daibhidc | Merlin - The Diamond of the Day Part One

We start with the most unconvincing face-hugger scene since 70s Doctor Who, as Morgana drains one of her own lieutenants of magic to prove a point. Mordred continues to be vaguely disqueted by the fact he's pledged himself to the service of a total loon.

Funny scene of Merlin and Arthur in the famed tavern, before the face-hugging creature steals Merlin's magic, and a garrison is attacked.

Morgana's army is marching towards Camelot, and the only way to stop them is to meet them at Camlann, even though she's got an army of thousands. (It's not explained how a raving lunatic opposing a more-or-less wise and just king has amassed an army of thousands.) Meanwhile, Mordred forgets his doubts when Morgana gives him a shiny. It's the anti-Excalibur!

Merlin has to get his magic back, so he isn't joining Arthur. Beautiful scene which shows the difference between Arthur's usual teasing and actually being disappointed in him.

And the girl Gwaine rescued turns out to be a spy! Really didn't see that coming.

I keep forgetting that Gwaine isn't the one knight who knows Merlin has magic. That was Lancelot, who's dead.

So if Morgana wanted to kill one of her own people, she'd stick a sword in his guts, but when she wants to kill Merlin, she uses magic to cause a rockfall, then leaves without seeing a body. That makes sense.

Gwen continues to be the only character who ever notices anything, realising that Merlin has got to have a better reason for abandoning Arthur than "gathering herbs" (or, as Arthur believes, "being scared"). She seems this close to saying to Gaius "Is it to do with his secret magic powers?"

The ghost of Balinor! This has been a pretty recurring-guest-star-heavy season, a bit like the last season of Smallville. Maybe Lancelot's going to show up for the final battle after all! Anyway, Merlin regains his powers because he is magic, apparently, and beams a battle plan into Arthur's brain. Arthur gives a St Crispin's Day speech, in which he refers to "the United Kingdoms". So that's interesting.

Generally speaking, when the ghost of your father tells you to walk into the light, that's not a good sign.

I love the image of the two armies, in perfect formation, standing at opposite sides of the pass waiting for someone to give a signal. It's quite clear that, if Arthur hadn't drawn his sword and ordered the charge, Morgana would have had to leave her army standing there all day.

Really nasty teaser; a handful of disconnected image and then a blank screen as Merlin confesses he has magic to ... someone. Thankfully, there's only two days to wait.

Mythwatch: The Gean Cánach in Irish folklore is absolutely nothing like the Merlin version, being a fey that seduces human women. The writers really do just seem to be pulling names out of Celtic mythology at random by this point. (Nemhain, as I mentioned when the Pool of Nemhain appeared in "Lancelot du Lac", is a battle-goddess, not an Earth Mother. Danu might have worked better.)

As I didn't mention before because I never wrote up "The Kindness of Strangers" for some reason, Camlann is indeed where Arthur's final battle takes place in the legends. The Anti-Excalibur is possibly Clarent, which in some versions is Arthur's "sword of peace", acquired by Mordred and used by him in the final battle.

As I did mention before, the Crystal Cave is where Merlin is trapped by Nimue in the legends.

Eira is a Welsh name meaning "snow". So that's seasonal.