Merlin Reviews

I'm getting these up here before Number 3 airs later today, at which point I will post again.

Suffice it to say that if you don't like spoilers, stay away from this stuff.











SPOILER LINE


Merlin review 4.1 and 4.2

We're a year on again, which means that we're now 5 years on from Merlin becoming Arthur's servant. Merlin's age is about even with Colin's now at 25, since Arthur was 21 when the show began and Merlin has to be about a year younger. Bradley is 28, so unless the show does a leap it isn't getting closer. That's okay though-Tom Welling was about middle age when Smallville ended.

I was grateful and pleased to see Arthur acting like an adult with Merlin (i.e. not hitting him with objects, not demeaning him by using him as a footstool, and NOT locking him up in the dungeons.) Arthur's normal, common-guy friends are helping him to become more down to earth, instead of an arrogant prat.

This was the first time at the beginning of a Merlin series where Merlin didn't get chained up or locked up (frozen solid works, I suppose. No one even questioned him coming back alive-I suppose Lancelot could have told them all about the magic water nymphs saving Merlin's frostbitten hide, but would Arthur have really believed that?)

Morgana seems to be continually pissed off, but there's that underlying fear of Emrys she keeps mentioning (wonder who that could be. Hmm.) Without Morgause, Morgana's a barely functioning witch in a hole with a grudge-not exactly major threat material. She can't even kill people with her throw spell. How's she going to deal with Merlin when he bangs her neatly off a tree?

Uther's just gone, mentally and physically. I doubt he's ever going to be back in form again, especially since he's been steeped in crazy for a year.

Gwen's finally learned not to backtrack every time she speaks, and I really liked the way she mouthed off to Agravaine about his decision to close the gates to the commoners. I was applauding her spine on the issue, and I'd like to see more of it.

Agravaine hates Uther because of the death of his sister Igraine and brother Tristan (and here I was thinking he was a Pendragon. A whole paragraph on his manipulative Pendragon ways and he was a de Bois.) Uther killed both of his siblings in various ways-sure sign he's enraged somewhere under the slimy exterior. The good news is that now I know which side he's from, he can sleep with Morgana and get away with it because they're not related (still icky.) He's obviously trying to slip into a power vacuum created by Uther's lunacy and Arthur's not being king yet because Uther's still alive. He probably hates all the Pendragons and wants them to do each other in. My previous paragraph was better, but that was before he was on the opposite side of the family tree. He was easier to categorize when he was a Pendragon-I just chalked his arrogance and villainy up to the typical traits of the bloodline.

In short, Lord Aggravation is a bloody creep and a traitor. I think he sees Morgana as the poor ambitious sweet thing who unfairly got kicked out of the family, despite trying to take over Camelot and kill Uther and Arthur at least twice each. Agravaine might see Arthur's lack of motivation in slashing down his family and just taking what he wants as a sign of weakness (remember that that was continually something the bad guys told Uther was why Arthur would make an awful king.) Arthur's soft on the regular people and is kind to them, even wants to be seen as their friend. The rest of the family see the common people as cattle, ready to do their bidding at a moment's notice and die for them in a war.

Morgana will come to fear the one she calls Emrys, but first she has to learn about Merlin's powers. She's not likely to put the Emrys label onto him until she knows that he has magic in the first place. I would think Morgana would no longer have designs on Uther simply because he's no longer a threat to anyone. She doesn't care about him anymore because he doesn't matter to her schemes. She's more intent on getting rid of Arthur or Gwen (that I just don't understand. Why would she be after Gwen? Unless she's jealous about that ugly crown...) Merlin doesn't come up on her radar because she still has no idea what he really is.

Agravaine is probably going to get stabbed by someone in the family simply because he's a simpering idiot. If Arthur does it, it'll be out of obligation to Camelot. If it's Morgana, it'll be because he's getting in the way. She's already stabbed Morgause this year so I wouldn't put it past her.

I really hope Gwen can advise Arthur the way she tried to advise Agravaine. That was kind of nice, even if Agravaine was trying to kill her at the time.

And we're going to see Lance again, so stop bloody crying already.

This week: The return of Dragoon the Great, Powerful, (and really Colin Morgan in old-man makeup again) and in the photos it appears Lancelot is around...

Ta,
Bec





4.3

Well, that slammed the door in the face of Arthur ever finding out that Merlin has magic, eh? Uther's death by accident means that at the end of this episode, Arthur is finally fully in charge of Camelot...and hates magic.

Morgana killed Uther at last, not by the sword but by a nice necklace. Subtle and effective. I said three years ago now that Morgana was going to do Uther in, and now she has (she polished him off, anyway)though my version had her stabbing him across the throne room. Details, details...

Merlin took a risk and it blew up in his face. I don't think we'll be seeing Dragoon again for awhile, but he was definitely a much more even character than last year's edition.

Agravaine is working with Morgana purely to get to Uther, so obviously he got what he wanted in this episode. Now his motives are all mysterious again-why the hell would he go after Arthur? Our new king, may he live past this series, had nothing to do with either his mother or his uncle's deaths (which were probably days apart when Arthur was a newborn.)

Another thing that keeps bugging me - Why does Agravaine like Morgana so much? Is he going to stop hitting on her before she whops him dead? She sidestepped him this time (ain't she supposed to hook up with Merlin this year? Now that I'd love to see...)

But it's come at long last - Uther is dead! Long live King Arthur!


Next week: A dragon egg? The dude from Battlestar Galactica? Is Merlin going to wind up outwitting Arthur's guys all year now? Is Merlin going to play Mommy to a baby dragon all year?