This episode was a dramatic change from previous episodes, for a start it was actually interesting, for once I wasn't bored during an episode. I weeped with joy at the extra screen time Katie and Angel got, they're such amazing actresses and it was brilliant to see them not only act more but have scenes together. Furthermore the plot was great, there was actual character development, relationship development, a major character death that was unexpected, and a plot twist at the end. I don't know what happened to the Merlin writers, if they stopped taking crack or something, but I hope those kind of episodes continue.
The only downfall to the episode was the abuse of Gwen, though Angel's an amazing actress, it was horrible to see women being abused once again in the show, I wish the writers didn't have to revert to that to make a decent plot.
I'm actually excited to see how the plot unfolds, which is odd because I haven't felt that way about a Merlin episode in a while. People say that Merlin and Arthur make the show, but I haven't seen a decent plot that revolves around just them in a while.

*I know this episode was actually 5x06, I made a typo, but the website won't let me alter the title nor delete the question, sorry!*

Finally some decend episode! I'm looking forward to see how the storyline continues.

when I saw the preview last week, I thought: wow I´m gonna like this. but it was so disappointing and boring. the end was the only good thing about it.
and how Elyan died?? C'mon that sword hit him in the arm.

If I ignore the pervasive problems it was pretty amazing. It was riveting from start to finish. As soon as Elyan remembered that he and Gwen were siblings and started waxing nostalgic about her I knew he was not long for their world, but it was nice to hear. The banter was fun not stupid. This is the closest I've come to believing that Arthur does, in fact, love Gwen since S3. Almost. Merlin could have done more but at least he didn't wait the whole episode to be useful. I was actually curious as to what Morgana was plotting, for the first time ever. The knights were given identities. Good stuff.

What made the episode for me, though, was Angel. Watching Gwen descend into utter desolation and struggle to overcome it was incredible. Her grief over Elyan's death broke me and I didn't even like the guy. The woman is insanely brilliant.

I really liked it. The plot was clever and it was great to see so much Gwen/Morgana screen time! Angel is really a great actress. Elyan's death was unexpected and made me a little sad, but it was nice to see him finally showing some brotherly love for Gwen (at last...!). I'm really curious about next episode :)

Fanfreakingtastic! Finally something that wasn't for children, thrilling psychological drama. This was something for those of us who are over the age of 14.

The best episode of this season :) I can't wait for the next, it seems very good

The Gwen/Morgana scenes were fantastic actually beautiful and they pretty much made this episode good! Some of the Arthur, Merlin Knight scenes weren't the best! Merlin was too much, hey remember I promised and everything I say will come to pass. I'm curious to what Morgana actually did to gwen because it seemed to me like Morgana of course wanted to use her to get to Arthur but at the same time it actually seemed like she wants Gwen back as a friend!

Series 5 is the best season so far! Great story lines, good character development and beautiful scenery!


... R.I.P. sir Elyan <3 >.< They need to stop killing off their knights! It breaks my fangirl-heart! :'O

Love it or like it isn't actually the right word for me. It was brilliant and I felt everything. All the actors brought their A game. It was a heck of a ride.

Angel and Katie completely made this episode for me! To see some of their relationship threads was fab! And of course to see and more stripped back, honest Morgana was brilliant! I loved the plot twist at the end, and cannot wait for the next episode! Although I did feel the episode was very flat, alike episode one the series. Gwen was taken and had the same convo with Morgana 4 or 5 times (although it was needed to see the developement and shows great acting on both parts), and Arthur, Merlin and the Knights searching for her. The tone never really changed in the middle 35 minutes. I prefer episodes which develope the tone and excitement throughout, so yeah, I felt the episode was flat and a little repetitive, but all in all it was a good episode! And I can't believe Elyan was killed off so suddenly! We've barely known him and he's gone! Hats off to the writers for how they did that!

I love how mature this series is! Angel really showed how great she can be! Katie was cool, too and Bradley and Colin were really creepy ghost-y things. That snake thing in the beginning was pretty childish, can't the knights ride a horse at all?! The searching for Gwen was pretty boring and I think Merlin could now use his own sense and not have dragons and fairies to tell him what to do. Elyan's death was too fast, it wasn't even very heroic. And where did Morgana disappear at the end? But I actually thought that Gwen didn't fall under Morgana's spell! That can be very interesting! But I'm afraid Merlin will save the day in the next episode, already.. But it was alright.

The plot was kind of repetitive, transparent, and triggering. Now it's going to be Merlin stopping Gwen from killing Arthur and now the rest of the season will be focused on that. Gwen was mentally and physically abused once again, another moc is dead and now like he did with Morgana, merlin will probably have to hurt gwen to save arthur. I've waiting a couple of days to respond to this ep, but I am officially done with Merlin.

This episode is one of the best of the series and certainly of this seasons so far!