Episode III.I & II – The Tears of Uther Pendragon – Part I & II
Destiny & Chicken is back with a bang! Join us for this double epsiode, discussing epsiode 1 and 2 of Season 3 of BBC Merlin!
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21st September 2020 @ 5:17 pm
–The throne room is empty – the council all left when Morgana entered. —
hahaha clearly when she says it, she means it in the more ye olde version of ‘I’ll leave you to your thoughts’ lol also, I guess all the people that keep being dismissed from rooms don’t actually get to… go anywhere. They just have to awkwardly lurk in hallways, until they are allowed back in…. no wonder nothing ever gets done in Camlot!!!
21st September 2020 @ 6:42 pm
🙂 I’d be content to lurk around in Camelot for a bit if that meant I could live in the castle and get to meet all the characters.
You’re probably right about the ‘leave you to your thoughts’ meaning of Morgana’s words. I think I was misled by the Netflix subtitles which clearled spelled ‘council’ (i.e. a group of people deciding something together) but with the empty room, the subtitles should clearly had read ‘counsel’ (as in keeping one’s own counsel).
Maybe Netflix was just trying to be funny.
21st September 2020 @ 4:44 am
Hello! I discovered merlin over lockdown, and it is AMAZING. I may or may not have already watched the whole series 3 times…I defiantly did 😂 I also listened to all of your guy’s podcasts, and they are awesome! I’m so happy to have discovered Merlin, and this fandom is Awesome as well! So exited for season three!
21st September 2020 @ 6:45 pm
Yay! Welcome. We all love Merlin and talk a lot. 🙂
21st September 2020 @ 10:53 pm
that’s amazing!! nothing quite as delightful as discovering a new show and falling down a rabbit hole. welcome to the madness!! 🙂
21st September 2020 @ 12:03 am
Nope. Won’t let me post it. 🙁 Maybe it’s too long?
21st September 2020 @ 12:01 am
It won’t let me post my comment. 🙁 I’ve tried to submit it like six times but I can’t see it showing up. Now it says that it’s a duplicate comment and I worry that you’ve received my comment multiple times and that’ll be really embarrassing too.
21st September 2020 @ 4:53 pm
they were caught in the spam filter, though I have no idea why. it’s not like the website shouldn’t know you by now! haha I’ve jsut marked them all as not spam, to hopefully teach the website for next time, but it means that thet may now show up tripplicate, sorry!!
21st September 2020 @ 4:57 pm
okay, got it all sorted! so yes, they’re all here now. I don’t know whether you can go and delete the duplicate? I would do it, but I’m worried the website will mark you as spam again, if I delete your comments hahaha oops!!
21st September 2020 @ 5:36 pm
Thank you so much! Very odd though. I wonder whether it had something to do with me pre-writing my comments on Word and then just copy and pasting it here. But then, I’ve done that all through season 2. So, no idea what was going on.
Unfortunately, I don’t seem to have the option to delete the duplicate comments. You can try and we’ll see what happens.
It’s actually quite funny – my comments landed in spam and now that you have freed them, that is exactly what they have become: my duplicates, at least, spamming your website. 🙂
21st September 2020 @ 10:27 pm
i don’t think so. I think it must have just been the length. but yeah, it’s hilarious how the website trying to prevent spam actually ended up creating spam haha
Okay, I’ve deleted two of the duplicate ones. Unfortunately i couldn’t tell which ones was the one I commented on, and I totally got it. oops. but yeah, I’ll keep an eye out for your comment on next weeks episode and hopefully the website won’t try and snatch it again!!
20th September 2020 @ 11:55 pm
Hello, hello! Let me just say that I am so glad that you guys are back with season 3! 😀
Apart from the awesome podcasts and the intense discussions we have on here, you are also almost solely responsible for me living more healthily. Every week, I listen to your podcast while making vegetable soup or cleaning the house. Thank you!
Right, the Tears. Uther’s!
General Comments (Sorry if I reiterate something others have said. I haven’t had time to read the comments yet):
I have to say that although I agree with you that Katie and Antony are great in the scene where Morgana comes to the throne room, I feel that their first encounter after a year is played at a really awkward, even creepy level. And then Morgana says this uber-weird line: ‘I will show you the love and respect that you deserve,’ and reaches up to wipe away Uther’s tears. I mean, I know the original Arthurian legend was all about incest and such things but this scene just made me shiver!
However, I do always love when Morgana says that she will leave Uther ‘to his council’. The throne room is empty – the council all left when Morgana entered. 😊
At the same time, I think these episodes really bring out Arthur’s childhood trauma and daddy-issues. During the banquet in celebration of Morgana’s return, Uther is quite sickeningly poetic: ‘I would have searched the entire world…for that smile. To have it stolen from me was like a blade to my heart. Morgana, there are no words. You mean more to me than you will ever know.’ And Arthur is sitting right there, right next to them. I mean, I don’t think Arthur would have appreciated a eulogy about his smile, but it does make me wonder when Uther has last told Arthur in so many words what his son means to him. I don’t know, maybe it’s just me, but I feel the tragedy here. Later, Arthur says that his father never talks about his mother and when he so gently reaches out to help him in the council chambers when Uther sees the drowned boy, the King only starts to bellow for everyone to ‘Get out’. Taking into account that Arthur wouldn’t have known what the king was seeing, I think he would have really felt the rejection.
Now, this isn’t so much about Arthur’s family relationships, but I think the producers also set him up to play second fiddle to Merlin. When Arthur tells him that ‘the future of the kingdom rests upon my shoulders’, it is totally undermined by Arthur’s unreasonable, ignorant and brutish behaviour towards Merlin after he has only just survived the serket venom and returned to the castle. We, as viewers, are more likely to remember that Arthur ‘wouldn’t be complaining’ if Merlin died. Likewise, the dragon has only just told Merlin that ‘Arthur’s destiny and the future of Albion lie in your hands.’ So, Arthur’s burden is downplayed as is his credibility and competence. Poor Arthur, second fiddle not only in his father’s eyes but also to his own manservant and in the minds of the TV audience.
I don’t know if this was done intentionally or if Arthur’s portrayal just happened to be inconsistent and problematic. We and Merlin are meant to admire his fighting skill (although fighting blind-folded without the Force is just silly), to recognise Arthur as a great warrior, king and protector. But the next moment, he back to being a stupid bully, making fun of Merlin’s fighting style (since when are manservants expected to fight anyway?!) and not appreciating what he does for him as Merlin points out several times. So, what are we supposed to think? How can we admire Arthur for being a protector of his people when he has no respect even for those of his subjects closest to him? (A similar thing happens when the Prince’s ‘King Arthur’ moment of taking charge/ sitting down on the throne is immediately undermined by the way he dismisses Merlin in the next scene.)
I agree with you that Morgana’s costumes, although beautiful, weren’t really well-chosen for all the sneaking around she had to do. However, I want to say that apart from the narrative element being rather sketchy, I really enjoy the costumes this season. I mean, I won’t mention Gwaine yet. But Gwaine’s costume! And I love Arthur in blue with that leather jerkin. Oh, and Cenred is just so delightful. You mentioned that you know him from Lucifer but I actually recognise him more as Gary from Miranda where he is like the sweetest, nicest guy. It was always a little difficult for me to buy him as evil because every time he walked onto the screen I was only thinking, “Aww, it’s Gary. With long hair and in all-leather costume!”
On the other hand, I’m not sure I enjoy the ostentatious villain-coding. Cenred MUST be evil because he lives in a barren landscape, wears dark leather and has a snake on his crest. Also, Morgause, like Nimueh, lives in a cave. Why must witches live in caves?!
And what’s happened to Merlin’s hair? Who decided that cutting it off was a better look? Merlin just looks so starved this entire season and the shorter hair just emphasises this. I mourn for Merlin’s nice, thick mop of hair and I worry for Colin Morgan’s health! ☹
I think the writers/ producers really went out of their way to draw parallels and establish opposites in these two episodes, mostly successfully. Sometimes less so.
One of the first scenes, when Uther says that he will sacrifice as many men as it takes to find Morgana, harks back to Morgana saying the same when Gwen is kidnapped by Hengist in “Lancelot and Guinevere”. I am also reminded that she was prepared to let all those suspected of sorcery or associating with druids be executed in 2.3 just so she could stay in the druid camp.
Merlin and Morgana are clearly meant to appear as opposites and that is often achieved visually. When Morgana finds the poison in Gaius room to finally finish off the guard, the shot completely echoes that of Merlin fetching the (same?) bottle off the shelf. Only their facial expressions bring out the difference: Merlin looked troubled, Morgana simply looks cold and ruthless. Then there is the odd moment when Merlin stands over Uther in the king’s bedroom and carefully arranges his blanket. This acts as a contrast to Morgana standing at Uther’s bedside, pretending to worry about the sick king but letting go of his hand as soon as she is able to. I really like how they have brought out their different natures here because Merlin has absolutely no reason to care for or look after the king that would have him executed. Morgana, on the other hand, owes Uther, if not her affection, at least her duty.
However, I do not like the dragon’s lines about Morgana being the darkness to Merlin’s light, the hate to his love etc. Too obvious and I don’t really see how Merlin ‘loves’ more than Morgana. We are meant to be shocked by Morgana killing that guard but, by that point, Merlin, without regret or thought, has killed a lot more people.
Finally, I think Arthur and Morgana are also shown as opposites. Arthur is the dutiful, faithful child who refuses to give up on his father or to usurp his throne while he still lives. He even cries at Uther’s bedside and I’m not sure I have ever seen Arthur cry. Equally, he is more affectionate with Morgana than ever before, sitting on her bed to listen to her story, comforting her. He is painted as both a good brother and son which, in my opinion, once again alludes to the trauma of Arthur’s childhood/ father-son relationship but also emphasises where Morgana fails to be a good sister/ ward.
Gaius isn’t just incompetent and the worst, now he’s also really confused I always assumed that he asks Uther not to see Morgana until the morning to give Merlin the possibility to escape – or maybe a final good night’s sleep before being arrested for attempted murder? Minutes later, he asks Merlin loudly whether Morgana knows that he has magic, while the door is still open! Finally, he tells Merlin that they should just see what tomorrow will bring because they can’t be sure what Morgana will remember or say. Does he care about Merlin at all? ‘Can’t be sure’ doesn’t seem a good enough reason to risk Merlin’s potential torture and death, right? In another scene, Gaius tells Merlin that Uther drowned many children for the magic they were born with. Now, I thought that it was made clear in the first episode that only Merlin had ever been ‘born with’ magic, that others found and developed these skills later in life. Is Gaius here just confused or is this a different kind of ‘born with magic’ than Merlin has? Oh, and then Gaius obviously tells Arthur about a traitor at court in front of half the court. Stupid! Finally, he tells Merlin that he should be afraid of Morgana and it’s so satisfying that, this once, Merlin doesn’t listen to the cowardly advice from his mentor.
This might be mostly head-canon but seeing how awful Morgana is at being a spy and secret traitor in Camelot, it did make me wonder: Maybe Morgause is just faking her feelings for Morgana and has really enchanted her with that ‘healing bracelet’ to be a tool in her bid to overthrow Uther. However, that’s all Morgana is to her. Morgause is treating her as dispensable: she doesn’t give Morgana any spy training, doesn’t teach her spells to sneak out of the castle or supply her with a believable cover story of her year away from Camelot. Then she just hands her a staff even though Morgana’s magic isn’t strong enough yet and doesn’t even give her clear instructions. I wonder if Morgause would care if Morgana died as long as she successfully carried out her task first.
I also came up with a possible (but possibly quite mad) reason why Morgana might chose to keep Merlin alive. I have always wondered why Morgana does not look underneath Uther’s bed when fetching the mandrake root. But maybe she did – you can see that the hand in shot isn’t vaguely grasping thin air before finding the root but is gripped and plucked with certainty. Maybe Morgana saw Merlin after all and wanted him to follow her to the hollow in the forest (which is why she left Camelot by the High Street) to have Morgause kill him. Later though, when he survives, she leaves him alive not only because Arthur might possibly listen and investigate but also because Merlin would be so easy to blackmail into spying on Arthur for her or poisoning the king’s food or the like. Again, that would have made for an awesome string of episodes!
Three final thoughts:
I think this episode would have worked best if it had been entirely focused on Merlin trying to figure out how much Morgana knew about what he had done to her and what she/ Uther would do to him. Goodness, that one line Merlin says (‘What do you think Uther will do to me?’) could have provided enough material for a two-parter all by itself and would have been much less epic but more suited to reintroducing characters, dynamics and pre-season 3 storyline.
Throughout the entire series, I think there is a shift of focus for Merlin. First, he tries to bring about a destiny; later he moves to trying to prevent a certain fate. I think the beginning of season 3 is where it all starts and why the tone becomes darker and more ominous.
Morgana’s excuse to Gwen (‘I was thinking about what to wear’) is probably the most satisfying Morgana line yet. I know Morgana’s motivations for turning to evil are basically left to our imagination but I would totally go with it if Morgana’s reasons to hate Uther and Camelot was in revenge and retaliation for how she was portrayed at the beginning of season 1. Just remember this line from the first episode: ‘So, it’s whether I wear this little tease or give them a night they’ll really remember.’ *Shudder*
Lessons:
We learn that the dragon has absolutely no idea about humans or he has an odd idea about comfort. Merlin has been poisoned and is shivering feverishly – and the dragon carries him to a rocky, cold mountain ledge and then just…waits. Hopefully this human will pull through on this cold mountain top where I’ve placed him, right? Must make for very comfortable sleep too. If this is the dragon’s idea of comfort, I now understand why he wasn’t in such a hurry for Merlin to release him last season. He had it very comfortable down in his cave after all.
We learn that the producers idea of making Merlin more epic and filmic is to go back and copy scenes from all the major blockbusters: there is the blind Force-fighting from Star Wars; Merlin riding the dragon/ Harry Potter riding Buckbeak (even the shouting, facial expressions and the musical cue seem similar) and then obviously the fighting skeletons from Pirates of the Caribbean. I mean, there is literally a scene in that first move where Governor Swan hacks off the hand of a skeleton and the hand then chases him across the room just like Merlin is pursued across the courtyard by the skeletal arm. It’s fine, really. Once again, it’s just too ‘one the nose’ and ‘please, notice me!’
I have also (finally) realised why we continue to praise performances/writing/direction/ art direction etc. in specific scenes but are more critical of the overall cohesion/logic of entire episodes or even across seasons. (I’m not even going to start on talking about series-cohesion.) I think it is well known that the episodes were all shot out of sequence and scenes from various episodes were often filmed on the same day. So, it must have been so much easier for actors/ producers/directors/writers to have good control over individual scenes but their shooting schedule made it hard to ever achieve that on an episode-level. That’s quite sad and I wonder whether the speed and budget of the production as it was commissioned by the BBC is to blame for this more than any individual people/ departments.
22nd September 2020 @ 10:09 am
Love that we help you make soup and clean the house! I do really wish that all of the cleaning that happens while people listen to our podcast somehow translated towards the cleaning that is necessary in our house… lol
Ah yes! I remember what I said in my other comment, that got deleted in the douplicate comment purge haha I think potentially Morgana means ‘leave you to your council’ a little bit more old school than that, as in ‘leave you to your thoughts’…? Though equally, the dozen and dozen of times entire councils are casually dismissed from rooms, it’s not like anyone is actually allowed to leave… because they’ve been dismissed FOR NOW. But the second the king wants them back, the work continues, so surely what they have to do is just lurk outside the room, waiting to be called back… no wonder NOTHING ever gets done in Camelot!!
— Poor Arthur, second fiddle not only in his father’s eyes but also to his own manservant and in the minds of the TV audience.—
I think this is absolutely why it has taken until this really close focus rewatch for Ruth and I to realise, that it is Arthur’s show… because literally everything in the show is jumping up and down and telling you that it isn’t, except for… you know, the whole plot of the show lol
–How can we admire Arthur for being a protector of his people when he has no respect even for those of his subjects closest to him? –
Esme’s thought above really helped me with this. They talked about how Arthur treats Merlin the way he does, because he considers Merlin an equal (and yes, he does go too far, the show always does) certainly equal to the knights, who we’ve seen him have this kind of lad banter with before, and teasing people into bravery and mocking them because you can’t compliment them is all very VERY Arthur. So I think that helps. But ultimately, of course I’d like to see more growth from Arthur. Hell, it’s not even growth, because we’ve seen growth, it’s consistency from the writers really. Overall story arc and character development is just not a strong suit of theirs.
— I mean, I won’t mention Gwaine yet. But Gwaine’s costume!—
Next week is going to be SO GOOD!!!!
I’ve never watched Miranda, so don’t have the Gary experience, however I assume it is very similar to when Ruth spend half her life watching Peter Krause in Six Feet Under, and then watched a season of Dexter….
–On the other hand, I’m not sure I enjoy the ostentatious villain-coding. Cenred MUST be evil because he lives in a barren landscape—
Which I think is a shame as you could have done something really quite interesting with Cenred, with his relationship with Morgause and the potentially, never really shown on screen, friction between Morgana and him, and the friction it could cause between morgause and cendred. They all have the chops to play it, it’s just a shame that clearly they show didn’t have any interest of going there.
–I mourn for Merlin’s nice, thick mop of hair and I worry for Colin Morgan’s health! –
I obviously cannot speak on anyone’s health, but I think it is safe to assume that the shooting schedule and planning was fairly punishing on all of their health and social life…
–However, I do not like the dragon’s lines about Morgana being the darkness to Merlin’s light, the hate to his love etc. Too obvious and I don’t really see how Merlin ‘loves’ more than Morgana—
Ruth and I are currently re-watching Queer As Folk, and I’ve noticed this ridiculous tendencies to give Brian big dramatic statements, generally with a PREGNANT PAUSE before delivering what they clearly think is the emotional heart of the statement. Except it’s literally lines like ‘Well, that is not love… PREGNANT PAUSE …that’s hate’ – and it really made me think of this. It’s just lame, isn’t it? And yeah, I do enjoy a good range of grey scale in my fiction…
–I also came up with a possible (but possibly quite mad) reason why Morgana might chose to keep Merlin alive—
Honestly, I love it! The idea that every time our beloved characters are being downright stupid, it’s actually because they are PLAYING stupid, for a greater reason… yep! Gimme!! I’d also like it if we established here that Morgana does still have some of her own self left and therefore cannot kill Merlin, but knows he needs to be got out of the way, and Morgause could totally do it. Hell, you could even then have Morgause try and make Morgana do it, because she needs to man up if she’s gonna be the uber evil and Morgause has Cendred related things to do, so she leave Morgana to kill Merlin, and because she can’t cut his head off, she leaves him to be killed by Skirkets, which is how he gets away… that would work nicely, wouldn’t it? =/
— That’s quite sad and I wonder whether the speed and budget of the production as it was commissioned by the BBC is to blame for this more than any individual people/ departments.—
As mentioned above, their shooting schedule and the shooting logistics was clearly INSANE. It was interesting to hear Bradley talk about the way they worked on Merlin and how it’s the hardest job he’s ever done. It’s not actually a surprise, but I know every time I was trying to logic my way through how the shooting actually worked, I gave up, because I just couldn’t find any way to make it work. I probably would have had more chance of working it out if I hadn’t assumed that they would treat their cast and crew like human beings, and not utterly run them into the ground with constant back and forth between France and England, and making them shoot 7 epsiodes on the same day. Like, it’s NUTS. But yeah, I think you’re absolutely right, it does go a long way to explain why individual moments work for the viewer beautifully, and overall emotional arc often falls by the wayside.
25th September 2020 @ 10:02 pm
Wow, thank you for SUCH a detailed answer! And, you know, for actually reading through all of my comment. My only excuse is that it was a double episode…:D
Re your reply to some of the lazy writing that lead to overemphasised line delivery (in by Kilgarrah in Merlin and other shows): Unfortunately, it’s not just lame but for me it’s also a bit boring to watch because it is now so common and overdone. It has lost much of its impact. But then, the dragon lost all its impact on me back in season 1 so I wouldn’t have listened to him even if he had been wearing a pink tutu. (Not sure why pink tutus would necessarily scream ‘trustworthy’ but I liked the phrase that so randomly ambled into my head. 😊)
Re Cenred and Morgause: I wanted both of them to stick around for much longer. Then many more possiblities could have been explored. But I also just really liked them as characters and, even though perhaps this wasn’t in the writing, the way Tom Ellis and Emilia Fox portrayed them seemed to make a case for them not simply being ‘pure’ evil. Some of the best villains aren’t really villains at all (or to begin with) and I thought both Cenred and Morgause (and Morgana of course) had that potential. Alas…
Re both of our suggestions about why Morgana and Morgause didn’t kill Merlin and how that might have been spun into an amazing story: I think these kinds of frustrations and the bursts of creativity that happen in our heads because of them is exactly why there is so much amazing Merlin fanfic out there. This would be a great one too!
Getting ready to make some more soup this weekend…
28th September 2020 @ 10:33 pm
–I think these kinds of frustrations and the bursts of creativity that happen in our heads because of them is exactly why there is so much amazing Merlin fanfic out there.–
100%!! it’s something that Ruth quite often says about Black Sails, which in her eyes is as close to perfect story telling as any TV show has ever got… and it means that there is very little desire to write or read fanfiction, because even though the story may not have done absolutely what you would have liked it to do, at all times, the way it was done made so much sense and was so beautifully arced, that even if it didn’t go where you maybe would have liked it to go, the place it went was perfectly logical and when it got there, you realise that it always had to go there… which just leaves you very little space for fanfiction, but also, absolutely very little frustration to fix things…
It is something that fascinated me. that some of the best fandoms I have been in have been from source material that had the potential for absolute perfection, and messed up time after time after time… that’s what leads to fandom. it’s literally what our entire ethose is based on, and merlin has it in spades. If it had been perfect, maybe we would have all admired it and sung it’s praise, but we wouldn’t still be here, almost a decade later, having these discussions, because there’d be nothing left to say…
I now want you to let us know each week what the soup of the week is!! haha
20th September 2020 @ 1:27 am
Good to have you back!
I like the ‘Arthur knew all along’ theory. I recently wrote a fanfiction about it (and why he ‘stops’ knowing Merlin’s secret!) It works so well when Arthur is being reasonable, smart, that you do have to come up with theories about the times when the opposite happens.
I like the epicness of this opener, just a shame characters are dumbed down to make plot points work. But, like Maddy said, you end up caring about the characters that their world ends up having a value beyond the actual story 🙂
20th September 2020 @ 12:31 pm
I can see why they wanted an epic opener and I think it is fun to be really thrown into season 3. Also I’d love to read your fan fiction if you’re comfortable sharing it, it sounds super interesting!
22nd September 2020 @ 10:56 pm
It’s called ‘The Secret Memory’ on Wattpad. I Hope it’s a good read 🙂
https://www.wattpad.com/story/240580911-the-secret-memory
23rd September 2020 @ 7:24 am
Exciting. Thanks for sharing! 😁
25th September 2020 @ 4:30 am
I read your fic. I really like it. 🙂 It’s a very original approach and, thank goodness, neither Merlin or Arthur are stupid or unobservant. Once again, thank you for posting.
20th September 2020 @ 2:25 pm
If you are OK with sharing, I would also be interested in reading your fanfiction 🙂
22nd September 2020 @ 11:04 pm
Thanks guys! I just put the link of the story in the previous comment.
Also, Esme is right about the ethical factor -it’s a tough one.
21st September 2020 @ 1:08 pm
I like the “Arthur knew all along” theory for the most part, except that it raises some ethical questions regarding why Arthur doesn’t tell Merlin. I guess that isn’t something I dislike about the theory – it’s interesting, but those questions do need to be considered otherwise I’m left wondering how Arthur could possibly leave Merlin in that horrible position of hiding a dangerous secret and feeling alone in it. I mean, if we refuse to believe Arthur is so oblivious as to not notice Merlin’s magic, then how come we believe he’s oblivious to the clear distress that living in fear of being discovered must cause? Not that there aren’t ways to handle that in fic and meta, but I don’t have an answer that’s satisfying to me personally.
Arthur being suspicious, though? Sure. He’s unsure, testing the waters without wanting to actually accuse Merlin of a crime he isn’t even sure he’s committed… that makes more sense to me.
(That’s not in any way a criticism of your fic by the way, I’m sure it’s great and like I said you totally CAN use the “Arthur knows” theory in good ways, I just think it’s one you have to be careful with)
18th September 2020 @ 11:34 pm
Everything you guys said about this episode being too much- yea. This was just too escalated.
I think Morgana particularly would really benefit from a degree of nuance or subtlety; perhaps just seeing her a little shocked to see Uther screaming on the floor and those awful CGI skeletons, or like she’s questioning herself when she’s trying to stab Merlin. But no- as far as the writers are concerned she is where she needs to be and there is no going back now which sucks.
I find Morgana really difficult to watch from this point ( I don’t know what it is :(.), but I am so attached to the character. Maybe because I can relate to her? She pushes a really loving and supportive network of friends away because she feels vulnerable and alone and can become a little obsessive with people in her life who she looks up to. I really love Emelia Fox too but I agree that they didn’t work well together- Morgause has a sort of otherworldly, omniscient quality to her and Morgana comes across as really shallow and pantomime-y around her. Another sad face :(. I think In the space between watching Merlin when it first came out and rewatching it now I have created a more likeable and interesting Morgana and have been let down. But I think that as with Harry Potter, the world created has a value that is separate from the actual story.
Morgause and Cenred’s relationship is super interesting and I think both characters are quite sexual in a way that hasn’t really been in Merlin before (trolls aside). Again I think it would be interesting to see how it affected Morgana. She holds Morgause in high esteem and it must be difficult to see your big sister submit herself in the way she does, albeit in an empowered kind of way. I want her other relationships to be affected in a way other than ‘I hate you now’, even when she met that Alvar dude with Mordred she didn’t seem impacted by him, I feel like making her more uncomfortable with Cenred might add something to her character.
LESSONS
wow this is exciting… my first ever lesson is that Arthur (re) learns that Gwen will put aside her love for him for his duties and destiny. This is a beat we get repeatedly when Arthur is feeling unsure or apprehensive, and reaches out to usually Merlin or Gwen for a bit of escapism and to feel normal, but is rejected by them and pushed towards doing whatever he is apprehensive about. I think sometimes Arthur knows he needs this, but in this scene Gwen physically stops his from showing her affection by leaving and Arthur is really reluctant to take his father’s place, so it hits harder. I think the eye contact between him and Gwen later on kind of consolidates their mutual agreement that his duty comes before his personal life.
I’m glad you guys are back! I’ve been so excited about contributing to this season after listening to the last two!!!! As you can see, I like to talk about Morgana. Omg I just remembered what happens with her next episode. Why on Earth did they do this to us???? I wish you guys the best of luck in watching the next episode.
19th September 2020 @ 2:21 pm
Very interesting thoughts about Morgana! I can also relate to her so much (having magic and living as Uther’s ward really reminds me of my own upbringing in a totally homophobic household), so her sudden change pains me as well.
I definitely agree that she should be more hesitant about what she’s doing. For me, stabbing a totally random Camelot soldier with an evil smirk on her face was just too much. This is the first murder she does on screen, and if it was an act of sheer panic, it would have been believable… but no, apparently Morgana went on a murderous rampage between the seasons, she’s so used to it now 🙁
I actually never thought about Morgana and Cendred, and now you brought it up, I totally agree. There should be some tension between them. Instead, Morgause and Morgana seem to act altogether independently (except for some cauldron magic).
19th September 2020 @ 4:43 pm
Absolutely agree, the stabbing scene should have had some real impact but nope- I guess she lost all care for human life in her gap year. I see what you mean about Morgause and Morgana acting independently- their relationship is much less caring and close than I expected it to be- rather than feeling like Morgana’s guardian or teacher, Morgause just seems like someone she is working with.
It is interesting how many links there are from the way magic is presented in the show and homosexuality. I totally feel for you with growing up in homophobic household. One thing that is pretty consistent about Morgana is her feeling misunderstood; even though she knows that Merlin knows she has magic, she can’t find any comfort in it (even before the Fires of Idirsholas or however it’s spelt), because she still feels like he doesn’t get the full picture which is something that really resonates with me. Morgana just seems to struggle to connect with other people.
19th September 2020 @ 7:25 pm
True about Morgana and Merlin. This is also why their dialogue in the “Tears of Uther Pendragon” is such a missed opportunity. I really like the moment when Morgana says “you don’t know how it is to be an outsider” (or something along those lines) and Merlin responds “I understand… more than you know”, then Morgana looks at him with this mixture of incredulousness and anger. It really mirrors some real-life situations when you come out to people (whether it’s about being a part of the LGBTQ+ community, or mental illness, or trauma, or any other serious stuff), to which they respond with some kind of “first world problem” (not to downplay anyone’s problems, but sometimes it’s just not the right moment to bring them up). Of course, we know what Merlin really means, and that’s the tragedy of the whole scene. If only the writers continued it along the same lines… but it got instantly dropped, almost as if they told themselves “okay, we’re in a very complex moral situation right now, so let’s add some evil smirk and a swordfight so that the viewers know who’s GOOD and who’s BAD”. A pity 🙁
20th September 2020 @ 12:28 pm
Morgana and Merlin’s few bits dialogue do say a lot, while Merlin reacts to her in quite a pained and pitiful way, she reacts with, as you said, this real anger and confusion. Merlin has continually sympathised with her but because he keeps saying he gets it but not actually opening up to her, it becomes frustrating and sounds like he’s just saying that. Maybe comparable to how queer baiting can feel? People try to come across as LGBT but when it comes down to it, but they don’t really understand queer struggles and they can say ‘no it’s ok I’m not really!’ and as much as this sin’t the case for Merlin as he does have magic, it’s still how Morgana sees it.
And they totally limit any complex moral questions which is a shame because also being ‘evil’ isn’t necessarily about having no empathy and causing harm out of mere instinct, I think it’s more impactful when it’s a choice and the evil character sees the good and kind option and goes against it.
21st September 2020 @ 5:01 pm
I think the show could have done something really interesting, if they allowed merlin to be the bad guy, even just from Morgana’s point of view. Like, us as viewers could still always know that Merlin does really get it, but the fact that as you mention, he keeps saying it, without actually helping or explaining why… that could really go somewhere, if we gave Morgana an actual point of view and… you know… motivation SIGH
21st September 2020 @ 4:48 pm
basically any level of nuance and balance in Morgana’s arc would help. And I really don’t think that it’s anything to do with Katie not being able to play the nuance. She’s got some fabulous scenes in the show and yeah, sure, she was learning on the job, but she’s clearly a quick study! It’s just down to the writing and as you say, the writers having her where they need her to be (ie EVIL!!!) and therefore not needing to bother to do anything else in terms of explaining the why and the how. I remember a bunch of moments from like the press rounds and stuff where Katie joked about it with the boys that it wasn’t her fault she went evil, no one helped her, no one explained to her what was going on, and Merlin kept refusing to tell her about his magic and bring her in on the secret, so it’s totally all Colin’s fault. and obviously, it was mostly jokes, but I think a lot of it was just trying to defend this character that she was trying to depict on screen that yeah, didn’t make a hell of a lot of sense and didn’t get any written in show justification, so as an actor, you have to find justifications for it yourself…
And I completely agree about Morgana. Morgana in fandom, Morgana in fic, Morgana in most of our heads… she’s a fantastic character. And yes, it’s almost like we are let down by the writers not giving us this Morgana, that we have made up ourselves. But they should have been able to give that to us! Like, it’s not just complete fabrication. It’s working with what they gave us at the beginning of the show, and drawing it to a natural conclusion. Something the show writers sadly didn’t manage. they just skipped her from A to Q to Z back to A with no rhyme or reason, which is why she ends up being so frustrating most of the time, even if you love her as a character. hell, *especially* if you love her as a character!
I hadn’t really thought to compare Morgause and Cendred’s sexuality with the rest of the show but you are absolutely right! They are sexual in a way that I think no one has been before in the show. Any other time we’ve had anythign even verging on sexual it’s been for comedy and under an enchantment (uther and the troll, arthur in sweet dreams) and then you get the completely non sexual sanitised romance between gwen and arthur and gwen and lancelot. And of course everything between Morgause and Cendred is subtext, so probably only reads to a certain age group, and yeah, I think is absolutely down to Emilia and Tom. and yes, it would be fascinating to see Morgana’s reaction to that dynamic. We get it later in the series, but from what I remember it’s all while she’s pretending to be with Arthur and Merlin. I don’t think we get them being “themselves” at any point together… I think? god, it’s been too long! I’ll have to wait and see haha
23rd September 2020 @ 1:22 pm
“Morgause and Cenred’s relationship is super interesting and I think both characters are quite sexual in a way that hasn’t really been in Merlin before (trolls aside)”
“And of course everything between Morgause and Cendred is subtext, so probably only reads to a certain age group”
I 100% did not get any of it when I first watched it and only on this rewatch went “ohhhhh… a *feast*, eh?” … oops.
18th September 2020 @ 5:18 pm
I was there when they were filming Uther at the well. It was very interesting to watch Tony Head working. Also Katie showed up in Ygraine’s ripped dress in the courtyard on the way to filming something! So I wonder if she was substituting for Ygaine until they could CGI the actress who played Ygraine in. (I was plotting all kinds of scenarios until the episode aired).
Hated all of Katie’s smirks. I’m not sure if it was because she didn’t have formal training but she was too over the top evil a lot of the time.
I love Esme’s take on Arthur treating Merlin like he does because he thinks Merlin is part of his team. I’m going to take that to heart!
LOL about Merlin not being killed because his name is on the title of the show. Hee.
I agree that it was a bit too epic for an opener because it left nowhere to go but down in a grand sweep of things.
Anyway, I liked parts of the episodes and not so much others, especially the huge plothole of Morgause leaving Merlin there when she could have just killed them.
Glad to see you back from hiatus.
21st September 2020 @ 4:34 pm
that’s interesting… maybe they had a scene planned where irgaine turned into morgana or the other way around? or yeah, maybe it was as simple as body doubling. but surely they would have had someone “less important” than katie do that, no? i mean, they clearly worked them unbelievably hard on merlin, but still! lol
–I love Esme’s take on Arthur treating Merlin like he does because he thinks Merlin is part of his team. I’m going to take that to heart!–
yeah, i think that works really well. be super interesting to see going forward if it holds up
we’re glad to be back!!
17th September 2020 @ 11:48 pm
First of all – I’m new here, so GREETINGS [said with Arthur’s voice from “The Last Dragonlord”] – from Canada 🙂 I only discovered Merlin during lockdown (a true blessing in disguise!), binged it on Netflix, discovered your podcast, binged it too, and finally caught up! I love your work and I hope for many interesting discussions here! My post may get pretty long, so apologies for that 🙂
So, to the episode: I also think it was very weirdly paced in the course of the whole season (especially taken that it’s followed straight by a throwaway goblin episode, which feels just so weird… doom and gloom and large angst ensue, then cut to the sneak peak from the next episode and Gaius is licking the coin. Argh.) – but I enjoyed it a lot, despite seeing the plotholes. I might have been swayed by the beautiful cinematography, as I’m usually prone to be – and the soundtrack, which already was so pretty before, is just next level. I loved the music in the Merlin trapped / Cenred’s army march sequence (especially when Merlin was stung and all the sound stopped, as you mentioned in the podcast). Also, I love how, during the meaningful conversation between Arthur and Merlin (the one with wisdom), a single drum is constantly playing on a low note in the background. I don’t know if it was supposed to be a background noise of the castle preparing for battle, but it stems right away from the epic soundtrack from the previous scene, and it’s just the best. Conveys the readiness and anxiety perfrctly.
Another comment, this time on Uther: it’s interesting how the episode is called “The Tears of Uther Pendragon”, as he’s literally the character that almost never cries and is the epitome of, dare I say, toxic masculinity. It literally takes an enchantment to make him cry. I love the brief moment in the first part where Arthur is saying to Gaius “he was laying down and CRYING” and the poor prince is just so terrified, as if the whole world just collapsed. A lovely moment of acting from Bradley. It’s also interesting to note that in “The Last Dragonlord” Arthur said to Merlin “no man is worth your tears” (which worked on a prepare-for-battle level, but which was very disturbing on any other), right when Merlin was grieving after his father’s death – and here we are, an episode later, and Arthur is crying at his father’s bedside. I probably don’t have any cohesive theory about the parallels (after all, Arthur already cried before, over his mother), but it’s just interesting.
I also regret that Morgause doesn’t know about Merlin’s magic. It would have made much sense. And I HATE Morgana’s smirks. It’s really a pity Morgana doesn’t open up, at least a little bit, about what happened in the gap year – we assume she was just being trained by Morgause, but what happened that made her so evily-evil? That really needs an explanation we’re not getting. I found the moment when Merlin says to her “it doesn’t have to be like that”, and she doesn’t have really much of an counter-argument, but still attacks Merlin, very frustrating. I need either more hesitation or more explanation from her.
On a slightly different note, this episode also made me realize how absurd the age restrictions on TV were and still are. I can’t imagine watching it as a kid (Igraine’s hand suddenly catching Uther! OMG! So scary even now!). But no drop of blood is shed, so it must be okay! 😛
Finally, to the LESSONS:
Arthur learned how uneasy are the decisions a king must sometimes make – but when he has the support of the ones he cares about, he’s more likely to make a good (or at least, less wrong) decision.
Merlin learned that he can sometimes be easily swayed by seeing the best in people (as the dragon told him) – but at the same time, ending up seeing only the worst in them is a path that leads to hate and darkness. So I guess he learned he must keep a healthy balance. Well, we’ll see if he manages that in the future… also, he learned that Kilgarrah doesn’t really have a choice when Merlin uses his awesome dragon-ancient-Greek-talk to ask him things. And that flying a dragon is great (I’m still pretty sure they secretly kept a real dragon on set for Colin Morgan to be so happy about the flying).
Morgana learned mainly smirking and twig-using, which I find sad. But she also learned to trust / obey her sister to a point, which, on the surface, might not seem as a good thing, but weirdly, I almost wish she learned to obey her more: as you mentioned, Morgause’s magic / villainy is at least a means to an end, while Morgana now seems to be reveling in badness just for the sake of it.
And, lastly, the viewers learned that sir Leon, apart from being immortal, also doesn’t need sleep, which, I guess, is fair enough. Maybe he got a superhero upgrade by surviving the dragon fire in Season 2 finale?
21st September 2020 @ 4:31 pm
I now totally do have arthur’s dragonlord GREETINGS in my head, which keeps making me chuckle, so that’s perfect!! 😀
There is definitely many positives for this season opener, most of all in my eyes is absolutely a tv crew (rightly) showing off their new budget, new special effects team, and their super shiny cinematography. It’s a show coming back with a bang, and I appreciate that for what it is. And yeah, while I don’t remember my ‘in real time’ reaction, I completely believe that certainly the first week, it would have had me go OMG!!! a lot. the second week, as you say, ends with the ‘next week on merlin’ which is a bit of a slap in the face. Though possibly used to remind the younger viewers that the show is also still for them, even if it is all cool and cinema style now?
that’s really interesting that you bring up the fact that uther had to cry over arthur, to break the enchantment, and how that seemed near impossible, wheras here he is crying over Morgana and then of course crying in horror from his trauma. I hadn’t linked it to the previous lack of tears but yes, you are absolutely right. and parallelling arthur with morgana absolutely plays into the toxic masulinity of Uther, yes! this will definitely be interesting to keep an eye on, going forward in the series, as we are definitely not done crying yet….
And yes, Morgana is just frustrating. that’s kind of the ultimate bottom line with her. And it really wouldn’t take very much. In fact, they give us so little with Morgana (and Gwen, both) that the absolute scraps would still be more than we get now, so we’d take it and run with it!!
and oh, don’t even get me started on tv and movie restrictions!! I think Ruth at some point talked about it in the podcast that basically you’re not allowed to show any blood, but you can merrily murder hundreds of people as long as you don’t show the gore… but it’s not like even the youngest child isn’t fully aware that these people are dead. episode one, you cut someone’s head off! granted, you’re not game of thrones, so you’re not showing us the head… but we’re fully aware you cut it off!! lol
glad to have you on board for season 3, welcome to the madness 😀
21st September 2020 @ 6:44 pm
Yes, watching out for differences / similarities between Arthur and Morgana over the course of this season will be really interesting! We’ve already seen Uther displaying much more emotion (though still, no crying!) in Morgana’s presence (in “To Kill the King” specifically), as if he unconsciously thought he can display more, because… A WOMAN, I guess. It’s also really interesting how adamant Gaius is about the fact that Uther would never, ever believe that Morgana is a traitor (even after “The Witch’s Quickening”!), while he doubted Arthur so many times already. Granted, he only accused him of treason when he was under the troll enchantment, but I always wonder how much would it actually take in “normal” conditions (cue to some fanfics on the matter)? Now, this can also be because Uther doesn’t actually believe that Morgana is capable of doing anything serious as a full-blown treason and all her disobedience is just something like a teenage rebellion (which would, again, fit into an overall toxic masculinity model – “oh, those hysterical women and their whims!”) – while any such thing from Arthur, he would take really seriously. Which is paradoxical, because it demeans Morgana, all the while giving her more space for plotting.
28th September 2020 @ 10:53 pm
–but I always wonder how much would it actually take in “normal” conditions (cue to some fanfics on the matter)?–
URGH! now I’m gonna have to go and re-read In Time of Trial, which I do not have time for, but it must be done now!!! it’s been on my ‘must re-read list’ for like, literal years. SO GOOD!!
and yeah, I think it’s a fair read that morgana can get as worked up as she wants, she’s never actually going to DO anything about it, in uther’s eyes. Partially because of the hysterical women and their whims thing but also because uther has actively made choices about what he tells morgana and what he keeps from her (argh, trying to be non spoilery about all this haha) that take away most of her power, should she decide to do something about it…
21st September 2020 @ 6:23 pm
We like long posts – no need to apologise.
I think you are making really excellent points, especially about the way the score has been used. I actually made a note in that final moment when the dragon swoops in to rescue Merlin. Absoutely my favourite musical moment of these episodes. I think in terms of story, the ‘Tears’ very much over-escalated everything. However, it has brought us this awesome music!
Talking about tears, I think you’re right that it’s all handled rather confusingly. Tears aparently can be used to enchant but also to unenchant people (troll episodes). “No man is worth your tears” is really confusing as everyone has cried a fair few times in the show. Maybe it shows more the worth of the person crying than the worth of the person who they are crying for? Could that be an interpretation as well? Crying itself isn’t bad – it shows the depth of your feeling and humanity and validates them in some way. There are many good people that, when they die, others won’t cry over but that doesn’t mean that they were worth less or more than others. Maybe those people are best remembered with smiles. But again, the brightness or number of smiles doesn’t give a number value of ‘worth’ to the person who has died.
Gosh, did that make sense? Anyway, I certainly think that in ‘Merlin’, tears are significant whenever you shed them or don’t, whether they are genuine or not. And that’s a very fairytale thing, I think!
Lastly, I really like your lesson about Merlin realising that he tends to see the good in people – which will be his undoing. But seeing the worst leads to hate. Well, I think we have hereby established that he is most certainly a tragic character. There doesn’t seem to be an option goes something like this:” If you see/ treat people in such a way, you’ll be forever happy, all your dreams will be fulfilled.” I wish Merlin had that option, he’d deserve it.
I have actually realised that although the dragon seems to refer specifically to Morgana when he cautions Merlin that ‘trust is a double-edged sword’, I personally would have liked for Merlin to take this to include the dragon as well. I mean, the beast destroyed half of Camelot a year ago and tried to murder Merlin’s mother to get out of the cave the year before that. I wish Merlin would distrust Kilgarrah more – but then that leads to the dark side. Now he trusts him, forgets the evil/lies/manipulation of the lizard and sees only the good in him. So, the dragon will also be part of Merlin’s undoing.
Poor Merlin!
22nd September 2020 @ 8:04 pm
What you write about the tears – it absolutely makes sense! I suppose when Arthur said it, he almost sounded as if he was quoting some knightly rules about being tough and strong. But, as we’ve already seen throughout the show, Arthur values the rules, but doesn’t let himself be a slave to them. Good for him!
As to Merlin and the dragon, I absolutely agree. Not to go too spoiler-y, I think that Merlin should definitely trust the dragon less, though, being a tragic hero, it won’t necessarily lead him to happiness either. I think that out of all the characters on the show, the dragon always deluded me most (as it probably should have, after all, most dragons from European myths are a combination of wise and cunning). Not that I can’t interpret his actions for myself, but to this day, I’m still not sure if the creators of the show actually want us to believe that the dragon’s advice is true and should be followed.
I suppose it would be good to watch out for the evolution of Merlin’s way of thinking, as my theory is that now, once the dragon appears less often on the show, Merlin partially internalizes his advice and, paradoxically, though he is the Dragonlord, he listens to the beast more than he used to. OMG, is the dragon’s cunning even deeper than I thought? I’m just thinking about it as I write this. I remember reading somewhere a Freudian interpretation of “Merlin”, in which Kilgarrah was Merlin’s id (yeah, I know, sounds crazy, but when you actually start thinking it through…). And they are kin, they are both creatures created of magic… and now, once Merlin is the Dragonlord, maybe they will become closer in thinking? The quote about Morgana being the hate to Merlin’s love, the darkness to Merlin’s light, actually seems to fit the dragon’s relationship with Merlin more!
17th September 2020 @ 10:24 pm
I’m so glad you guys are back! I finally decided it’s a good time for me to become a patron (as in I am able to comfortably right now), and I don’t know how long that will be able to last for but it’ll be nice while it does last – the work you put into this really really shows.
Anyway, as usual I have plenty of thoughts, so I apologise in advance for the length and disjointedness.
Regarding the training scene, just as you were trying desperately to come up with a justification for it (and I do really like what you came up with), I had a similar thought process – the kind of banter that Arthur has with Merlin is very similar to what I imagine Arthur would have with other knights, in that I can easily imagine Arthur saying to another knight who is clearly nervous “don’t be such a wet blouse” in order to lighten the mood and indirectly say “come on, we’ve got to be brave,” or in a more casual setting just as general banter. So, I want to interpret it as Arthur’s way of showing Merlin that he’s part of the team. Or perhaps even unconsciously treating Merlin like his equal (ie worthy of teasing banter rather than being ignored)? I think that humiliating Merlin like that in front of the knights is maybe a step too far, just as putting the bucket on Merlin’s head was a step too far, but I think it’s still in character – Arthur kind of forgetting (or not noticing, his privilege getting in the way) that Merlin can’t stop him when he goes too far due to their difference in rank. The knights are below him too, but not in the way Merlin is.
Thinking about Morgana: like you said, it’s an inherited problem, but I wonder if it could have been at least a little bit better if we’d, for example, heard Morgana say “I’ve thought long and hard about this” or “it’s like Morgause said, the whole of Camelot must burn” – that is, if the writers had found some way to suggest that this is a development from the year she was gone. It wouldn’t fix the whole thing, but could have made the start of season 3 make more sense. Other miscellaneous Morgana things: 1) I regularly forgot that Morgause and Morgana didn’t know about Merlin’s magic because it would make SO much sense for them to! 2) Does the Camelot red cloak that Morgana wears maybe emphasise the “traitor” thing? I don’t like it much either, though, tbh. 3) At the very start of the episode I was like “oh, wait, we care about Morgana’s whereabouts now?” which I realised afterwards DOES make sense because she was kidnapped right at the end of the last season but it kind of goes to show how the show has treated her so far that I just forgot that mattered to the rest of Camelot.
The lack of Gwen really sucks in this episode :/ I don’t have anything to say about that, just… yeah. It sucks.
I had entirely forgotten that Cenred was THAT Cenred, so… oops. Definitely could have made more of that. It could have been interesting to either have Merlin remember him and feel some animosity on a personal level or concern for Ealdor and his mother specifically, or to have Arthur remember that incident in some way. I guess it could have been too much for one plotline, I don’t know.
I agree that Arthur’s arc regarding leadership was messy, but I do personally like the slightly ambiguous ending in the sense that it shows us how much less sure of himself he is without his father. We know that Arthur’s ascension to the throne will only happen when Uther dies, so having Uther ill and indisposed is a way to remind us what being king will actually mean – both tough decisions as ruler and dealing with his own grief.
Gaius asking “does she know your secret Merlin? Does she know you have magic?” was SO unnecessary. First off, it’s highly unlikely we would have forgotten the entire premise of the show, but even for new viewers they could SURELY have found a better way to do that. Even just “does she know about your magic?” would have worked better. Similarly, Morgana’s constant smirking feels so unnecessary and I hate it. I guess the other things to add to your list of weird plot things and strange choices: why doesn’t Gaius tell Arthur that Merlin’s missing, instead of leaving him to assume he’s skiving? Merlin saying to Arthur “I’ll be by your side like I always am, protecting you,” as if he has ANY reason to believe Arthur will take that seriously and not react with confusion and mocking.
Finally, Kilgharrah saying “your determination to see goodness in people will be your undoing”… it’s not inconsistent with how Kilgharrah has seen Merlin so far, but uh… something to keep an eye on.
21st September 2020 @ 4:16 pm
Your patronage is hugely appreciated, however long or short it lasts. Thank you so much!
the training thought makes a lot of sense, and yes, I think it’s interesting to think of Arthur treating Merlin as an equal, and forgetting sometimes, that he can’t be!
In terms of Morgana I 100% agree that basically anything, even the teeniest tiniest hint that she is doing this for a reason that she has stopped to think about, would make it better. and yes, you’ve got a one year gap. use it!! you can literally fill it with anything you want, to make all of your plot holes make sense!! also your point 3 made me laugh, then feel really sad because yeah, one does completely forget that the people in camelot really care for morgana, because the show forgets to care for morgana 🙁
I don’t think we could fit a Cendred/Ealdor thought process and arc into this episodes – though I do agree with Ruth that it would have been helpful to be reminded, as I also did not have it at the forefront of my mind, while watching it – but seeing as Cendred’s going to stick around, any time Merlin cared to remember that this is the useless king that looks after (or fails to!!) his home village would be good… but nope 🙁 I can’t remember when we next see Merlin’s mum. Maybe it’s not in this season. Though if we do, I’ll be even more outraged that we don’t menton this!! lol
21st September 2020 @ 5:54 pm
I don’t think we get to see Merlin’s mum again until season 4, actually, and only in the final two-parter. I really wish there had been more Hunith in the show. If we are saying that the show didn’t care much for Morgana (and I’m still racking my brain for an episode where the show DID care for her), I think we can also see a general pattern with female characters.
We’ve said this before, of course, but I really wonder who different Merlin’s (and Arthur’s and Albion’s) path would have been, if his mother had been in Camelot or at least more present in his life. He gets advice purely from other ‘male’ characters, doesn’t he? Okay, Gwen encourages him from time to time, but she doesn’t have an advisor role whose wisdom and voice Merlin actually takes into account when making tough decisions.
Bottom line, we needed more Hunith!
Oh, I think I have thought of an episode where the show seemed to care (a little more than usual) about Morgana. Doesn’t she, in the Mark of Nimueh, persuade Arthur to go down and fight the Afanc and when he wanted to send her back up because she might get hurt, she was so cool and gutsy. Morgana to Arthur: “So could you…if you don’t get out of my way.” I liked that. And she stands up for Gwen in that epsiode when she is accused of sorcery because her father recovered from the plague.
Not sure, if that’s what you mean, Esmé and Michelle.
23rd September 2020 @ 1:15 pm
I can’t speak for Michelle but personally I think there’s a difference between Morgana getting to be cool and gutsy vs Morgana’s arc being treated as important by the writers. Her fight with Merlin in this episode is cool in the same way her fighting the Afanc is cool, but it isn’t a substitute for her having an arc that makes sense and her motivations and emotions being explored. It feels like writers didn’t care enough to show more than just “anyway she’s evil now.”
But I wholeheartedly agree with you that we need more Hunith!!
23rd September 2020 @ 5:14 pm
she definitely gets good moments, when she’s good, and when she’s evil… but they always seem a bit more like the show going “hey, look, isn’t this COOL??” more than anything else I guess. because yes, overall, the show has a severe lack of care and interest in their female characters 🙁