History Recap / MerlinS04E09LancelotDuLac

However, there's someone else who won't be at all happy with this news. Morgana drowses by the fire in her hovel, pulling a knife on Agravaine when he awakens her. Agravaine takes a seat and gently tries to break the news: that Arthur has decided to make Guinevere his queen. Recalling [[DreamingOfThingsToCome her vision]] and proving that she ''still'' doesn't know the difference between a Queen regnant and a queen consort, Morgana decides to come up with another [[VillainBall one of her ridiculously convoluted plans]] to ensure that Guinevere will never sit upon her throne. Kill KingArthur? Nah, that's ''way'' too simple! Her plan involves soul coins, zombies, mind-control, magical bracelets and perfect timing. It can't fail!

--> '''Arthur''': I guess we shouldn't be surprised. In all ways but one, Lancelot was a man of honour. See to it that he receives a proper burial.

%%* DownerEnding

%%* WhamEpisode
* YourCheatingHeart: Morgana's plan to ruin Gwen is designed to make her look like this. And it works.

* NewPowersAsThePlotDemands: Out of nowhere, Morgana has a coin that can raise the dead. A DeletedScene reveals that it was given to her by Morgause whilst she was in her delirium at the end of ''[[{{Recap/MerlinS04E06AServantOfTwoMasters}} A Servant Of Two Masters]]''. Unfortunately the scene hasn't turned up on the [=DVDs=] yet, though there's an image of it [[http://oi44.tinypic.com/250kwef.jpg here]].

** EyelessFace

* CallBack: Arthur thanks Lancelot for the sacrifice he made on the Isle of the Blessed and takes Gwen's hand as he does so; a clear echo of their conversation and hand-holding at Lancelot's memorial in ''[[{{Recap/MerlinS04E02TheDarkestHourPartII}} The Darkest Hour Part II]]''.
** Guinevere linking her fingers with Lancelot's seems to be reminiscent of their held hands in ''Lancelot and Guinevere''.

* DownerEnding

* HarsherInHindsight: Arthur blindfolding Guinevere before he proposes to her is sweet and romantic at first, but given what happens to Gwen [[MindRape over the course of the episode]], the image of her in a blindfold retrospectively gains some very disturbing conotations.
* HeroicBreakdown: Arthur and Guinevere

** VikingFuneral
* MaliciousSlander

* OneSceneWonder: The Dochraid

** She already tried twice to kill Arthur, once in ''His Father's Son'' and again in ''A Servant Of Two Masters''. Her first attempt was mysteriously foiled, and in her second attempt, Emrys foiled it. She's pretty much gotten it into her head that, as long as Emrys exists, Arthur is untouchable. And as Merlin was prepared for the possibility and would have thwarted her had that been the case, she was right.

* WhamEpisode

* CruelMercy: Arthur doesn't want to see Gwen be executed, so he spares her life... but has her exiled from Canterlot for good.

* BerserkButton: Of course, Gwen has always been this to Arthur, but the sight of her [[spoiler: kissing Lancelot]] is enough for him to lose it in a truly epic fashion.
** It's worth noting we've seen Arthur angry before but not quite so homicidally, bat shit crazy angry like he does when he sees [[spoiler:the kiss]].

* CrazyJealousGuy: Arthur proves he has a streak of this when it comes to Lancelot and Gwen's history together and he flies into a murderous rage when [[spoiler: finds them kissing passionately.]]

* DueToTheDead: Despite his feelings toward Lancelot, Arthur [[spoiler:requests that he be given an honorable burial]].

* LonelyFuneral: Only Merlin attends [[spoiler:Lancelot's second funeral]].

* MurderTheHypotenuse: From Arthur, of all people. The first thing he does when he witnesses [[spoiler: Lancelot's seduction of Gwen]] is to ''try and run him through with a sword.'' Even throughout their fight, when his rival loses his sword and is defenseless, Arthur is still dead-set on killing him and would have if [[spoiler: Gwen had not intervened.]]

* YourCheatingHeart: Morgana's plan to ruin Gwen is designed to make her look like this. [[spoiler: And it works.]]

--> '''Lancelot''': If any of us had magic Merlin, our lives would be much easier.

* VillainBall: If Morgana wants to a) kill Arthur and b) stop Guinevere from becoming Queen, then why doesn't she just ''kill Arthur''. The latter can't happen if she achieves the former, and Shade!Lancelot was in a perfect positon in which to achieve this. The very fact that Merlin and Gaius initially believe that the shade ''has'' been sent to assassinate Arthur only draws attention to the fact that Morgana's plan makes no logical sense. Even when it ''does'' end up working (in regards to Gwen's banishment), it still doesn't bring her anywhere near her ultimate goal of seizing Camelot's throne.

That's right folks, Morgana summoned a wet, naked, totally enslaved Lancelot from the bottom of a lake, ''just'' so she could send him to Camelot in order to seduce someone else. Even Lancelot seems somewhat bemused by this as he inspects his sword.[[hottip:*: Not a euphemism]]

** Even if Morgana thought that she wouldn't be able to kill Arthur, killing Guinevere was a very workable option for her. Instead of having Shade!Lancelot give her an enchanted bracelet, Morgana could have had his slit Guinevere's throat when he visited her in her house. Nobody would have thought to question Guinevere's absence until the next morning, and she'd have been long past saving by then.

* OutOfcharacterAlert: Evil!Lancelot doesn't know Merlin has magic.