Epic Merlin Rewatch: S01E06 A Remedy To Cure All Ills
EPIC MERLIN REWATCH OF MERLIN EPICNESS
Season 1 Episode 6: A Remedy to Cure All Ills
Once again with the guest star, I can’t quite concentrate because of what they’ve been in before. With Julian Rhind-Tutt, all I can see is him in Green Wing (which I absolutely LOVED and he was hilarious, ultra cool, and actually pretty sexy in it)...And since I've written this I've just spent an hour on youtube looking up Green Wing clips. *sigh* So, just humour me, here's a very small clip of Julian as Mac in Green Wing (btw if you've never seen it, you should watch it, its hilarious and ridiculous).
Click to viewBACK TO MERLIN:
- Quick summary: Morgana falls ill, Edwin saves her and shows Gaius up to be out of touch and old old old. Uther retires Gaius, Edwin + Uther are now kissing in a tree B-F-Fs, etc. In olde times, however, Edwin's parents were killed by Uther for magicking and stuff. Edwin now wants revenge. SPOILER! He doesn't get it.
- Gwen comments about Morgana wanting the flowers to be from Arthur. But Morgana isn’t bothered about Arthur. It strikes me that Gwen has done this a few times- sort of shipping Arthur/Morgana or at least saying to Morgana “what about Arthur?” Maybe this is some sort of vicarious shipping? Gwen obviously doesn’t think Arthur is all bad or she wouldn’t be encouraging Morgana. Maybe Gwen is just far too practical to ever consider Arthur in that way for herself, but it doesn't stop her looking for Morgana's sake (at least that's what she tells herself). And I feel a fanfic coming on.
- Uther throws over Gaius pretty quickly for the new guy, although I suppose you could say that this is because Gaius can’t cure Morgana and they are desperate to find a treatment, even if it means trusting an unknown quantity.
- I love Edwin’s alchemy set. Its all sort of like Dumbledore’s Office, except just a desk. But a desk full of amazingly shiny things. It’s very pretty and I immediately want to play with it and make things go “BOOM!”
- Merlin, apparently, is “too bright to be just a servant.” I have a problem with this line. Why wouldn’t a servant be bright? Isn’t their being a servant more to do with their class than their intellect?
- We know this guy is evil when he snaps at Gwen. And he’s way too smarmy to be genuine.
- Geoffrey of Monmouth sighting!
- Edwin is even taking over Gaius’s role in teaching Merlin magic. He wants to be the Emperor to Merlin’s Vader ("rule the kingdom, with you at my side"). Ok, so if you were casting Star Wars with Merlin characters who would be who? (I don't know if this seems particularly odd, but I do this all the time- mostly casting my friends/colleagues/imaginary tv character friends in classic stuff- and its fun, okay, completely not sad and pathetic!). Merlin is Luke Skywalker, definitely. Gaius is Obi-Wan (does this mean he's going to die soon? He might have to die before Merlin can become a jedi a true sorcerer), the dragon is Yoda, Arthur is Han Solo, Gwen is Leia, Morgana is probably the Vader character. Is Morgause Palpatine? I don't know. Ok, yes, I know this is sad but its FUN!
- Has Gaius got a new wig? Or maybe he just went to the hairdressers this week?
- Knowing that Edwin got his scar trying to save his parents from the flames as they were burnt to death by Uther gives him pathos. He’s a figure to be pitied rather than hated or feared.
- Is it just me or did Katie sound more Irish in season 1?
- Gaius knows the Dragon! Maybe they were old drinking buds? So Gaius turned a blind eye while all other magical people were killed by Uther and somehow managed to pretend that he himself didn’t do magic, which is very cowardly. What bugs me as well is that he doesn't seem to be sorry about what he did (or didn't do). I think this could all turn out badly for Gaius in the long run.
- Uther deals with all this very well and with more grace than I would’ve expected. It makes sense that eventually he’d try to retire Gaius. And he does offer Gaius an allowance and a place to live, hes really quite generous (for a tyrannical tyrant who tyrannises).
- This is one of the only episodes where Merlin is not the one who discovers or even knows about the bad guy. Merlin doesn’t know anything really, except that Edwin can do magic.
- Gwen! She’s one of the only people who knows Edwin is up to something! Showing once again that she sees the truth of things. She might not know the details (i.e. Merlin having magic) but she knows when someone is truly good.
- The end confrontation between Edwin, Gaius and Merlin was ridiculous. So Merlin does some sort of strange Matrix move and manages to send the axe back towards Edwin, which kills him (I can only assume this as its off screen but we do hear a thump). WHY? WHYWHYWHY? For God's sake did they run out of time filming the scene, or even writing it? Surely they could've come up with a better ending than that!
- Overall this episode was alright. Watchable but forgettable. Nothing in it made me jump up and down for joy, but it was ok. I suppose the most important thing we discover is that Gaius has more shades of grey in him than we suspected.
Best lines:
Slash! Dragon: You have struggled against his destiny but you can no more prevent his destiny than he can.
Gaius: So it is true then?
Slash! Dragon: Oh yes. He and the young Pendragon one day will unite the land of Albion.
(Quick question about this quote: what does Gaius know about Merlin's destiny? "so its true then" indicates that he's heard it before. From who? Merlin's been keeping his trysts with the Dragon a secret!)