By Lisa Fary
The Black Knight made his appearance in this week’s episode of Merlin, “Excalibur.” Even though he was supposed to be sinister and menacing, I kept hoping he would holler, “I’ll gnaw your bloody leg off!”
I knew this was not on the Merlin menu. Really. But, wouldn’t it have been kinda awesome if the show had paid some homage, no matter how small, to that vision of King Arthur? Nothing spectacular, just a little something, a little nod.
Anyway. Nimueh, in her quest for vengeance, raises the Black Knight, Tristan DuBois from the dead to seek revenge on Uther Pendragon. As expected, the Black Knight blows through a couple knights of the Round Table before Arthur throws down his own gauntlet in challenge.
However, there’s more to this than simply being the tool of a sorceress. Turns out Uther and Nimueh used to be good friends, and that in desperation for an heir, her turned to her magic to make Igraine fertile. In this version, Igraine died in childbirth, which led to Uther falsely believing that Nimueh meant to kill her, which led to the Great Purge.
Ooopsy.
While there was little suspense (of course Arthur wasn’t going to get killed), there were some nice moments with Uther. He usually only shows no emotion other than anger and frustration with his son. In “Excalibur”, he showed the desperation of a father trying to save his son’s life.
Don’t get me wrong. Uther is still a douchebag. But, now he’s one with some appreciable emotional depth. Looks like he’s not that bad of a father, either.
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Lisa Fary’s early exposure to classic Battlestar Galactica in 1979 is largely responsible for her lifelong interest in science fiction and her childhood ambition of being an intergalactic space cowgirl. She thinks diagramming sentences is a fun alternative to Sudoku.
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Lisa Fary's earliest influences are Princess Leia, Rainbow Bright, Astronaut Barbie, and her 6th grade teacher, Ms. Palmer. She's angry that it's 2011 and she still doesn't have a hovercraft, but will accept a jetpack as consolation. That jetpack had better be pink with a rhinestone monogram. 
Noticed that Merlin looks a little like a donkey yet, bless him?
"Even though he was supposed to be sinister and menacing, I kept hoping he would holler, “I’ll gnaw your bloody leg off!” "
Given who's in that cast, I have no doubt that it happened while they weren't actually filming. The only thing I'm not sure of is whether it was Tony, Michelle, or one of the kids.
"Don’t get me wrong. Uther is still a douchebag. But, now he’s one with some appreciable emotional depth. Looks like he’s not that bad of a father, either. "
I really loved those parts of the episode. Finally, we get to see just how scared Uther is, and why he lashes out so violently against anything that threatens Arthur's future. Anthony Head plays the fiercely protective, quietly proud father really well (not surprising given that he is one in real life), and I'm glad that he got to show that side of Uther as well.