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Sunday 18 December 2011

Advent Calendar 2011: Day Eighteen

MERLIN: THE SWORD IN THE STONE PART 1 REVIEW (4.5/5)
It was satisfying to finally see Agaravaine throw away his guise as a mentor to King Arthur this week, leading an all-out invasion by Morgana and her army of Southerners on Camelot. While this was basically the same set up for the season finale as last year, Merlin's writing team ensured that this time the kingdom was taken by its captors within minutes, allowing for a fast-paced romp involving those trapped inside and those who managed to escape. Colin Morgan was on fine form this week as Merlin, taking an even more central role than usual while Bradley James hilariously showed us a more dim-witted Arthur- though quite why this storyline couldn't have been placed in an earlier, more light-hearted episode of the 2011 or 2012 runs I don't know! Nonetheless, the action-packed nature of the adventure really paid off, giving the sense that next week is going to provide an epic conclusion to the best season the programme's had so far. Of course, the build-up meant that this could hardly have been the perfect episode, but if next week's story finally makes good use of the Sword In The Stone title, we may well get the best finale yet!

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