History Recap / MerlinS03E01TheTearsOfUtherPendragonPartI

* InfantImmortality: {{Averted}} with the ghosts of the dead children.

He follows Morgana as she strides through the palace and the lower town, ducking out of sight every time she turns around. Deep in the forest Merlin watches her cloaked figure as she glides through the trees, and is gobsmacked when she's joined by Morgause and her Blood Guards on horseback. More awesome SlowMotion and creepy CrowningMusicOfAwesome herald her arrival. Merlin inches closer.

* ShoutOut: Uther being guilty of drowning children is no doubt an allusion to ArthurianLegend, in which ''Arthur himself'' ordered the deaths of "the May Day babies" in an attempt to kill the infant Mordred, who was prophecied to be his doom.

The following day, Morgause and her bodyguards gallop toward Cenred's citadel. In BadAss SlowMotion, Morgause gallops under the portcullis and marches up the front steps like a boss, finding Cendred in his throne room. When she insults him for not meeting her at the border, one of his men draws his sword. Morgause's eyes glow gold, and the man is thrown across the room onto a table that breaks beneath him. More men draw their weapons, but Cenred halts them.

The final bandits are finished off and the knights regroup. Arthur and Merlin hear the sounds of approach and Arthur readies his sword. A lone figure stumbles through the mist toward them, and as it clears, they discover that it's a dishevelled, frightened Morgana.

* BloodOnTheseHands: Uther's guilty conscience.

* ManlyTears: It's in the title! Morgana collects some of his joyful tears during their reunion in order to use them for a spell against him.

* BlingOfWar: Morgana's shiny [[OfCorsetsSexy metal corset]].

* ChekhovsGun: {{Averted}}. Though it's established that the cries of the mandrake root are audible only to those with magic, this plays no part in how Merlin discovers it under Uther's bed.

* KickTheDog: Perhaps in an attempt to prevent the audience from sympathizing too much with Morgana (who at this point is trying to dispose of a king ''who had children drowned'') there is a scene in which she kills a helpful sentry. What's worse, she clearly ''enjoys'' killing him.

Uther sits on his throne in the grand hall as Sir Leon gives him a daily update on news in the kingdom. Morgana enters through the doors and marches across the room toward him. Uther orders the soldiers out and the two rush into each other's arms. Uther has tears in his eyes and Morgana dabs them away with a handkerchief. She thanks him for not giving up on her, and apologises for her past behaviour, promising him to be more obedience in future. She kisses his cheek and leaves him to his business ... but wait a second ... what's with that PsychoticSmirk on her face the second her back is turned?

Wasting no time in getting to this season's quota of HoYay, Arthur and Merlin [[MakesSenseInContext discuss each other's backsides]] and the word "dollop-head". Arthur gestures for silence as he notices a deserted bandit camp in the trees ahead. Dismounting, the group quietly enter the area and Arthur checks the campfire. There's a whistle in the air, and one of the knights falls to the ground, an arrow in his back. Bandits race through the trees, and a fight commences. Merlin grabs a nearby sword, and immediatley gets it knocked out of his hands. Face to face with a bandit, he mutters a spell and makes the man's sword magnetic, attracting a helmet, a saucepan and a couple of mugs. With them stuck tight to his sword, the man falls backwards. Merlin tries to run to Arthur's side, but is waylaid by another bandit with an axe. This time he casts a spell to ensure that an entire tree falls down on his assailant.

Arthur notices how happy he looks whilst scrubbing the floor. A fairly pointless sequence commences in which [[JerkAss Arthur]] smears a dirty cloth over Merlin's face and tips the bucket of washing water over his face (though you may not have cared considering he's [[ShirtlessScene shirtless]] throughout).

* TitleDrop: "The tears of Uther Pendragon have only begun to fall."