Merlin: The Mark of Nimueh
A creature born of clay!
3 weeks into Merlin and I must say I enjoy it, not loads but enough. This week we meet who I assume is to be our big bad ‘Nimueh’, (for those in on the legend she’s the lady of the lake!). She fashions a creepy mud/alien puts it in an egg and sends it off down a waterslide to poison the folk of Camelot, nasty.
This show is not light handed with death and has all the murder and death of an episode of Doctor Who but the consequences are much more obvious as we’re in the same place each week. The Afanc she created is quite creepy and the Merlin folk have learnt much from Doctor Who when it comes to fliming prostetics but when the eventual fight came it had a bit of a ‘running slitheen’ feel to it - a little wonky.
The lovely Gwen’s dad gets all poorly from the death water the Afanc creates Merlin can’t stand by and watch so he makes him all better using the magics. Oops, the magic ball of wellness is discovered and Gwen is called a Witch and she’s goning to be burned, something she takes quite easily. She is played well but I feel the script could have made us think she was a little sadder about the ‘I’m going to die thing’ Morgana (whos voice makes me melt) and Merlin seemed to care much much more than even her dad.
Lots of ‘I know your secret’ stuff around Merlin that allowed him to sigh until he found out they thought his secret was a crush on Gwen was a nice touch but I need someone other than Gaius to know and enjoy it as it’s getting a little dull!
I am however loving the Yoda/Mr Miyagi Dragon…
Two sides of the same coin you are… …use the elements….
Finaly pushing Merlin and Arthur to fight together which was quite nice although again not enough, I wonder if the scripts are a little too big for the 45 minutes… hmmm.
Overall a nice season arc opener, nice baddie who has past with Uther and made him all shouty (nice one Mr Head) a creepy monster for kids to play in the playground and the formation of the buffy/smallvilleque clan of doogooders.
Hurrah.
On to next week when Merlin dies… seriously!
Catch up on iPlayer if you’re a fellow Briton
