Merlin 2.2: The Once and Future Queen
Episode themes
Destiny
We know, or at least can guess what the destinies for the three characters taking centre stage this episode are. Merlin is destined to be a great sorcerer, Gwen to be Queen Guinevere and Arthur to be a great king. Both Merlin and Gwen seem destined to be advisors and confidants to Arthur and I think this episode gives us the clearest view of that future we’ve seen to date. Morgana was pretty much absent and as much as I loved this episode, it did grieve my heart a little to see foreshadowing that she has no future in Camelot. While the Camelot of legend starts to take shape with the development of the relationship between Arthur, Gwen and Merlin, Morgana is confined to the Royal Box with Uther, part of Camelot past.
At the moment, Gwen is the only one of the three not to know what her destiny is and she is also (until the end of the episode, at least) the only one who isn’t struggling with it. Merlin continues to feel frustrated with the secrecy he has to maintain and even Arthur finds that being the future king has its downsides. Which leads onto the second major theme of this episode:
Kingship
Specifically, how Arthur is going to become the kind of king we know he’s going to be. Arthur develops as a person a lot in the first series, mainly due to Merlin but Merlin is also constrained by the need to stay close to Arthur and so fulfil his destiny and not draw undue attention to himself. Gwen doesn’t have those constraints and as we saw in the episode it capable of being quite blunt with Arthur about his shortcomings. At the moment, though, Gwen’s influence only really extends to how Arthur treats her. He realises that he should help out by providing a meal and taking the floor to let her have her bed back but he doesn’t even register, when telling Merlin to fetch food and a mattress from the castle, that it is that sort of behaviour Gwen called him out on. Arthur is pretty good at recognising his duty to Camelot as a state and he’s shown the ability to care about individuals, regardless of their social status, but he still doesn’t seem to see all the stuff in between. While the Great Dragon may be desperate for Uther’s reign to end, Arthur is still a long way from being ready.
One-offs
Usually Morgana is the one rocking the hooded cloak look. Do you think she noticed someone was stealing her style and her maid?
Both the Merlin/Arthur and the Arthur/Gwen was very sweet but the Merlin/Arthur/Gwen moments ruled.
I love that they addressed the power dynamic of the Arthur/Gwen relationship by having and actual conversation about how she couldn’t tell him to get out of her bed.
Arthur seems pretty keen to prove himself in this episode. I wonder how, when Merlin’s powers are eventually revealed, the fact that he has saved Arthur so often, sometimes in battle or fight situations, is going to affect Arthur’s reaction.
Destiny
We know, or at least can guess what the destinies for the three characters taking centre stage this episode are. Merlin is destined to be a great sorcerer, Gwen to be Queen Guinevere and Arthur to be a great king. Both Merlin and Gwen seem destined to be advisors and confidants to Arthur and I think this episode gives us the clearest view of that future we’ve seen to date. Morgana was pretty much absent and as much as I loved this episode, it did grieve my heart a little to see foreshadowing that she has no future in Camelot. While the Camelot of legend starts to take shape with the development of the relationship between Arthur, Gwen and Merlin, Morgana is confined to the Royal Box with Uther, part of Camelot past.
At the moment, Gwen is the only one of the three not to know what her destiny is and she is also (until the end of the episode, at least) the only one who isn’t struggling with it. Merlin continues to feel frustrated with the secrecy he has to maintain and even Arthur finds that being the future king has its downsides. Which leads onto the second major theme of this episode:
Kingship
Specifically, how Arthur is going to become the kind of king we know he’s going to be. Arthur develops as a person a lot in the first series, mainly due to Merlin but Merlin is also constrained by the need to stay close to Arthur and so fulfil his destiny and not draw undue attention to himself. Gwen doesn’t have those constraints and as we saw in the episode it capable of being quite blunt with Arthur about his shortcomings. At the moment, though, Gwen’s influence only really extends to how Arthur treats her. He realises that he should help out by providing a meal and taking the floor to let her have her bed back but he doesn’t even register, when telling Merlin to fetch food and a mattress from the castle, that it is that sort of behaviour Gwen called him out on. Arthur is pretty good at recognising his duty to Camelot as a state and he’s shown the ability to care about individuals, regardless of their social status, but he still doesn’t seem to see all the stuff in between. While the Great Dragon may be desperate for Uther’s reign to end, Arthur is still a long way from being ready.
One-offs
Usually Morgana is the one rocking the hooded cloak look. Do you think she noticed someone was stealing her style and her maid?
Both the Merlin/Arthur and the Arthur/Gwen was very sweet but the Merlin/Arthur/Gwen moments ruled.
I love that they addressed the power dynamic of the Arthur/Gwen relationship by having and actual conversation about how she couldn’t tell him to get out of her bed.
Arthur seems pretty keen to prove himself in this episode. I wonder how, when Merlin’s powers are eventually revealed, the fact that he has saved Arthur so often, sometimes in battle or fight situations, is going to affect Arthur’s reaction.