TV REVIEW There's treachery in Camelot and familiar faces come under suspicion when the king's life is threatened

5.07 "A Lesson In Vengeance" [REVIEW]

5.07 "A Lesson In Vengeance"
Writer: Jake Michie
Director: Alice Troughton

. Finally Morgana buys henbane . Stay away from this one, kids; hyoscyamus niger is toxic. Despite being used in small doses to flavour beer in the middle ages, and despite chef as a salad ingredient, it is known throughout the world as a pꦯoison. If he hadn't been sedated, Arthur would have experienced hallucinations and convulsions.

INFLUENCES Killing a king by pouring poison in his ear comes from Shakespeare's Hamlet - it's how Hamlet's father was murdered. Old Shakey referred to t🗹he toxin as "hebenon" which might even be henbane (al🌳though hemlock and yew are also possible interpretations).

POLICE STATE The Knights Of The Round Table seem to operate like some sort of personal inquisition, invading the home of stable worker Tyr Seward to uncover evidence. And what terrible, circumstantial evidence it is! Just because he has a ball of thread doesn't mean he's the one who committed sabotage; surely Seward and mother always have materials like that i🐼n t🐼heir house - it's their job to mend saddles.

THE TITLE "A Lesson In Vengeance" is a poem by 20th century great Sylvia Plath,𝔉 whiꦡch begins "In the dour ages/Of drafty cells and draftier castles,/Of dragons breathing without the frame of fables..."

NITPICK If Arthur was poisoned in his ear (Gaius points out the evidence of tincture there) why does Gwen use Merlin's access to the king's food as proof of his guilt? Nobod🐎y claimed he'd eatꦉen anything dodgy, did they?

DRAGON LITE No sign of either Kilgharrah o🎃r Aithusa. Showrunners must have spent all the CG budget last week.

OBVIOUS LIE OF THE WEEK Since when was " ... I was🍃 just delivering supplies to those most in need!" a believable excuse for popping into town? I'm going to try it next time I'm late home from the pu⛦b and see what happens.

SLASH BAIT Very little but surely something can be made of Arthur's plea that Merlin "start showing a little less in๊terest in Guinevere's clothing and a little more interest in mine." We'd suggest a relationship between Merlin and the cook but she's clearly got no time for him: "Keep your grubby hands off my dumplings."

SATIRE AND CRITICISM Radio's The Now Show had an unnecessary dig at Merlin on Friday. Steve Punt, commenting on the recent Newsnight scandal and the resulting management shuffles, said: "Acting director general; acting head of news; acting deputy head of news... at the moment, the only people at the BBC who aren't acting are the cast of Merlin ." Ouch! It's .

IT'S WOSSISNAME AND ALSO WOSSISNAME The ill-fated Tyr Seward is played by John Bradley who's now most famous for portraying Samwell Tarly in Game Of Thrones . Greedy apothecary Sindri is played by Tony Guilfoyle who you might remember as Father Larry Duff from Father Ted .

BEST LINE
Arthur: "The cook confirmed your alibi."
Merlin: "Thank you."
Arthur: "I also told them you simply wer🐟en't bright enough to organise an assassin🍸ation attempt."

Dave Bradley

Merlin airs on Saturday nights on BBC One in the UK.