Merlin "The Death Song of Uther Pendragon"
Okay, this isn’t exactly going to be a positive review. But since I don’t really want to flood my own LiveJournal with too much negativity, I will be dispersing pictures of dolphins throughout this post in order to mitigate the grousing.
When I first heard via Comic Con that Uther would make a return to the show, I assumed that it would just be a brief cameo, ala Queen Ygraine in Sins of the Father. I actually had a trollish thought that perhaps Uther would appear as an angelic figure who tells Arthur that he was wrong about his purge of wizards/witches and that he should lift the ban on magical activities - to which Arthur obediently complies. A storytelling short-cut that would have assassinated Arthur’s development as well as been a complete violation of the show’s premise; but it also would have made me laugh uproariously.
Then it became clear from promotional pictures and the official synopsis that Uther would be malevolent in nature. Okay, that sounded good to me. I was irritated by some of the sympathy that the narrative was dishing out to Uther in series 4 (his heroic death in The Wicked Day and the introduction of an “Ancient Kings versus High Priestesses” background in Lamia that felt like justification for some of his war crimes) and felt that the writers were forgetting that Uther was essentially a villain - a complex one, but still a villain, existing as anything from a detrimental influence (to Arthur) to an obstacle/threat (to Merlin) to a flat-out antagonist (to Gwen) that didn’t deserve to be romanticized or redeemed in any way.
Yes, there is certainly room for complexity in Uther - in fact, he was probably the only character lucky enough to GET any complexity on a regular basis - but I felt it was wrong of the show to so often forget that he was a hugely flawed man who was personally responsible for his wife’s death, his daughter’s insanity, the genocide of innocent people (including children), the vengeful nature of dozens of magical-users, the mood of fear that so often permeated his kingdom, and his son’s emotional constipation.
That’s a lot of issues to work through, but Arthur’s character development has always been marked heavily by the need for him to reject and grow AWAY from his father, even as Morgana’s fall into darkness was signposted by her ever-growing similarities to her obsessive, single-minded, evil-tempered father.
For some reason, when I saw the first preview, I was still under the impression that Arthur would have only had a brief scene with his father, and that all the poltergeist activity was a side-effect from tampering with the boundaries of life/death. When a few tidbits emerged regarding the episode synopsis (because it’s damn near impossible to be 100% spoiler-free, and honestly, I do try!) then I realized that the entire episode would be a vehicle for Anthony Head’s return.
Still not a bad thing. This was the writers’ chance to close the book on Uther’s character once and for all, to push all his skeletons out of the closet (regarding Morgana, Vivienne, Gorlois, Ygraine, Nimueh, the drowned children, the Great Purge), and to plainly state what it was he represented and whether Arthur should embrace or reject it. Plus, the idea of Uther haunting Camelot and destroying aspects of Arthur’s kingdom is a pretty good premise for a storyline.
And instead, we got...this. The plot was reasonably sound, but the characterization wasn’t so much “bad” as “totally bizarre”.
The basic storyline is an old one: hero gets magical gift -> hero tempted to use it -> hero goes ahead with using it against his better judgement -> gift has unforeseen circumstances -> hero has to act to reverse the damage he’s done - it’s as old as time, or at least as old as King Midas and the Golden Touch. I liked that Merlin took this premise, made it a ghost-story, and were fairly consistent concerning the rules that govern their universe.
I liked that the veil was mentioned (reminiscent of The Darkest Hour) and the horn was an elegant way of summoning/banishing the dead. I also liked that we got to see Stonehenge, even though it wasn’t called that, and it was just window-dressing. The whole “don’t look back” was a nice touch as well; very reminiscent of the whole Orpheus/Eurydice myth (even though the consequences for doing so were different). There was an interesting snippet about how the Horn of Cathbad was smuggled to safety from the Isle of the Blessed after Uther attacked it and the poltergeist scenes were effective, even though they did run on for too long.
And yet, for an episode that was meant to provide closure, I feel as though a dozen more questions were raised. If you’re going to go to all the trouble of bringing back a character from the dead, then for goodness sake, use that opportunity to clean up some loose ends. Instead, Arthur knows nothing about his father that he didn’t before (except that he’s a much bigger jerk than he remembers) and some of the omissions in this story were inexplicable:
Why on earth would you bring back Uther from the dead and exclude Morgana? Didn’t Uther spend the last year of his life catatonic over her betrayal? Wouldn’t Uther be less peeved with the way Arthur was ruling Camelot than with the fact that Morgana betrayed and murdered him? Why didn’t he share with Arthur the exact circumstances of his death at Morgana and Agravaine’s hands? Why did Arthur not call Uther out on his treatment of Morgana and his views on magic? (Perhaps that happened in the time skip between seasons three and four, but either way we never got to see it). Wouldn’t it have been a perfect zinger to have Arthur point out to Uther after all his talk of “protecting Camelot” that the biggest threat to the kingdom was his own illegitimate child that he had driven to villainy?
I’ve always been confused by the writers’ complete lack of interest in the father/son/daughter dynamic, and it occurred to me that after three seasons worth of fear and lies and tension between Uther and Morgana, we only ever got ONE scene between them post-reveal when Morgana confronted him with her abilities. ONE. Did the writers not think that father and daughter might have some interesting things to say to each other?
That she’s not even mentioned was absurd. It’s like resurrecting Amelia Earhart and forgetting to ask how she died. Or communicating with Jack the Ripper and not asking for some ID.
Worst of all, we still don’t have any sort of understanding of how much Arthur knows about his mother’s death/the reasons behind the Great Purge/the circumstances of his own birth. For God’s sake, at least four episodes of the first two seasons focused entirely on the build up to this reveal! Arthur knowing and understanding his own background is paramount to his development! It’s a crucial first step in getting him to accept that his father’s reign was built on a lie, that his persecution of magic-users was unjust, and that magic isn’t evil! I honestly can’t fathom why this hasn’t come up again.
And this episode would have been the perfect time to revisit it. Not only would you get the great contrast between Arthur’s actions here and in Sins of the Father (trying to kill his father; trying to resurrect his father) but also the first natural stepping stone on the lead-up to the Magical Reveal. In fact, I’m surprised that Merlin himself hasn’t realized this, and all it would take is for him to organize a quick conversation between Arthur and Gaius. Obviously Arthur is in a better place to deal with the truth about his birth/mother’s death/father’s culpability than he was the first time around, and come to terms with it once and for all. What the Uther/Arthur dynamic really, truly, desperately needed was to get all this out into the open - specifically a scene that reflected the confrontation in Sins of the Father, but this time with Arthur giving a calmer but no less passionate speech that called Uther out on all of his bullshit. Instead the episode was framed around the idea that Uther disapproves of Arthur’s kingdom, and Arthur simply saying: “well tough, it’s my turn now.”
Without the magical birth reveal, Arthur’s character-arc feels half-formed and illogical.
The final thing which was missing - though granted, it’s not as important - was the impact it had on Guinevere. It wasn’t totally unexpected, and yet still a bit disappointing that Gwen didn’t get a chance to confront Uther about her father’s death from a position of power instead of from the floor at his feet. Heck, I would have settled for her doing it by proxy in pointing out to Arthur the sheer stupidity and irresponsibility of bringing Uther back from the dead. Instead she never even finds out what was going on.
My head-canon? It was Gwen who leapt out with bell, book and candle, screaming: “get out of my queendom!” to exorcise Uther’s incorporeal ass back to hell.
Uther
I’d love to know how Anthony Head feels about his character’s actions in this episode. Given his apparent fondness for Bradley James and his appreciation in interviews of Uther’s many-faceted personality, I’m not sure he would have been too pleased with this script.
I can buy that Uther would be disappointed at some of Arthur’s decisions. I can even buy that Uther would target Guinevere and the commoner knights. Heck, he’s certainly dickish enough to cause the inconvenience of a dented Round Table.
But what makes absolutely no sense whatsoever is the fact that Uther tried to kill Arthur. I feel dumb for just having typed that sentence. Have the writers forgotten that Uther once collapsed in grief when his son was mortally wounded by the Questing Beast? That he once told him: “you mean more to me than anything I know; more than this entire kingdom and certainly more than my own life...” That his tears of remorse over Arthur’s fake-death were what broke the hold Catrina’s love potion had over him? That the reason he’s dead in the first place is because he DIED SAVING ARTHUR’S LIFE??!!
So who the hell was THIS guy? When did he suddenly start valuing Camelot over Arthur’s life? What was he possibly hoping to gain from killing his only son? It’s not like he could have ruled Camelot himself, and getting rid of Arthur would be tantamount to handing the keys over to Morgana.
I mean, jeez. This was how they chose to close the book on the father/son relationship? If I wasn’t certain that the writers won’t touch this plotline or mention Uther ever again, I’d say that Arthur’s Daddy Issues have just tripled, and it’s a damn shame that Uther’s one consistently redeemable feature (his love for his children) was ignored (in Morgana’s case) and destroyed (in Arthur’s).
I loved this quote from Television Without Pity:
Did anyone really buy that even a disappointed and frustrated Uther would try to kill his son? The first three seasons left me with the impression that, for all his faults, he was actually pretty fond of Arthur. Although I guess if the conflicted and angry but also loyal and compassionate Morgana of season 1 can shout "Rumplestiltskin!" and instantly flip the axe-crazy psycho killer robot switch, Uther's abrupt transformation here isn't that much of a stretch.
I felt that The Wicked Day was a fitting end to Uther - in fact, it was more generous than I would have liked, but at least Uther fans got to see him go out saving his son’s life and dying a hero. There was affection there; and a sense of closure - for him, if not for Arthur. But this... this was just a bizarre coda for the character. I’m not even sure how the show expected me to react to it on an emotional level. My Watsonian side is annoyed that Uther’s character was derailed so absurdly. My Doylist side is a little pleased that he was “villainized” so thoroughly - there was rather too much apologia last season for my liking, and it’ll be difficult for people to argue that he was a good king/father in light of this episode. Yet my sentimental side is sad that there wasn’t a moment of reconciliation between father and son before he was banished forever. My inner feminist is glad that if Morgana’s chance for redemption is gone completely, than at least Uther’s is as well. Half of me thinks it was a ballsy move for the show to present Uther as a Monster of the Week, reducing his entire existence to a threat that needed to be removed. The other half thinks it was a lazy way of building some cheap tension.
It just feels like this whole episode was designed to let Arthur see what a giant dickhead his father was. But why couldn’t that have been done when the guy was still alive? It just makes it feel as though all the father/son interaction in the first four seasons was pointless if the whole thing was going to be resolved like this.
Other Weird Inconsistencies and Missed Opportunities
Arthur misses his father and is concerned about the welfare of his kingdom, even though (according to the first episode) they’ve just experienced three years of peace and prosperity. It’s been four years since Uther’s death, Arthur himself is pushing thirty, he’s been doing a pretty good job at running things, and yet he still wants daddy’s approval and validation? According to him: “there isn’t a day that passes that I don’t think of the things I wish I’d said to [my father]” and “there are times I feel so alone I wish you [Uther] were by my side.” Wow. I bet Merlin and Gwen would be thrilled by those sentiments.
On that note, I believe it was Johnny Capps who said at Comic Con that they were originally planning to bring back Uther at some point during series 4, and given where this story went, I can’t help but feel that that would have been the wiser course of action. It would have done well in place of The Herald of a New Age. Considering Arthur’s pardoning of the druids went absolutely nowhere, that episode could have instead been used to open Arthur’s eyes on the effects and history of magic in Camelot (what with his birth-reveal). Plus, its placement at that point would have had Arthur in a far more understandable state of mind in which he’d have been sorely tempted to use the horn and summon his father.
Merlin isn’t going to point out the hypocrisy of Arthur using magic? Or remind him that the last time he spoke to a dead parent didn’t end well? Or discuss the fact that Arthur saved a witch’s life? Gaius brews up a (presumably magical) potion that lets Arthur see the dead and no one comments on it? What the hell’s going on?? Is magic legal or not??
You know you’re watching a Howard Overman script when Merlin getting physically abused by Arthur is treated as the height of comedy.
The old woman states that she doesn’t fear the journey to the next world. So what was all that screaming about? Okay sure, getting burnt to death is very different from dying of...whatever it was she actually died from, but that whole sequence just felt strange.
Yet presumably she WAS a witch considering she was in possession of a magical implement (that went on to cause a shit-ton of trouble) and there was no proof (or even evidence) to indicate that the town spokesman wasn’t right in believing that she was making people sick. Let’s face it: she wasn’t a character but a device in order to get the horn into Arthur’s hands. And if that was the case, why not save some time and just have Arthur discover the horn in the vaults? That whole opening sequence had no follow-up to it whatsoever.
(But the true irony is that she was the most interesting character in the whole episode).
Beyond the fact that we the audience are conditioned to view witch-burning as the result of hysteria and superstition, why exactly was it right for Arthur to intervene? The woman was found guilty of witchcraft in a kingdom that outlaws it. Arthur is breaking his own laws, and you have to wonder how many of these village executions are carried out all through Arthur’s kingdom just because he hasn’t yet lifted the ban on magic.
Arthur’s journey from distrusting magic to legalizing it is just as important as growing away from his father’s influence (in fact the two are heavily entwined) but between Sins of the Father, A Herald of a New Age, The Wicked Day, and this episode - his attitude on the subject is an incoherent mess. He keeps learning over and over again that magic isn’t to be trusted and that creatures of magic are dangerous and/or evil, and Merlin doesn’t seem particularly interested in opening up a conversation on the subject, even though it should have been his most pressing concern for the past ten years.
How does Uther’s omniscience extend to knowing about the Round Table, the commoner knights and Arthur/Gwen’s marriage, but not Merlin’s magic?
Gaius seemed remarkably blasé about the news of Uther’s return. He had a meaningful relationship with Uther during his lifetime; it’s a pity it wasn’t brought up. Not that I’m particularly eager for more Gaius. But still.
Arthur says: “I’ve always known my father could be cruel, but why would he do this to Guinevere? He knows how much I love her.” Buh? Has he forgotten that time Uther almost had her burnt at the stake? The fact that Gwen was almost killed by fire didn’t ring any bells? Also, it was disappointing that Arthur never thought to remind Uther that Gwen spent an entire year caring for him.
Gwen gets attacked by a poltergeist, knocked unconscious and inhales smoke, yet the show ends with more stupid Merlin/Arthur horseplay instead of checking up on her?
Merlin’s excuse to Leon was bad because Arthur wanted “something that didn’t make me sound like a girl.” Remember kids in the audience, there’s nothing worse than sounding like a girl.
If/when Gaius finally kicks the bucket, I hope it’s by overdosing on sleeping draughts. It would be the most fitting end for him.
Mordred was rather barely present, and is apparently completely absent next week. The writers have that frustrating tendency to introduce a compelling element, and then instead of striking when the iron is hot and interest is high, just forgetting about it for the next dozen or so episodes (cough, Aithusa, cough). It would have been nice to have him interact with Merlin over the haunting - even just a single scene in which he gets to witness what Merlin’s activities in Camelot are would have been nice.
Things I Liked
The Mordred/Elyan scene at the beginning was neat, even if it was just exposition. But I like that Mordred is there, quietly integrating himself and gathering information. The Arthur/Gwen interaction was nice too. Kind of funny though that Arthur was brooding over his father’s death whilst everyone else was celebrating the anniversary of finally getting rid of him.
A few people were miffed that Merlin took Gwen to the physician’s quarters after the attack instead of her own bedchamber - but I actually quite loved the fact that he would instinctively take her to the safety of his own room. Has anything bad ever happened to anyone in there? I honestly don’t think so, and as she slept in his bed after her father’s death, this was a fitting revisit.
I liked that minor line in which Uther recalled that he himself had made Merlin into Arthur’s manservant. Ah, delicious irony.
The Round Table scene was fun, particularly all the knights being catatonic with boredom over Sir Leon’s report.
Percival had lines! Up until this point, I honestly wasn’t sure whether he could speak.
The image of ghostly Uther sitting on the throne was a great visual.
This was funny.
Despite the fact that it was all cramped into the final few minutes, Arthur and Merlin’s separate confrontations with Uther were nicely staged. For some reason (based on what was said at Comic Con) I was expecting Merlin/Uther’s confrontation to actually be a moving scene, in which Uther realizes how much Merlin has suffered and how much he owes him for his son’s life. Clearly that wasn’t the case, and I’m not sure why he had to repeat the exact line that was already said to Agravaine last season (“I was born with it!” - okay, so what?) but the defiant/mocking: “even when you were king, magic was at the heart of your kingdom” bit was great.
And despite Arthur/Uther ending on quite a bitter note, at least it’s over with now. An entire decade of Merlin, Gwen, Morgana, the knights, the guest stars, the monsters of the week, the extras, and every other man, woman and child in Camelot demonstrating to Arthur through words and deeds that Uther is an ass that needs to be buried and forgotten seems to have finally sunk in. If there was any such thing as psychological realism on this show, then Arthur’s Daddy Issues would be ten times more crippling than they were before, but whatever. Uther is gone and gone for good.
But do you want to know what the real kicker is? That this episode neglected all the continuity of its natural predecessors: Sins of the Father, Queen of Hearts, The Wicked Day and A Herald of the New Age... and Howard Overman wrote all of them. How does one forget their own contribution to the established storylines?
I’ve been frustrated by the choices that this show has made, but this episode is the first one that’s left me genuinely confused.
When I first heard via Comic Con that Uther would make a return to the show, I assumed that it would just be a brief cameo, ala Queen Ygraine in Sins of the Father. I actually had a trollish thought that perhaps Uther would appear as an angelic figure who tells Arthur that he was wrong about his purge of wizards/witches and that he should lift the ban on magical activities - to which Arthur obediently complies. A storytelling short-cut that would have assassinated Arthur’s development as well as been a complete violation of the show’s premise; but it also would have made me laugh uproariously.
Then it became clear from promotional pictures and the official synopsis that Uther would be malevolent in nature. Okay, that sounded good to me. I was irritated by some of the sympathy that the narrative was dishing out to Uther in series 4 (his heroic death in The Wicked Day and the introduction of an “Ancient Kings versus High Priestesses” background in Lamia that felt like justification for some of his war crimes) and felt that the writers were forgetting that Uther was essentially a villain - a complex one, but still a villain, existing as anything from a detrimental influence (to Arthur) to an obstacle/threat (to Merlin) to a flat-out antagonist (to Gwen) that didn’t deserve to be romanticized or redeemed in any way.
Yes, there is certainly room for complexity in Uther - in fact, he was probably the only character lucky enough to GET any complexity on a regular basis - but I felt it was wrong of the show to so often forget that he was a hugely flawed man who was personally responsible for his wife’s death, his daughter’s insanity, the genocide of innocent people (including children), the vengeful nature of dozens of magical-users, the mood of fear that so often permeated his kingdom, and his son’s emotional constipation.
That’s a lot of issues to work through, but Arthur’s character development has always been marked heavily by the need for him to reject and grow AWAY from his father, even as Morgana’s fall into darkness was signposted by her ever-growing similarities to her obsessive, single-minded, evil-tempered father.
For some reason, when I saw the first preview, I was still under the impression that Arthur would have only had a brief scene with his father, and that all the poltergeist activity was a side-effect from tampering with the boundaries of life/death. When a few tidbits emerged regarding the episode synopsis (because it’s damn near impossible to be 100% spoiler-free, and honestly, I do try!) then I realized that the entire episode would be a vehicle for Anthony Head’s return.
Still not a bad thing. This was the writers’ chance to close the book on Uther’s character once and for all, to push all his skeletons out of the closet (regarding Morgana, Vivienne, Gorlois, Ygraine, Nimueh, the drowned children, the Great Purge), and to plainly state what it was he represented and whether Arthur should embrace or reject it. Plus, the idea of Uther haunting Camelot and destroying aspects of Arthur’s kingdom is a pretty good premise for a storyline.
And instead, we got...this. The plot was reasonably sound, but the characterization wasn’t so much “bad” as “totally bizarre”.
The basic storyline is an old one: hero gets magical gift -> hero tempted to use it -> hero goes ahead with using it against his better judgement -> gift has unforeseen circumstances -> hero has to act to reverse the damage he’s done - it’s as old as time, or at least as old as King Midas and the Golden Touch. I liked that Merlin took this premise, made it a ghost-story, and were fairly consistent concerning the rules that govern their universe.
I liked that the veil was mentioned (reminiscent of The Darkest Hour) and the horn was an elegant way of summoning/banishing the dead. I also liked that we got to see Stonehenge, even though it wasn’t called that, and it was just window-dressing. The whole “don’t look back” was a nice touch as well; very reminiscent of the whole Orpheus/Eurydice myth (even though the consequences for doing so were different). There was an interesting snippet about how the Horn of Cathbad was smuggled to safety from the Isle of the Blessed after Uther attacked it and the poltergeist scenes were effective, even though they did run on for too long.
And yet, for an episode that was meant to provide closure, I feel as though a dozen more questions were raised. If you’re going to go to all the trouble of bringing back a character from the dead, then for goodness sake, use that opportunity to clean up some loose ends. Instead, Arthur knows nothing about his father that he didn’t before (except that he’s a much bigger jerk than he remembers) and some of the omissions in this story were inexplicable:
Why on earth would you bring back Uther from the dead and exclude Morgana? Didn’t Uther spend the last year of his life catatonic over her betrayal? Wouldn’t Uther be less peeved with the way Arthur was ruling Camelot than with the fact that Morgana betrayed and murdered him? Why didn’t he share with Arthur the exact circumstances of his death at Morgana and Agravaine’s hands? Why did Arthur not call Uther out on his treatment of Morgana and his views on magic? (Perhaps that happened in the time skip between seasons three and four, but either way we never got to see it). Wouldn’t it have been a perfect zinger to have Arthur point out to Uther after all his talk of “protecting Camelot” that the biggest threat to the kingdom was his own illegitimate child that he had driven to villainy?
I’ve always been confused by the writers’ complete lack of interest in the father/son/daughter dynamic, and it occurred to me that after three seasons worth of fear and lies and tension between Uther and Morgana, we only ever got ONE scene between them post-reveal when Morgana confronted him with her abilities. ONE. Did the writers not think that father and daughter might have some interesting things to say to each other?
That she’s not even mentioned was absurd. It’s like resurrecting Amelia Earhart and forgetting to ask how she died. Or communicating with Jack the Ripper and not asking for some ID.
Worst of all, we still don’t have any sort of understanding of how much Arthur knows about his mother’s death/the reasons behind the Great Purge/the circumstances of his own birth. For God’s sake, at least four episodes of the first two seasons focused entirely on the build up to this reveal! Arthur knowing and understanding his own background is paramount to his development! It’s a crucial first step in getting him to accept that his father’s reign was built on a lie, that his persecution of magic-users was unjust, and that magic isn’t evil! I honestly can’t fathom why this hasn’t come up again.
And this episode would have been the perfect time to revisit it. Not only would you get the great contrast between Arthur’s actions here and in Sins of the Father (trying to kill his father; trying to resurrect his father) but also the first natural stepping stone on the lead-up to the Magical Reveal. In fact, I’m surprised that Merlin himself hasn’t realized this, and all it would take is for him to organize a quick conversation between Arthur and Gaius. Obviously Arthur is in a better place to deal with the truth about his birth/mother’s death/father’s culpability than he was the first time around, and come to terms with it once and for all. What the Uther/Arthur dynamic really, truly, desperately needed was to get all this out into the open - specifically a scene that reflected the confrontation in Sins of the Father, but this time with Arthur giving a calmer but no less passionate speech that called Uther out on all of his bullshit. Instead the episode was framed around the idea that Uther disapproves of Arthur’s kingdom, and Arthur simply saying: “well tough, it’s my turn now.”
Without the magical birth reveal, Arthur’s character-arc feels half-formed and illogical.
The final thing which was missing - though granted, it’s not as important - was the impact it had on Guinevere. It wasn’t totally unexpected, and yet still a bit disappointing that Gwen didn’t get a chance to confront Uther about her father’s death from a position of power instead of from the floor at his feet. Heck, I would have settled for her doing it by proxy in pointing out to Arthur the sheer stupidity and irresponsibility of bringing Uther back from the dead. Instead she never even finds out what was going on.
My head-canon? It was Gwen who leapt out with bell, book and candle, screaming: “get out of my queendom!” to exorcise Uther’s incorporeal ass back to hell.
Uther
I’d love to know how Anthony Head feels about his character’s actions in this episode. Given his apparent fondness for Bradley James and his appreciation in interviews of Uther’s many-faceted personality, I’m not sure he would have been too pleased with this script.
I can buy that Uther would be disappointed at some of Arthur’s decisions. I can even buy that Uther would target Guinevere and the commoner knights. Heck, he’s certainly dickish enough to cause the inconvenience of a dented Round Table.
But what makes absolutely no sense whatsoever is the fact that Uther tried to kill Arthur. I feel dumb for just having typed that sentence. Have the writers forgotten that Uther once collapsed in grief when his son was mortally wounded by the Questing Beast? That he once told him: “you mean more to me than anything I know; more than this entire kingdom and certainly more than my own life...” That his tears of remorse over Arthur’s fake-death were what broke the hold Catrina’s love potion had over him? That the reason he’s dead in the first place is because he DIED SAVING ARTHUR’S LIFE??!!
So who the hell was THIS guy? When did he suddenly start valuing Camelot over Arthur’s life? What was he possibly hoping to gain from killing his only son? It’s not like he could have ruled Camelot himself, and getting rid of Arthur would be tantamount to handing the keys over to Morgana.
I mean, jeez. This was how they chose to close the book on the father/son relationship? If I wasn’t certain that the writers won’t touch this plotline or mention Uther ever again, I’d say that Arthur’s Daddy Issues have just tripled, and it’s a damn shame that Uther’s one consistently redeemable feature (his love for his children) was ignored (in Morgana’s case) and destroyed (in Arthur’s).
I loved this quote from Television Without Pity:
Did anyone really buy that even a disappointed and frustrated Uther would try to kill his son? The first three seasons left me with the impression that, for all his faults, he was actually pretty fond of Arthur. Although I guess if the conflicted and angry but also loyal and compassionate Morgana of season 1 can shout "Rumplestiltskin!" and instantly flip the axe-crazy psycho killer robot switch, Uther's abrupt transformation here isn't that much of a stretch.
I felt that The Wicked Day was a fitting end to Uther - in fact, it was more generous than I would have liked, but at least Uther fans got to see him go out saving his son’s life and dying a hero. There was affection there; and a sense of closure - for him, if not for Arthur. But this... this was just a bizarre coda for the character. I’m not even sure how the show expected me to react to it on an emotional level. My Watsonian side is annoyed that Uther’s character was derailed so absurdly. My Doylist side is a little pleased that he was “villainized” so thoroughly - there was rather too much apologia last season for my liking, and it’ll be difficult for people to argue that he was a good king/father in light of this episode. Yet my sentimental side is sad that there wasn’t a moment of reconciliation between father and son before he was banished forever. My inner feminist is glad that if Morgana’s chance for redemption is gone completely, than at least Uther’s is as well. Half of me thinks it was a ballsy move for the show to present Uther as a Monster of the Week, reducing his entire existence to a threat that needed to be removed. The other half thinks it was a lazy way of building some cheap tension.
It just feels like this whole episode was designed to let Arthur see what a giant dickhead his father was. But why couldn’t that have been done when the guy was still alive? It just makes it feel as though all the father/son interaction in the first four seasons was pointless if the whole thing was going to be resolved like this.
Other Weird Inconsistencies and Missed Opportunities
Arthur misses his father and is concerned about the welfare of his kingdom, even though (according to the first episode) they’ve just experienced three years of peace and prosperity. It’s been four years since Uther’s death, Arthur himself is pushing thirty, he’s been doing a pretty good job at running things, and yet he still wants daddy’s approval and validation? According to him: “there isn’t a day that passes that I don’t think of the things I wish I’d said to [my father]” and “there are times I feel so alone I wish you [Uther] were by my side.” Wow. I bet Merlin and Gwen would be thrilled by those sentiments.
On that note, I believe it was Johnny Capps who said at Comic Con that they were originally planning to bring back Uther at some point during series 4, and given where this story went, I can’t help but feel that that would have been the wiser course of action. It would have done well in place of The Herald of a New Age. Considering Arthur’s pardoning of the druids went absolutely nowhere, that episode could have instead been used to open Arthur’s eyes on the effects and history of magic in Camelot (what with his birth-reveal). Plus, its placement at that point would have had Arthur in a far more understandable state of mind in which he’d have been sorely tempted to use the horn and summon his father.
Merlin isn’t going to point out the hypocrisy of Arthur using magic? Or remind him that the last time he spoke to a dead parent didn’t end well? Or discuss the fact that Arthur saved a witch’s life? Gaius brews up a (presumably magical) potion that lets Arthur see the dead and no one comments on it? What the hell’s going on?? Is magic legal or not??
You know you’re watching a Howard Overman script when Merlin getting physically abused by Arthur is treated as the height of comedy.
The old woman states that she doesn’t fear the journey to the next world. So what was all that screaming about? Okay sure, getting burnt to death is very different from dying of...whatever it was she actually died from, but that whole sequence just felt strange.
Yet presumably she WAS a witch considering she was in possession of a magical implement (that went on to cause a shit-ton of trouble) and there was no proof (or even evidence) to indicate that the town spokesman wasn’t right in believing that she was making people sick. Let’s face it: she wasn’t a character but a device in order to get the horn into Arthur’s hands. And if that was the case, why not save some time and just have Arthur discover the horn in the vaults? That whole opening sequence had no follow-up to it whatsoever.
(But the true irony is that she was the most interesting character in the whole episode).
Beyond the fact that we the audience are conditioned to view witch-burning as the result of hysteria and superstition, why exactly was it right for Arthur to intervene? The woman was found guilty of witchcraft in a kingdom that outlaws it. Arthur is breaking his own laws, and you have to wonder how many of these village executions are carried out all through Arthur’s kingdom just because he hasn’t yet lifted the ban on magic.
Arthur’s journey from distrusting magic to legalizing it is just as important as growing away from his father’s influence (in fact the two are heavily entwined) but between Sins of the Father, A Herald of a New Age, The Wicked Day, and this episode - his attitude on the subject is an incoherent mess. He keeps learning over and over again that magic isn’t to be trusted and that creatures of magic are dangerous and/or evil, and Merlin doesn’t seem particularly interested in opening up a conversation on the subject, even though it should have been his most pressing concern for the past ten years.
How does Uther’s omniscience extend to knowing about the Round Table, the commoner knights and Arthur/Gwen’s marriage, but not Merlin’s magic?
Gaius seemed remarkably blasé about the news of Uther’s return. He had a meaningful relationship with Uther during his lifetime; it’s a pity it wasn’t brought up. Not that I’m particularly eager for more Gaius. But still.
Arthur says: “I’ve always known my father could be cruel, but why would he do this to Guinevere? He knows how much I love her.” Buh? Has he forgotten that time Uther almost had her burnt at the stake? The fact that Gwen was almost killed by fire didn’t ring any bells? Also, it was disappointing that Arthur never thought to remind Uther that Gwen spent an entire year caring for him.
Gwen gets attacked by a poltergeist, knocked unconscious and inhales smoke, yet the show ends with more stupid Merlin/Arthur horseplay instead of checking up on her?
Merlin’s excuse to Leon was bad because Arthur wanted “something that didn’t make me sound like a girl.” Remember kids in the audience, there’s nothing worse than sounding like a girl.
If/when Gaius finally kicks the bucket, I hope it’s by overdosing on sleeping draughts. It would be the most fitting end for him.
Mordred was rather barely present, and is apparently completely absent next week. The writers have that frustrating tendency to introduce a compelling element, and then instead of striking when the iron is hot and interest is high, just forgetting about it for the next dozen or so episodes (cough, Aithusa, cough). It would have been nice to have him interact with Merlin over the haunting - even just a single scene in which he gets to witness what Merlin’s activities in Camelot are would have been nice.
Things I Liked
The Mordred/Elyan scene at the beginning was neat, even if it was just exposition. But I like that Mordred is there, quietly integrating himself and gathering information. The Arthur/Gwen interaction was nice too. Kind of funny though that Arthur was brooding over his father’s death whilst everyone else was celebrating the anniversary of finally getting rid of him.
A few people were miffed that Merlin took Gwen to the physician’s quarters after the attack instead of her own bedchamber - but I actually quite loved the fact that he would instinctively take her to the safety of his own room. Has anything bad ever happened to anyone in there? I honestly don’t think so, and as she slept in his bed after her father’s death, this was a fitting revisit.
I liked that minor line in which Uther recalled that he himself had made Merlin into Arthur’s manservant. Ah, delicious irony.
The Round Table scene was fun, particularly all the knights being catatonic with boredom over Sir Leon’s report.
Percival had lines! Up until this point, I honestly wasn’t sure whether he could speak.
The image of ghostly Uther sitting on the throne was a great visual.
This was funny.
Despite the fact that it was all cramped into the final few minutes, Arthur and Merlin’s separate confrontations with Uther were nicely staged. For some reason (based on what was said at Comic Con) I was expecting Merlin/Uther’s confrontation to actually be a moving scene, in which Uther realizes how much Merlin has suffered and how much he owes him for his son’s life. Clearly that wasn’t the case, and I’m not sure why he had to repeat the exact line that was already said to Agravaine last season (“I was born with it!” - okay, so what?) but the defiant/mocking: “even when you were king, magic was at the heart of your kingdom” bit was great.
And despite Arthur/Uther ending on quite a bitter note, at least it’s over with now. An entire decade of Merlin, Gwen, Morgana, the knights, the guest stars, the monsters of the week, the extras, and every other man, woman and child in Camelot demonstrating to Arthur through words and deeds that Uther is an ass that needs to be buried and forgotten seems to have finally sunk in. If there was any such thing as psychological realism on this show, then Arthur’s Daddy Issues would be ten times more crippling than they were before, but whatever. Uther is gone and gone for good.
But do you want to know what the real kicker is? That this episode neglected all the continuity of its natural predecessors: Sins of the Father, Queen of Hearts, The Wicked Day and A Herald of the New Age... and Howard Overman wrote all of them. How does one forget their own contribution to the established storylines?
I’ve been frustrated by the choices that this show has made, but this episode is the first one that’s left me genuinely confused.