There were about 4.2M people in the US watched Merlin S1E08, one of them was AfterElton's Brent Hartinger. I found
this part very funny.
So what does Merlin do? He acquiesces! He goes and helps him! True, not helping would have meant that the kid and Arthur get killed, but in my mind, it still means Merlin would make a terrible parent. If Merlin and Arthur ever do get together and decide to adopt kids, I hope and pray I never have to stand behind them in line at the grocery.