Merlin 311: The Sorcerer's Shadow
HEY. IT’S DUDLEY. Kinda looking like you’d expect Neville Longbottom to if he’d never got hot.
ARTHUR: The only rule is, there are no rules.
LOKIFAN: ...AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA.
...Not gonna lie, the bully men humiliating Merlin was hot. (And undoubtedly exactly like the start of many a fic.) Him deciding to give in involved a lot of delicious facial expressions. Also, whip FTW.
Although Merlin apparently not seeing the magic-use was bizarre. Maybe there’s a spell on Camelot to make magic really hard to see! The Sunnydale Spell. It would explain a lot.
LOL Morgana. SUBTLE AS EVER. It’s a good thing little bro and Daddy are even less subtle.
Oh King Giles. Way to have a mid-life crisis.
Loved the Indiana Jones nod there - *swords zip through the air* and Arthur’s like *punch*.
LOL, the guy Gilli fought was hilarious. Fur and a cut-off leather top’s not quite the fightin’ look...
Yes, yes, he wants to be proud of who he is, it’s the only thing that could make people see him as special, he’s funny-looking with dark hair and big blue eyes, his dead father had magic, I GET IT.
That was the LEAST SUBTLE MAGIC USE EVER WTF.
And now he’s killed someone! So he’s even more like Merlin. Cept for the motives, of course.
Honestly, that whole Arthur/Merlin conversation was full of parallels. The Sorcerer’s Shadow? Sorcerer’s Shadow Self, more like.
W00T ARTHUR VS UTHER. Uther is SUCH A PSYCHO OMG, but this is not news. I like that the emphasis was less on WHO IS THE ULTIMATE FIGHTING CHAMPION and more on ARTHUR IS JUST A MUCH BETTER HUMAN BEING, YOU KNOW, GENERALLY.
Gaius’ line about Gilli “using magic for his own ends” and it therefore was “corrupting him, poisoning him” was completely stupid. >: Gilli wants glory and he’s willing to cheat and kill people to get it, magic is just the tool. And ALL THE REST OF CANON backs me up.
The Merlin/Gilli scene was cool, although I think that using certain phrases associated with political struggles for a BBC Saturday teatime programme is silly.
The dragon scene was awesome, though. I like that the choice isn’t just framed as “save Uther’s life heroically despite fellow-feeling for the murderer, or not”: Merlin has selfish, political motivations to turn Gilli in or stop him using magic.
UTHER: Arthur, even you could beat him.
BURN.
The Merlin/Gilli scene was nice, despite the heavy-handed There’s a Moral, you see. Power Corrupts. For my money this was a great episode despite the tragic lack of Gwen.
Specially Uther letting on that he knew. :D Arthur’s spit-take was so funny and adorkable, and I like that Uther, as an experienced fighter, couldn’t be fooled. Love the father/son moment.
EEEEEE FINALE!
ARTHUR: The only rule is, there are no rules.
LOKIFAN: ...AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA.
...Not gonna lie, the bully men humiliating Merlin was hot. (And undoubtedly exactly like the start of many a fic.) Him deciding to give in involved a lot of delicious facial expressions. Also, whip FTW.
Although Merlin apparently not seeing the magic-use was bizarre. Maybe there’s a spell on Camelot to make magic really hard to see! The Sunnydale Spell. It would explain a lot.
LOL Morgana. SUBTLE AS EVER. It’s a good thing little bro and Daddy are even less subtle.
Oh King Giles. Way to have a mid-life crisis.
Loved the Indiana Jones nod there - *swords zip through the air* and Arthur’s like *punch*.
LOL, the guy Gilli fought was hilarious. Fur and a cut-off leather top’s not quite the fightin’ look...
Yes, yes, he wants to be proud of who he is, it’s the only thing that could make people see him as special, he’s funny-looking with dark hair and big blue eyes, his dead father had magic, I GET IT.
That was the LEAST SUBTLE MAGIC USE EVER WTF.
And now he’s killed someone! So he’s even more like Merlin. Cept for the motives, of course.
Honestly, that whole Arthur/Merlin conversation was full of parallels. The Sorcerer’s Shadow? Sorcerer’s Shadow Self, more like.
W00T ARTHUR VS UTHER. Uther is SUCH A PSYCHO OMG, but this is not news. I like that the emphasis was less on WHO IS THE ULTIMATE FIGHTING CHAMPION and more on ARTHUR IS JUST A MUCH BETTER HUMAN BEING, YOU KNOW, GENERALLY.
Gaius’ line about Gilli “using magic for his own ends” and it therefore was “corrupting him, poisoning him” was completely stupid. >: Gilli wants glory and he’s willing to cheat and kill people to get it, magic is just the tool. And ALL THE REST OF CANON backs me up.
The Merlin/Gilli scene was cool, although I think that using certain phrases associated with political struggles for a BBC Saturday teatime programme is silly.
The dragon scene was awesome, though. I like that the choice isn’t just framed as “save Uther’s life heroically despite fellow-feeling for the murderer, or not”: Merlin has selfish, political motivations to turn Gilli in or stop him using magic.
UTHER: Arthur, even you could beat him.
BURN.
The Merlin/Gilli scene was nice, despite the heavy-handed There’s a Moral, you see. Power Corrupts. For my money this was a great episode despite the tragic lack of Gwen.
Specially Uther letting on that he knew. :D Arthur’s spit-take was so funny and adorkable, and I like that Uther, as an experienced fighter, couldn’t be fooled. Love the father/son moment.
EEEEEE FINALE!