After the last two episodesl of separate journeys, episode 7 of Camelot, The Long Night, brings us back to the main plot: Arthur versus Morgan.
The win this time goes to Morgan.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rHErt1CmTsA[/youtube]
Morgan invites Arthur, his knights, Merlin and Igraine to a feast at her home at Castle Pendragon. I'm not sure what Arthur and his knights expected from Morgan's hospitality but while they are worried, they don't seemed worried enough. Arthur says that family is important. Igraine--who was thrown out of her home by her stepdaughter in the first episode--doesn't think Morgan's changed and remains skeptical.
Only Merlin agrees they should go to the dinner but that's because he wants to keep an eye on Morgan's scheming. He doesn't do that nearly well enough but he does get all the best lines in this episode. Joseph Fiennes almost equals Jeremy Irons' gift for sarcasm in* The Long Night*. "I think every castle should have a pet nun," he snarls at Morgan's mentor, the Abbess.
In the meantime, it's finally revealed why at least one of Morgan's guards stays guarding Castle Pendragon: he likes watching Morgan bathe. He likes watching naked Morgan so much that when Morgan catches him spying, she mocks him with a line about using his hand.
Not one to be embarrassed about such things, Morgan sees an opportunity in the guard's blind devotion and puts him to work as the fulcrum of her plan to fool Arthur into believing the kingdom is about to be attacked by an enemy from the North. She's going to use that supposed invasion as cover to kill Arthur because she's realized she can't simply kill her brother, as she did her father. She needs the goodwill of the people and the support of Arthur's knights to rule.
But first, as setup, Morgan plies her guests with wine, excellent food and dancing girls. The knights, initially skeptical, decide that, hey, anyone who provides naked dancing girls for their entertainment can't be all bad. Eva Green as Morgan is brilliant in this episode. The expression on her face as the dancing girls completely distract the knights is chilling.
Normally female nudity on cable is there because, well, it's cable and they can. In this episode, however, Morgan uses her own sexuality and those of her female servants to gain power over the men. And you get the feeling while watching the episode that Morgan can barely hold back her contempt that this actually works.
After everyone is drunk and some are enjoying the supplied girls, the castle is supposedly attacked. Arrows are fired out of nowhere and a fire starts. Arthur saves a girl from being burned to death. The rest of the knights sober up and make plans to defend the castle.
Morgan, in a fit of supposed rage, send her personal guard of forty men out after the attackers. She apologizes to Arthur for it but it's too late for him to call them back. Morgan lets her brother believe she did this out of panic. Arthur buys it.
Arthur also buys into the fact that there's an invading army on the way when a scout (Morgan's besotted guard) comes back injured and tells them all to beware.
Merlin is busy trying to evaluate if the attack is real and he certainly doesn't trust Morgan one bit but he has no proof one way or another. He tells Igraine as much when she confronts him. He also tells her, after prompting, that Morgan is the one who killed Igraine's husband, King Uther. Igraine is taken aback, especially when Merlin insists that Arthur can never know, that they have to protect him from this pain. It was welcome to see these two characters together after their almost kiss earlier in the season but I'm not sure I follow Merlin's reasoning. Arthur shouldn't know that his sister is a murderer? That might be something he wants to know while evaluating her loyalty and trusting her with his life.
All of the guests of at the feast are worried enough about the imminent invasion that they wonder if this night could be their last. This results in a number of confessions, all of which Morgan overhears, and all of which she's going to use to good effect later.
Leontus, unaware that the Abbess isn't exactly holy, talks about his faith, his love of Guinevere, and how that keeps him sane. Arthur privately confesses to Guinevere that he loves her. Guinivere is not at all thrilled to hear this. I don't blame her. Morgan, who's listening around a corner, is quite happy Arthur spoke up, however. Finally, she has a wedge among Arthur's knights.
Gawain, not one to stand and wait, attempts to leave the castle to take on the supposed army all by himself. Leontus tries to stop him and they fight. Arthur stops the sword fight and orders Gawain to remain at Castle Pendragon. Gawain grumbles but obeys. Ironically, if Gawain had been able to get outside, he'd have the evidence that Morgan was playing them all for fools.
At sunrise, the supposed remnants of Morgan's guards drift in. Of the forty men that she hastily sent out, only three remain but they report that they did, at least, have victory, having driven away the invaders. Arthur thanks Morgan and her personal guards for their sacrifice and make plans to head back to Camelot.
But when they head home, they have an interloper.
Morgan has captured Igraine and used magic to shift shape into Igraine. Back at Castle Pendragon, the Abbess sets in motion Morgan's plan to ambush Arthur.
It doesn't look good for Arthur, unless he wises up and unless Merlin sorts out that Igraine really isn't Igraine. There has been plenty of sexual attraction between the two characters in the past. Given the legends, it would be an interesting twist if Merlin is the one Morgan seduces by deception, not Arthur.
This show started by adhering closely to the King Arthur legend. But the more the writers move away from what's "supposed" to happen in the old stories and focus on the characters that they've created, the better the show gets. I've no idea what happens next but I hope Claire Forlani as Igraine-Morgan gets a chance to shine, that Merlin gets more snarky lines, and that we have less and less of Arthur and Guinevere besotted with each other. That was always the least interesting part of the legend to me and I wish they hadn't kept it.
