Episode 5

http://www.buzzfocus.com/2011/04/24/camelot-episode-1-5-review-justice/

'Camelot' Episode 1.5 Review – Justice, A Machiavellian War of Politics Begins

By Bags : April 24, 2011

Arthur (Jamie Campbell Bower) moved one step closer towards his place in Starz’ Camelot legend in “Justice” – even though it was a hypocritical step. His mentor Merlin (Joseph Fiennes), on the other hand, dived further into depravity, while Arthur’s half-sister Morgan (Eva Green) shifted her war of might to a Machiavellian war of politics.

Arthur Jamie Campbell Bower

“Sometimes, I see glimpses of the man you might be.” – Merlin

Camelot continued to present a different kind of Merlin, one that loathes his magic so much that he punishes himself when he uses it. He may have killed the Lady in the Lake and the swordsmith, but it also seems that in his past murder may have been a prevalent thing. In the first two episodes, we saw him forbid Morgan for her use of magic, warning her about the powers she’s dealing with. Is the source of magic in this new Arthurian tale something more sinister than we realize? If so, we’ll probably see more on that in a Camelot Season 2.

Right now, the story is focused on Arthur and his rise to power. As we can see there’s a lot of setup going on for some potentially tumultuous story arcs. First, Arthur slept with Guinevere (Tamsin Egerton) on the night before her wedding. Guinevere had put him at arms length, forbidding him to pursue matters of the heart with her any further. However, glimpses of the relationship and the potential fallout are still present.

In “Justice,” Arthur comes across a man who is about to be hanged for murdering a landowner. Instead of letting the village enact their own form of eye-for-an-eye law, Arthur decided to hold the first Camelot tribunal. At first it seems that it’s a clear-cut case of murder. A father refused to pay his dues. However, Arthur, Kay (Peter Mooney) and Leontis (Philip Winchester) think differently. Their attention was focused on the father’s daughter. For the viewers, we could predict that something had gone on between the daughter and the landowner. At first, it sounds like a case of rape. However, we later learn that in this village, the landowners have permission for “first night” with any girl who lives there. It was also discovered that the landowner had slept with the father’s wife on the first night of their marriage. So, the daughter actually belonged to the landowner. It was a grotesque story of incest, rape and archaic traditions, which Arthur quickly ended.

However, the problem with Arthur’s ruling is that he has become somewhat of a hypocrite. His first kingly ruling, regarding the end of “first night,” is actually contrary to his actions. He may have had consensual sex with Guin, but that doesn’t alleviate what he did. When and if the public finds out, he will be nothing more than a person in power who used that authority to sleep with another man’s woman.

Arthur Eva Green Morgan

While Camelot continues to grow as a rag-tag kingdom, Morgan is busy destroying Arthur’s name. The nun has earned a trusted place in Morgan’s court. The nun tells Morgan it is important to gain the trust of the people so that they begin to spread the word of Morgan’s influence and supposed leadership.

Although we have yet to learn the origin of this wacky nun, we do know that she is willing to pay a mercenary to get beat up in order to push forward her agenda – getting Morgan the crown. She wanted the merchants that were invited to her castle to see that no one is safe under Arthur’s rule. By the end of the episode, the woman that Morgan had previously despised assumed the role of mother. We saw Morgan clinging to the nun’s bosom like a daughter.

“Britain needs a strong leader. Let me prove myself to you.” – Morgan

Morgan slits the throat of the mercenary who was paid to attack the nun. In one stroke, see silenced the man from giving up the nun’s appalling secret and satisfying the blood lust of the people. One thing of note is that Morgan’s servant seems to be having second thoughts about her loyalty to Morgan. There have been several close ups of Morgan’s servant eyeing Morgan’s decisions with distaste. Will she turn to Arthur?

Camelot continues to be an impressive tale. What we need now is for Arthur to prove himself in battle. We’ve seen him protect the father from being killed by the landowner’s brother, but it was hardly a worthwhile test for “Excalibur.”

As for Merlin, Queen Igraine (Claire Forlani) seems to have eyes for him. Apparently, she never found true love with her husband King Uther. Igraine goes to kiss Merlin, but he turns away just before she can. Now that Morgan can turn into Igraine, she may have an even better opportunity to bring about Merlin and Arthur’s downfall if Morgan can exploit this budding relationship.

http://www.avclub.com/articles/justice,54956/

"Justice"

B+
This show features the most "staring at something just off camera" footage of any show on television. Keep chasing that rainbow, Starz! Starz Jamie Campbell Bower (left), Philip Winchester
by Ryan McGee April 29, 2011

Camelot
"Justice"
season 1 , episode 5

B+ av club rating C+ reader rating based on 4 ratings

Last time out, I suggested that Camelot might have found a way to carve its own niche in the crowded costume drama department. The possible method: eschewing realism for a magical, maniacal over-the-top style that emphasized mythmaking over historical reenactment. Turns out that style didn’t carry over through to this week’s episode, which toned down the overt magical elements in favor of down-and-dirty politicking. However, I’m happy to report that what it presented instead gives me greater hope than the previous installment. There’s no telling if this week’s thematic concerns will carry over into the next one, but as Camelot continues to move through its inaugural season, it’s good to at least see them work out the kinks in order to discover what truly works about the show.

Rather than lay out what went down in chronological order, here are five things that this week’s installment of Camelot did to improve upon earlier episodes.

1) It refocused Morgan’s attention back onto Camelot.

Whereas the first two episodes showed Morgan pairing up with Lot to overtake the throne, the past two weeks have seen that singular focus lost amidst wolves, nuns, and shapeshifting. Which hey, can take up a lot of one’s time, I know. But it’s caused a disconnect between what she’s doing and what everyone else is. This isn’t a slice-of-life show like Treme: it should have a singular focus in which all parties are bent towards the same goal. If Arthur is constantly trying to figure out how to use the throne, Morgan should be constantly trying to usurp it. Speaking of Arthur on the throne…

2) It finally started to demonstrate how Arthur will one day rule.

Arthur to this point has had plenty of time to be a son, brother, lover, and pupil. But he’s had very little time to actually rule. Occasionally, the show will feature him spontaneously breaking into speeches that David Axelrod would kill to script himself. But by and large, his position on the crown has been an afterthought. He has been king in name only, so to see him use this week’s trial as a test case for the type of government (and by extension, morality) he wants to have in Britain was refreshing.

Now, the actual legal proceedings were slight suspect. Law & Order, this ain’t. Having it proceed as a mishmash of informal precedents was fine, but for everyone but Arthur’s brother ready to hang Colfur through most of the trial bordered on the ridiculous. Still, it did lead to a united effort for Arthur and his knights, leading to the genuinely thrilling scene of the quintet storming into battle together to fight Ewan and annex Exham under the flag of Camelot. It stood in marked contrast with Morgan’s murder of the mercenary: one might have been the morally “right” way to exercise power, but the latter was flashier and much more seductive. Speaking of seductive…

3) The show put its magical aspects in the background, yet more omnipresent than ever.

The apeshit way in which magic was doled out last week was fairly pleasurable, but also paper-thin. It’s the easiest way for the show to go, but in some ways is as dangerous as magic is within the show itself. Having Morgan and Merlin both act like recovering junkies in the first part of the episode was eye-rolling, but as the episode itself rolled on, one could see the darkness embedded in the very DNA of the countryside.

First up, it seems pretty clear that The Woman in Black (Lost fans will know why I call the still unnamed nun this) taught Morgan everything she knows about magic. This means not having Morgan use magic as a crutch to bodysnatch Igraine and murder Arthur in the middle of the night. Instead, it’s about taking a more Palpatine approach to politics, using man’s innate weakness as a way to not only allow Morgan to capture the crown, but also maintain it. It’s the politics of fear versus the politics of hope, which may be a comment on current political conditions around the world or simply a convenient binary to divide the two sides.

That being said, Merlin’s acts last week make his version of Isaac Asimov’s psychohistory seem tainted as well. Given his detox after obtaining Excalibur, one can’t help but wonder how influenced Merlin’s master plan is by the darkness he once wielded. Arthur’s ascendance is just the “first phase” of an ultimate end-game for Britain. But what’s great about Merlin’s descent last week is that all of his visions for the future are now essentially tainted. That removes things in Camelot from the simple execution of fate and returns agency much more to free will.

In both cases, it means that magic is still woven into the power struggle in the country, but in a more subtle, substantial way. Maybe there’s a scene down the line that will erupt into this show’s version of The Battle of Hogwarts. But for now, it’s latent but omnipresent background to a story about the best way to win over the masses: through appealing to their inner best selves or to their worst inner demons. Speaking of those masses…

4) It finally started to contextualize life outside of the castle walls.

Most of the action in Camelot has stayed within the homes of Arthur and Morgan, with the occasional hut seemingly re-used for every single scene indicating “village.” Some people have flocked to Camelot in order to see the boy king, but the majority of the countryside has kept on living as they always have. Exham has its own curious rules about deflowering its female citizens, but there’s every indication that 1) Exham is not alone in this ritual and 2) even if not, Britain still lives in an essentially tribal culture, in which many different groups still adhere to singular traditions outside of what Arthur views as the “normal.”

Indeed, part of what made “Justice” so successful is the overwhelming nature of the task at hand for Arthur. Solving one particular trial isn’t even the tip of the iceberg, as establishing a commonality of morality without imposing pure subjugation will be a tricky endeavor going forth. Arthur wants to lead by example, not dictum. He does incorporate Exham into Camelot’s rule, but only as a last resort. He would have preferred his judgment in Camelot to stand as a beacon, but he’s also not afraid to clamp down when necessary. And finally, speaking of other ways that Arthur improved this week…

5) The show finally tampered down on the Arthur/Guinevere romance.

Easily the worst aspect of the show so far has been the overwrought scenes between these two, which played like “Nicholas Sparks in chain mail”. When Arthur told her last week that it was over between them, I didn’t believe it for a second. And Lord knows this will pop up down the line again. But that’s fine: so long as it doesn’t dominate every single episode, it can reemerge at a time organic to the story. After all, nominally we know how this story ends, right? Having it be forefront at all times is exhausting, especially with there being no way for anything to happen at this point.

And lo, Arthur treating Guinevere as a human being and not something he wants to constantly lick did as much for his character as the trial did. Not only does he allow her to help organize a chaotic Camelot (a problem that will hopefully cease to be once Arthur’s message spreads to nearby villages, making each one a version of the castle unto itself), but also enlists her to help with the trial. There’s a time and place for angst between these two, but that should be at least a few episodes away at this point. Let them breathe as individuals, and perhaps we might actually care about them as a pair later on. Watching them interact as mature adults and not petulant children is a step in the right direction for both of them.

Random observations:

* When that goat showed up in Guinevere’s room, I did my best Krieger impression: “Awww, goatly.”
* My Comcast episode description names the nun's character as "Sybil." Have we heard this mentioned in an episode to date? It's more than possible I just didn't hear it.
* Thanks to Sidney Lumet’s recent death, I couldn’t help but watch Arthur and Company deliberate without dubbing it “Twelve Vaguely Angry Men Around A Round Table.”
* Not sure about the tension between Igraine and Merlin, unless the payoff is eventually Morgan uses her connection to Igraine to get Merlin to dive back into the world of magic again.
* I enjoyed the way in which Arthur connected with Colfur over the topic of surrogate parenting, mostly because the show never made him say, “Because I was raised by surrogates myself!” Anytime the show can show, not tell, I’m behind it 100%.
* "He can have the steam off my shite before he can have anything!"

http://www.televisionwithoutpity.com/telefile/2011/05/wait----did-camelot-just-becom.php

Let's Review, Shall We?
Wait -- Did Camelot Just Become Watchable This Week?
by Mindy Monez May 2, 2011 11:24 AM

I've been thoroughly enjoying the terrible writing and ridiculous overacting on Starz' Camelot series these past few weeks, much in the same way I've been having a wonderful time watching and laughing at Hellcats and The Event in their respective first seasons. But something unpredictable happened last Friday. Camelot delivered an episode that was not only not the most hilarious thing I'd seen all week, but was also kind of... badass? And almost... good? I'm freaking out. Let's discuss this rare phenomenon.

Anti-Rape Stance: An Incredibly Effective Way to Make a Character Likable
Up until this week, I was far from sold on Arthur as king, what with his weepy faces, incompetence as a leader and obsession with repeatedly daydreaming about Guinevere getting sand all over her boobs. Great way to fix that quickly? Have him come down hard on rapists! What am I gonna do? Say he's wrong for being anti-rape? Get outta town.

Even If It Is Ripped Off from Braveheart
Hey, I don't mind that this week's rape storyline was a prominent part of Braveheart -- Braveheart is awesome. If Arthur rides his horse into someone's bedroom just to smash their skull with an improvised bludgeoning device next week, this is going to be my new favorite show.

I've Never Loved a Man Ponytail So Much
Arthur brushed his hair and pulled it back this week and instantly transformed into a man I almost take seriously. Ordinarily, man ponytails have the opposite effect on me, but I guess that's why he's the Magical Predestined King.

Public Throat Slicings
Morgan was so badass in that moment, wasn't she? That was such a surprising and kick-ass murder, it looked like something that would be on another, better show. And the way she and Arthur had simultaneous rallies at the end finally set up their warring factions in an almost well written way. Are the writers learning how to tell stories effectively all of a sudden? The world is upside down.

Supporting Characters Are People Too
I didn't care much about Arthur's soldiers until this week, when Gawain stole my heart with his whole impassioned anti-rape situation. I really can't stress enough that they found a silver bullet with this "Camelot Hates Rape" thing.

Who Doesn't Love an Evil Nun?
I still don't understand exactly what Morgan's relationship with Evil Nun is all about, but I know I loved her whole frail old woman routine this episode. She's like the Bugs Bunny of medieval murder or something with her trickery.

More People Need to Be Mean to Igraine
Merlin screaming at Claire Forlani was the episode's most satisfying thing next to Morgan's murder show. Why does Igraine want to make out with Merlin, again? Correct me if I'm wrong, but didn't he get her raped and then steal her baby? Don't hook up with that guy, idiot.

Less Guinevere
She wasn't in this episode much, and I don't remember seeing her boobs flying around the oceanside even once. I like her a lot better that way.

Are you watching this ridiculousness? Tell us what you thought of the episode in the comments!

http://www.assignmentx.com/2011/tv-review-camelot-season-1-justice/

TV Review: CAMELOT – Season 1 – “Justice”
With Merlin out of sorts, Arthur rules on his own with interesting results
Grade: B+

By SEAN ELLIOTT / Contributing Writer
Posted: May 6th, 2011 / 03:55 PM

Stars: Jamie Campbell Bower, Joseph Fiennes, Eva Green, Claire Forlani
Writer: Sarah Phelps & Terry Cafolla
Director: Stefan Schwartz
Network: Starz, airs Friday nights
Original Telecast: April 29th, 2010

“Justice” is an interesting episode of CAMELOT. It’s one of the first times we get to see King Arthur (Jamie Campbell Bower) rule without the counsel or advice of Merlin (Joseph Fiennes). Since Merlin has returned from his journey to fetch the king a new sword, and used his magic which cost the lives of both the swordsmith and his daughter; he’s gone a bit round the bend.

This is the first time we don’t see Merlin as the sage who offers impeccable counsel to the young king. Instead Merlin spends most of the episode in his chambers rambling on about plans and apparent cosmic predictions. Queen Igraine (Claire Forlani) is his only real visitor, and she manages to draw him back to himself. He in turn tells her the real story of where the sword Excalibur came from, and she tries to kiss him. Merlin blazes again, and she flees. It is interesting that she would be attracted to the man who is directly responsible for a lot of the pain in her life.

Arthur and his men, meanwhile are returning to Camelot when they are summoned from the road by a young girl who begs them to stop her father from killing a man. Arthur and the knights are too late, and the girl’s father is in the process of being lynched by a mob when the King and company intervene. Arthur decides to hold a trial in Camelot, and during the course of this, Lady Guinevere (Tasmin Egerton) find out that the girl’s father was protecting her from being raped by the man who ran their village. Evidently the family with the most wealth and clout had ruled the village with fear for years and insisted on being the first to lay with every girl in the village.

All of this comes to light and Arthur makes the proclamation that the man and his daughter are to be banished from the village as punishment for killing the village leader. This of course doesn’t sit well with the villagers related to the dead man and in the end Arthur and the knights have to dispatch several of them to make an example of Camelot’s rule being absolute law.

Meanwhile over in the shady side of town, Morgan Le Fey (Eva Green) is plotting with her not-so-holy Nun, Sybil (Sinead Cusack) to turn all of the more prominent men of the area in the various cities and villages against Arthur and Camelot. This is accomplished when the Nun has herself beaten by a mercenary and then Morgan executes this same mercenary before the crowd of people she wishes to have on her side. Once again, the forces of darkness are growing in strength and it will be interesting to see if Merlin has to resort to using magic to defend the newly born dynasty of Arthur against them.

The series continues to be interesting, well-written, and amazingly costumed and produced. If you haven’t checked it out, you should see if Starz is re-running the earlier episodes and catch up, because this is a consistently well-done series to watch.

http://theramblingfeminist.wordpress.com/2011/04/30/feminist-tv-review-camelot-starz-1x05/

feminist tv review: Camelot (Starz) 1×05
April 30, 2011 — theramblingfeminist

This was a significantly better episode than all the others, and not just because they managed to make an episode without supplementary smut. Feminist agenda in three parts and spoilers ahead…

First, Sibyl (sp?) the nun and Morgan’s relationship has grown even more complex. We know that Sibyl took care of Morgan when Uther banished Morgan to a nunnery somewhere; we know that she has some (though we can’t be sure what) interest in ensuring Morgan is successful in her plans to overthrow Arthur, and more than that she has an interest in Morgan staying alive and preferably away from magic. In this episode we saw Sibyl go to extreme to ensure Morgan had the support of the land’s bourgeoisie, merchants and traders- who she was right in assuming have important political use. What’s most important here is that Morgan actually listened to the advice (good advice!)- conditionally, yes, but she still listened; this furthered the spirit of female collaboration in her court. Yes, this feminist is a biased feminist, I’m certainly counting myself in the ranks of Team Morgan (and Vivian and Sibyl).

Second, we had Guinevere display the qualities that would certainly make her a great queen. She saw need and instead of just complaining about it, she resolved to not only do it, but also to find a way to manage Camelot’s growing household practically. Even more than that, she took a strong stance against the abuse of women being perpetrated in a village and was instrumental in the case being heard at court; (it’s important to point out that we saw multiple male characters take a strong stance against rape here and that the show didn’t just leave it at female indignation). I’m really looking forward to see Guinevere continue grow past Arthur, and past Leontes.

Finally, we got a surprising perspective from Queen Igraine. I’ve been very hard on her in the past, and while I don’t take that back, I do have to acknowledge what we learned from her. In a conversation with Merlin we learned that before all these kings took an interest in her beauty, she was “strong, opinionated…and full of hope” and that she “dreamt of a husband who’d treat [her] as an equal”. I’m hoping this was the show’s way of introducing her journey back to that strong and opinionated woman. It’s certainly worth considering what it would to take to break her from the middle age feminist to the milder and meeker Igraine we see now (though to survive what she did, you’d still have to maintain a steel spine).

It’s probably hopeless to wish for more episodes like this in a show like Camelot, but I’m glad that at least this show, unlike Game of Thrones, doesn’t leave me feeling like a raw nerve ending and frustrated all the damn time. I’m looking forward to more of Morgan, Vivian, and Sibyl, more of Igraine and Guinevere (preferably developing a friendship), and really, any more female characters are always welcome in a show about Arthur and his manly knights.

http://www.geekmom.com/2011/05/camelot-justice-episode-five-its-all-about-the-little-people/

Camelot: Justice Episode Five: It’s All About the Little People

I started watching this show without expecting much in the way of quality, as I’ve found very few Arthurian movies or television shows that I really enjoy.

And the first three episodes lived down to my expectations, as can be seen from the recaps of episodes one, two and three.

Episode four, however, was a vast improvement. It was as if the writers stopped setting up the legend and started focusing on stories about the characters they’d created. I was worried the follow-up episode would go back to the pattern of the first three but, instead, it maintained quality.

I could get hooked on this show. And here I thought I’d be hooked more on Showtime’s The Borgias or HBO’s A Game of Thrones. Alas, the first is gorgeous but somewhat empty and the second has a very long setup.

Justice is split about equally into three separate plots that center around Arthur, Morgan, and Merlin.

Arthur and his party are returning from somewhere when a teenage girl runs to them for help, saying her farmer father is killing the head man of the village. The king and his knights are too late, as the farmer has already killed someone and he’s in the middle of being hanged for his crime. Arthur intervenes, claims that justice will not be done without a proper hearing, and moves the trial to Camelot.

It’s fairly clear to a viewer what is really going on, namely that the “respected leader of the community” was at the farm to rape the teenage daughter. It takes a while to uncover exactly why the father won’t talk about this part. Eventually, it comes out that the leader and his family had been raping virgin girls for years. Except they don’t call it “rape,” they call it their right as leader of the community to get the “first taste.”

So, the rapist who was killed was also actually the girl’s brother, as their mutual father had raped the farmer’s wife before their wedding night. Arthur commutes the farmer’s sentence to banishment but all does not go well when the farmer goes back to his home to collect his things.

A fight breaks out between the villagers and Gawain. Eventually, Arthur and the rest of the knights show up (though Gawain really didn’t seem to need much help) and some of the villagers are killed. But the new head man, the brother of the man who was murdered, is left alive. Arthur says he’s already lost face in his community. I’m thinking this is a mistake that’s going to come back to haunt him.

As Guinivere is the one who gets the full story out of the girl. Arthur thanks her for that. In the meantime, Guinivere also decides to “organize” everyone inside the castle walls because it’s too chaotic and a goat keeps showing up in her bedroom. Still, she’s doing something useful this episode and that’s a big improvement over pining for Arthur. And Arthur actually behaving like a leader was an even better development.

Meanwhile, at her home of Castle Pendragon, Morgan also wants to help the “common people” so they’ll be her friends and support her bid for power. Since she’s so selfish, she can’t quite see how to do this, so the Abbess staying with Morgan comes up with a plan.

It involves inviting everyone to a feast and listening to their complaints and offering to help. As Morgan is completely self-centered and not really capable of empathy, I suspect this won’t go well. But the he Abbess has a secret plan. That involves paying a mercenary to beat her up, so she can enter Morgan’s dinner battered and bloody. This causes everyone to question whether Arthur can keep the peace in his kingdom if even a nun isn’t safe. That was exactly what the Abbess wanted. Morgan is thrilled with how it’s going until the mercenary shows up and is about to give away the secret. Thinking on her feet, Morgan identifies the mercenary as the man who attacked the Abbess and slits the mercenary’s throat before he can protest. He takes a long time to die, as he remains upright and bleeding while Morgan makes a speech about protecting everyone.

Arthur let his enemy live. Morgan, not so much. The Abbess didn’t seem too upset about being responsible for the man’s death either.

The shortest subplot centered on Merlin going crazy in reaction to having killed poor Excaliber when he obtained the sword for Arthur last episode. Merlin is shaking and writing all sorts of stuff on parchment that doesn’t seem to make sense but looks suspiciously like Leonardo Da Vinci drawings. Igraine is the one who finds Merlin in his hidden lair and brings him food and eventually settles him down. They talk about their pasts and what they wanted out of life, which is a nice scene and adds a lot to Igraine, who had previously been a one-note character. Igraine tries to kiss Merlin but he goes insane again, screaming at her like Hamlet screamed at Ophelia. Merlin has issues with women.

I rather like the idea of an Igraine/Merlin pairing in this show. They’re both older characters who’ve seen a great deal and know about being pawns to power.

Now, if they could only get Igraine to act like the chatelaine of the castle, which she really should be as Dowager Queen, instead of letting Guinevere take on the job.

At the end, a hidden Merlin witnesses Arthur passing judgment and he’s proud of him.

So all three characters are feeling the effects of power. Arthur is trying to flex his muscles to make things just, Morgan is using “protecting the people” as a way to gain power, and Merlin is simply trying to survive after having unjustly committed murder with his powers in what he sees is a good cause.

http://grizzlybomb.com/2011/05/01/camelot-review-episode-5-justice/

Camelot Review: Episode 5 – Justice
Posted on May 1, 2011 by darthsaeris

After a week of being MIA, I was ready to jump back into the world of Camelot. This week’s episode was properly titled ‘Justice’ because quite frankly that’s what it was all about. It was another episode where not much moves along in terms of action until the end, but we at least get to see Arthur not be a total little bitch. He actually passed for a man and a good King in this episode, even though it cost him a lot of enemies.

"Seriously bro, you need to kick it up a notch with the whole king thing."

‘Justice’ with Arthur and his warriors riding back to Camelot, when a girl comes running out of the forest calling for help for her father. Arthur and his men have her take them to her village and they arrive seeing a man being hanged by the residents. Arthur stops this, demanding that Camelot provide a trial for the man before he is sentenced to death. Arthur exudes some authority here and throughout the episode to the villagers, but the head of the village doesn’t seem to be intimidated by his “king”, asserting that villages such as his can handle things on their own.

As the trial proceeds at Camelot, the man who killed the village head’s brother, Colfur explains his side of the story as does the village head who’s name is Ewan. Arthur knows that Colfur isn’t sharing something and that all is not as it seems. Which of course… it isn’t.

Arthur, actually looking like a king

Merlin doesn’t have much to do in this episode. He is still reeling from the beating he provoked last episode and his part in the death of Excalibur. He spends most his time below Camelot writing strange symbols and drawings that appear to show him what may be coming in the future. I like that they kept Merlin out of this one just to give Arthur a little credibility on his own. Seriously, I want a King Arthur with a pair on him by the end of this season!

Her der der...

Morgan is doing her best in the meantime to undermine her brother’s rule, with the help of her not so holy Nun buddy Sybil. It is unclear to me what Sybil’s aim is in the scheme of things. She is obviously a mother figure to Morgan and understands the dark power she is messing with, but it makes you wonder if she is helping her just to help her, or is there something else behind it? Sybil is Morgan’s Merlin; they both seem to have ulterior motives in motion beyond their young apprentices and will go to any means to achieve them. After a crafty little scheme concocted by Sybil, Morgan seems at the end of the episode to have the various merchants and village elders on her side through the influence of fear and want of a strong leader. Eva Green was amazing in this episode, her voice alone carrying a commanding tone during her speech to those gathered at Castle Pendragon. I really doubt I would follow the show as closely if she wasn’t a part of it.

Arthur’s punishment to Colfur for murdering Ewan’s brother is that he be banished from the village after it came out that Ewan’s brother was there to rape Colfur’s daughter because the head of the village gets everyone’s daughter when they’re of age. Arthur orders that the practice end but things don’t go so smoothly at the village when Gawain is escorting Colfur and his daughter out. After laying down some royal pain on the villagers who attacked, Arthur proclaims that no women of the village will be harmed and that it is now under his protection.

ACTION! ACTION! ACTION!

I give the episode a 3.5 out of 5 bears. It had some great performances by not only Eva Green but by Liam Cunningham who played Colfur. Cunningham is no stranger to fantasy/medieval movies, his credits including: Clash of the Titans, Centurion and First Knight where he played one of King Arthur’s knights! Could it be too much to ask that he perhaps move into Camelot and join Arthur’s warriors? I sure the hell hope so. I really enjoyed seeing Arthur acting more like a King and thinking with his head instead of his sword. Yes, I’m talking about the other sword. He seems to be pretty well over Guinevere for the moment and I’m liking his character better for it, something that was slipping in the past couple installments. I hope the story moves along a little faster in the upcoming episodes and Arthur has an opportunity to deal with Morgan and the complications she is causing.

If you missed any of my past reviews, by all means check them out below!

http://lucre-noin.livejournal.com/123729.html

Current Mood:
shocked shocked

This episode of Camelot was about a goat.
No, really, it was not. But it could have been because there was a goat and THERE for A MOMENT I hoped it was going to become interesting..

Morgan and all that stuff (evil plans and lesbian hand-in-hand)
It's strange but I loved Vivian, in this episode, also if she didn't say a word. Here Morgan is adjusting with her new Igrain-form and absorbing the advises of the EVIL NUN (in capsolock because she is particularly evil). The NUN decides that Morgan should have the people on her side (no way!) and Morgan, after some doubts, agrees. So they call a lot of people, the nun makes a mercenary beat her so the nun can enter in the room all bloody and hurt and Morgan can be all "OMG, they hurt you! I am in so much pain and sorrow!" and the people could sympathize with her. It was actually an interesting part and I loved Morgan in all of it (Eva Grean is a great actress).

I didn't like when they killed the mercenary. HE seemed an interesting character (IS THAT YOU REDEEMED-BRONN?).

And all the time Vivian was watching Morgan with disappointed glances and- she was great.

(Did Morgan say "A NATION"? I may be wrong but... isn't it a little anacronistic?)

WTF is Merlin doing
I don't know. Random things. I don't care. He was all emo. But I loved the scenes between him and Igraine. Igraine is lovely again. And they were so close and I really hoped they would kiss. But they did not D: evil plot.

Arthur and his happy friends
I liked Arthur in this episode. He was nice without all that love for Guinevere and Guinevere was nice too. The plot was interesting but a bit dull, I mean, I already inderstood all that was happing even before they started thinking to explain it. I liked the fact that Arthur started to do something, finally, instead of puppying around Guinevere and Merlin all the time.

THE KNIGHTS! They are lovely. I think I am in love with Ulfius. Why did he have no lines? D: I want an episode ALL ABOUT HIM. Please, Starz. I like Brastias, too.
Gawain and Kay, of course, were perfect but I'm disappoited by the lack of slashy interactions DX

However, I like Gawain's hint at his own past and I wonder who hurt his mother. I like also the fact that he is the "knight protector of ladies and women" as in the legend (I have to admit that I prefer the original reason but this one is realistical and dramatic too).

To sum up
To sum up there was a scene where Guinevere was washing her own hair and suddenly there is a goat. AND IT DIDN'T MAKE ANY SENSE.

Who is that goat? Is it a friend of Morgan's Owl? Will we see their adventures around England? Will they fight Saxons together and then sail the seven seas looking for the Grail?

Will I write a story ABOUT THE GOAT?No, because I just wrote an original storya about a djinn named Jaqer and a pirate named Rallamae and I could definitely write a story about a goat and an owl looking for the Holy Grail.