Merlin Season 5 Episode 6: The Dark Tower

As usual, there will be spoilers so do not proceed unless you're ok with being spoiled or have already watched the episode!


Overall, I didn't find this episode as annoying or boring or outright offensive as I found some of the earlier ones this season. It was not bad. The acting (mostly Gwen and Morgana) was pretty solid. Merlin wasn't too much of an idiot. Actually, I think the episode benefited from the time it took away from Arthur and Merlin and all the rest of it. Refocusing on Gwen's underused character and Morgana's latest plot wasn't a bad choice at all.

There were some creepy moments that showed the levels of evil Morgana's reached and also gave Angel Coulby an excellent opportunity to actually act. I just wish they would find her some new dresses that actually cover her breasts... I mean, even while being tortured into insanity we had to get shots of her chest area... why?


I did have a couple of questions for the writers of this episode:

1) Where does Morgana keep getting these Dark Towers and Castles?

2) Did the Mordred and Morgana actors refuse to appear in the same episode or something? Where's Mordred?

3) What was the actual point of Queen Mab in this episode? Also, has she been talking lessons from Trelawney? "Open your Inner Eye and Look into the Future!"...>.>

4) Since you remembered that Gwen had a father on this show once, could you not also remember that he died because of Uther's anti-magic policies? Shouldn't this affect Gwen's whole outlook and shouldn't it make her see the anti-magic discrimination for what it is? A little hint of this before she had been captured by Morgana would have made her change and the ending of this episode so much more meaningful.

5) Elyan being the one too die was too predictable and a little irritating given Gwen's turn. Just don't bring him back from the dead.

Finally, I do want to say that I like where this episode took the series. I know it's not going to last, but it's still interesting to see Gwen and Morgana interact, especially with their history in seasons 1 and 2!

Hope you enjoyed my brief review, let me know what you think of the episode!