If you haven’t been watching Starz’ version of the Arthurian legend, you’re clearly missing out! This series has a rich plot, strong character development and fantastic scenery. While quite a few episodes had gone by without recaps (my bad, I needed some time to catch up), I’m now watching them on schedule and will be sharing weekly recaps from this point forward. Keep reading to find out what happened on Friday’s episode.
So where do I begin? The king and his entourage are riding through the woods when a young girl comes running to them, screaming for help. Her father’s about to kill a man which spurs the king and his allies into action. When they arrive, the girl’s father already did the deed, smashing a rock over another man’s head. He’s now being strung up and hanged for his offenses. But Arthur intervenes and orders that the man be brought to Camelot for trial.
Back in Camelot, Guinevere realizes that with the great influx of people to the castle, there’s more and more disorder. She asks Arthur’s permission to help organize the people, giving each one a purpose. He happily agrees. There doesn’t seem to be any more romantic tension between the two, at least not for the moment.
Meanwhile the men from Exom arrive, and the trial commences. The man who’s been convicted – Culfert – brings his daughter with him but he orders her to say nothing throughout the trial. Arthur makes his intent clear: he wants to find out the cause because knowing someone’s motives can make a huge difference in determining punishment. Unfortunately Culfert is uncooperative and is handing himself over to be punished.
The court adjourns for a short recess and during such time Arthur enlists the help of Guinevere to try to find out what Culfert’s daughter is hiding. During a private moment Caitlin confesses to Guinevere that the man her father killed was Wade, the headman of the village. And the headman is able to take the first of the fields, and he’s also able to be the first man to bed the young girls as they develop into womanhood.
When Guinevere tells Arthur this, they decide to confront Culfert. He asks his daughter to leave the room and he explains what happened. When he first moved to that village he had no idea how things worked. Two days before he was to marry his wife, she was forced to go to bed with Wade because of his position within the village. It was then she became pregnant, and died while giving birth to Caitlin. Long story short? Caitlin was Wade’s blood daughter. Not only was he going to rob her of her honor, but he was also going to commit incest. This is what drove Culfert to kill him. Caitlin walks in and says how she always knew and loves her father all the more for everything he’s done for her.
Arthur returns to court and has Culfert share everything about the habits of his village. When he does, Arthur turns to Wade’s brother and asks, “Is this true?” Urid confirms all of it and says that it’s the right of the headman to have these things. Arthur decrees that Exom is now part of Camelot and their tradition is now over. Urid tries to argue his case, but just then Arthur orders that because Culfert killed Wade while protecting his daughter’s honor, his punishment will be banishment from the village. This causes an uproar with the men from Exom, but they are warned to follow the law and obey it.
Back in Exom, Culfert and Caitlin return to the village to collect their things when they are attacked by Urid and the rest of the men. Gawain steps in to defend them and Arthur and the others ride up to help. As Urid lunges at Arthur with his sword, Gawain puts his at the man’s throat but stops short of killing him only at the king’s request.
In the meantime Morgan continues to magically change appearance as she tries to eat, but this time her shape resembles Igraine. Cybil asks, “Why Igraine?” and Morgan replies that it’s so she can get close enough to Arthur to kill him. When the Mother Superior suggests she rely more on friends and allies to win the crown, Morgan retorts that she knows nothing about politics. But Cybil has a surprise for Morgan – a group of merchants and land owners are waiting to meet her and she readies herself to entertain them.
When she enters the room, she declares her loyalty to her brother and pretends as though she’s happy with Arthur being king because this is what the merchants are telling her. But Cybil has plans to make them break their loyalty toward the king. She goes into town and pays a mercenary to beat her. When she arrives back at the castle, the merchants are aghast when they see her appearance. Morgan brings her to a bed and Cybil tells her that she had this done for her and to not spoil the moment. It is then Morgan walks back into the room where the merchants and landowners are and tells her how terribly upset she is by what just transpired. The others finally open up to her and share their feelings about how the banner offers no protection whatsoever and she promises to summon her brother here on their behalf. Unfortunately she never sends the messenger so when nightfall comes she lies and says that Arthur snubbed them.
She begins to speak about offering them safety and security when she spots the mercenary that was paid to beat up Cybil. Making an example out of him, she calls him to the front of the room and systematically slits his throat after Cybil points out her attacker to the crowd. This rallies the merchants behind her.
Let’s not forget about my favorite, Merlin. He’s locked himself down the basement, torturing himself for the death of the young girl from whom he had taken the sword. Igraine brings him food and tries to get him to open up about his feelings but as she leans in to kiss him, he freaks out and pushes her away.
Stay tuned next week to find out what’s new in ‘Camelot!’ It airs Friday nights at 10 EST on Starz.
