Merlin Series 5 Episode 11 Review: The Drawing of the Dark

BE WARNED. THERE BE MAJOR SPOILERS BELOW.

Also, if you still haven't go watch the episode. It may be one of the few this series that are actually worth it.

Not because it was awesome. Not because Merlin stopped being an idiot - in fact he's more of an idiot than ever and I just wanted to yell at him on several occasions here. Not because Arthur somehow lives up to his name as some kind of special King.

Nope.

It's because of the last few minutes, Mordred, and Alexander Vlahos. I still don't think he's a perfect actor for the role, I don't think he's as good as Colin Morgan overall, but what I do know is that he delivered those final few minutes of the episode well. And it wasn't all his doing. They were actually written well.

I'm not going to comment on how Mordred got to the situation he was in, because that will only make me angry. Very angry. All I want to say is that I saw Mordred's power!scream coming and it was very satisfying. For once, something that I wanted to happen on this show actually did happen. Just like that. It made sense. And we got to see MAGIC being used. No eyes flashing that weird yellowish orange color, no throwing people around, just plain powerful magic. It was awesome.

I also sort of started screaming/clapping when Mordred told Morgana about Merlin. FINALLY. Nevermind the fact that she should have already known or suspected. Never mind the stupidity of the entire episode and the lame motivations and all that. The point is, it happened. Morgana knows about Merlin.

Needless to say (if you've read any of my previous Merlin reviews you probably know this) I was staunchly on Mordred's side in this and hated both Merlin and Arthur for their stupidity. Also the writers, without whom Merlin and Arthur could never have been so brain-damaged. I was also very pleasantly surprised by Gaius. He was speaking sense for once when he reminded Merlin that he had done the same thing hundreds of times.

In conclusion, the episode sucked up until the last 10 minutes, which made my day. For all Merlin fans I think it will be worth watching, just for that sort of reveal. And of course, Julian Jones is the writer behind this long-awaited half-reveal. (lol)

So... let me know what you think and don't forget to submit your reveal interpretation to The Great Merlin Fan Challenge!