This Review Contains Spoilers
This episode isn't bad, and actually pretty decent, if you are a casual viewer who hasn't really followed the series over the past few years. If you know more about the series there's a lot of problems within the script and character portrayals. All the plot hooks provided in this episode lead the characters backward in development, or nowhere at all. The inconsistency of scripts is turning into an inside joke, and leaves an avid viewer frustrated. Each episode runs on the Las Vegas tagline "what happens here, stays here", meaning don't expect the plots to connect or even make sense beyond the one episode showcase.
Overall, the episode feeds on the plot of Arthur makes a bunch of mistakes, then realizes where they have led. He then decides to set everything to rights, and does so. There's no lasting effects of Arthur's mistakes, although there might be one left on the viewer's who are still thinking "Arthur killed that guy (off-screen) ?!" Part of setting things to rights is Arthur doing a trail by combat to avoid war. Annis' champion looks like something from a bad He-Man cartoon, and after a close call, everything gets fixed up neatly. Impressed with Arthur, Queen Annis tells Morgana she is more Uther's daughter than she realizes, leaving the witch to wordlessly flee back into the countryside and ponder her fallen state, until she comes up with her next devious plan. That is the plot in a nutshell. It's simple, straightforward, but sadly incoherent when compared to actions or character development solidified in season one, when we are almost halfway through season four.
One of the things that didn't sit right with me was Merlin's role in this episode. Merlin as the title character usually holds a lot of weight within the storyline. He usually is on top of things having the weight of the kingdom on his shoulders, solving issues that only his gifted magical abilities achieve. In this episode, Merlin has misplaced his usual insight. He seems to be playing the role of Arthur's Manservant without any hidden saving graces. While Morgana makes prevision to enchant Arthur's sword, to make certain he loses the fight, Merlin himself seems disillusioned and almost teary eyed about Arthur's single combat, as if he expects Arthur to die. He had no plans to ensure Arthur would survive the combat beforehand, then blinks a magic spell to save him as what seemed like an after thought when the fight doesn't go according to fairness. That's a huge downgrade from previous episodes/seasons where Merlin was challenged to come up with a ingenious way to save Arthur by magic.
Arthur is the central character of this episode, and as a result, the storyline does him the most harm. Everything thrown at Arthur regarding the choice to kill and show 'strength' was already resolved in the first season, in the episode "The Labyrinth of Gedref". It seems like a rehash, devoid of real emotion or real character development. Arthur listens to ill-meaning Uncle Agravaine and kills a king thus starting a war. Since all of this is done off-screen it hardly seems like it happened at all, except that the characters keep harping on the fact that King Caerleon was killed by Arthur's hand. Uncle Agravaine then tells Arthur to break up with Gwen, as having a servant for a girlfriend doesn't befit a king. Arthur again goes along with this advice, rehashing a plotline already dealt with and resolved in the second and third seasons in episodes "The Once And Future Queen" and "Queen of Hearts". All these actions and behavior paint Arthur in a bad light. It seems inconceivable that any writer knowingly writing for the legendary character of King Arthur would drag him down this low.
Arthur's progression throughout the series has always been to transform him from a selfish, arrogant, prat into the noble, honorable king. The trouble is, Arthur is now the king, yet he is falling short of being the type of king the early episodes always promised. No matter how insensitive Arthur might have acted at times in the series, there were always times the writer's chose to show the potential Arthur had to be King Arthur, the greatest king of legend. The series is taking an unexpected road, they have made Arthur 'king' in title alone, he is not yet living up to the type of standard set for being King Arthur, a standard set by the series itself. Camelot under Arthur as king is no different from Uther's kingdom, in fact, it seems far more unstable, as if hinging on the tide of destruction through the untested, and reckless behavior of Arthur. I just don't see how this fits. Too much has been built up about The Once and Future King and the type of destiny he had. I don't understand why the writer's are still lovesick on their idea of Arthur's mistakes almost leading to Camelot's undoing every week. In a forth season it seems like we should be past all that. Just take a look at Arthur, he's not a child, not a foolish teenager, so why isn't he growing up and being the king he once seemed headed to become?
Gwen is another problem. Her entire role in this episode leaves nothing to be impressed with. Her reaction to Arthur's insensitive break up is to cry and beg that they can be 'together'. When Arthur refuses, Gwen throws out a 'be your own man, Arthur' then sinks quietly into the background to fulfill her thankless role of castle servant. The entire running plotline of Gwen always seeking out Arthur says nothing for Gwen as a character. As a servant she seems to have set her gaze a bit high in wanting the newly crowned king as her boyfriend. Arthur as the king would be more suited to try and court the servant girl, and seek her out against all odds, while Gwen should be more conscious of the social gap between them. A confusing writer blunder in the relationship, as far as I'm concerned.
Personal feelings on the handling of this pairing aside, I think the real mistake in this episode comes from the end in which Arthur presents Gwen with some crushed wildflowers and makes a clumsy apology. Without any hesitation, Gwen readily accepts Arthur's apology. All is happy, lets have a kiss. If Gwen had any self-worth she would not have easily forgiven Arthur, after the appalling way he treated their break up. She would have backed away, explained she was not interested in reconciling, called him 'Sire', bowed and left the room. It would have served a good lesson for Arthur not to so easily win Gwen back, since he was the one he called off their courtship. Perhaps if Arthur had to prove his feelings for Gwen, win her back and have Gwen turn her attention to something beyond 'waiting to be queen', we would have the makings of an interesting pairing. As it stands, I'm not really impressed with the romantic side of Arthur and Gwen. I find their relationship too fickle, lacking real attachment, a love-story invented and sacrificed momentarily to suit whatever a script has in mind. Even when Gwen is made 'Queen Guinevere' I don't see the enduring effects it will have. She'll always in the girl at the castle, waiting for Arthur to kiss or break her heart. It just doesn't have lasting appeal to my sensibilities of what makes a good pairing.
The knights are again background furniture. The only one who seems to have a decent part to play is Elyan, although why he was not affected by Arthur's treatment of his sister, I'll never know. The personality of Gwaine from season three is again greatly missed. This Gwaine doesn't even recall his father was a knight of King Caerleon and died at his hands. The writer's missed a good opportunity to make things personal for Gwaine, and just stuck him around the campfire with a random glance or line as the script called for. I seriously wish Gwaine hadn't been added as a regular, since he has been demoted from a character to a cardboard stand-up. It sad to see a character reduced so low. I just don't see the reason to have the knights, when they aren't respected or treated like actual members of the cast. It's very disappointing.
Away from the flaws of story-telling and character actions, this episode has some uncharacteristic editing issues. The editing is choppy and actually laughable in places. Is it really necessary to bring a PG rated show down to G? In a storyline dealing with murderous execution, war and revenge, you would except the normal editing which implies these actions, cutting away neatly for the series' eating. I have always respected the editing done on Merlin and other BBC family viewing, however, in this episode everything was tamed and dumbed down to the point of stupidity.
One other production oddity is the setting. Usually Merlin features a fairy tale setting where the kings/queens/princesses all dress in velvet and silk, and look like something taken straight from a story-book or Lord of The Rings and Narnia. Caerleon broke this mold, he hardly looked like a king. He was grabby, with the manners of a commoner, his queen, Annis wore furred robes and led a group of unwashed barbarians. The entire feel of Annis' kingdom was like an early Saxon or Celtic kingdom, it hardly fit with the series' usual setting. I'm not sure why this sudden jolting switch was included, except maybe the production of this episode wanted things to be gritty and earthy. Still, it's an odd combination that makes the episode seem misplaced when compared to others.
As a whole, His Father's Son sets out to be a test for newly crowned King Arthur, yet was Uther Pendragon really so noble of a king to be copying from? In previous seasons, Arthur seemed pretty well set on what he did and didn't agree with regarding his father. Now he seems very hero-struck about his father's reign and easily led into error by his uncle. As advice, I would suggest the writer's re-look through the previous seasons and try to better connect the dots in the future.
I'm left in a quandary when trying to rate "His Father's Son". Many aspects of this episode are a step up from some of missed opportunity filler episodes, and it has a few good scenes mixed in. It's watchable, fairly entertaining, and if you remove any gathered knowledge or know-how of the series and the characters, this ep can be viewed as a 'good' episode. However, if compared to previous storylines, previous episodes of previous seasons, it dims from 'good' to 'lackluster'. I suppose it could be said this episode is an okay mark to meet on most levels. If the series could just keep on a decent level and go up from here, it would be much more rewarding.
