Merlin

Okay, first things first, explaining the series for the audiences not familiar.

Merlin is set in the days of medieval Camelot and follows the adventures of a warlock named Merlin who is tasked with the duty of protecting Arthur. Set in the days of them both in their youth, magic is outlawed in Camelot and is punishable by death if practised. So, Merlin has to keep Arthur safe from evil magic and works of his enemies whilst trying to keep his ability secret. It is usually aired on Saturday evenings on the BBC and has held its place as one of the more popular shows on Saturday evening, and is followed by a production show that explains the mythology and the work done on set.

So far in the story, Uther Pendragon, Arthur's father, is killed when a spell trying to heal a wound inflicted on him by someone out for vengeance backfires, thanks to the influence of Morgana, making Arthur king. Morgana, once a protagonist in the earlier series is fully revealed to be Arthur's half sister and therefore elligble for the throne and will stop at nothing to remove Arthur and take her place on the throne. Arthur has an ongoing secret romance with one of his servants, Guinevere, the future queen. The dragon, orginally captured and imprisoned in Series 1 and 2, is living free and no longer is the last of its kind when another egg was found.

In this series (Series 4), Arthur has a new advisor, his uncle Agravaine, but he works for Morgana and naturally being a villain working behind enemy lines, for this series anyway, goes unchecked when he goes missing, no one questions his advice and wears all black, which to the castle guards is not odd despite people doing that always being discovered as evil. Morgana has tried a number of attempts to destroy Arthur and take Camelot for her own, but is haunted by the image of an elderly sage, which we know as Merlin after taking an aging potion. This version of Merlin is being hunted down, because his attempts to heal Uther backfired when Morgana had a pendant put around his neck to backfire any healing charm.

Here's the discussion thread for all things Merlin.

A small village outside Camelot is under threat from a seemingly invisible foe. Consulting Camelot for help, a small group of knights, with Merlin and Gwen visit the village to help cure the injured villagers. Merlin attempts to use magic to cure them, but finds that it does no good. Whatever caused them harm left no marks and left them on the very brink of death.

On their return trip to Camelot, the small troupe find a girl, Lamia, stranded in the forest. Quickly, fights break out over what to do with the girl and where she came from. Gwen and Merlin are seemingly unaffected and suspect that Lamia is not as innocent as she seems.

One night, Elyan overhears something whilst on guard and goes to investigate and finds Lamia. She goes over to him and kisses him, but something isn't right. Her eyes become snakelike and Elyan's life begins to wane. At sun up, the knights find Elyan's body, with pretty much the same symptoms of the villagers that previously fell to the blight. Lamia suggests the party go to a small castle for shelter, despite Merlin's advice that they return to Camelot for Gaius' treatment, but the other knights, aggressively refuse. Merlin and Gwen believe that they should leave a bread crumb trail for Arthur to find.

Back in Camelot, Arthur becomes concerned over the party's absense and sends a small search party to track them down. Whilst on the search, they came across a small carriage, viciously attacked from the outside, but the people manning it, though dead, are untouched. Taking shelter in a nearby cottage, Gaius comes to a conclusion as to what did this. He confirms this was an attack from a creature called a Lamia, forged from the blood of a girl and a serpent. It had the power to influence the mind of men and could steal their life with but a simple embrace. Now the situation is getting worrying as they find a scrap of Gwen's clothing.

In the abandoned castle, the Lamia is slowly playing a game where she gradually picks off the knights one by one, taking their life force as she goes, until Merlin finds her. Despite throwing a sword through her, Lamia becomes a monstrous creature and gives chase. Merlin passes Gwen, who fearing something bad was happening, instinctively grabbed her brother's sword. She encounters the creature and it has Merlin pinned to the ground. She stabs it with her sword, but it doesn't do a terrific deal, however it distracts it long enough for Arthur to impale it with a spear.

Luckily, Gaius is able to treat the knights who were blighted by the Lamia. Back in Camelot, Arthur commends Gwen for her bravery.

great been following it since the first season...

Updated.

Updated.