Merlin Series 5 Episode 4 "Another's Sorrow" Review

If you didn't catch this week's episode of Merlin go watch it before you read on, because there be spoilers below. You have been warned!

I'm going to do this review in the form of like/dislike lists like I did with last week's episode. This is because there's not much for me to say in general about the episode's place in the series and so forth. Yes, it was another one of those one-off episodes where Morgana has a plot that Merlin begins to discover and Arthur... /that

Likes List or The Good in this Episode: 

1) Merlin taking a commanding tone with Arthur twice in the episode when he knows Arthur's about to do something he shouldn't! It was awesome. Especially the second one at the end of the episode because that came in the context of Merlin advising Arthur about an issue that's important to the whole kingdom that they're trying to build. It was win.

2) The show even addressing the whole Albion thing and actually showing us a concrete step that Arthur is taking to change the way his Kingdom is run.

3) The earthquake magic that Merlin does.

4) ummm... Gaius not being a total fool and actually figuring out that "Hilde" or whatever her name is has something weird about her. Although, really, with a medical examination and his powers you'd think he'd have learned a bit more!

5) ok... I'm trying to think of a fifth thing I liked, but really can't. Sorry.


Dislikes List of The Bad in this Episode: 

1) The pointlessness of this whole episode and the "we've already been through this same situation..." feeling. This goes for both the big details and the small, for example, the patch of woods they were in was too familiar for me while Arthur and his Knights seemed to have no clue where they were going!

2) No signs of any possible REVEAL... very disappointed, although I know I shouldn't be by this point!

3) Morgana's unbelievable disguise. I knew her from the moment they showed us her "old servant" face. And, actually, I guessed that the trick would be something along those lines before we even saw that whole scene so... really uncool.

4) People being stupid as usual. For example, Merlin begins to run, as if for his life, the moment he sees Morgana's name etched into that rock. No offense, Merlin, but a two year old would have probably realized that wasn't the smartest thing to do.

5) The tired old use of the same formula for the episodes. For example, instead of Arthur being an idiot and listening to Mithian, why couldn't it have been Sir Leon she tricks? She seemed happy to see him at first. He's earned his own episode by this point. Or... anything a little different would have been cool at this point. In the first two seasons they threw random things at us, like Merlin's father being a Dragonlord and Merlin's love interest and that creepy witch-hunter dude. I feel like they've sort of lost the will to take risks, no matter how small.

6) What has Mordred been doing all this time? No, really. I haven't seen him do anything since he was made a knight. He wasn't even with them on the pointless quest to save Mithian's father... really?

7) Gwen's pointlessness.


Aaaand I think that's it for this week. Overall, it was a watchable episode, as they always are, because of the tiny hints of magic that we get and the fact that I've watched so many episodes already I might as well stick it out a little bit longer. On it's own merit, though it was sub-par and unoriginal. The only real advance it's made to the series as a whole is the acknowledgement of Albion and the chance in Camelot that came at the end.