Camelot Season 1 Episode 9 – “The Battle of Bardon Pass” – Review

“The Battle of Bardon Pass” finally gave us the action the show desperately needed; unfortunately, what had the potential to be the best episode of Camelot was bogged down by the show’s usual faults:  stupid character decisions and illogical moments. What’s disappointing is that the potential for greatness is there, and we’ve seen how good this show can be in its first few episodes, but with only one episode left that greatness is looking more unattainable than ever.

So who is our idiot of the week this week? Well, there are two outstanding candidates, but Guinevere edges out the competition for me. After being found out as the “King’s Whore,” she blubs, cries, and begs Leontes for forgiveness. I have never felt as satisfied watching this show as I was when I was watching Leontes cut her down again and again. None of this was idiotic, though, it was just annoying. The idiocy came when she tried to ride through a battlefield, putting Arthur and Leontes’ lives in danger, just so she could give Leontes his bible. Seriously, when I saw her doing that I was thinking she’d better have a damn good reason, but she didn’t. I was honestly hoping one of the arrows hit her, because as a character she’s completely useless, and when the writers have her making stupid decisions like that it just brings the whole quality of the show down.

The runner-up in our idiot of the week is, surprisingly, Merlin. For a sorcerer who is meant to be cunning and intelligent, he really does have some extraordinarily stupid moments. How did he think going in to Castle Pendragon, with no soldiers, claiming that Morgan was a witch and he was arresting her was going to turn out? It was actually satisfying to see him put in chains for his stupidity, and the sad thing is he had some great moments in the episode; his talk with Leontes and hitting Arthur was great to watch. His scene with Sybil was fantastic and once again highlighted that these two facing off is the best thing about this show. It’s a shame that it had to come as a result of his stupidity.

Despite all the negatives, this was a good episode, and Leontes is fast becoming one of my favorite characters on the show. He truly is a man of honor, and I honestly think he’d make a better King than Arthur. It was great to see him consistently reject Guinevere’s pleas for forgiveness, and keep his cool at the same time. He reacted admirably to the fact that his King and his wife had betrayed him. He even saved Arthur’s life again after everything that happened and risked his own to save Guinevere’s. He’s the definition of a true hero and a great man, and his dignified stance and reaction was one of the highlights of the episode.

The battle scenes in the episode were wonderful, tense and exciting and what you’d expect from the creators of Spartacus. The Battle of Bardon Pass was fast-paced and realistic, and for the first time in a while I was truly excited watching this show. It’s a pity that there aren’t more scenes like this in the show, because the writers have proven how good they are at great action scenes–hopefully we’ll get more of this in the final episode.

Morgan and Sybil are the shining lights of the show, which is ironic. Since Merlin doesn’t seem to have his wits about him anymore, Sybil is out on her own as the most devious character in the show. She doesn’t make mistakes like Merlin does, everything she does make sense, and it was great seeing her taunt Merlin and Igraine–she’s a fantastic character! Morgan is without a doubt smarter than Arthur, more cunning and intelligent, and she’s not a bad speech-maker, either. Who knows, she might actually make a good Queen; just because she’s a bad person doesn’t mean she’d be a bad ruler.

Arthur finally got what was coming to him for betraying his friend. At least he was willing to face Leontes and didn’t try to go into hiding. It was great seeing him get what he deserved…Merlin giving him a smack was well deserved and his argument with Kay was personally my favorite scene of the episode. The actor who plays Kay deserves a lot of credit, as he did a great job of showing his disgust and contempt for what Arthur had done. It was as clear as day on Arthur’s face that his brother’s respect meant everything to him, and to lose it was a huge blow. I’m not sure what the logic of leaving Arthur behind at the end to face an entire army on his own is, but it made for an exciting conclusion to the episode, and hopefully we’ll get a worthwhile payoff in the finale.

The sad thing is this could have been great, but for the ridiculous choices of some characters. Still it was a good episode, with great battle scenes, interesting conflict, and some brilliant character moments to counter the bad. Let’s hope that the show goes out with a bang next week, and can get rid of the flaws that have plagued the latter half of the season.