History Recap / MerlinS05E04AnothersSorrow

** To ''[[Recap/MerlinS04E11TheHuntersHeart The Hunter's Heart]]'', what with the reappearance of Princess Mithian. It also provides something of a mini HourglassPlot between Guinevere and Mithian: in the last episode Mithian was the regal princess whilst Gwen was a helpless victim of Morgana; now Gwen is the powerful queen whilst Mithian is completely under Morgana's control. Morgana even utilizes an enchanted bracelet in her manipulation of each woman.
** It also wraps up the Odin subplot that started way back in ''[[Recap/MerlinS02E02TheOnceAndFutureQueen The Once And Future Queen]]'' and continued in ''[[Recap/MerlinS04E03TheWickedDay The Wicked Day]]''.

* ShipTease: Fandom picked up on some between Leon/Mithian and Merlin/Mithian - though it could have just been ShippingGoggles.

* {{Chickification}}: She wasn't strictly an ActionGirl in her first appearance, but Mithian came across as immensely confident and self-assured. It's therefore rather jarring to see her portrayed as exhausted, tearful, frightened and helpless over the course of her second appearance, with only a few moments to shine before reverting back to passivity.
** In fairness, a lot of this is because she's being threatened both personally by Morgana and indirectly by having Morgana threaten to bury her father alive. And note that despite being severely burnt by Morgana's spell, she still manages to get a warning out to Merlin.

* BillingDisplacement: James Fox is credited before Janet Montgomery in the opening sequence, even though she's central to the episode, and he has about three minutes of screen time.

* CallBack: There's a very clear allusion to the scene in the Series 3 finale when Morgana brings down the castle to the scene where Merlin causes an earthquake.
** The scene where Merlin stops Arthur from [[spoiler:killing Odin]] is specular to the scene where Agravaine persuaded Arthur to executed Caerleon.

* FauxSymbolism: When Mithian makes her second attempt to escape Morgana, she takes the key from sleeping Morgana's hand and replaces it with a comb. A subtle commentary on the state of Morgana's hair?

* TheLoad: [[ZigZaggingTrope Gaius zigzags this trope.]] On one hand, he does heal Merlin...on the other, his case of ArbitrarySkepticism does a lot more harm than good and one can't help but feel Merlin would have found out Morgana a lot sooner if Gaius didn't keep insisting ItsProbablyNothing.

* PluckyGirl: Downplayed Mithian spends the entire episode tearful, frightened and largely helpless, but still finds a way to tell Merlin that her old nurse is Morgana.

* SequelEpisode: To ''[[Recap/MerlinS04E11TheHuntersHeart The Hunter’s Heart]]'', what with the reappearance of Princess Mithian. It also provides something of a mini HourglassPlot between Guinevere and Mithian: in the last episode Mithian was the regal princess whilst Gwen was a helpless victim of Morgana; now Gwen is the powerful queen whilst Mithian is completely under Morgana's control. Morgana even utilizes an enchanted bracelet in her manipulation of each woman.

* YouKilledMyFather

The kingdom of Nemeth has just been defeated: armed soldiers patrol the grounds and knights lie dead as King Odin and Morgana stride into the castle. Inside the beautiful throne room, two figures are forced to kneel at their feet: an old king and a familiar face. [[Recap/MerlinS04E11TheHuntersHeart aka Rejected Princess #4!]] She and her father King Rodor demand to know why their ally has betrayed them.

The kingdom of Nemeth has just been defeated: armed soldiers patrol the grounds and knights lie dead as King Odin and Morgana stride into the castle. Inside the beautiful throne room, two figures are forced to kneel at their feet: an old king and a familiar face. [[HeyItsThatGuy Hey, it's Princess Mithian,]] [[Recap/MerlinS04E11TheHuntersHeart aka Rejected Princess #4!]] She and her father King Rodor demand to know why their ally has betrayed them.

The kingdom of Nemeth has just been defeated: armed soldiers patrol the grounds and knights lie dead as King Odin and Morgana stride into the castle. Inside the beautiful throne room, two figures are forced to kneel at their feet: an old king and a familiar face. [[HeyItsThatGuy Hey, it's Princess Mithian]], [[{{Recap/MerlinS04E11TheHuntersHeart}} aka Rejected Princess #4!]] She and her father King Rodor demand to know why their ally has betrayed them.

Ordering his men not to intervene, Arthur and Odin begin to fight, complete with slow motion, sun flares and a choral backing. Arthur finally overpowers Odin, but just as he's about to kill him, Merlin reminds him that this isn't what he really wants. Arthur points out to Odin that war would commence should either of them die, and that he can live if he reliquishes his hold on Nemeth and restore Rodor to the throne.

* AllLoveIsUnrequited: Mithian. Maybe. [[http://andely.tumblr.com/post/34454939173 Watch her face in the final scene when Arthur leaves the room with Guinevere]].

** Morgana manipulates Mithian into becoming a HoneyTrap for Arthur by [[{{Blackmail}} Blackmailing]] her with a [[IHaveYourWife I Have Your Father]] ploy and [[MasterOfDisguise disguising herself]] as her nursemaid to keep her in line, only for Mithian to warn Merlin as to Morgana's true identity by telling Morgana she needs to bathe, writing "Morgana" on a rock by the river, and then sending Merlin down to the water to fill her water-flask. However, she's OutGambitted when Morgana realizes what she's up to and nearly kills Merlin. However, Morgana doesn't count on Gaius's [[HealingHands Healing Abilities]], restoring Merlin to full health and allowing him to prevent Arthur's death at the tomb.

* DistressedDamsel: Mithian, twice over - technically she's a DistressedDamsel who is forced to pretend that she's even ''more'' of a DistressedDamsel.

* HoneyTrap: Morgana forces Mithian to be one; though it's more DistressedDamsel than FemmeFatale in nature.

* TheLoad: [[ZigZaggingTrope Gaius zigzags this trope]]. On one hand, he does heal Merlin...on the other, his case of ArbitrarySkepticism does a lot more harm than good and one can't help but feel Merlin would have found out Morgana a lot sooner if Gaius didn't keep insisting ItsProbablyNothing.

* SequelEpisode: To ''[[{{Recap/MerlinS04E11TheHuntersHeart}} The Hunter’s Heart]]'', what with the reappearance of Princess Mithian. It also provides something of a mini HourglassPlot between Guinevere and Mithian: in the last episode Mithian was the regal princess whilst Gwen was a helpless victim of Morgana; now Gwen is the powerful queen whilst Mithian is completely under Morgana's control. Morgana even utilizes an enchanted bracelet in her manipulation of each woman.
** It also wraps up the Odin subplot that started way back in ''[[{{Recap/MerlinS02E02TheOnceAndFutureQueen}} The Once And Future Queen]]'' and continued in ''[[{{Recap/MerlinS04E03TheWickedDay}} The Wicked Day]]''.

* WhatDoYouMeanItsNotSymbolic: When Mithian makes her second attempt to escape Morgana, she takes the key from sleeping Morgana's hand and replaces it with a comb. A subtle commentary on the state of Morgana's hair?

* BadassDamsel: Mithian spends the entire episode tearful, frightened and largely helpless, but still finds a way to tell Merlin that her old nurse is Morgana.

* {{Chickification}}: She wasn't strictly an ActionGirl in her first appearance, but Mithian came across as immensely confident and self-assured. It's therefore rather jarring to see her portrayed as exhausted, tearful, frightened and helpless over the course of her second appearance, with only a few moments to shine as a BadassDamsel before reverting back to passivity.