Merlin Season Two ep3 reaction post
OK, this last episode is the first one of the season so far that I think I’ll be watching again. The characterization was finally back to what it was as of ep 13, the plot was interesting and the interactions were great.
I’ve come to the conclusion that the Merlin writers are great with subtext, not so good with actual relationships. Or maybe it’s just that Bradley and Angel don’t have much chemistry. Anyway, I prefer the episodes where you can choose what to see, rather than, “Arthur and Gwen will get together, and we will make it so obvious that no other ships can be possible.”
This episode had Merlin/Arthur, not as much in the past, but still cool, Morgana/Gwen, also cool, and quite a bit of Merlin/Morgana, which for the first time I’m seeing as plausible. It also had a bit of Arthur/Gwen, but nowhere near as much as last week. I rolled my eyes at the whole “If Gwen says she took out the candle, then I believe her,” and Arthur talking to Merlin about Morgana, “She can’t be your friend, let alone anything else,” could be interpreted as Merlin/Arthur (as I did initially) as well as Arthur/Gwen.
I loved this episode, although I wanted to grab Gaius and shake him until his wig fell off. It’s one thing to “protect” Morgana from the truth when all that’s happening is extremely traumatizing dreams. But to keep her in the dark when she not only obviously has magic, but almost killed herself with it? I thought he was smarter than that.
I liked the contrasts and comparisons between Merlin and Morgana in this episode, and Mordred was cool, a little less creepy now that he was speaking aloud. The other druid guy, the one who was explaining things to her, was also cool, and it sucked that he got shot.
I didn’t realize Uther was so close to Morgana, and I’m glad they’re giving him more depth than he had last season. The druid made a good point about him being a broken man worthy of pity.
I had no clue how they were going to resolve this episode. Merlin calling up mist was awesome, as was Arthur’s “Remember the king’s orders. No prisoners.” The king’s orders, not his. It was 100% clear that he thought Uther was wrong.
Every scene between Merlin and Arthur was gold, as well as the ones between Merlin and Morgana. I was actually hoping Merlin would tell Morgana about his powers, since she’s in the same situation he is, only worse, but I can see why he didn’t, and I kind of feel Arthur should be the first to know anyway. I was guffawing all through the final scene, after Arthur catches Merlin leaving Morgana’s room and lectures him about it. I also thought it was a nice touch that they had Morgana wearing the same cloak she did in ep 8.
Incidentally, what is it with this show and the giant arachnids? The spiders in ep 4 were bad enough, but the scorpions had me cringing and almost but not quite pulling a Dr Who and hiding behind the sofa.
Not sure what to think of the previews for next week. On the one hand, Lancelot’s back (yay!), and it looks like they’re doing something with Gwen and Lancelot. On the other hand, Arthur is going to be angsting about Gwen, and there’s another farfetched CGI monster.
I’ve come to the conclusion that the Merlin writers are great with subtext, not so good with actual relationships. Or maybe it’s just that Bradley and Angel don’t have much chemistry. Anyway, I prefer the episodes where you can choose what to see, rather than, “Arthur and Gwen will get together, and we will make it so obvious that no other ships can be possible.”
This episode had Merlin/Arthur, not as much in the past, but still cool, Morgana/Gwen, also cool, and quite a bit of Merlin/Morgana, which for the first time I’m seeing as plausible. It also had a bit of Arthur/Gwen, but nowhere near as much as last week. I rolled my eyes at the whole “If Gwen says she took out the candle, then I believe her,” and Arthur talking to Merlin about Morgana, “She can’t be your friend, let alone anything else,” could be interpreted as Merlin/Arthur (as I did initially) as well as Arthur/Gwen.
I loved this episode, although I wanted to grab Gaius and shake him until his wig fell off. It’s one thing to “protect” Morgana from the truth when all that’s happening is extremely traumatizing dreams. But to keep her in the dark when she not only obviously has magic, but almost killed herself with it? I thought he was smarter than that.
I liked the contrasts and comparisons between Merlin and Morgana in this episode, and Mordred was cool, a little less creepy now that he was speaking aloud. The other druid guy, the one who was explaining things to her, was also cool, and it sucked that he got shot.
I didn’t realize Uther was so close to Morgana, and I’m glad they’re giving him more depth than he had last season. The druid made a good point about him being a broken man worthy of pity.
I had no clue how they were going to resolve this episode. Merlin calling up mist was awesome, as was Arthur’s “Remember the king’s orders. No prisoners.” The king’s orders, not his. It was 100% clear that he thought Uther was wrong.
Every scene between Merlin and Arthur was gold, as well as the ones between Merlin and Morgana. I was actually hoping Merlin would tell Morgana about his powers, since she’s in the same situation he is, only worse, but I can see why he didn’t, and I kind of feel Arthur should be the first to know anyway. I was guffawing all through the final scene, after Arthur catches Merlin leaving Morgana’s room and lectures him about it. I also thought it was a nice touch that they had Morgana wearing the same cloak she did in ep 8.
Incidentally, what is it with this show and the giant arachnids? The spiders in ep 4 were bad enough, but the scorpions had me cringing and almost but not quite pulling a Dr Who and hiding behind the sofa.
Not sure what to think of the previews for next week. On the one hand, Lancelot’s back (yay!), and it looks like they’re doing something with Gwen and Lancelot. On the other hand, Arthur is going to be angsting about Gwen, and there’s another farfetched CGI monster.