Merlin 4.06 "I Think You, Merlin, Are the Only Person I Can Trust"

[bluebeeangel]

My review may either be a bit later this week or a bit shorter. I’ve only just finished watching the episode. I ventured outside on a Saturday night, which I don’t usually do in the Merlin months of the year. As a result I’m not going out on a Saturday night in the winter again. I hate going out on Saturdays anyway, always have, everywhere plays crap music, and it’s too cold outside when you’re coming home. Plus added to that, someone spilled beer on my favourite shoes and the vodka I had tasted of fermented donkey pee. I’m not a vodka drinker, but when I do I like Absolut; I have no idea what this make was but it tasted like it had been made in a homeless man’s hat. As a result it’s gone to my head and I know I’m gonna feel bad in the morning. I’m not going out now till Spring.


Oh right, Merlin. Sorry, went a bit off topic. So we start off with Arthur, his Angels and Merlin out on a nice Sunday afternoon ride. Merlin is warning off Arthur about going in this direction as it’s through the ‘Valley of the Fallen Kings’. Well we all know this isn’t good. The last time we saw this mentioned was in the second episode of the season when Lancelot said he was taking Merlin through there. We all assumed it was a brothel, but it turned out to be Lancelot’s Love Shack of Alcohol and Angst.

Arthur tells Merlin they are taking that way because it is secret. I think the jig is up Arthur, I think everyone in the castle knows what happens when you take The Angels and Merlin on these afternoon rides. Wink Wink, Nudge Nudge! As it turns out, news has spread to some bandits as well, who want to join in with Arthur’s afternoon delight.

Oh, look! It’s our Pirate Bandits from last week! “Arrrgh!” I can’t spot Ol’ Peg Leg Silver, yet, but I’m sure that’s his parrot flapping off in the distance. There has to be a good twenty people around Merlin again, but they all seem to be oblivious to him performing magic that was so blatant, he was one step away from pulling out a life size sparkly box, shoving Gwaine in and sawing him in half. Even Merlin’s horse has read the script’s “oblivious” stage direction and is looking straight ahead with his hooves over his ears.

Noooo! Merlin’s poorly! Those nasty old pirate bandits hit him with a keg of rum…or whatever weapons pirate bandits have, I’m unsure of the details. Arthur looks distraught, like he feels ridiculously guilty for not protecting him in that moment.

After the credits, the Pirate Bandits and the Angels seemed to have disappeared together; possibly to go to the tavern and sing sea shanties. Arthur and Merlin are left all by themselves and Merlin isn’t looking too great. Actually that raises a good point, where have the Knights got to? The last I saw Percival was charging on his horse going “Arrgh!”. I’m not sure they haven’t deflected. They really are the most bumbling Knights. I loves them though.

“I have a servant who is extremely brave and incredibly loyal and to be honest, not at all cowardly.” That was just the sweetest little confession that Arthur made there. It was like he’d gone over those words in his heads loads of times , but there wasn’t a situation he felt comfortable in admitting them in until now and they came flowing out. Merlin’s face is half overwhelmed and half realising he must be badly injured if Arthur is confessing his feelings. Aww, just kiss already! Oh wait, no…that’s wrong. What is the show using as a innocuous substitute for realistic sexual affection? Ah, yes…sorry it’s ‘hug’ isn’t it? Aww, just “hug” already!

That little scene made me realise that the show has to be working up to a magic reveal to Arthur soon. Arthur is a character who very much internalises pretty much all of his deeper feelings and emotions with almost everybody. To have him not only show how much he cares for Merlin with his actions, but voicing them suggests that the show really wants to convey how deep this trust and friendship is between them. That to me signifies they are going to test that bond in an earth shattering way.

The next morning, Arthur thinks he hears Pirate Bandits Ahoy, so chucks Merlin over his shoulder and heads off. Could he not have done that the night before. What were they doing all evening?! Was Arthur just going to stay there and hope Merlin healed? That’s right out of the Gaius Book of Medical Practice! On a slightly more guttural note (because the show is sly and knows EXACTLY what it’s doing), how many different ways are we going to see Merlin and Arthur grope at each other this season? They really are being quite imaginative in their selection. He was hurt in his chest, not his leg. Poor old Percival had an arrow to his kneecap and then the poor sod was poisoned, the other week, and he had to just walk it off. No one even offered him an arm to hold on to.

Right, so the Pirate Bandits work for Morgana? That makes sense, she does have a whiff of Captain Jack Sparrow about her. She’s not pleased that all Agravaine brought her was Merlin. I find the more traditional chocolates and flowers work better as gifts than people, so I’m with her in that decision. She does however seem to think of some use for him and states “Arthur is strangely fond of the boy.” That’s one way of putting it, I suppose.

Merlin and Morgana scenes! Merlin and Morgana scenes!! I’ve been waiting for Morgana to have scenes with anyone, but the greenery in her Evil Love Shack. One of my favourite things from last season was the Merlin/Morgana bitching at each other scenes, so I’m really glad we finally get some more.

“After all I haven’t seen you since you condemned my sister to a slow and painful death, thwarted my plans to take over Camelot and forced me to live in a hovel.” But she’s totally not bitter about it. Out of all of those things, I think it’s the hovel that she’s most upset about. Although, she’s not helping herself, a few scatter cushions and nice new pair of curtains would jazz the place up a bit. I’m going to send her an Ikea catalogue.

“You couldn’t do me a favour, could you? Let Arthur know. He still thinks of me as an under-achiever, but I’m quite proud of those accomplishments. I can die happy.” I love snarky Merlin. That’s actually a bit of a ‘layered’ line, not only is it snarky, but it also has an edge of truth about it and also very much a bite that reminds us what Merlin is capable of. I think the dynamic of Merlin and Morgana actually brings out parts of their characters which are often hidden. With Morgana, it creates a little sympathy with her for me. Merlin was partly responsible for her state at the moment, even if it was Morgana’s choices that sealed it. Although there was a lot of it bubbling under the surface before hand, it all stems back to Merlin poisoning her rather than helping her. It was a moment of betrayal. I do think the show has done well to present Morgana not just as randomly evil, but understanding the progression and the motivations behind it.

Sir Leon’s smile when they finally find Arthur is brilliant! Leon seems a lot more upbeat this season. I suppose finally having some other Knights that don’t keel over and die on the first day helps. We still don’t get an answer over where they’ve been all night. Of the many scenarios bolting around my head, I’m going to go for ‘fell down a rabbit hole and ended up in Wonderland‘. Percival and the Dormouse are now fast friends and plan to remain pen pals.

There’s a really cute little scene between Arthur and Gaius actually. There was nothing especially meaningful in the dialogue, but it ended up as quite emotional between the two people who care most about Merlin. There’s a nice underlying importance of him to these two characters.

“There’s something I don’t understand Merlin, you’re Arthur’s servant, nothing more, yet time and again you are willing to lay down your life for him.” Back at Hovel HQ and Morgana’s trying to get gossip from Merlin about his and Arthur’s relationship. Morgana clearly can’t get good Wi-Fi in the shack, so missed Merlin’s Facebook status update of “BFF of Arthur Pendragon” last week. I’m sure he put it in his Twitter feed too. Morgana, turn your cauldron on and check the social networking sites, you’re way behind in your information. One of the council members filmed the wrestling on the floor during an advisary session too, so you may want to check out Youtube while you’re there.

“Have you never seen Gaius clean a wound before?” I’ll be honest, love, it’s doubtful. I think he just sticks some leaves on it and hopes for the best.

Morgana again presses Merlin about why he is loyal to Arthur. Get the picture of Aithusa out, Merlin! They’ve got a baby white dragon together, bitch! He tells her that she can’t understand as she has no sense of loyalty. She tells him he’s wrong. Actually, they’re both right. Morgana was pretty much betrayed by everyone around her, but she was loyal to Morgause. Even though we as an audience understand that Morgause manipulated her, Morgana obviously never felt that and as a result was the only person never to lie to her. However, Merlin’s right too. He has an extremely high level of loyalty towards Arthur. He has sacrificed his own power and personal gain for him. Morgana has this arrogant sense of entitlement that Merlin doesn’t have.

There was a great bit in the council chamber’s where Agravaine goes to offer condolences that Arthur has lost Merlin. Arthur just stops him flat, like he’s not going to believe it and as if hearing those words would make it real. The council members around the table here are hilarious. One appears to be checking his mobile phone, one keeps nodding his head at everything, good or bad, and one of them seems more cut up by Merlin’s loss than Arthur. Agravaine says that the bandits were “surely sent by that snake Alinor”. Ah yes that old snakey Alinor. I knew it would be him, despite never hearing about him previously, nor again no doubt. He’s not another bloody King is he?! We’ve already got nine to rule the Five Kingdoms.

Oh god. That’s it, Morgana’s lost it. She’s making a baby voice at that seven headed snake she summoned. Seriously love, get a cat. Hell, invite Agravaine over a bit more, have afternoon tea with the Pirate Bandits. Once you’re petting as a seven headed snake, putting a collar around it’s neck and taking it for a brisk walk you know you’ve gone a step too far.

Morgana implants that mind controlling snake head into the back of Merlin’s neck. Eww, by the way. That scene makes me keep on scratching my neck. I think the topic of Merlin’s magic against Morgana’s magic is an interesting one here. Morgana is seemingly extremely powerful, (even though it is the forrmoroh which has the most power) and Merlin feels very passive. It all stems from that scene with Arthur earlier though. Arthur told him he was brave, loyal and not cowardly and this is what we are seeing from Merlin. He could have easily used his magic at any time. He knows that if he does, Morgana will tell Arthur his secret and there is a chance he will loose him. He would not loose his power or his life, but he could loose Arthur and that is the most important thing to him.

We now have a shift in tone with the episode that is evident from this scene. From then until now, it has been dark and now we shift to the more light-hearted part of the story. George! Where has he been hiding all this time? I suspect that actually all servants in Camelot are that good apart from Merlin. I did giggle at how similar his style of clothes were to Merlin’s. I’ve always said Merlin was a fashion icon in Camelot. He’s not Royalty, but I bet he gets talked about just as much. He’s basically Camelot’s answer to Pippa Middleton. I’ve always felt that while we are seeing all this magic who-ha going on at the Castle, there is a whole other life going on with the residents of Camelot and I’m sure they gossip about the castle folk constantly. Merlin’s a celebrity!

“But he is my man servant and to be honest I quite like it that way.” Awww, Arthur’s missing Merlin. Poor old George. He’s actually the most competent person in the castle. I wonder who sent him to Arthur to try and replace Merlin…

“The patrol’s found no sign of him.” Oh shut up Gwen! No, that’s it, just let poor Merlin die out in the forest while you get your paws under the table. You do remember he is your friend, don’t you? Jealous, much? Sorry…sorry. It’s just she really pissed me off here. Arthur goes out on dangerous quests and what not all the time, why is she so against him going to get Merlin? I loved Arthur here. It’s like once he was able to tell Merlin how he felt at the beginning of the episode, it was like breaking down a barrier. It’s all flooding out now!

“He won’t be going alone.” That’s it Gwaine, you tell her. Aww, I knew Gwaine would be the one to want to go get him. It’s a nice bit of continuity that Merlin is Gwaine’s best bud, even after he has become a knight. Arthur bids a fond farewell with a nice pat on the shoulder. They can’t kiss, the violins aren’t around and the lighting in the courtyard is a bit cloudy. That chemistry just radiates off the screen doesn’t it?

Arthur and Gwaine are riding through the forest and Gwaine is listing off good things about Merlin. I don’t know how long they’ve been riding, but I sense he’s probably been listing them since they left Camelot. Arthur’s so happy to see Merlin! He completely bear hugs him and he doesn’t care that he’s covered in mud or that Gwaine’s watching. So cute and we can cross off ‘hug’ on our ‘Different Ways Arthur and Merlin Grope Each Other This Season’ bingo cards. Anyone got a full house yet? I’m still waiting on ‘Tied together by the Pirate Bandits to walk the plank’.

THIS IS BRILLIANT!! I love Assassin!Merlin! He’s just this little bit off-character that Gaius starts to notice something. I liked the little scene in the kitchen where he just chucks a load of poison on to the food! Then he insults Cook and Sous Chef has to stifle a giggle. I’m so ready for a Camelot Kitchens spin off show now. Cook really doesn’t like Merlin anyway so it’s not too bad. Cook is the only person in Camelot who doesn’t adore Merlin (apart from Gwen apparently).

“I know you like to take every opportunity to be by his side but this is getting ridiculous.” HA!! This scene is amazing! Poor Arthur is so caught in the middle, although he doesn’t seem at all surprised at how jealous Merlin is of Gwen. Speaking of which, she did get in there quick, didn’t she? Merlin may be enchanted by a severed snake head, but I’m with him on this one! Colin’s delivery is awesome here and I like Angel’s little half smile as Merlin gives her evils at the end. It’s like she’s thinking Merlin must have found out she tried to stop Arthur rescuing him. I think she suspects Gwaine would have told him.

Poor Assassin!Merlin, he’s having trouble killing Arthur. Gaius suspects Merlin has a problem (because of all the pacing you see) and offers his help, but Assassin!Merlin refuses. I wouldn’t be so quick there to be honest. Gaius has killed more men single handily that the whole of Camelot’s army. Gaius offers his help again and Merlin suggests that Gaius’ help is useless. I’m starting to feel like Assassin!Merlin is actually me. Seriously, apart from the wanting to kill Arthur part, he’s pretty much saying everything for me.

I really loved the scene between Merlin and Sir Leon in the armoury. I’m pretty sure Sir Leon thinks it’s a date though. Merlin just blatantly telling him that he was going to kill Arthur and Sir Leon not taking it at all seriously at all was brilliant. He finds Merlin’s jokes hilarious.

That poor pig. Sir Pigsalot we hardly knew ye. It’s okay though because Detective Gaius and Gwen P.I are on the case. I would say it’s nice to have Gwen do something other than heaving her breasts and lecturing Arthur, but I’m still pissed off at her from earlier.

Arthur’s trying to have a gossip with Merlin about the Knights. I suspect he does this regularly. Merlin’s response about Sir Percival is “He’s very big.” Yes I’m sure he is rather. Assassin!Merlin is making rather a pigs ear out of this killing Arthur lark. He doesn’t seem awfully good at it. It was a very funny scene with Arthur genuinely concerned about the loyalty of his Knights and asking Merlin to advise him, when all the while Merlin’s there in plain sight trying to rig a trap and failing dramatically. Arthur really does properly trust him, even when it’s in front of his own eyes, he doesn’t suspect anything about him. He has proper blinkers on when it comes to Merlin.

That’s it Gwen, just smack him over the head with that jug. Makes a change from you just wondering around the castle with it. There’s some real jealous connotations between Merlin and Gwen this episode! Gwen actually works nicely as a character with Gaius. Although as she doesn’t seem to give a rats arse about Merlin, I think it’s just so Arthur won’t die and she can be Queen. You can’t fault her ambition. In an even more distressing note, Gaius appears to be performing minor surgery on Merlin in a pair of fingerless mittens. My surgical skills aren’t up to much, but try to at least be a bit sterile, Gaius.

Arthur suspects Agravaine! See, that boy’s brighter than makes out. He’s missed the dressing in black, the evil smirks and the disappearing in the middle of the day, but figured it out through one of Agravaine’s more complex plans. Good old Uncle Aggie has a plan B though. He’s implicating Gaius! Well done Agravaine, you got…wait, Gaius??? That’s the best you can do? He would have been better off implicating Sir Pigsalot rather than Gaius!

Yes, Gaius is completely useless as we see. His ‘evil snakey thing’ removal skills aren’t great. Merlin’s still enchanted. Again we’ve got this beautiful moment where Arthur is unlaying all his feelings about the pressures of his job to Merlin. He’s really trusting him with his thoughts and emotions. Merlin’s there just trying to poison Arthur’s bath really. It’s a very sweet reversal of characters. How usually Arthur is clammed up with Merlin trying to get him to talk to him. Obviously the ‘killing’ part makes it less sweet, but you catch my drift.

There’s Gwen with that jug again. She’s releasing a lot of vent up anger this week. I sense she’s taking all those annoyed emotions that we didn’t from her last week, when she should have been a bit ticked off with Arthur, and placing them all on Merlin this week. I’m not sure which part of this scene astonished me more. The fact that Arthur apparently wanders around very comfortably naked in front of Merlin while discussing his emotions, or the fact that Gwen has a horrified look on her face when she sees Arthur naked. Really love, take my advice, you’ve been dating him for about five years now, if you haven’t yet got to the stage where you’ve seen him without clothes I would begin to smell a rat. Especially when the next phrase that leaves his lips is “you’re not Merlin.” I forgive you a little bit Gwen under the circumstances, go on, you can hit Merlin with the jug again, I understand. You must have heard the rumours too.

One of my favourite things of the episode is Arthur nodding in Gaius’ direction “Gaius..” and Gaius nodding back. That was a little bit of genius between Bradley and Richard Wilson again. That’s two bits now this episode. I like those two characters together, they work well. Angel’s really good in this scene too. I may not like what they do with Gwen all the time, but I still think she’s fab. Arthur’s very slow shuffle behind the curtain was a thing of beauty.

Gaius manages to paralyse the snakey head thing for a day or so. He’s laid on a feast of berries as celebration. I feel that he took Assassin!Merlin’s food critique to heart so he’s now put them both on a raw vegan diet. Gaius has now eventually figured out that Merlin has to kill the mother snakey thing to cure him. Why he didn’t read that part in his book before performing surgery twice I’m not sure. That’s basic exam technique Gaius, always read ahead before you answer questions. How he made it through medical school I’ll never know. Merlin tells him not to tell Arthur he’s at the tavern, so you know he going to be Dragoon again.

Is that his name? I never really know what to call him. I suppose it’s Emrys now, but he’s Emrys when he’s young too, so that doesn’t really work. There’s just Old!Merlin, I suppose that works, but I’m still going with Dragoon. I think it’s charming, as is the character. So do the writers apparently as it’s the second time we’ve seen him this season.

I don’t really know why he goes behind a tree to change. Is he suspicious of the horse, does he think he’ll reveal his magic to Arthur in a series of well worked out hoof stomps? Maybe the animals of Camelot are now plotting against Merlin after the death of Sir Pigsalot.

We don’t get a scene between Dragoon and Arthur this episode, but we get one between him and The Angels which was actually a real treat. I loved Dragoon picking up on Sir Leon’s manners. Such a little love affair between Sir Leon and Merlin this season. Dragoon actually does a really good assessment of all the Knights. Except Sir Elyan…but then there’s still not that much to say about him, than he gives a good old stirring speech.

“Percival! That is a sword, it does hurt!” Snigger. I heart Dragoon.

Morgana’s even less impressed at Agravaine’s attempts to implicate Gaius than I was. Seriously, my dear, you need a new spy. After this episode, I’d go with the animals of Camelot. I’m pretty sure they are starting a revolution anyway and they are a whole lot smarter then most of the humans. With this scene and the reintroduction of Morgana, the tone of the episode shifts again. We know we’re about to go darker.

Morgana’s got a hell of a lot of random pots and jam jars on her shelves. She likes a good Church Hall bring and buy sale doesn’t she? In the last two episodes we’re seeing a slight unravelling to Morgana’s plans. We still see parts of her that are as strong as the beginning of the season and last season, but there is a genuine vulnerability in the past two episodes. She as a lot of fear in her character and you can see it in this scene, where she is presented with the subject of her premonition.

Were those red eyes again from Merlin/Dragoon?? I find the use of colour here in this scenes between Merlin and Morgana really prominent. The Red/Blue dichotomy has always been in the series and I know it has quite a blatant use last week during the battle scenes, but I really thought it’s use was awesome here. The show has always depicted Arthur and Merlin in warm red/brown colours and had the opposing side in very cool, blue, dark, colours. Although I always like how they have a little bit of blue in with Arthur and Merlin, almost signifying their flaws within the characters.

The colour divide is really clear in the Dragoon/Morgana battle. You’ve got Dragoon all head to toe in red, complete with red eyes and then Morgana, head to toe in darkness. Even the part were Morgana has been thrown back on the forest floor with no light upon her, and Dragoon is engulfed in the sunlight above him, again recognises this darkness and light theme, that has not only been presented to us throughout the series, but very much in this episode actually, just in it’s pure structure. How beautiful was it to have shots of Morgana lying in these dead, decaying leaves, while in the shots of Merlin/Dragoon standing above her were fresh, green leaves full of life and light. I loved that little bit.

Just before I get off the topic of colour and back to the scene, I also like the colours used for Gwen and Lancelot in the show. They are a marked difference to everyone else. They aren’t usually dark, cool colours or fiery warm red ones, they are pure and pastel. You can even see it in Lancelot’s horse; it was pure white.

I could probably go on and on about the colour thematics of Merlin, but I better get back to this brilliant scene. There’s something about Merlin and his reluctance at first to do harm to Morgana, even though he is dressed as Dragoon, which is brilliant. I think this goes back to the poisoning incident. I do harp on about it and I know it was two seasons ago, but it was one of my most favourite scenes of the show. Even after all Morgana has done, he still has this guilt over that event. Not just because he tried to kill his friend, but because he could have helped her and stopped so much happening.

Morgana puts a good fight up against Merlin/Dragoon, although he is a little held back by being in an 80 year old body. However, Merlin’s not one you want to mess with and he doesn’t give second chances. He throws her out the way with a scary ease and doesn’t look back.

I think Arthur and The Angels are soon going to have to stage an intervention against Merlin’s presumed drinking problem. I’m not sure what Arthur is more upset about; that Merlin disappears for long periods of time or that he doesn’t invite him to go with him. George! I love George! Arthur is punishing Merlin by saying he has to train with George.
“Lesson one is my favourite - Polishing.”
“Yes that’s my favourite too.”
Oh I bet it is. Arthur giggling here was brilliant. Merlin confronts him about why he doesn’t give George his job. Arthur admits that he’s dull and “makes jokes about bras.” Well it was brass actually, but I was pretty sure he said bras for a minute. We know that Arthur keeps Merlin around him all the time because he likes him rather than for his servant skills, but it was nice that Arthur admitted that in a way. Really the floodgates have just come crashing down haven’t they? He really can’t stop talking about his emotions to Merlin.

Agravaine goes to Morgan’s hovel and walks in and stops, surprised at the mess. I’m not quite sure why he noticed, the place is an absolute tip at the best of times. He finds her outside where Merlin left her and looks very emotional. This really interested me actually. I want more Agravaine/Morgana back story, they’ve hooked me now, I want to know how they came to be so close.

Can I just say, I loved this episode. Really, I can’t actually think of anything to complain about. I honest to god adored it. I love this season so much. Show, I love you so much. I know I poke you with a stick a lot of the time, but that’s only because I adore you and love you so and know how good you can be. Six episodes on the trot now I’ve thought were brilliant. That’s a record for sure. The Arthur/Merlin bits at the beginning were so sweet. There was three seasons worth of character development between those two in about a 30 second scene. I’ve been harping on about wanting Merlin/Morgana scenes for ages now and they did not disappoint! They’ve still got their bitchy banter from last season. There were some beautiful shots and themes of colour/darkness/light, some I haven’t even talked about, but I don’t want to waffle on anymore and bore people too much. The Assassin!Merlin part of the episode was amazingly well executed (if you pardon the pun) and everyone involved was brilliant, it had me giggling the whole way through. We then had a comedic Dragoon scene with the Knights which I adored and it transitioned into a much more dramatic Dragoon scene with Morgana perfectly. We’re slowly being drip fed parts of a Merlin vs. Morgana magic showdown and I likes it very much. Lets not forget the true stars of the episode though, the Camelot residents. Sir Pigsalot, Cook, Sous Chef and, most importantly, George. I salute you.

No, actually the real absolute star was Colin Morgan. Ridiculous, absolutely ridiculous. He played three different characters in the same episode that were actually the same character. He had to make them all different, but with similarities and make them all believable. I was exhausted by just watching it. Fantastic. The writers threw everything at him but the kitchen sink. He managed to do it all with style and threw the kitchen sink in just for extra.

Next week, it looks like it’s a bit of a continuation from this week! It’s all building up now!

(I’m a bit late in posting my review this week. I’d say better late than never, but I feel some people may vehemently disagree with that assessment! I’ll be honest I did have a 5 hour nap halfway through writing which slowed me down dramatically.)