Rewatch of Merlin 1.01
ETA: I'm not happy with this writeup, so I'm going to lock down comments and rewrite it and open up comments later.
Ok, drumroll please. Here is my rewatch of 1.01 of Merlin. This is going to be a big post of squee mainly because I think get so much right in this episode.
While the first view we get is looking up a hill, within one second, we see Merlin's face:D "No young man, no matter how great, can know his destiny". This is 11 seconds in. I was pretty much sold. Then we see Merlin look in wonder on Camelot before get to see it.
The music is light and happy as Merlin makes his way into Camelot. Trumpets blare as he walks into the courtyard and at 2:20 minutes, we meet Uther and find out how he feels about magic (which has Merlin gulping). Merlin looks pretty horrified. 3 minutes in and we meet Morgana (who won't watch the execution either).
The moment Uther declares a celebration of the purge of magic, Eve Myles wails because her son is executed and vows revenge. Then she disappears. Our first exposure to magic and it's before 5 minutes is up.
Happy music continues. Tension disappates. Merlin enters Gauis's chambers and is amazed. He looks up and see Gaius after about 6 minutes (and then we see Merlin do his first magic trick). Merlin denies knowing magic, after seeing Uther. Love the questions from Gaius and the interaction between M and G! Merlin saves Gaius's life and Gaius says thank you. Won't be the first time.
7.5 minutes in and we meet Hunith and begin to understand why Merlin came to Camelot. He needs guidance and was having problems in Ealdor.
8.5 minutes we have Morgana questioning why it's so terrible to perform magic and Uther comes down as a strict guardian and makes her attend the feast.
In the forest, we meet the singer who Eve Myles kills and impersonates. Tension builds. The witch uses magic and kills the singer and turns into her before our eyes, but we can see who she really is in the mirror.
11:45 minutes in and we get the dragon saying "Merlin". This might be my favorite moment of ep 1. Maybe.
Gaius tests Merlin and can't figure out how Merlin does what he does. Then he says he needs to keep Merlin out of trouble and sends him to deliver some potions. Again, we get fun music and the tension releases.
Just under 14 minutes in we meet Arthur. We hear his snotty voice first "Where's the target?". And by 14:20 we see Gwen.
Before 15 minutes, Merlin and Arthur have their first encounter. I love this encounter. Merlin is so confident and has no idea who he's dealing with. He gets thrown in the dungeon.
Evening and horses arrive and we are back to some tension. Lady Helen meets Uther and we get some of the famous doublespeak we see throughout.
Next morning, Merlin awakes to the Dragon's voice and while the voice is very serious, Merlin is rooting around in the straw looking for where it could be coming from (I find this very funny). Then Gaius appears to rescue Merlin.
18 minutes in, Gwen finally speaks (to Merlin in the stocks). She praises him for standing up to Arthur and then doesn't believe that Merlin could even though he assures her he could and says he's in disguise. Very cute and funny and the really fun music starts and we forget about anything serious.
21 minutes in and Merlin finally meets discovers that something is wrong, magically speaking. He is not confident with Lady Helen at all, but he gets away.
Arthur confronts Merlin and after a couple quick verbal back and forths, Arthur says, "I warn you, I've been trained to kill since birth" and Merlin says "And how long have you been training to be a prat"? Arthur says "You can't address me like that" and Merlin says "Sorry, how long have you been training to be a prat, my lord". I love this bit of dialogue.
and then the fight ensues, with Arthur having the upper hand at first because Merlin is clumsy. Merlin starts using magic and gets the upper hand until Gaius appears and he lets himself be taken down by Arthur. Great music here too. Very light.
Then we see Gaius scolding Merlin and Merlin finally says "If I can't use magic, I might as well die". We find out how important magic is to Merlin. Then Gaius is very tender with Merlin and tends to his bruises. Merlin wants to know why he's born like this; is he a monster? Gaius very firmly says "don't ever think that".
Lady Helen has a leading conversation with Uther. Creepy music accompanies the conversation.
28 minutes in, we finally get to meet the Dragon. Merlin is awoken and sneaks out (won't be the first time he does this).
30 minutes in and Merlin enters the cave. I love this scene; he's just looking around in wonder and asks, "where are you" and then the Dragon comes out and Merlin looks appropriately terrified. Then the Dragon talks about Merlin's destiny. He confirms that there is a reason for Merlin's gift. Merlin needs to protect Arthur. "None of us can choose our destiny and none of us can escape it". Merlin protests. The Dragon laughed in there somewhere and of course, he leaves before all of Merlin's questions are answered.
Next morning, Merlin is awakened by Gaius and scolded for the messy state of his room. We find out that Morgana has nightmares. Fun music again; tension lowered. Merlin appears in Morgana's chambers and seems enchanted with her, but she thinks he is Gwen. He tries not to talk and does a fake "girl" voice which is completely silly. Finally, Gwen appears and saves him.
Scene where Lady Helen kills the random woman.
Finally, the banquet. Music is light. Arthur is being a bully and Merlin disapproves. Morgana appears and everyone is enchanted. Adorable conversation between Gwen and Merlin and Gwen says "some people are just born to be queen" to which Merlin replies "no". A little bit of foreshadowing there...:D Gwen says she doesn't want to marry Arthur which cracks me up every time.
Creepy singing gets me all tense again. Back to the banquet, and then Uther makes a little speech and introduces the singer. Shortly after she starts singing, heads start drooping, cobwebs form and the room is enchanted, except for Merlin, who covers his ears and wonders what the heck to do. He is watching Arthur carefully and sees her start to throw a knife at Arthur, so he drops a chandelier on her head. Everyone wakes up and the witch is revealed; she throws the knife and Merlin grabs Arthur out of the way. The witch dies. We are all completely tense. Then, Uther rewards Merlin with a special position; a position in the royal household; Arthur's manservant. Arthur protests with disgust in his voice and the two look at each other with disgust. It's completely hilarious.
Gaius appears and reassures Merlin that his magic to save Arthur's life. He gives him a book of magic (an amazing book that the art department completely outdid themselves with). Merlin is totally appreciative; says he will read every word. Then he is called away to go see Arthur and Merlin smiles before exiting stage right:D
And those are my incoherent thoughts about 1.01. I love how the tension is handled in this episode and throughout the series. What are your favorite scenes? What stands out for you? I feel like they did an excellent job introducing all the characters with each entrance appropriate to the character. I love how they really respect the characters in this show.
Ok, drumroll please. Here is my rewatch of 1.01 of Merlin. This is going to be a big post of squee mainly because I think get so much right in this episode.
While the first view we get is looking up a hill, within one second, we see Merlin's face:D "No young man, no matter how great, can know his destiny". This is 11 seconds in. I was pretty much sold. Then we see Merlin look in wonder on Camelot before get to see it.
The music is light and happy as Merlin makes his way into Camelot. Trumpets blare as he walks into the courtyard and at 2:20 minutes, we meet Uther and find out how he feels about magic (which has Merlin gulping). Merlin looks pretty horrified. 3 minutes in and we meet Morgana (who won't watch the execution either).
The moment Uther declares a celebration of the purge of magic, Eve Myles wails because her son is executed and vows revenge. Then she disappears. Our first exposure to magic and it's before 5 minutes is up.
Happy music continues. Tension disappates. Merlin enters Gauis's chambers and is amazed. He looks up and see Gaius after about 6 minutes (and then we see Merlin do his first magic trick). Merlin denies knowing magic, after seeing Uther. Love the questions from Gaius and the interaction between M and G! Merlin saves Gaius's life and Gaius says thank you. Won't be the first time.
7.5 minutes in and we meet Hunith and begin to understand why Merlin came to Camelot. He needs guidance and was having problems in Ealdor.
8.5 minutes we have Morgana questioning why it's so terrible to perform magic and Uther comes down as a strict guardian and makes her attend the feast.
In the forest, we meet the singer who Eve Myles kills and impersonates. Tension builds. The witch uses magic and kills the singer and turns into her before our eyes, but we can see who she really is in the mirror.
11:45 minutes in and we get the dragon saying "Merlin". This might be my favorite moment of ep 1. Maybe.
Gaius tests Merlin and can't figure out how Merlin does what he does. Then he says he needs to keep Merlin out of trouble and sends him to deliver some potions. Again, we get fun music and the tension releases.
Just under 14 minutes in we meet Arthur. We hear his snotty voice first "Where's the target?". And by 14:20 we see Gwen.
Before 15 minutes, Merlin and Arthur have their first encounter. I love this encounter. Merlin is so confident and has no idea who he's dealing with. He gets thrown in the dungeon.
Evening and horses arrive and we are back to some tension. Lady Helen meets Uther and we get some of the famous doublespeak we see throughout.
Next morning, Merlin awakes to the Dragon's voice and while the voice is very serious, Merlin is rooting around in the straw looking for where it could be coming from (I find this very funny). Then Gaius appears to rescue Merlin.
18 minutes in, Gwen finally speaks (to Merlin in the stocks). She praises him for standing up to Arthur and then doesn't believe that Merlin could even though he assures her he could and says he's in disguise. Very cute and funny and the really fun music starts and we forget about anything serious.
21 minutes in and Merlin finally meets discovers that something is wrong, magically speaking. He is not confident with Lady Helen at all, but he gets away.
Arthur confronts Merlin and after a couple quick verbal back and forths, Arthur says, "I warn you, I've been trained to kill since birth" and Merlin says "And how long have you been training to be a prat"? Arthur says "You can't address me like that" and Merlin says "Sorry, how long have you been training to be a prat, my lord". I love this bit of dialogue.
and then the fight ensues, with Arthur having the upper hand at first because Merlin is clumsy. Merlin starts using magic and gets the upper hand until Gaius appears and he lets himself be taken down by Arthur. Great music here too. Very light.
Then we see Gaius scolding Merlin and Merlin finally says "If I can't use magic, I might as well die". We find out how important magic is to Merlin. Then Gaius is very tender with Merlin and tends to his bruises. Merlin wants to know why he's born like this; is he a monster? Gaius very firmly says "don't ever think that".
Lady Helen has a leading conversation with Uther. Creepy music accompanies the conversation.
28 minutes in, we finally get to meet the Dragon. Merlin is awoken and sneaks out (won't be the first time he does this).
30 minutes in and Merlin enters the cave. I love this scene; he's just looking around in wonder and asks, "where are you" and then the Dragon comes out and Merlin looks appropriately terrified. Then the Dragon talks about Merlin's destiny. He confirms that there is a reason for Merlin's gift. Merlin needs to protect Arthur. "None of us can choose our destiny and none of us can escape it". Merlin protests. The Dragon laughed in there somewhere and of course, he leaves before all of Merlin's questions are answered.
Next morning, Merlin is awakened by Gaius and scolded for the messy state of his room. We find out that Morgana has nightmares. Fun music again; tension lowered. Merlin appears in Morgana's chambers and seems enchanted with her, but she thinks he is Gwen. He tries not to talk and does a fake "girl" voice which is completely silly. Finally, Gwen appears and saves him.
Scene where Lady Helen kills the random woman.
Finally, the banquet. Music is light. Arthur is being a bully and Merlin disapproves. Morgana appears and everyone is enchanted. Adorable conversation between Gwen and Merlin and Gwen says "some people are just born to be queen" to which Merlin replies "no". A little bit of foreshadowing there...:D Gwen says she doesn't want to marry Arthur which cracks me up every time.
Creepy singing gets me all tense again. Back to the banquet, and then Uther makes a little speech and introduces the singer. Shortly after she starts singing, heads start drooping, cobwebs form and the room is enchanted, except for Merlin, who covers his ears and wonders what the heck to do. He is watching Arthur carefully and sees her start to throw a knife at Arthur, so he drops a chandelier on her head. Everyone wakes up and the witch is revealed; she throws the knife and Merlin grabs Arthur out of the way. The witch dies. We are all completely tense. Then, Uther rewards Merlin with a special position; a position in the royal household; Arthur's manservant. Arthur protests with disgust in his voice and the two look at each other with disgust. It's completely hilarious.
Gaius appears and reassures Merlin that his magic to save Arthur's life. He gives him a book of magic (an amazing book that the art department completely outdid themselves with). Merlin is totally appreciative; says he will read every word. Then he is called away to go see Arthur and Merlin smiles before exiting stage right:D
And those are my incoherent thoughts about 1.01. I love how the tension is handled in this episode and throughout the series. What are your favorite scenes? What stands out for you? I feel like they did an excellent job introducing all the characters with each entrance appropriate to the character. I love how they really respect the characters in this show.