Merlin 5.08 - "Did I Do Something Good?"
Here is my review for the Merlin episode 'The Hollow Queen'. It's a bit later than usual. I've had the day from hell.
It’s late at night in Camelot a mysterious caped figure is running into the Citadel. DA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA NA BATMAN!!!! Bruce Wayne only gets so far though, as he’s stopped by Leon who’s patrolling the area. Of course he is, I bet it’s not even on his rota, he just does some extra volunteering work now and then. Gwen, is also strangely with him. I say strangely because I’ve been making a joke about her patrolling the castle at night for most of the season. Apparently, it’s actually true. I wonder what else that I’ve written will come true?
Leon comes from the Uther school of tough punishment so is fully prepared to slice and dice Batman where he stands. KAPOW! BOSH! WHACK! However, Gwen steps in and says that he’s just a boy, and can’t do any real harm. The boy says he was only out catching frogs as it’s a full moon. Apparently I had a misused childhood because this is news to me. Gwen is all sympathetic and uses her ‘Arthur’ voice and tells him to run on home to bed as it’s late.
Gwen returns to Arthur’s chambers after she’s finished her security shift. Arthur is just twirling some flowers around the bedpost, because he’s a 12 year old girl apparently. He then proceeds to put up some One Direction posters, arranges all his cuddly toys in the order he loves them most and goes online to deliver his views on whether Pattinson or Lautner looked better in the new Twilight film. Gwen does her usual over the top gushing of how perfect Arthur is, which would be vomit inducing except for the fact we know she’s evil, so it actually makes it amusing that she sounds the same.
Meanwhile, Merlin’s standing in the corner looking at Gwen like he wants to garrotte her with the bed sheets. Nobody puts Baby in the corner. Seriously the boy is giving daggers, I’m guessing it’s a little bit about the whole ‘trying to kill Arthur’ thing, but actually I think a lot of it is that Gwen was supposed to be on patrol the whole night and now she’s interrupted his and Arthur’s evening together. Merlin excuses himself from the room to go outside and chuck up his lunch as Arthur whisks Gwen off her feet and over to the bed. What’s this? A blatant and explicit reference towards consensual and loving sexual activity? In Merlin? I thought we weren’t allowed to do that? Oh wait, no sorry, we just aren’t allowed to do that between two men. Silly me, I need to keep my ‘Merlin Hypocrisy Checklist’ by the side of me when I’m writing these reviews.
Batman has used cunning, guile and utility belt to enter the castle. Also a key. Gwen’s asked Merlin to run her a hot bath, so he’s down in the kitchen getting water. He’s just about to feel up Cook’s baps when he hears a noise. It’s Batman creeping about. Merlin asks him how he got in here. “It wasn’t difficult.” It really wasn’t, Leon needs to debug the CCTV system, people wander in and out all the time. Batman says he needs a physician for Batgirl, but he can’t bring her to Gaius. Firstly, because he’s heard about his reputation that he can kill his patients while just taking their temperature, secondly because the Batmobile is out of petrol and lastly, he’s got one of those weird druid symbol tattoos on his arm. He’s also got a ‘YOLO’ tattoo on his back and an ill advised picture of Wile E Coyote hugging Roadrunner on his upper thigh.
Merlin’s apparently got some sort of Bat Signal device on him so all druids can find him. He tells Batman (who’s revealed his secret identity as Daegal) that he’s not a physician. True, but I’d put more money on Cook being able to cure the boy’s sister than Gaius, so I think you’re in with a fair chance, love. Merlin asks where she is, and is told that she’s at The Valley of The Fallen Kings. “That’s more than half a day away.” That’s the plot convenient distance for this week. In times past it’s been a few days, a couple of weeks and three minutes on the number 29 bus, all depending on the circumstances of the plot. Time and distance in Camelot convene for no man.
Dagan asks Merlin if he will help him. “Can’t”, Merlin replies and we don’t really need any more description than that. We know he can help her (well, depending on if the show remembers he can do magic), but he won’t if it means putting Arthur at risk. My little niggle at this episode is that I’m not sure that Merlin would have blatantly have left Arthur when he knows Gwen’s a threat. Or maybe he’s not quite sure if she is. We don’t really have a timing between last week’s episode and this week’s so it could have been a couple of months and she hasn’t done anything to Arthur in that time. That’s what I’m assuming in my head to make it make sense. If it was a few days previous I can’t see Merlin leaving Arthur for a whole day, but I can if it’s been a few months.
I like the predicament that Merlin always has, where he has to choose between Arthur and his own kind. His loyalty should lie with the people that know who he truly is, who respect his power, but it doesn’t. It lays with a King who is prejudice against his own people, who doesn’t vocalise any care for him and doesn’t know a huge part of him. Yet, it makes perfect sense. They care and adore each other in their own way, that no one else is privy to or understands. It’s like their own little language. They don’t have to tell each other that they adore the other one just being there, they just know it. I think they both have a little bit of a crisis of confidence over it sometimes. Merlin, through guilt, feels that Arthur doesn’t need him, and Arthur I think, still senses that there are things that Merlin doesn’t tell him and keeps to himself.
I’ll just get it over with and say it now (although I may say it again), but this episode was filmed beautifully again. It’s not just aesthetically I like it, I think it does enhance the performances and script and improve the episode as a whole, as the visuals match the thematics. I loved the scene here of Merlin closing the door into darkness as we head into titles. Yes, the show has it’s problems, but sometimes it’s just stunning to watch.
Gaius is having a bit of a laze around in bed. Surely he must have work to do, people to wrongly diagnose, that sort of thing. There he is laying about in his pyjamas watching Jeremy Kyle. I mean more people will live because of it, but it’s not the usual proactive response we have from Gaius. Merlin tells Gaius where he is going. Gaius responds by saying that the Valley of the Fallen Kings is “a long way north of dangerous”. Possibly the most accurate and specific travel information we’ve ever had on the show. Merlin hands Gaius the task of keeping Arthur distracted while he is away. Richard Wilson’s exclamation of ‘Me?!’ here is completely perfect and made me chuckle.
Merlin says that Arthur probably won’t even know he’s missing. They’ve got some dude we’ve never heard of coming over for afternoon tea and plotting. Merlin heads out to meet Daegal, who is suspiciously wearing a ‘Team Morgana’ official merchandise hoodie. Again Merlin mentions that Arthur won’t know he’s even gone. Yeah, because it’s not like he’s obsessed with having you around at every waking moment or anything. I’m sure it’ll all be fine…
"Merlin!" Arthur’s having problems already. He can’t find his comb and as Merlin usually licks his hair into place every morning, he’s gonna need something else to tidy his barnet up. Luckily Mama Gwen is on hand, finds the comb, bops Arthur on the nose with it like I do to one of my nephews, or you would do to a Schnauzer . Arthur tells Gwen that this is why he loves her, because she can find things easily. Shall we add that to the other reasons from last/this season. Twenty Twenty vision, map skills and good in meetings. Yeah…sexy.
Gwen tells Arthur he is hopeless and Arthur responds that he is hopelessly in love. He never says who with, but I gather that at this moment we’re supposed to think Gwen. See? I can pick up on these little subtle hints of romance the writers put in! They’re not huge and anvil shaped at all! The sunlight is streaming through the window and their appears to be a string quartet under the bed…I know what this means…Oh, Gwen’s stopped the kiss. Well done Evil!Gwen, very good, quick reactions there. She obviously got a sense of the sound and visual surroundings and knew what was about to happen.
Let’s talk a little about Arthur. Or the Arthur we’ve seen in the last few episodes anyway. tanous and I probably differ a little bit on our opinions of Arthur at the moment, more than anything else. She has to put up with me every week making excuses and going ‘Yes, but T, it’s Arthur. He’s fluffy and pretty and has a heart made out of gold thread and the tails of bunny rabbits!’. I think if I make the ‘rose among a world of thorns’ comparison again, she’ll probably throttle me. I actually think we don’t differ over what his characteristics are, just our interpretation of them. She points out very well that Arthur is meant to be a strong leader, uniting the kingdoms and have the wisdom of a once and future king. Obviously, sometimes when we have him not being able to tie his own shoelaces, this conflicts with that description. Although I think we actually share the same feeling about what Arthur’s biggest problem as a character is; Gwen.
It’s not the fact of him being in a relationship with her, or loving her, or marrying her. It’s not about how Gwen is in those scenes. It’s about how Arthur is. Arthur who is dynamic, instinctive, passionate, arrogant, charismatic and strong. Yet, in his scenes with Gwen he is none of those things. He is weak, placated, quiet and mundane. There is no fire or twinkle behind his eyes. Arthur is very staid as a character in most times, but you can always see his emotion behind the eyes, desperate to pour out. There is nothing behind the eyes in his scenes with Gwen though. I think this Arthur, in seasons past, you could almost compartmentalise though. It didn’t seem to bleed through to Regular Flavour Arthur. So I do see and acknowledge tanous point, and in my opinion believe she is on the money with it. Since the end of last season, Dull Arthur has bled through. It’s harder to split the two now, because Gwen is a bigger part of the story and Arthur’s life. She’s involved with his personal and public life and episodes where she is there in a big way mean that The Two Arthurs are always going to fight to see which one shines through more. A few times this season it has been Dull Flavoured Arthur. I have to acknowledge that. I do however have a reason about why I think that is the case.
I think in a lot of early last season we saw brilliant development and strength from Arthur as a character. His storyline could develop, there was a change in his circumstances and his mindset constantly through the episodes. However, now we are at an impasse. There is nowhere for Arthur to go. I’m going to bring up the elephant in the room. No, no, not the Merlin and Arthur are soul mates and the show acknowledges it without actually acknowledging it thing. The magic reveal. That big old hunk of elephant there, sitting in the corner, crunching away loudly on a packet of cheese and onion crisps. Let’s talk about him.
There have been episodes in the past that haven’t explored Arthur’s character and the emotions and througt processes with it. This doesn’t usually equate to screen time or how many scenes he has with Merlin, it’s usually his role within the episode. It’s when there is nothing he can know anything about. Obviously in all episodes he can’t know about Merlin’s magic and that works fine. Sometimes there is another part of the story he’s in the dark about and that works fine too. However, occasionally Arthur is in the dark about everything. Nothing actually happens that he’s aware of. He woke up, looked for Merlin, had a guest visit and then got shot at (that’s normal for him). Everything to do with Gwen and Morgana’s plot and Merlin having the day from hell was going on apart from him. Merlin’s magic excludes him from the storyline automatically. He can’t be a part of that. He just has to sit there and drink tea.
I don’t think there are a lot of people who still think that Merlin’s magic shouldn’t be revealed. I’m not one of them either, but I’m probably as close as you can get. I do think it should have happened by now, I think it’s past it’s time, but at the same time I still appreciate the story themes that come out of it, such as Merlin’s isolation, betrayal etc. However, I recognise that you can’t have positives without negatives, and the lack of a reveal has meant negatives in terms of character progression and exploration of certain characters, namely for me Arthur and Morgana. They are both being held back by a lack of reveal. Arthur finding out about Merlin and the aftermath of that, whatever it may be, will certainly push his character along. At the moment, after some great development last year, it’s gone static. That’s not always bad, and some episodes this season I think he’s been a great character, but episodes like this, where he’s not involved are detrimental to it.
The same with Morgana. She’s stuck basically to being evil by proxy. She can’t get to close to Merlin, because eventually she’ll find out his magic, so as a result can’t get close to Arthur or within Camelot. It worked fine as a new idea last season, by having Agravaine doing her work for her, although even then it was frustrating that she never had scenes with anyone. This season it’s gone on too long though. The reveal would get her involved more. We want to see epic battles between her and Team Arthur, we want to shake up that dynamic a bit. Morgana literally can’t go anywhere at the moment.
So that’s my problem with Arthur at the moment. While I still think that within certain episodes and stories his character is great, parts of the narrative mean that he can’t move on to being this leader that we all know he can be. It’s supposed to be Merlin by his side, helping and completing him to be able to do that, and until that moment, the second Arthur, the one none of us like and wouldn’t want to share a beer with, will still bleed through prominently.
Okay, back to my regular scheduled squeeing and snarking. I wished for Arthur and Gaius scenes and I got them! I wonder if I wish hard enough, I can make other things happen too. *clicks heels together* Magic reveal…magic reveal….magic reveal…did it work? As much as I’ve just done a long rant about what’s wrong with Arthur, I do have to say I fully appreciated the humorous scenes between him and Gaius in this episode. Bradley and Richard have this style of comedy that seems to gel with each other. It is quite overt, but it’s done with so much conviction from both sides that it works especially well. I think it’s a slightly different tone if you shove Merlin in there too, as Colin has this slightly lighter, more sarcastic edge, but any combination of the three of them I adore. I love Gaius’ little jump as Arthur comes bursting through the door. Arthur’s able to do so little without Merlin, that he can’t even send a servant to go get him, he has get him by himself. I like our cute little annual reference to the tavern.
Meanwhile, back at Date-A-Druid, Merlin’s spotted that Daegal’s injured his arm. While Merlin’s auditioning for a role on Casualty, they start doing the obligatory first date chat. What do your parents do? Do you have any siblings? Are you a secret sorcerer in love with a king? That sort of thing. Daegal looks quite overwhelmed when Merlin holds his hand. Don’t get to excited Daegal. He was rubbing Tyr the stable hand’s leg in the cells last week, and that didn’t have such a happy ending…so to speak.
Arthur’s managed to get his trousers on, but is completely frantic without Merlin there to feel him up while he’s doing it. Oh sorry, is that not what the show was implying? Silly me, it is perfectly usual for a straight man to want another man to dress him and put his hands all over him isn’t it? *looks at Merlin Hypocrisy Checklist* Yes, yes it is. It says down here it’s perfectly innocent and nothing sexual about it in the least. I’m glad we’ve got that that sorted out.
Arthur misunderstands Gaius attempts to tell him he should get dressed by himself and requests his help. Arthur takes his top off and then bends over. Uhhh…*searches checklist* I can’t find this…*checks page 2* It’s not here! What does this mean?! Arthur bends over for Merlin every morning!? I need some sort of non-sexual explanation for this! AHHHH! *shreds list* .
Hee hee, this scene did make me chuckle. The look on Gaius’ face is brilliant. He’s thinking ‘what on god’s earth do you two get up to…’. Apparently Merlin and Arthur’s morning routine consists of Merlin petting Arthur’s hair into place, before undressing him, bending him over and then sculpting his clothes on to him.
Merlin’s with another man though. He’s giving him gifts of fruit and everything. Daegal is confused about why Merlin is being so kind. He thinks he doesn’t matter. “We all matter.” Merlin replies. Don’t fall for it Daegal! Stay away from the boys who are already in love. They’ll pull you in with compliments and then kick you away as soon as pretty blonde kings need something. True story.
Gwen and her Amazing Evil Bosom are creeping out of the castle while Gaius continues dressing Arthur. In a nice change of tone, within their scenes, as Gaius offers him council on his meeting. Arthur is nervous about it, doubting himself. He mentions that the guy he is meeting shares a hatred of Morgana. I don’t feel that’s true. I don’t feel that Arthur can truly hate anybody. He can feel betrayed and hurt, but not hate, especially not someone he once loved. That’s not Arthur. He may think that he hates her, but I don’t think he does, not in his fluffy bunny rabbit heart.
Merlin and Daegal run into some Generic Bandits of the Week. Hey, we haven’t seen some of them for ages. I’ve missed those little guys. Merlin tries to brain talk with Daegal, but the druid seems to have it switched to another channel. I like hearing Merlin brain talk. I wish he’d do it with Mordred too. Oh sorry, I should explain who Mordred is. You may not have seen him. Mordred’s a character who we saw a few times within the first couple of seasons. He’s a druid and has magic, you see. They reintroduced an older version at the beginning of the season. Since then he has VANISHED WITHOUT A TRACE! Seriously, he was great, we loved him. What a great character, we thought. He’s going to make the season interesting, we thought. Then he disappeared. He’s been in one episode since then. He’s essentially had the same screen time as Cook.
So it’s fair to say that Daegal is a little surprised when Merlin grabs him from behind and pulls him down into the buses. It is only their first date after all. Back in Camelot and all the Knights have made a pretty little formation on the steps. Oh, Arthur. You may as well have dressed them in Samba outfits. It doesn’t scream strong and fearful army and leader, it screams Glee National Championships. I bet they spent hours in training working this out. I bet Leon showed them all Youtube videos of formation dancing and they all worked out a little routine. Sarrum’s procession contains guys with dirt spread on their faces and spears in their quivers. I think I saw a daisy chain around Percival’s neck. Gwaine’s still holding sheet music for the ‘Welcome Song’, for crying out loud!
Oh look there’s Mordred. Mute as usual. Arthur’s giving a little speech to Sarrum about flowers, rainbows, unicorns and friendship. He’s just about to ask Leon to pass him the beaded friendship bracelets that they all made at Knight Bonding Camp, when Sarrum sneers and tells him that the last time he saw Arthur he was 10 years old. Do you think that’s why all the Kings and visitors try and kill Arthur? Because he’s young and beautiful? Even when he was a Prince, it was Arthur they tried to kill, not Uther.
Daegal has finally lead Merlin to his location. Merlin’s figured out that he is not a druid. His tattoo was apparently drawn on with a biro. Oh look, it’s Morgana. Stand by while she knocks Merlin out again. There we go. God forbid we actually have a scene between two great characters. DO THE MAGIC REVEAL SO I CAN HAVE MERLIN/MORGANA SCENES! How loud do I have to shout? Morgana tells Daegal that she knew Merlin would come as he has a weakness for outcasts, especially Druids. She knows this of Merlin, but she never thinks why. If she did she would realise it‘s because he is an outcast too. Morgana’s vision is clouded and blinkered. Just like Arthur’s is for not seeing betrayal, just like Merlin’s is over his obsession for Arthur.
Morgana’s been back to Ye Olde Superdrug from last week. I should imagine it’s under new ownership. She pours some poison down Merlin’s throat, speaking about the agony it will cause. We’ve been over this before Morgana. Stab him! You can stab, can’t you? Quick death, love! Stop leaving them alone to die, it’s not working for you! You’re not playing Mousetrap, you don’t have to build these elaborate mechanisms that slowly lead to death. Knife = death. Hell, if you’re low on knives use a fork, a spoon, or use a freakin’ apple corer, it’ll work better than just leaving them to slowly die, sweetheart.
Arthur’s trying to bond with Sarrum over ponies and ribbon twirling, but he’s more of a ‘rip things apart with his bare hands’ kinda guy. He does open up about Morgana though, and we get a little bit more backstory over ‘Morgana and Aithusa: The Well Years’. It’s not a lot more than we knew already, but it does eek out a little bit of sympathy for Morgana from me, and by the looks of it from Arthur. Sarrum mentions how she could have escaped, but she wouldn’t leave the dragon. Morgana is actually quite loyal, in her own way. It is almost the same as Merlin, the fact that her loyalty can be blinkered to one thing or person.
Gwen was distressed over Sarrum’s story and rides off to greet Morgana. It’ll be a shame if it turns out Gwen is enchanted, because this is the most loyalty and care she’s shown for anyone. That actually comes over as convincing and believable anyway. It’s not just moustache twirling evil, she’s feeling emotional over the pain that Morgana has suffered. Urgh!!! Why didn’t they do this storyline properly? Why didn’t they do it slow and beautifully? Seriously, is anyone else thinking that Gwen and Morgana should rule Camelot and Merlin and Arthur should just go live in the woods? I think everyone would be happy all around. Gwen will be kept in cleavage hugging clothing, Morgana will get her throne and Stick-Heads, Arthur won’t have to wear clothes and can roam free and hunt things, and Merlin will be with Arthur, which is ultimately on the top of his goals in life.
Merlin’s Bucket List
1. Be with Arthur forever and ever and never leave him and do everything for him and adore him.
2. Make my own potpourri.
Merlin wakes up and looks poorly. Mew of the Week. He hurls a little bit. Vomit and references to sex all in one week, we are blessed. Will the next scene contain Percival snorting coke off of Gwaine’s torso? Merlin’s trying to use his magic, but he can’t get it to light. He’s very poorly sick. He looks so alone. I don’t want Merlin to die alone!
Gaius is now starting to get worried that Merlin hasn’t returned from North of Danger. He’s also not taken the role on of Temp-Merlin for Arthur and Gwen is dressing him this morning. She’s not doing a great job either though as Arthur says “I want Merlin back, where is he?” He’s completely and utterly lost without him there. Yes, he’s married to Gwen, but he’s always with Merlin. They are in each other’s heads, and no one else can come close to that for either of them. Gwen’s trying to discourage Arthur for looking for Merlin. I would say this was Evil!Gwen talking, but she tried to discourage him from looking for Merlin when he disappeared last season too. Regular Gwen is like pancakes and Evil!Gwen is like Yorkshire pudding. They have the same ingredients, but they turn out differently.
Arthur’s fighting one of Sarrum’s men and he’s not doing too well. More time training, son, and less time making friendship bracelets and learning new dance routines. Later Gwen approaches Sarrum about ‘offing’ Arthur. “I’d be happier if he died tomorrow.” Really great by Angel here, again it’s such a shame they are giving her too little, too late. I’m not saying Gwen would have ever have been a character I adored, but she certainly could have been interesting and made an impact.
Daegal comes to try and help Merlin. He’s obviously read First Aid by Gaius Physician, because he just shoves some water on him. Recovery position! If Merlin could use CPR on Arthur last week, then this kid can show some basic first aid. Merlin’s kinda scary when he’s dying. Well done Colin for scaring the shit out of me here and making me fall into a well of hopelessness. Apparently there’s nothing a few herbs won’t cure though, so Merlin tells the boy what he needs to get better. Either that or he’s giving him the recipe for Chicken Stew, I’m unsure. It’s just completely heartbreaking again when Merlin’s causing himself pain to get better and clinging onto the boy’s hand.
Gaius goes to see Arthur about Merlin, but runs into Gwen instead. She tries to distract him with her cunning and boobs, but Gaius isn’t that easily fooled. Well not this week anyway. Gwen approaches Sarrum and asks to make a deal. He kills Arthur and she’ll give him land. I’m still not sure why Gwen doesn’t kill him herself. Surely that’s easier? Merlin, meanwhile is looking a bit better. Who knew a bit of basil and thyme could bring you back from death, eh? Daegal tells Merlin that Morgana and Gwen plan to kill Arthur. I think Merlin’s face speaks for us all when it says “For fucks sake…what else is new…”.
Merlin’s got the bit in his teeth and drags his broken body along. They run into Generic Speaking Bandit of the Week. Merlin’s got that arrogant little twinkle in his eye. When the Bandit says that they don’t even have a sword to defend themselves, Merlin responds with “I don’t need one.” I love Merlin like this. It’s the one we saw when he was talking to Ghost!Uther. Powerful and in control. He’s focused on getting to Arthur and will take out anything or anyone that’s standing in his way. Daegal questions why Merlin works for Arthur when he has magic.
Merlin replies that he think Arthur may hang him if he found out, but he believes in Arthur and what he can achieve. I actually think Merlin believes Arthur may kill him if he found out, but he doesn’t stay with him to create a better land. Well, not fully anyway. He stays with him because he doesn’t want to be apart from him. His worst nightmare isn’t that Camelot won’t allow magic, or the kingdoms won’t be united. It’s that Arthur will die.
Gaius has found Arthur and tells him that Merlin is missing. Gwen is lingering in the background and tries to diffuse the situation by telling them that Merlin told her where he was going, but wanted it kept a secret. She says he’s gone to see a girl. No…sorry Gwen, we mean Merlin, you know, tall, dark hair, pretty, eyes that have been piercing laser beams through your soul recently. You must be thinking of some other Merlin. That look, on Gaius and Arthur’s faces, that right there tells you that Gwen could have said Merlin had gone to Pluto and they would have believed it more. Take a look at Arthur’s face there. Arthur, who will believe any shit he’s told. Even he doesn’t believe that. Arthur doesn’t seem worried after he’s gained this information. If he knew that Merlin was with a cute boy, then he’d be worried.
Sarrum’s assassin seems to have raided Leon’s Shack of Love and Weapons to have found a huge crossbow. He better put it back before Leon audit’s the stock. Everyone else enters into the Round Table room. Which looks stunning by the way. Really beautiful shots and scenery. Merlin’s practically clawing his way through the castle, carrying a huge spear. I don’t know if he’s using it to help him walk or if he plans of just kebabing every person that stands in his way of finding Arthur.
Merlin gets to the assassin, who starts hurling knives at the two boys. Merlin manages to kill him right as he takes a shot at Arthur. It misses and hits Sarrum. Oops. If your going to hire someone to assassinate a person, don’t be standing next to the hit! Arthur alerts Leon, who’s considerably pissed about someone stealing one of his beloved weapons. Daegal however, has been stabbed in the process and is dying. “Did I save Arthur? Did I do something good?” . Oh my god! I loved Daegal! All these people that become close to Merlin, they all sacrifice themselves for Merlin’s cause; Arthur.
Merlin’s serving Arthur and Gwen dinner. Arthur a bit pissed at Merlin about the ‘girl’. I’ve had arguments like this is relationships! ‘So where have you been? Really, I heard you went to see that girl?’ Gwen’s practically doing Leon all over the castle, but Merlin seeing someone else is what Arthur doesn’t like. He notices Merlin is walking with a limp. Yeah, he’s still not buying the girl story. He totally thinks that Daegal was Merlin’s new fella. Girl, Ha! Yeah, good one Gwen! Merlin and Gaius bury Daegal. Merlin tells Gaius they have to do something about Gwen. “But the question is what?” The look on Merlin’s face suggests he’s thinking that hacking her up into little pieces and putting her into Cook’s dumpling mix may be the answer. Seriously, the boy isn’t playing anymore. I don’t think he cares if Gwen is enchanted or not, he’s gonna rip her up into little pieces if he can.
So did I like the episode? Um, yes and no. If we’re looking at this as 45 minutes of an individual piece of entertainment, then yes. It was swell. It had some very good performances; both dramatic and comedic. It held my attention and was nicely paced. The script was good, and it was filmed beautifully.
However, bearing in mind that there is only five episodes left ever…I’m a bit pissed. As enjoyable as this episode was, it didn’t go anywhere. Which would be fine if there were a huge amount of episodes to follow it, but surely we need to start moving the narrative along now? I feel like they are school children who are leaving their homework to the last minute. I want the show to go out with a bang, not a whimper, but at this point I just don’t see how they have the time left to achieve this.
Next week…Mordred…Aithusa…Morgana…and some rocks.