Merlin "The Drawings of the Dark": Hath No Fury Like A Mordred Scorned

Watching this week's episode of Merlin, The Drawing of the Dark made the phase, "you can't fight destiny" pop into my head throughout the entire episode. We all knew the whole Mordred plot was going to come at some point with Merlin now in it's final episodes. Throughout all of season 5, we have been looking for signs of Mordred's eventual turn to the dark side, and The Drawing of the Dark just let everything that Mordred was holding in out. It was a definite change of pace though as the episode really centered on Mordred and less on Merlin. It is really heartbreaking to see Merlin being forced to deal with choices that will have no good outcome in the end. So let all the Merlin feels loose!

The Drawing of the Dark begins with the Arthur and his knight (including Mordred) out hunting when Arthur finds evidence of a battle involving Saxons. As they begin to search the area, Mordred notices a figure running away, and chases after it. Mordred soon discovers that it's his old friend (and flame) Kara, and lets her get away. Which Merlin sees of course since hes keeping an eye on Mordred, you know, because of destiny. Later in the night, Mordred returns to Kara and helps her with her wound. Kara tries to get Mordred to come with her, but Mordred tells her that he believes Arthur will one day bring magic back. The next day, Arthur heads out in the woods and finds tracks that lead back to Kara. When he tries to help, Kara attempts to kill Arthur and is brought back to Camelot and put on trial. Mordred soon reveals that he was the one who was Kara's ally and begs Arthur to spare her life.

From the moment I heard about Mordred getting a love interest, I knew it was no good and that this will be the point of no return in Merlin. All of series 5, Merlin has been dancing around Mordred's destiny, with only it's titular character suspicious the whole time. The way Merlin had placed Mordred the situation is a way similar to what Merlin has done many times. In a way, The Drawings of the Dark is drawing similarities between Merlin and Mordred and how they dealt with the issue. This worked well with the audience having the foreknowledge of what Mordred's destiny was, and we had to play it out in our heads to figure how it was going to turn out. Not to mention how it was going to play out with Arthur and the knights. They were friends at one point. The real payoff of this episode was the ending where SPOILER reveals to SPOILER that SPOILER is SPOILER. Wonder how that is going to turn out.

The whole Mordred thing was really what The Drawing of the Dark was about though. This episode was Mordred's sudden turning point to the dark side and to SPOILER. Speaking of which we didn't see much of her this week. One thing that bugs me a bit is that we didn't get much history on Kara, other than Mordred grew up with her. Well then again, Mordred did appear out of nowhere this year. Also I think I secretly wanted Merlin to give Mordred a break, but then, destiny. My final complaint of the day has to go to Arthur randomly going to the woods. I don't remember why he went there, and how he magically found the tracks leading to Kara. Random plot device anyone?

Final episodes man. Much as I am excited to see what happens, I don't want to see the end of Merlin. From what I'm seeing Merlin tumblr (avoiding that place since, and currently am), the ending is not looking pretty. So I'm doing all I can to avoid any spoilers. Anyways, destiny is coming to be, and now Merlin is really going to be put to the test and use everything he knows to protect Arthur and Camelot. Finale next. Sob.

What did you think of Merlin's choice? Are you ready for the finale?