Recap / Trollhunters S3 E8 "For the Glory of Merlin"

Trapped in the collapsing tomb, the trollhunters go deeper in hopes of finding a way out, but instead find a powerful ally.

Tropes

• Accidental Kidnapping: Of the "we just assaulted a police officer, what are we going to do" variety. Nana knocks Detective Scott unconscious after he sees Dictatious and they have to figure out what to do with him when he wakes up. Dictatious suggests killing him and Nana suggests pretending nothing happened. Mrs. Nunez comes up with the Hey, Let's Put on a Show idea that they end up running with.
• Acting Unnatural: Barbara tries telling everyone to act natural when Detective Scott is knocking on their door. Then everyone is greeting him at the door, with Mr. Nunez acting particularly suspicious. Lampshaded by Barbara when Nana suggests pretending nothing happened after knocking him out.
• Bad "Bad Acting": Everyone in the fake play the adults put on (especially Detective Scott).
• Best Served Cold: Downplayed. Barbara gets the chance to take out some repressed hostility towards Strickler through their "play-fighting," actually hurting him with a broom handle. Punctuated when she brings up the Third Rule, only for him to panic and call scene.
• Beware the Nice Ones: Nana seemed oddly okay to knock out Detective Scott
  Nana: Oh, don't be such a bunch of daisies. Help me move the body.
• Broke Your Arm Punching Out Cthulhu: Merlin explains that the reason why he was sleeping for so long was because he ended up giving away a majority of his magical power when he imprisoned Morgana at the Battle of Killahead.
• *Crack!* "Oh, My Back!": Having been asleep for hundred of years, Merlin needs to pop every joint in his body before he could pretend to care about what they have to say.
• Cobweb of Disuse: Having been asleep for centuries, naturally Merlin's body would be covered in cobwebs.
• Comfort Food: While the others are spending their time panicking, Barbara sneaks off to the kitchen and helps herself to a bowl of popcorn.
• Expecting Someone Taller: Merlin had seen into the future that the human trollhunter would find him, but the Jim he saw was 30.
• Faux Death: Merlin isn't dead, he just used the last of his power to put himself to sleep for several centuries.
• Fighting Down Memory Lane: Merlin creates a magical projection of the Battle of Killahead frozen in a moment, revealing that he and Morgana were there, having fought each other unnoticed.
• For the Evulz: Merlin claims that Morgana was the one who pitted trolls and humans against one another in the first place because she thrives on chaos.
• From Bad to Worse: As if being trapped in the Tomb wasn't bad enough, it soon starts filling with water.
• Hates Being Nicknamed:
  Toby: Mind if I call you Merle?
  Merlin: Not if you mind spending the rest of your life as a cockroach.
• Hey, Let's Put on a Show: The adults all pretend to put on a play - essentially playing a goofy dramatization of a Trollhunters adventure (with Dictatious and Strickler in his true form framed as elaborate costumes) - in hopes of keeping Detective Scott from suspecting the truth.
• Jerkass: Merlin quickly establishes himself as something of a dick, the only person he is nice to is Claire, and that's a whole other issue on why.
• Luke, I Am Your Father: Merlin says that this is why he knows so much about Jim... then admits he was lying it because he thought it was funny.
• Not So Omniscient After All: Having been established as this omnipresent Big Good of the series, Merlin is first introduced in having guessed Jim’s age wrong and then takes until the last minute before he manages to reassemble the amulet.
  Merlin: Are you the Trollhunter?
  Jim: Um, uh...
  Merlin: I thought you'd be taller.
  Jim: Um...
  Merlin: Yes, I expected much taller. And older. How old are you? Ten?
  Jim: Uh, sixteen.
  Merlin: I guess I was only off by, mmm... Six plus four, carry the one... fourteen years.
• Seers: Merlin has a very limited ability to divine the future, having anticipated Jim's arrival, but having gotten his age and height wrong.
• Tap on the Head: When Detective Scott sees Dictatious, Nana is quick to knock him out with a shovel. She seems to assume she killed him, and casually recommends hiding the body.
• The Thing That Would Not Leave: Detective Scott unintentionally finds every excuse to stay, especially when he thinks they are organizing a play.
• This Is No Time to Panic: Barbara's reaction when a police officer knocks at her door.
• Wham Shot: When it is revealed that Morgana was imprisoned deep within the Heartstone this whole time.
• A Wizard Did It: Blinky chocks up to the fact that Merlin isn't a lifeless skeleton at this point in time to him being a wizard.