This episode was even denser and more emotional than the last one. In the show, Mordred is a much more interesting character than in the traditional Arthurian legends as he gets a clear reason to hate Arthur, while it is ambiguous why the Mordred of the legends really wanted to kill Arthur. Here we get a straightforward motivation.
Mordred and Kara are obviously very much in love, and I really wished their escape would be successful and they would both get away and Kara would be saved from execution. Mordred and Kara also differ in many important aspects, she is very courageous and brave and strongly believes in the cause of the Druids and magic users, and is not afraid to speak against Arthur and call him back on his enmity to the magical people, even when she knows that it means her death. However, she is also rather ruthless and sometimes cruel, as she attacks Arthur when he approches her and almost kills him and has no pricks of conscience about stabbing a Camelot knight who tried to stop her and Mordred's escape, which slightly shocks Mordred. She is also the one that urges him to use his magic against the knights when they are surrounded in the forest, yet he is unwilling to do so because he considers them his friends.
Mordred has been very loyal to Arthur and idolised him, and to the last moment he believes that the king would take their friendship into account and show mercy to his beloved, yet it turns out that Mordred's friendship and loyalty means nothing to Arthur after all. This behaviour seems too ruthless and cruel for Arthur, but it turns out that he inherited his father's unreasonable hatred of magic and its practitioners (though Merlin played an important part in making Arthur believe that magic can only be evil). He is really heartbroken when he realises that his girlfriend is really going to die because of Arthur decision, and gradually realises that he is not the gentle and just king he hoped him to be. Mordred's disappointment in Arthur must be huge as he previously saw only good in him and aspired to be like him, hoping that one day the situation of the magical people would change, but now he knows that this day will never come. It is hard not to sympathise with the young lovers Mordred and Kara in this story and not see Arthur's decision as a bit over the top.
Merlin is not innocent either, as it is he who finally informs Arthur about the lovers' escape instead of letting them be as Gaius advised him. Merlin later realises his mistake and is aware that his actions turned Mordred into the enemy of Camelot he was prophesises to become. Had Mordred escaped with Kara, perhaps they would just be lovers on the run just like Tristan and Isolde. But now Mordred has a reason to hate both Arthur and Merlin because of the actions of them both. He naturally turns to Morgana and it is a bit surprising that she takes him in so easily as so far he only tried to kill her.
I have always wondered about the magic users exectued in the show, if they had magic, why didn't they use it to escape from the cells or to run away from their executions? How were they prevented from using their magic to escape from prison? In "The Legend of the Seeker," there used to be anti-magical collar that prevented the user from casting spells. Here magic users are simply arrested and they seem helpless and unable to use any magic in their cells. Magic is forbidden in Camelot but if you are already arrested for it and sentenced to death, surely you don't mind using a little bit of magic to try and escape?
Did Kara had magic? She definitely used the local equivalent of the osanwe kenta with Mordred. Why did't Mordred try to escape again and save Kara? As we saw in his confrontation with Morgana, he has powerful magic so I don't think it would have been past him to arrange one prison break more, if he acted more ruthlessly and with more abandon than he did before. His magic only explodes the moment Kara is hanged (the hanging scene is a bit too graphic for a family show as almost everything apart from the actual hanging is shown).
Review by ladysherlockianBlockedParentSpoilers2020-09-19T17:26:29Z
This episode was even denser and more emotional than the last one. In the show, Mordred is a much more interesting character than in the traditional Arthurian legends as he gets a clear reason to hate Arthur, while it is ambiguous why the Mordred of the legends really wanted to kill Arthur. Here we get a straightforward motivation.
Mordred and Kara are obviously very much in love, and I really wished their escape would be successful and they would both get away and Kara would be saved from execution. Mordred and Kara also differ in many important aspects, she is very courageous and brave and strongly believes in the cause of the Druids and magic users, and is not afraid to speak against Arthur and call him back on his enmity to the magical people, even when she knows that it means her death. However, she is also rather ruthless and sometimes cruel, as she attacks Arthur when he approches her and almost kills him and has no pricks of conscience about stabbing a Camelot knight who tried to stop her and Mordred's escape, which slightly shocks Mordred. She is also the one that urges him to use his magic against the knights when they are surrounded in the forest, yet he is unwilling to do so because he considers them his friends.
Mordred has been very loyal to Arthur and idolised him, and to the last moment he believes that the king would take their friendship into account and show mercy to his beloved, yet it turns out that Mordred's friendship and loyalty means nothing to Arthur after all. This behaviour seems too ruthless and cruel for Arthur, but it turns out that he inherited his father's unreasonable hatred of magic and its practitioners (though Merlin played an important part in making Arthur believe that magic can only be evil). He is really heartbroken when he realises that his girlfriend is really going to die because of Arthur decision, and gradually realises that he is not the gentle and just king he hoped him to be. Mordred's disappointment in Arthur must be huge as he previously saw only good in him and aspired to be like him, hoping that one day the situation of the magical people would change, but now he knows that this day will never come. It is hard not to sympathise with the young lovers Mordred and Kara in this story and not see Arthur's decision as a bit over the top.
Merlin is not innocent either, as it is he who finally informs Arthur about the lovers' escape instead of letting them be as Gaius advised him. Merlin later realises his mistake and is aware that his actions turned Mordred into the enemy of Camelot he was prophesises to become. Had Mordred escaped with Kara, perhaps they would just be lovers on the run just like Tristan and Isolde. But now Mordred has a reason to hate both Arthur and Merlin because of the actions of them both. He naturally turns to Morgana and it is a bit surprising that she takes him in so easily as so far he only tried to kill her.
I have always wondered about the magic users exectued in the show, if they had magic, why didn't they use it to escape from the cells or to run away from their executions? How were they prevented from using their magic to escape from prison? In "The Legend of the Seeker," there used to be anti-magical collar that prevented the user from casting spells. Here magic users are simply arrested and they seem helpless and unable to use any magic in their cells. Magic is forbidden in Camelot but if you are already arrested for it and sentenced to death, surely you don't mind using a little bit of magic to try and escape?
Did Kara had magic? She definitely used the local equivalent of the osanwe kenta with Mordred. Why did't Mordred try to escape again and save Kara? As we saw in his confrontation with Morgana, he has powerful magic so I don't think it would have been past him to arrange one prison break more, if he acted more ruthlessly and with more abandon than he did before. His magic only explodes the moment Kara is hanged (the hanging scene is a bit too graphic for a family show as almost everything apart from the actual hanging is shown).