to have suspicions, and his suspicions are confirmed when Lancelot doesn't know that Merlin has magic. At least for once, the characters catch on early that there is something amiss. Merlin finds out that Lancelot is a shade, and knows Morgana sent him. I would like to point out the little joke Merlin does when he asks Giaus about Necromancy. Merlin is like, "You know seem to know everything". Not sure if that was intentional, but it was a funny scene to watch.

Now back, Lancelot begins to make his move on Gwen. She resists until she becomes enchanted by a bracket that Morgana enchanted. This causes Gwen to agree to secretly meet with Lancelot in the court chamber. Merlin tries to stop it, but is unsuccessful. With help from Agravaine, Arthur walks in on Gwen and Lancelot kissing. Arthur becomes enraged and attack Lancelot. Gwen manages to stop them before they hurt each other (Merlin helped too). Gwen and Lancelot both, are thrown into the dungeons.

Things take a turn for the worst when the topic of Gwen's punishments comes at hand. Gwen is summoned for her punishment and Arthur dismisses everyone from the court (even Agravaine much to his surprise). Arthur chooses to banish Gwen instead of death. As for Lancelot, Morgana takes care of him and kills him off. I think the writers choose to do this in order to get the audience to focus on the story of Merlin and Arther rather than watching to see the love triangle happen. Not to mention that this is a family show and drama of that high scale doesn't suit it. Although Lancelot is a good character and a great ally for Merlin.

There is a darker tone and message to this episode as well. This episode, Morgana wins. Usually Merlin saves the day, but this time, Merlin was unable to stop Morgana's plans. In addition there is no immediate way to fix this problem. Sure the last time she found was with Morguse's help, but she was stopped by Merlin. Only thing that is left is to wait and see what will happen. This is what made this episode a real game changer.

Next episode, Elyan becomes possessed. Meaning its Elyan's time to shine, well the actor's anyway. I wanna see how Merlin deals with spirits of the dead. Every sc-fi show out there has its own way to deal with ghosts. Like using salt for protection against ghosts in Supernatural. Preview below.