**SPOILERS BELOW**
It's pretty clear from the start that the first scene has to be some sort of lovely dream sequence. Gwen (Angel Coulby) is being crowned queen by Arthur (Bradley James), who is wearing the Kings crown, with Merlin (Colin Morgan) and Gaius (Richard Wilson) smiling happily. Gwen and Arthur definitely have their own soundtrack, every time they are together in a moment of their love. It's fairly similar to the music in the love moments in Braveheart--I've checked, not the same composer.
Oops, not a lovely dream, but Morgana's nightmare! I'm not sure why, but I kind of find this funny--maybe it's because I just typed that! LOL! Anyway, getting off topic here. When Gwen comes to check on her, she says all is well, and then we see sneer number one, from Morgana (Katie McGrath).
Morgana is lured to a deep part of the castle by her sister Morgause (Emilia Fox) so that they can have a chat. I'm thinking that when all is said and done, even though Morgana and Morgause are sisters, this won't matter to Morgause when she can have what she's wanting, Camelot--but we shall see, shall we. Anyway, Morgana tells big sis about her dream of Gwen becoming queen...while doing this she looks like she's in so much pain, like the thought of Gwen having the throne would kill her. Remember back to our first introduction to Morgause, she gave Morgana a bracelet to help her to sleep, well, it was to stop the premonitions from coming to her in her sleep. Apparently some are too strong to be stopped by a silly little bracelet, and this is one of them (which we all know is true). Morgana can't believe that a serving girl would ever become queen, but Morgause cautions her, and then tells her that she must destroy the relationship between Arthur and "this Gwen." Wait, she acts like she knows nothing of this relationship, yet earlier in the series, she had Gwen's brother kidnapped in order to get Arthur to come to the rescue. Hmm...a bit of an oversight, I would say. Oh, goody, there's smirk number 2!
Morgana then goes and confronts Gwen about her feelings for Arthur, trying to play nice, and sympathize with her about having to hide her feelings. Gwen doesn't seem to fall for it, she also doesn't admit her feelings either. She quickly removes herself from the room. Good for you Gwen!
So it didn't work to talk to Gwen, so then she goes to chat with Arthur, who falls right into her plot. He admits to liking Gwen, as soon as Morgana says that Gwen speaks of him all the time--silly Arthur, acting like a high school boy. And smirk number 3! She encourages him to spend some time with Gwen, and that no one needs to know, because he is the future king and can set his own rules.
When told by Merlin that Arthur wants to spend the day with her, Gwen is apprehensive (again, good job, Gwen), but agrees to go anyway. She then fibs to Morgana about feeling ill so that she could have the next day off. Morgana agrees, but she clearly knows what's really happening, because we see smirk number 4!
The next day, Merlin takes Gwen out to meet Arthur in the forest. As Merlin takes his leave, we see that Morgana has followed them...ah, and we see sneer number 5! As she leaves back to Camelot, and urges Uther (Anthony Head) to go for a ride with her...clearly to take him to see Arthur and his unworthy love having a nice afternoon picnic, so sad, really!
When we do see the lovely picnic that Arthur and Gwen are having, we see the connection they hold, as Arthur shares that he sometimes thinks about leaving Camelot, and how things would be different. We see a different side to Arthur when he's with Gwen. The softer, warmer side, the side that would make him the king that he is destined to become. Aww...right when they are having a lovely romantic moment, and kiss, Uther and Morgana come riding up, and ruin it--well the cat's out of the bag, isn't it?!
Uther's response is not what I expected. Back at the castle, he walks in, and starts laughing, saying that he was young once too, and has experienced the temptation of serving girls. Arthur seems relieved, for a moment, but then Uther tells him that he cannot allow it to continue. With this, Arthur finally stands up to his father, and states he will no longer deny his feelings and that he loves Gwen! WOW!!! This is big for Arthur. Well, Uther can't have that, now can he?! So he...banishes Gwen from Camelot. Little harsh, don't you think?! When Arthur pleads with his father, Uther
Arthur and Merlin talk about what has happened, and Morgana appears, looking so sad, but as Merlin is leaving the room, we see sneer number 6! Morgana is acting all sympathetic to Arthur, since she heard what has happened. She asks him what he will do, and he says, he will leave with her. Aww...so sweet. I just love him...but I digress. She acts all concerned, because he would be giving up his right to the throne. His response..."One day we will return to Camelot together and Guinevere will take her place on the throne beside me." GO ARTHUR! Morgana seems taken back by this, unable to respond, tears come to her eyes, and she tries her hardest to smile.
Merlin is really sweet, and honestly cares for people, which we have seen be his downfall in the past. This time though the love (friendship love, people) he shows Gwen, when she is digesting the fact that she will be leaving everything she's ever known is touching. This is definitely a fellow that I would want on my side.
Then Morgana puts something, probably magical, under Arthur's pillow...as she drops the pillow back down, we see smirk number 7! Then she goes to visit Uther, who is very happy to see her. I know that he's her real dad, but he seems far to excited to see her or spend time with her, what about his son...he doesn't seem to care too much about him, other than him becoming the next king. Morgana talks Uther into thinking that Arthur has been enchanted--because Arthur tells her everything (yeah, right) and she had never been told about his love for Gwen. So Uther has Arthur's room searched, and what do they find? The satchel that Morgana put under his pillow.
Well, Uther has played completely into Morgana's hand, and now thinks that Gwen put an enchantment on Arthur--because a prince could never fall in love with a serving girl! To that, Uther sentences Gwen to death, because he must break the enchantment on Arthur. It has to be said, Bradley James does great in this scene. The torment on his face, as he says he will leave with her and relinquish his rights to the throne. That seems to make Uther more convinced that he's enchanted, because his son would never say that...clearly he doesn't know his son well. As both are restrained and Gwen is taken away, there is a moment where Arthur reaches her, kisses her and tells her that he will always love her. Tears came to my eyes, such a heart wrenching scene. Then in the background, we see that Morgana is giving sneer number 8, and Gwen saw it too!
Merlin goes to talk to Gwen, and says they need to find the person that really put that under Arthur's bed. Gwen shares what she saw in the throne room, Morgana smiling as she was drug out. She thinks that Merlin won't believe her, but we know he does! Gwen figured it all out though, that it was no coincidence that they were found in the woods and that Morgana is not to be trusted! YEAH!! Finally!! Merlin goes to Gaius, and talks Merlin into not telling Uther is was Morgana, as he won't believe him...true, we've seen Uther's blind eye when it comes to Morgana. Merlin then gets the idea, that if they can't reveal the real sorcerer, they will have to invent one.
The plan: disguise Merlin as another, have him get caught putting an identical satchel under Arthur's pillow, then Gwen would have to be free, and Merlin could us magic to escape. And we see Merlin use magic to become the old man, with the long white beard that is usually thought of when referring to the Merlin legends. Interesting way to bring that image into this version of the story. I rather like it.
All begins to go as planned, Old Merlin is found by Arthur putting the satchel under his pillow, and an amusing scene commences. Upon Old Merlin making a run for it, he tries a few times to turn back to his young self, to no avail. He gets caught and when he's taken to Uther, Morgana seems a bit taken back, no sneer, just shock. Old Merlin says the reason he did it was to cause Arthur to fall in love with a serving girl to bring shame to the throne. When Uther asks if he has wronged him in some way, Old Merlin goes off, clearly his real thoughts about Uther and Arthur. Old Merlin met his goal, Gwen is released, and he then is sentenced to death. Let's hope he can break the spell that he put on himself in time!
Gaius tells Old Merlin that he can make an antidote, but it will take longer than he has, so he tells Merlin to stall...how? Nothing seems to work...and right as Gaius finishes the potion, Old Merlin is being taken to be burned at the stake...will he get away? Will the potion work? How does this all go about? How does Morgana handle all this, knowing that the Old Merlin, was covering for her? What will happen to Arthur and Gwen? You must watch to find out how all this occurs, but there's a great scene of slight action and suspense! Though it would have been so much more cool if Merlin had commanded the Great Dragon to come and save him!
I am saddened by the fact that now Arthur and Gwen's love is still under wraps and now they know for sure that they cannot show how they truly feel in public because Uther will have Gwen banished or even killed. But we do know how the story ends, so we know it will happen one day. Just such a sad love story.
Torchline.com: Facebook Recap: Merlin 3.10 Queen of Hearts
Looking at the next episode, we're back to the tournaments and sword fighting, away from the Morgana story arch, this could be good--but I would like it to just be done with. Though I am intrigued to see Harry Melling (who plays Dudley Dursley in the Harry Potter series) get some magic of his own! Though when I look at him I only see Dudley (who I can't wait to see in HP7--apparently the scene between him and Harry is rather touching and really good...4 more days!!!).
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