Epic Merlin Rewatch: S01E01 The Dragon's Call
Because True Blood has now finished (NOOOOOO! COME BACK, TRUE BLOOD AND YOUR CRAZY BLOODTHIRSTY HEROINES AND HOT CEMENT-COVERED VAMPIRES!) and in an effort to get back into Merlin I've decided that this weekend shall be dedicated to...
AN EPIC MERLIN REWATCH OF MERLIN EPICNESS.
And I'm going to do reviews! Well, maybe more like streams of consciousness. Or something in between the two. Hopefully, if I'm not too lazy or busy I'll do a little rewatch summary for each episode. Let's kick things off with...
Season 1 Episode 1: The Dragon's Call
(for these episode pictures I decided to just google image search the episode title and see what image it comes up with)
- Aw Colin is all chubby (for him) and cute.
- Not only is Tony Head is awesome at speechifying but he's also rocking the hell out of that crown. He's also very good at the evil/self-satisfied smirk.
- The witch whatsherface Mary Collins. Uhm. So if she's powerful enough to get revenge on Uther and kill Arthur, why on earth couldn't she save her son in the first place? We know from future episodes that the knights of Camelot are woefully ineffective. Maybe she didn't actually like her son that much and is rather fond of melodrama? I know people like that.
- Hunith's writing is pretty. This may be me being stupid but should she know how to write if she's from a small farming community?
- Oh, look, back when Morgana had morals/feelings/wore her hair down.
- The make up on the witch is pretty good. She does look like an old welsh woman.
- Merlin hearing Slash!Dragon in his dreams doing his porno voice "Meeerrrlin, Meeeerrrlin.....". Don't we all hear John Hurt's voice in our dreams? No? Just me then.
- Gaius's wig! His wiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiigggggg! Maybe Gaius owns straighteners?
- ARTHUR! Being an asshole! Oh, young Arthur showing off in front of the ladies knights. Oh, I love arseholes in tv shows. They are always the most sexy interesting characters. I love it when he picks on Merlin the second time and they have a little fight. "Don't run away!" Although, why does Merlin take off his jacket when he's planning on using magic? I love Arthur's mace thing. I want one!!
- Gwen! In her red dress and cloak. Aw, she's all lovely and kind even right at the beginning.
- The music in Merlin is fabulous. Sometimes I find myself zoning out of the scene and listening to the music because its so great.
- I love Merlin's motivations and the fact that we are shown this straight away. Merlin's magic is a big part of his identity. I suppose we've all got one talent or one thing that we're an expert about, Merlin's is magic. Arthur's is being the arsehole Prince.
- Do the people of Camelot know about the dragon kept under the castle? (and, on that note, why didn't Uther kill it in the first place? Did I miss something?) Because that's a pretty big secret. And now I come to think about it, what if they had learned about it after it attacked them at the end of season 2? Wouldn't the people of Camelot be like "Uther, dude, WTF?" And is it sensible to build a castle on top of a large cavern, filled with Slash Dragon or not? I'm guessing TPTB were being clever by linking it to the story of Vortigern and the castle that kept falling down because of the two warring dragons living underneath it.
- Why does the white marble of the castle and the strange music remind me of Casanova (the BBC Tennant one)?
- So Gwen (supposedly) enters the room and Morgana starts the conversation with "So I've been thinking about Arthur...wouldn't touch him with a lance pole." Uhm. a) no body cares, Morgana; b) me thinks the lady doth protest too much and c) "wear this little tease...or give them a night they'll really remember". At this point I decided I didn't like Morgana. With terrible lines line that its difficult to care- she came across to me as vapid and self-absorbed. However, I will say that she did change drastically (or at least she got to say better lines). And, to be fair, she did look pretty good at the feast, if not even vaguely historically accurate.
-So... Arthur/Morgana. They set it up and it potentially could've been a bit of a strange triangle/square/dodecahedron/whatever, but I think the chemistry just wasn't there between Arthur and Morgana. Its more like brother/sister and seeing them as almost love interests at the beginning makes me uncomfortable. Although Gwen shipping Arthur/Morgana amuses me.
- I love Gwen living vicariously through Morgana, without actually wanting to be her or being jealous of her. Gwen is already one of my favourite characters- she's sweet, kind, awkward, and funny. What's not to love?
- The witch's song is surprisingly good. Its quite haunting and actually really perfect. I could listen to that song all day long, its beautiful. Much better than I would've expected for a premiere and for a Saturday tea time show. And that dusty cobwebby stuff grew very fast. Maybe that was part of the magic spell? Death by dust?
- I love love love that Merlin's reward is to be a slave servant to the guy he hates and who hates him. That'll teach him to act like a hero. Next time leave the guy to die, Merlin!
- And...the first appearance of Merlin's glowing eyes thing at 5:55. All in all I counted the yellow eyes 6 times.
- Merlin saves Arthur: Score Merlin 1; Arthur 0
Best lines:
Merlin: "How long have you been training to be a prat...my lord?"
Slash! Dragon: "None of us can choose our destiny, Merlin, and none of us can escape it."
Merlin: "No, there must be another Arthur because this one's an idiot."
Slash! Dragon: "Perhaps its your destiny to change that."
Gwen: "Some people are just born to be queen."
Merlin: "No."
Gwen: "I hope so, one day. Not that I'd want to be her. Who'd wanna marry Arthur?" (answer: ME! ME! ME!)
AN EPIC MERLIN REWATCH OF MERLIN EPICNESS.
And I'm going to do reviews! Well, maybe more like streams of consciousness. Or something in between the two. Hopefully, if I'm not too lazy or busy I'll do a little rewatch summary for each episode. Let's kick things off with...
Season 1 Episode 1: The Dragon's Call
(for these episode pictures I decided to just google image search the episode title and see what image it comes up with)
- Aw Colin is all chubby (for him) and cute.
- Not only is Tony Head is awesome at speechifying but he's also rocking the hell out of that crown. He's also very good at the evil/self-satisfied smirk.
- The witch whatsherface Mary Collins. Uhm. So if she's powerful enough to get revenge on Uther and kill Arthur, why on earth couldn't she save her son in the first place? We know from future episodes that the knights of Camelot are woefully ineffective. Maybe she didn't actually like her son that much and is rather fond of melodrama? I know people like that.
- Hunith's writing is pretty. This may be me being stupid but should she know how to write if she's from a small farming community?
- Oh, look, back when Morgana had morals/feelings/wore her hair down.
- The make up on the witch is pretty good. She does look like an old welsh woman.
- Merlin hearing Slash!Dragon in his dreams doing his porno voice "Meeerrrlin, Meeeerrrlin.....". Don't we all hear John Hurt's voice in our dreams? No? Just me then.
- Gaius's wig! His wiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiigggggg! Maybe Gaius owns straighteners?
- ARTHUR! Being an asshole! Oh, young Arthur showing off in front of the ladies knights. Oh, I love arseholes in tv shows. They are always the most sexy interesting characters. I love it when he picks on Merlin the second time and they have a little fight. "Don't run away!" Although, why does Merlin take off his jacket when he's planning on using magic? I love Arthur's mace thing. I want one!!
- Gwen! In her red dress and cloak. Aw, she's all lovely and kind even right at the beginning.
- The music in Merlin is fabulous. Sometimes I find myself zoning out of the scene and listening to the music because its so great.
- I love Merlin's motivations and the fact that we are shown this straight away. Merlin's magic is a big part of his identity. I suppose we've all got one talent or one thing that we're an expert about, Merlin's is magic. Arthur's is being the arsehole Prince.
- Do the people of Camelot know about the dragon kept under the castle? (and, on that note, why didn't Uther kill it in the first place? Did I miss something?) Because that's a pretty big secret. And now I come to think about it, what if they had learned about it after it attacked them at the end of season 2? Wouldn't the people of Camelot be like "Uther, dude, WTF?" And is it sensible to build a castle on top of a large cavern, filled with Slash Dragon or not? I'm guessing TPTB were being clever by linking it to the story of Vortigern and the castle that kept falling down because of the two warring dragons living underneath it.
- Why does the white marble of the castle and the strange music remind me of Casanova (the BBC Tennant one)?
- So Gwen (supposedly) enters the room and Morgana starts the conversation with "So I've been thinking about Arthur...wouldn't touch him with a lance pole." Uhm. a) no body cares, Morgana; b) me thinks the lady doth protest too much and c) "wear this little tease...or give them a night they'll really remember". At this point I decided I didn't like Morgana. With terrible lines line that its difficult to care- she came across to me as vapid and self-absorbed. However, I will say that she did change drastically (or at least she got to say better lines). And, to be fair, she did look pretty good at the feast, if not even vaguely historically accurate.
-So... Arthur/Morgana. They set it up and it potentially could've been a bit of a strange triangle/square/dodecahedron/whatever, but I think the chemistry just wasn't there between Arthur and Morgana. Its more like brother/sister and seeing them as almost love interests at the beginning makes me uncomfortable. Although Gwen shipping Arthur/Morgana amuses me.
- I love Gwen living vicariously through Morgana, without actually wanting to be her or being jealous of her. Gwen is already one of my favourite characters- she's sweet, kind, awkward, and funny. What's not to love?
- The witch's song is surprisingly good. Its quite haunting and actually really perfect. I could listen to that song all day long, its beautiful. Much better than I would've expected for a premiere and for a Saturday tea time show. And that dusty cobwebby stuff grew very fast. Maybe that was part of the magic spell? Death by dust?
- I love love love that Merlin's reward is to be a slave servant to the guy he hates and who hates him. That'll teach him to act like a hero. Next time leave the guy to die, Merlin!
- And...the first appearance of Merlin's glowing eyes thing at 5:55. All in all I counted the yellow eyes 6 times.
- Merlin saves Arthur: Score Merlin 1; Arthur 0
Best lines:
Merlin: "How long have you been training to be a prat...my lord?"
Slash! Dragon: "None of us can choose our destiny, Merlin, and none of us can escape it."
Merlin: "No, there must be another Arthur because this one's an idiot."
Slash! Dragon: "Perhaps its your destiny to change that."
Gwen: "Some people are just born to be queen."
Merlin: "No."
Gwen: "I hope so, one day. Not that I'd want to be her. Who'd wanna marry Arthur?" (answer: ME! ME! ME!)