Much of this season has felt like a return to some of the concepts of the first season, now armed with the improvements and layers that were added in the interim, and this episode is a perfect example of that. It’s also another great example of how the changes between original and overlaid timelines have led to different results.
This has been a rather disappointing and troublesome season of "Merlin". Despite obvious efforts to move the show in a new direction and build upon past strengths, this season has been nowhere near the improvement that I hoped it would be. Chief among the show's many flaws is its inability to properly integrate the serialized storytelling into its episodic structure. With so much of the season having underwhelmed me, I pinned the remainder of my hopes on the finale, knowing that the premieres and the finales tended to be stronger than most episodes.