Epic Merlin Rewatch: S01E04 The Poisoned Chalice
Reviewy thing of one of my favourite episodes of season 1 (in fact, the one that made me sit up and take notice of Merlin, rather than just having it on as a thing on in the background).
EPIC MERLIN REWATCH OF MERLIN EPICNESS
Season 1 Episode 4: The Poisoned Chalice
- The first shot is as above, a finger dripping blood. For a second I thought I’d put the wrong dvd on and was watching True Blood:
- Nimueh is pissed off with Merlin. I’m not sure how I feel about Nimueh. As we see later on in the season she’s not pure evil, she’s just out for revenge. Nimueh is rocking the turban look, although she so doesn’t look like a servant. A concubine maybe?
- Lol at Arthur making Merlin attend the feast so that he’s not the only one who has to listen to the boring speeches. I would so do that to my friends. Spreading the pain is a true mark of friendship.
- Gwen is jealous that Merlin’s got the hots for Nimue, which is interesting. I think its just that Gwen is a bit tired of being treated like everyone's mate, rather than a woman. Don't worry, Gwen, it won't be long before you have TWO sexy knights after you!
- Why did Nimueh tell Merlin about the poison goblet? Did she know that he’d end up drinking it? She couldn’t have foreseen that that Bayard would offer to drink it and Uther would insist Merlin drunk it instead. And since she’s this great sorceress shouldn’t she have laced the drink with a fast working poison, instead of one that conveniently took five days to kill the protagonist, giving them time to find a cure? Then again, maybe this was really well planned and Nimueh actually wanted to kill Arthur or at the very least put him in mortal peril. What she succeeded in doing was forcing Arthur to go above and beyond for Merlin, solidifying their friendship.
- Let me talk about Arthur for a moment. He does everything right in this episode (and yet manages to avoid being the shiny, nice but boring Lancelot kind of Right). Arthur tries to defuse the situation by offering it to drink the poison, telling Merlin to apologise, and when Merlin does collapse, Arthur carries him to the chamber himself when the room was full of servants and other knights who could very well have done so. He openly defies his father by going to find the flower-cure. He rescues a damsel in distress. He fights spiders of doom. And, ultimately, he risks his life for someone who is 'just a servant'. It was this episode where I truly got on board the Arthur Is Awesome train (CHOO!CHOO!). It was here that he finally clicked as a character, I think.
- Arthur v. Uther again. I really love their father/son arguments about what a king should be. Just a few episodes in and how we view Arthur has really changed- episode 1 he was a spoilt royal jackass, now you can see him as the great king in the making. However, I see Uther’s point about Arthur not saving someone who is just a servant. He doesn’t think its worth Arthur (future king) dying for the life of a servant (future person cleaning Arthur’s armour). Arthur thinks its worth risking his life even if its just for one person, which is admirable, if maybe a little short-sighted. However, I think Uther could've very well let Arthur send some knights out to collect the flower-cure, especially since Merlin got poisoned saving Arthur's life.
- What Merlin does (conjuring a ball of light and sending it to help Arthur) is pretty impressive, especially in light of what we've seen Merlin do so far (i.e. not much except moving objects around). He’s unconscious so maybe its his subconscious doing the work? He sends Arthur a ball of light as well as general encouragement from miles and miles away while dying of poison. I’ve got a feeling he wouldn’t have been able to do that if he was awake and well. Its like Mr Dragon said last week- Arthur and Merlin are two halves of the same coin, Merlin subconsciously had to help Arthur.
- I like Arthur’s bright red jacket.
- Was it just me or did King Bayard look like Billy Connelly?
- ASH plays Uther perfectly. He’s dangerous, menacing and yet he’s doing what he thinks is right so you can’t hate him.
- Props to Bradley James for some awesome CGI fighting and for climbing up that wall in chainmail.
- Gwen kissing Merlin! Weird. Very very weird.
Best Lines:
Gaius: Hard work breeds a harder soul
Merlin: There is no way that’s a proverb, you just made that up.
Morgana: What sort of king would Camelot want? One who would risk his life for that of a lowly servant? Or one who does what his father tells him to?
--
All in all my favourite episode so far and one of my favourites from season 1.
EPIC MERLIN REWATCH OF MERLIN EPICNESS
Season 1 Episode 4: The Poisoned Chalice
- The first shot is as above, a finger dripping blood. For a second I thought I’d put the wrong dvd on and was watching True Blood:
- Nimueh is pissed off with Merlin. I’m not sure how I feel about Nimueh. As we see later on in the season she’s not pure evil, she’s just out for revenge. Nimueh is rocking the turban look, although she so doesn’t look like a servant. A concubine maybe?
- Lol at Arthur making Merlin attend the feast so that he’s not the only one who has to listen to the boring speeches. I would so do that to my friends. Spreading the pain is a true mark of friendship.
- Gwen is jealous that Merlin’s got the hots for Nimue, which is interesting. I think its just that Gwen is a bit tired of being treated like everyone's mate, rather than a woman. Don't worry, Gwen, it won't be long before you have TWO sexy knights after you!
- Why did Nimueh tell Merlin about the poison goblet? Did she know that he’d end up drinking it? She couldn’t have foreseen that that Bayard would offer to drink it and Uther would insist Merlin drunk it instead. And since she’s this great sorceress shouldn’t she have laced the drink with a fast working poison, instead of one that conveniently took five days to kill the protagonist, giving them time to find a cure? Then again, maybe this was really well planned and Nimueh actually wanted to kill Arthur or at the very least put him in mortal peril. What she succeeded in doing was forcing Arthur to go above and beyond for Merlin, solidifying their friendship.
- Let me talk about Arthur for a moment. He does everything right in this episode (and yet manages to avoid being the shiny, nice but boring Lancelot kind of Right). Arthur tries to defuse the situation by offering it to drink the poison, telling Merlin to apologise, and when Merlin does collapse, Arthur carries him to the chamber himself when the room was full of servants and other knights who could very well have done so. He openly defies his father by going to find the flower-cure. He rescues a damsel in distress. He fights spiders of doom. And, ultimately, he risks his life for someone who is 'just a servant'. It was this episode where I truly got on board the Arthur Is Awesome train (CHOO!CHOO!). It was here that he finally clicked as a character, I think.
- Arthur v. Uther again. I really love their father/son arguments about what a king should be. Just a few episodes in and how we view Arthur has really changed- episode 1 he was a spoilt royal jackass, now you can see him as the great king in the making. However, I see Uther’s point about Arthur not saving someone who is just a servant. He doesn’t think its worth Arthur (future king) dying for the life of a servant (future person cleaning Arthur’s armour). Arthur thinks its worth risking his life even if its just for one person, which is admirable, if maybe a little short-sighted. However, I think Uther could've very well let Arthur send some knights out to collect the flower-cure, especially since Merlin got poisoned saving Arthur's life.
- What Merlin does (conjuring a ball of light and sending it to help Arthur) is pretty impressive, especially in light of what we've seen Merlin do so far (i.e. not much except moving objects around). He’s unconscious so maybe its his subconscious doing the work? He sends Arthur a ball of light as well as general encouragement from miles and miles away while dying of poison. I’ve got a feeling he wouldn’t have been able to do that if he was awake and well. Its like Mr Dragon said last week- Arthur and Merlin are two halves of the same coin, Merlin subconsciously had to help Arthur.
- I like Arthur’s bright red jacket.
- Was it just me or did King Bayard look like Billy Connelly?
- ASH plays Uther perfectly. He’s dangerous, menacing and yet he’s doing what he thinks is right so you can’t hate him.
- Props to Bradley James for some awesome CGI fighting and for climbing up that wall in chainmail.
- Gwen kissing Merlin! Weird. Very very weird.
Best Lines:
Gaius: Hard work breeds a harder soul
Merlin: There is no way that’s a proverb, you just made that up.
Morgana: What sort of king would Camelot want? One who would risk his life for that of a lowly servant? Or one who does what his father tells him to?
--
All in all my favourite episode so far and one of my favourites from season 1.