It is revealed this week that the character played by Michelle Ryan is actually Nimueh, a powerful sorceress from the past, known by Uther and Gaius. Her form may be different but her motive seems to be to not only take down Camelot, but to kill Merlin as well. I can only assume Merlin's death would be to eliminate the only person who can rival her.

This week, posing as a handmaiden for the Mercian delegation come to Camelot for a peace treaty, she poisons a chalice intended for Arthur and then tells Merlin that the King of Mercia did the deed. This is all to set about a motion of events that would lead to Merlin having to drink from the cup himself and thus being mortally poisoned. Arthur defies his father in order to search for a rare plant that would cure Merlin. Deep in the forest, the handmaiden is there, seemingly in danger of a cockatrice, which Arthur kills. She leads him to a cave where the plant grows (even though they said it grows on the roots of some tree - but whatever), only to reveal herself as a sorceress and use magic to try to prevent him from getting the plant. Even though he's at her mercy, Nimueh doesn't kill Arthur, saying it's not his destiny to die at her hands, and she walks off.

Merlin Cast

Merlin, in a coma state, still manages to send a magical ball of light to guide Arthur to safety, grabbing the plant and evading giant spiders in the process. Upon his return, Uther is upset at this disloyalty and jails Arthur, not letting him get the plant to Gaius. Gwen sneaks into the dungeon and retrieves the plant and Gaius secretly uses magic to create an antidote. Merlin is healed and Arthur is now suspicious. He knows there's a magician out there who is watching over him.

This was probably the best of the first four episodes, possibly due to the lack of the dragon that talks in riddles. Without his infuriating 10-seconds of screen time, I found the episode flowed a lot better. Also this week, we had more of a mythological angle, with other magical creatures appearing in the dragon's absence. The fight with the cockatrice was fun, but you can tell that they don't have the greatest of budgets, as you never see Arthur and the creature fighting in the same shot. The cockatrice was nicely animated, though. I hope to see all manner of strange creature more often. Show me some basilisks, griffins...heck even some manticores or whatever.

I found the opening of this episode to be pretty compelling also. Well, as much as a show like this could be compelling. The accusation Merlin leveled on the King of Mercia made for a great scene, when you didn't know whether Arthur or Merlin would be poisoned, or even if they drank from the cup, whether the cup was actually poisoned at that point. It made for some good suspense. I just don't get why a powerful sorceress like Nimueh would go through all these hoops just to get Merlin killed. She had a bit of alone time with him in the hallway. Why not just kill him there then escape? It's like those Bond villains who set up an elaborate system to kill Bond when an immediate bullet would do the trick.

Score