Episode IV.VI – A Servant Of Two Masters
We discuss Episode 6 of Season 4 of Merlin, A Servant of Two Masters
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16th May 2021 @ 12:11 am
Very interesting. I find this episode one of my absolute favorite ones, putting it in the top five. It’s my go-to if I want to watch Merlin. I don’t find the drama and comedy the least bit jarring. Heck, they’ve been doing that from the beginning. But I do compartmentalize so I can recognize that the Dragoon stepping on the knights as awful but Merlin as inept assassin hilarious.
As for the hug, actually Arthur gives Merlin an almost body hug in the Dorocha episode, the one where Lance dies. It’s cut off but Arthur puts his arm over Merlin’s shoulder and then ruffles his hair. Plus Arthur is handsy with Merlin a lot. I do wish Merlin had remembered the hug but I could see Gwaine teasing him about it later.
The bath with metal eating acid didn’t bother me. There are certainly acids that eat metal and not wood but I do agree about poor Gwen emptying it after.
Enjoying your take on things. Still trying to catch up.
5th April 2021 @ 4:42 am
I’ll try to be more brief today. First, I noticed that Merlin wore a purple shirt in the episode. Putting him in a secondary color is such a subtle way of pointing out that he is the “villain” in this episode as the assassin. Didn’t even notice till rewatching for this week!
Did anyone else notice that Morgana called the Fomorroh a creature of “dark” magic? I think this qualifier to “magic” just complicates the whole conversation of Old Religion vs. plain magic vs. now dark magic…
Out of curiosity, I consulted someone I know, who is about to finish their PhD in chemistry, to figure out what the heck Merlin might have used in Arthur’s bath that would leave the wood alone but destroy the sword. Their best guess to meet the criteria was acetic acid. Sulfuric, nitric, or some other acids are nasty and might cause the crazy change in the bath water, but acetic acid was the most likely for the wood vs. sword part. Who knows what Merlin really used haha.
In general, I loved Merlin asking Morgana to actually tell Arthur of his accomplishments so he’d stop seeming like an underachiever. I LOVED Morgana’s fear reaction to seeing Dragoon. Katie rocked it there. I also couldn’t stand the shoving battle. I think we see them push each other over like five times? From a dance/choreography perspective, I’ve heard you shouldn’t do the same movements more than three times or the audience will get bored (unless it’s a repetition thing you’re doing on purpose). I feel like the idea applies to the choreography of seeing people pushed over more than three times in a fight scene… I think the shoving in Merlin in general gets on my nerves after a while because I think, “You should really, really make sure this person is dead,” and the characters never do. Family show, though; what can you do…
5th April 2021 @ 8:52 pm
I also LOVE when Merlin has that sass with Morgana and asks her to tell Arthur of his accomplishments! Colin is amazing!
6th April 2021 @ 9:41 am
— From a dance/choreography perspective, I’ve heard you shouldn’t do the same movements more than three times or the audience will get bored (unless it’s a repetition thing you’re doing on purpose). I feel like the idea applies to the choreography of seeing people pushed over more than three times in a fight scene…–
completely completely agree! And I think it’s even worse with TV/Film than it would be with this happening on stage (or dance happening on stage, vs on screen) because I don’t get a choice what I look at. On stage I could be looking at background actors, or the scene set up, or focus on the lights or whatever, but on screen the camera is choosing what I’m looking at, and you’re making the shoving match worse by making it super close up, and I don’t know about anyone else, but I’ve certainly completely lost track of where they are supposed to be standing, and how far/wide they are shoving each other, and yeah, as you say, more importantly (ie worse) I don’t *care*. glad we weren’t alone in our annoyedness at the shoving match!
Also I love that you tried to do science on Merlin’s acid bath!!!!!
M Xx
4th April 2021 @ 12:03 am
ALSO – where is the poetry?! Give me the poetryyyyyyy!
6th April 2021 @ 9:41 am
ta-daaaa
https://www.fascinationandfrustration.com/destiny-and-chicken-a-merlin-podcast/dandc-supporting-material/poetry-chicken/
7th April 2021 @ 1:23 am
Oh my GOD these are SO GOOD!!!!
7th April 2021 @ 12:23 pm
isn’t it awesome???? 😀 😀 😀
8th April 2021 @ 11:59 pm
AAAAAmazing. Wow. Never knew I needed fanpoetry but I need it now.
3rd April 2021 @ 11:33 pm
In my head, I always call this episode the ‘Colin Morgan One Man Show’. He’s like Alec Guinness in ‘Kind Hearts and Coronets’ where it’s basically one actor, two actresses and then about twelve different characters all played by Alec Guinness! The only thing we don’t see Colin do is act a woman (and how I would have preferred that to Dragoon) but our time will come!
Also, I just wanted to point out that this is the third episode in the series written by the only female writer, Lucy Watkins. I have nothing much to remark: it doesn’t really change the general pattern of ‘writing that promises really good things but does not execute them well’ that we have had all season 4.
I loved that at some point in the podcast, you simply gave up trying to make sense or find justifications for what this episode does. Instead, you decided to have some fun and find some meaning in Colin and his blackberry-eating. 😊 Might yield similar results to trying to understand an episode where all you have available is your powers of headcanoning. Desperate times call for desperate measures.
I am now convinced that to have a wonderful Merlin-Arthur heart to heart, there needs to be a log involved. Remember that scene in The Darkest Hour Pt 2 where both boys basically prepare to sacrifice themselves for the other/the kingdom. Arthur jokes that a good servant is hard to come by; Merlin replies that he isn’t that good and Arthur, chuckling, agrees. I think the scene in the forest after Merlin is wounded (the best in the episode!) harks back to this. (It even links back to it musically by playing the Dorocha ghosts/death theme – don’t remember whether it’s the first time we’ve used it since the opening two-parter but it’s certainly the first time I have noticed.) This time Merlin jokes that he is a good servant and is taken aback by Arthur’s frankness about how his loyalty and courage truly make him so. And then we get to the two lines that I wish we had made the centrepiece and purpose of this episode: “Thank you for saving my life.” “You’d do the same for me.” It’s just so, so beautiful. And they are sitting adjacent to a log!!!
Okay, log-logic aside, this episode really could have been wonderful to explore how much Merlin and Arthur are willing to do for each other. Kind of like The Poisoned Chalice but 5 ½ years on. Hopefully with some reflection on how far these boys have come. Through George, we could have linked back to how Arthur at first hated the idea of Merlin being made his manservant. We could have given him a line after Merlin returns about how he is glad his father chose him as his manservant! I think this sort of angle is in this episode – if we squint a quite a lot and don’t get side-tracked by the comedy. It’s really good comedy. But it just overpowers all the deep and meaningful beats this episode contains.
I really loved your discussion about general worldbuilding in fiction and especially fantasy. I think you are absolutely right that because we are using a quasi-medieval setting and lean heavily on viewers having knowledge of the world in the Arthurian legends, the showmakers allowed themselves to be lazy in asking and answering questions about the world of their show. In fact, I think there was a lot of laziness floating around. Did I mention last week that I think the amazing performances of the actors often meant the writers had scope to be lazy? Never is this more true than in this episode. The cast is stellar and it’s what really stands out. And that means often people will not notice the bad writing, world-building or plotting. However, I am left with questions:
• How did Morgana become so amazing at healing magic?
• How does possession by a magical creature work? Gaius was possessed by the goblin and could remember what he had done afterwards. Why not Merlin? We will have later occurrences of characters being possessed but they all remember afterwards!
• Why does the show think it is okay to have Dragoon hurt the knights and use them as stairs!!! to climb on his horse? Remember last episode, that campfire scene? Remember how all the knights were concerned in The Darkest Hour when Merlin was dying? As ever, I reject everything that is Dragoon because he is so unrecognisable as any version of the Merlin I know: aged and with experience or simply Merlin in old costume. I don’t know how much of this was Colin’s choice or the writers or the producers but Dragoon is a separate character who, for me, has nothing to do with our Merlin!
• Why can’t we finally be bold with the spells Morgana and Merlin can perform? The sorcerer face-off is so ridiculous! And making the spells longer and more complicated just highlights that the magic in this scene is all smoke but no fire. We saw Merlin blow up Nimueh with lightening in season 1 for heaven’s sake. Now it’s: I’ll just lie here and groan so that you can walk over and I can beg you to spare me please! Grrrr!
• On the lighter side: Why is Agravaine already travelling back to Morgana’s hovel at the end? Nothing we know of has happened that he could have come to report. Did he forget his gloves? How darn close is this hovel to the castle anyway that you can just casually ride there twice a day without being missed or arousing suspicion or have enough hours in the day to do so? My theory: It’s Friday night and when Agravaine first began working with Morgana, his one condition was that they’d always have dinner together Friday night.
Although I find Katie and Colin awesome in the torture-in-the-hovel scenes, I often skip these because they are disturbing and the absolute disappearance of their former friendship saddens me too much. I also have a real problem with the ostentatious lighting in these scenes: what’s up with casting one half of Colin’s and Katie’s in darkness? That basically makes them one-eyed for those scene and robs us of half their performance in a scene where I want to see as much of it as I can get. Also, I just find cyclops-Merlin and cyclops-Morgana a bit weird to watch.
A scene that I could watch on a forever-repeat is the first scene with George. No wonder that man made his way into so many fanfictions. No idea who the actor is but he knows how to give a stand-out cameo performance! Also, linking with my comments last week about costuming (f.e. Agravaine’s first appearance in Camelot armour) and the links between manipulation and advising, the costume department have again done such a great job with making George look so much like Merlin but just slightly off and not right! George mirrors Merlin when possessed: Merlin but with a small but decisive twist! Also, the scenes with George hold a special memory for me. The first couple of times I watched this episode, I was convinced that when Arthur says George makes jokes about brass, he actually says ‘bras’. The funny thing is that I never even questioned that. Just thought: Okay, odd choice but nice of Arthur to be such a feminist and reject George because of his sexist jokes!
A final note: The close-up shot of Merlin after he has caused the rockfall and is then picked up by the mercenaries is masterful. We can focus on his face at the exclusion of all but the noises he hears. It really enables us to feel the tragedy of this moment: Merlin believes he has seen Arthur for the last time and is unable to fight back against whatever the mercenaries decide to do to him. Our inability to see anything else but his face enables us to share this helplessness. Also, I really just love Colin’s face. 😊
4th April 2021 @ 12:13 am
-(It even links back to it musically by playing the Dorocha ghosts/death theme – don’t remember whether it’s the first time we’ve used it since the opening two-parter but it’s certainly the first time I have noticed.)-
I believe this is The Bond of Sacrifice track. In the later seasons, it appears every time when Merlin and Arthur sacrifice something / themselves for each other. Which means, pretty often 😛 Also, it musically mirrors the destiny / magic theme, which is, of course, Merlin’s part of the Bond – but makes it smaller, more “subservient” so to speak (instead of triumphant choirs, there’s just the piano). I mean, that’s my interpretation of it 😉
-The first couple of times I watched this episode, I was convinced that when Arthur says George makes jokes about brass, he actually says ‘bras’. The funny thing is that I never even questioned that. Just thought: Okay, odd choice but nice of Arthur to be such a feminist and reject George because of his sexist jokes!-
That’s EXACTLY what happened when I watched it for the first time, too! It was only later that I had subtitles put on and I discovered that it was brass 😀
“Colin Morgan one man show” is a very accurate name for this episode :))
4th April 2021 @ 8:20 am
I believe this is The Bond of Sacrifice track. In the later seasons, it appears every time when Merlin and Arthur sacrifice something / themselves for each other.-
In The Darkest Hour part 2, it is the Bond of Sacrifice theme when they have the log conversation. But in this episode, it’s a different musical cue that we first heard most notably when Merlin had collapsed at Samhain and then came down into Gaius’ room to be told about the Cailleach. I don’t know what that cue is called though so I just named it the Dorocha/death theme.
I’m glad I’m not the only one who believed George had a weird obsession with bras. 😁
4th April 2021 @ 8:46 pm
My only issue with that beautiful scene between Merlin and Arthur is exactly because of previous episodes like The Poisoned Chalice, and the many instances where they risk their lives for one another. This scene makes it appear as if they’re having this kind of conversation for the first time. Arthur seems more forthcoming with his feelings in this scene, which makes Merlin’s awkwardness understandable. But if this is 5 plus years into their relationship AND they’ve almost died for one another several times then it feels to me like one more of those, “Haven’t they already learned this?” moments that often happen in this show.
4th April 2021 @ 8:59 pm
I think they probably have learned this already… But you know, it’s so quick to unlearn that you are valued by another person or that they think you brave. Especially in a relationship like Arthur and Merlin’s where so much is banter or simple everyday routine, I can see how their own doubts or insecurities would make them unlearn that the other would be ready to save their life. I guess for me, it’s comparable to couples telling each other again and again throughout a lifetime that they love each other. Technically, once is enough and they should know of their mutual feelings. But sometimes reminders are good.
However, I do realise that I am equating Merlin to real life. Narratively, I’d agree with you: it would be nicer to see that they have really moved on since season 1 but the show isn’t well-known for consistency or long term thinking or plotting or character-arcing, is it?
4th April 2021 @ 11:22 pm
– the show isn’t well-known for consistency or long term thinking or plotting or character-arcing, is it? –
Nope! But I see your point, and I don’t think there’s anything wrong with equating a tv program with real life up to a certain extent. You want your characters to be human and relatable, so the writers have to make it as real (to their sensibilities, at least) as they can. Perhaps what I meant is can Arthur and Merlin have these conversations without my feeling like they’re repeating the same shtick just for a short lived emotional punch in the context of a single episode? What if one of them circled back to the events of a previous episode where they risked their lives for each other, or made the language less like a formal declaration and more familiar? Maybe it’s Colin’s performance for me. He looks like he’s waiting for the punchline, like he just can’t believe Arthur is saying this, and his stilted little “thank you” really drives it home. They both act exceptionally well through the whole scene, but it’s as if this is supposed to be revelatory, when for the audience it’s not.
I guess, one could argue that this is revelatory for Merlin, since even though Arthur has risked his life for Merlin in the past he hasn’t done it quite like this or shared his feelings about it before. So, I agree with you also in that this episode could have really been about the lengths that Arthur, or Arthur and Merlin both, will go to for one another.
6th April 2021 @ 10:11 am
first off, can I just say that the bras/brass confusion that you and danuta both went through made me laught A LOT 😀 😀 😀
–Also, I just wanted to point out that this is the third episode in the series written by the only female writer, Lucy Watkins. I have nothing much to remark: it doesn’t really change the general pattern of ‘writing that promises really good things but does not execute them well’ that we have had all season 4.–
which a) I’m kind of glad that it’s making no difference what so ever that this was written by Lucy, as at least no one will be able to accuse the one female writer of messing things up. At least not of messing things up in any way even vaguely different from the way the male writers mess things up every week. and also b) I’ve really given up on telling people who wrote and directed episodes? I realise that I failed to do it for Secret Sharer, also, and I’ve got a note on my phone to re-record and fix that, but I hadn’t even realised that due to our looooong convo about the title, I forgot to do it here, too. argh!
–I really loved your discussion about general worldbuilding in fiction and especially fantasy. I think you are absolutely right that because we are using a quasi-medieval setting and lean heavily on viewers having knowledge of the world in the Arthurian legends, the showmakers allowed themselves to be lazy in asking and answering questions about the world of their show.–
and to be fair to them, it is the worst of two worlds. because you’re dealing with an incredibly famous story, and your entire premise of subverting people’s expectations only pays off if you have an audience that has expectations, therefore if you have an audience that KNOWS the legends. and so you don’t want to over explain and you don’t want to treat your viewership like idiots. and then on top of that you’re dealing with actual medieval world knowledge, and you’re writing in a quite straight forward fantasy world that lends itself incredibly well to making assumptions, if you’re the viewer. So it does feel like literally every aspects of their concept comes with obstacles. but yes, that should just make you try harder, not less! lol
–• How did Morgana become so amazing at healing magic?–
as Merlin would say…. I read a book.
😉
–• How does possession by a magical creature work? Gaius was possessed by the goblin and could remember what he had done afterwards. Why not Merlin? We will have later occurrences of characters being possessed but they all remember afterwards!–
fait question, though equally it is magic, and that is actually the one good thing about magic, where I don’t think you’re being lazy. this spell works different from those other 5 spells. I feel we’ve seen enough of both, for me to not be annoyed with this. Though I do still wish that Merlin could remember fuzzy things from the beginning, as the fomorroh was slowly represing all that is merlin, as Morgana explains to us, rather than Merlin not remembering a single thing from the moment the snake was put in his neck.
–• Why does the show think it is okay to have Dragoon hurt the knights and use them as stairs!!! to climb on his horse? —
We will NEVER KNOW. I think once again this is part of them subverting your expectations of what you know about the legends, ie introducing Old Beardy Merlin in this way, and then getting the first laugh when Colin does the ‘and the face… of a toad’ line and realising you’ve struck comedy gold or some such crazy nonsense… I’m trying really hard to not generalise and sound sexist in this, but sometimes you can just tell that the show was created by 90% men. The fart jokes, the heaving bossom scenes, and the fact that we think it’s hilarious when people we love and trust hurt each other (under disguise, because if you can get away with it and they’ll never know, there’s no actual blame to lay on you). grrrr.
–•And making the spells longer and more complicated just highlights that the magic in this scene is all smoke but no fire.–
you are so right! they literally stuck with ‘push and shove’ but suddenly it takes 27 words to do the push-y magic, rather than a non verbal spell that Merlin could do in season 1 (to move Gaius’ bed – which you can’t tell me is any different than shoving Morgana!!) and yeah, as mentioned in podcast, but I’m still just so annoyed that the tornado doesn’t actually… mean anything. I know it’s meant to be a more extreme, finale, more transformative type of magic, but I’m sorry, it’s just an uber push, nothing else. also grrrr.
— I also have a real problem with the ostentatious lighting in these scenes: what’s up with casting one half of Colin’s and Katie’s in darkness? That basically makes them one-eyed for those scene and robs us of half their performance in a scene where I want to see as much of it as I can get. Also, I just find cyclops-Merlin and cyclops-Morgana a bit weird to watch.–
I must say while I feel I can picture that scene frame by frame, this is not something I noticed at the time, or can conjure in my mind now.
It’s probably a little bit like seeing the eyeless horse in the fisherking episode. Once you see it, you can never unsee it, but before then you just don’t notice.
–the costume department have again done such a great job with making George look so much like Merlin but just slightly off and not right! —
completely completely agree. I feel we may not have heaped enough love on George, but yes, I love that they’ve put him in the right colour scheme and similar unfortunate haircut, so when arthur wakes up and George is all blurry it absolutely could be Merlin, and then when the focus comes in you cannot work out how you ever possibly could have thought that George was Merlin, because he couldn’t be further from it!
We literally never see him again, do we? Like, he’s such a presence in fandom, it’s ridiculous, considering he got 3 minutes on screen hahaha I love fandom!
M Xx
3rd April 2021 @ 11:02 pm
I don’t often think Merlin episodes are laugh out loud funny, but I definitely lol’d a few times rewatching this one. I agree with everything that’s been said about the berserk tonal shifts and important moments being given short shrift, but the comedic beats really do land. Once again, it’s mostly because the cast is killing it. Rewatching the show really makes me appreciate how I probably would not have stuck with it had there been a different, less talented and committed cast.
I’ve noticed that an episode feeling “too full” is a common complaint on D&C. I totally agree, and it’s definitely part of the writing. But watching this episode made me think that it could also be attributed to the fact that the plot is typically only ever moved by Arthur or Merlin. Gwen and Gaius very, very occasionally get to move the story along with their actions but it feels very rare. Meanwhile, there’s an entire team of knights who are completely underutilized even though they’re all supposed to be strong, brave and competent – all qualities that could lend themselves to, I don’t know, catching on to Agravaine, or hunting for Morgana, or, in the case of this episode, finding Merlin.
The scene between Gwaine and Arthur where Gwaine says, “You know what I like about Merlin? He never seeks any praise…” spoken right before they find him, feels strange and out of context. There’s nothing before or after it that suggests he and Arthur were discussing Merlin. If Gwaine had been given more lines or screen time that could have been a moment for Arthur’s thoughts about Merlin, or the traitor, or Morgana to come up and move the story in a new way. Does that make sense?
Instead, when everything in the plot has to come from Merlin and Arthur and the plot involves more than a simple arc it can feel crazy. Maybe that’s why the simpler episodes work better.
So, I think what I’m saying is, use the Knights! Use Gwen! Hell, use Gaius even though he’s the worst! Give the people something to do and then maybe you can get away with trying to do so much!
3rd April 2021 @ 11:54 pm
The scene between Gwaine and Arthur where Gwaine says, “You know what I like about Merlin? He never seeks any praise…” spoken right before they find him, feels strange and out of context –
I really agree with you. And what is even more egregious about this line is that just before, Arthur has said that all Gwaine says are ‘mindless chatter’. So, that basically discounts the first line Gwaine says all season that hints at his earlier friednship with Merlin. And then Gwaine is cut off in mid-sentence (ondly mindless chatter, right) because we now have got to do bogman and comedy and have no time for heartfelt declarations of friendship. It’s like you said: Give the people something to do and then maybe you can get away with trying to do so much!
5th April 2021 @ 2:27 pm
It’s upsetting that this line is treated like mindless chatter. Not only is it an important bit of looking into Gwaine’s friendship with Merlin, but is one of Merlin’s most important personality traits for anything in this show to work. If Merlin was to look for praise, nothing would work out the way it does. We’ve had this trait shown to us before of course, but nothing about the line is “mindless”, because it actually is one of the most essential things one can say about Merlin.
This just all goes to show how well Gwaine knows Merlin and how close they are, but apparently that isn’t important?
6th April 2021 @ 3:37 am
– Not only is it an important bit of looking into Gwaine’s friendship with Merlin, but is one of Merlin’s most important personality traits for anything in this show to work. –
Excellent point! I totally agree.
6th April 2021 @ 10:19 am
I completely agree. The line starts while Gwaine’s still off screen I believe, or certainly before your attention is drawn to him, and it’s clearly ADR, so I assume they ran through either utterly mindless, or a large variety of thematic but not scripted dialogue lines, while they were filming the actual riding, which means that you consciously chose this line. Quite often there’s excuses to be made about how maybe that was the only take where the light was right and the boom mic picked up the dialogue and no horses walked backwards… but dialogue while riding through a forest, surely is NEVER going to be the original dialogue, it’s always going to be ADR, so unless Eoin is absolutely awful at ADR and that was the one line they could use, even after re-recording, you asked him to say that line deliberatly. And yeah, in combination with the ‘mindless chatter’ and the fact that you come into the scene halfway through the line, and then gwaine doesn’t get anything else in that scene (and I know they cut stuff there, and I know that Eoin has talked about it, not in an onverly happy way I don’t believe) all together just means you utterly dismiss this line that is basically Merlin’s core characteristics. argh!
M Xx
6th April 2021 @ 10:31 am
We do talk about over stuffed episodes a lot on D&C, but it is also a VERY commong general F&F complaint lol
I don’t know whether it is something about modern television and how things are written to people’s attention span (or lack thereof) and whether box office success of action/thriller/explosion movies combined with the change in production value and how cinematic you can suddenly make your TV show for roughly the same money, in a way you couldn’t 20 years ago, or whether it’s just that a lot of these TV shows are created under an insane amount of time pressure (certainly something that we know for a fact, for BBC Merlin) and therefore you don’t get to do a second, third, fourth pass at a script in a way you would ideally like to do. Or whether it’s as simple as getting over excited and wanting to do an American style 22 episode season, but it’s the BBC, so you only get 13, so you HAVE TO cram everything in the world into it… I don’t know. What I find almost more bizzare is that we also heap most of our praise on the fact that BBC Merlin allows the actors all the time in the world to really feel their emotions and to really convey them. they’re not rushed through reaction shots and we don’t really on shock dialogue being delivered in dramatic tones to convey what’s going on, we trust our actors to do it with their faces. and yet, 70% of Merlin is also over stuffed ::facepalm::
And yes, I think if you let all of your characters carry a decent portion of the weight of your plot that might help, however we’ve sadly clearly shown already that these creators don’t know how to handle an ensemble cast, so at this point I don’t think you’d be able to fix it simply by bringing the knights in more, but it absolutely should be one way of addressing the problem, you’re right!!
I guess you can’t have it all 🙁
M Xx
8th April 2021 @ 11:57 pm
It’s true! And you’re right, the time pressure and everything that goes into making a show like this happen in the first place doesn’t lend itself to not-overstuffing. Bless those beautiful, unhurried scenes we do get, though!
3rd April 2021 @ 5:24 pm
After about three and a half weeks of podcast binging, very excited to have finally caught up on D&C! Although I’ve now realized this means I‘ll have to wait a full week between episodes, and I don’t think I’m prepared for that kind of patience 😂
Hearing all of your alternate versions of how this episode could’ve gone, but didn’t go, made me both very happy to consider those possibilities and very sad that we’ll never get to see any of them. I feel like this episode underscores some of the issues the show as a whole, and particular this season so far, struggles with—individual moments of brilliance let down by the poorly woven narrative arc around them.
There are several individual moments that I absolutely love in this episode: 1) The entire nighttime forest scene between Merlin and Arthur, and how it reminds us of the genuine fondness and affection they have for each other when neither of them have to play up to some sort of image in front of others. Same for Arthur carrying Merlin through the forest without for a moment considering leaving Merlin behind. When Morgana asks Merlin why he’s so loyal to Arthur later in this episode, it’s these opening scenes that immediately come to mind for me—Merlin is loyal because they’re friends, but he’s SO loyal because he knows Arthur is just as loyal back.
2) The look of relief on Merlin’s face after he causes the rock fall to save Arthur. Merlin thinks he’s about to die, alone, unable to breathe, but he doesn’t care because at least his last act was to save Arthur. It guts me. To go from that kind of emotional beat to slapstick comedy later in the episode just feels so disingenuous.
3) The way Arthur raises a hand to cut Agravaine off in the middle of the “so sorry you lost Merlin” speech. I love the way it’s almost thoughtlessly dismissive, and highlights just how little time Arthur has for decorous, courtly platitudes when it comes to Merlin, whose role and importance in his life defies those norms entirely. (Also the ‘Arthur raising a hand to cut Agravaine off’ is brought back so beautifully in the confrontation scene between them, and the subtle power of it is brilliant both times. Arthur is in charge, they both know it, and it gives him a competence that I wish the show would let him keep more often.)
4) As the podcast mentioned, all the comedic beats are delightful in their own right, and unlike other “funny” scenes, I actually laughed at these! I just wish they didn’t make me feel like we were robbed of the genuine relationships and emotions this episode had the potential to delve into.
In a way, I feel like I could look at any individual scene in this episode and find something to love about it. The acting is all around brilliant. The comedy is funny. The Merthur is glorious. But taken together as an episode, it just…doesn’t seem to work.
6th April 2021 @ 10:39 am
I’m sorry you have reached the point of the weekly wait! but I’m also laughing because that is a sentiment that’s been expressed to us so many times, and it makes me giggle that the ‘omg I’m caught up! YAY! … omg I’m caught up! NOOOOOO!’ is a universal sentiment amongst our listeners lol
However you’re doing so much better than the lovely people we had that were binge listening to catch up only to get to the last episode and realise that we were mid hiatus and they shouldn’t have binge listened, because it’s now not a weekly wait, but like two months O_O I felt REALLY bad every time we got a message saying that!!
–Hearing all of your alternate versions of how this episode could’ve gone, but didn’t go, made me both very happy to consider those possibilities and very sad that we’ll never get to see any of them.–
Fascination & Frustration! XD
–I feel like this episode underscores some of the issues the show as a whole, and particular this season so far, struggles with—individual moments of brilliance let down by the poorly woven narrative arc around them.–
completely completely agree!
–2) The look of relief on Merlin’s face after he causes the rock fall to save Arthur. Merlin thinks he’s about to die, alone, unable to breathe, but he doesn’t care because at least his last act was to save Arthur. It guts me. —
several people have called out this look and I’m now gonna have to go back and enjoy the misery of this again, as I’ve always been quite focused on Arthur’s despair, rather than Merlin’s mirroring relief.
–4) As the podcast mentioned, all the comedic beats are delightful in their own right, and unlike other “funny” scenes, I actually laughed at these!–
I haven’t got to reading them fully yet, but I saw a couple of comments here and on twitter that talk about this being a go to episode for a lot of people, because it’s genuinly heart breaking AND genuinly funny, AND genuinly plot advancy, AND AND AND…. and yeah, Ruth and I watched it to take our notes and absolutely did laught out loud, because the scenes are FUNNY, and the acting is perfect. and in a different part of the episode, the emotions are heartbreaking, and the acting is also perfect. it’s just the whiplash of it all, isn’t it? argh!
M Xx
3rd April 2021 @ 4:31 pm
Would just like to start off by saying after I have played a drinking game alone based on the times the words ‘weird’ and ‘problem/problematic’ are used in the podcast for season 4 so far, I am now very dead and speaking to you from the spirit world 😀
Anyway, the thing that annoys me most about this popular episode is Arthur. His concern for Merlin goes right out in the second half and played for laughs to match the comedic tone change. He quickly goes back to ‘life as usual’ when, as far as he knows, his friend had just returned home from being very injured and escaped from mercenaries. There’s no asking about merlin’s wound, nor any talks of training Merlin in self defence going forward. Merlin does tell him he wants to resume his job, but I didn’t like how Arthur seems unaffected by the last couple days to fight Merlin on the matter, and even made Merlin get skills training from George simply coz Gaius said Merlin was in the tavern. After a traumatic experience, Arthur should have gone to chat to Merlin about this, or just let him blow off some steam for a while.
I do believe fanfiction got it right in fix-its when Merlin becomes so kill crazy it’s impossible for Arthur and everyone to not notice and they all go on the search for morgana’s Hut together to help save Merlin. No magic reveal or discard of dragoon necessary. Why Gaius and Gwen kept merlin’s Brainwashing from Arthur, I don’t get it.
The headcanon I have made from evidence given in the show is that friends make bad assassins because their bond is too strong. Getting strangers to kill each other is easier. Merlin must have had a big battle in his head for control over Fomorroh Merlin which I would have loved to see. He may have deliberately hidden his magic from himself.
The small things that would have made this episode for me would have been more Gwaine scenes since he is the next closest friend to Merlin, shirtless Merlin, neckerchief instead of jacket piece, explanation to why Merlin isn’t using magic whilst brainwashed, more Morgana checking in with her plan and wondering either isn’t Arthur dead already, concerned Arthur, deleted ‘whole package’ scene, and more varied spell battle with Emrys and Morgana. And I wish there was more George in future. I like him!
3rd April 2021 @ 4:36 pm
Also, I loved the hug bit. I heard there was meant to be more to this scene but it was cut off, but I never thought of it as anything other than ‘Finally! Arthur hugs Merlin’, nothing queerbaity or Merthury about it, coz it was just so quick and over before it registered. I love this bit because it’s the last part I like about Arthur before his lack of concern annoys me.
3rd April 2021 @ 4:51 pm
Also also, Obviously boiling bath water means freezing cold apparently haha
3rd April 2021 @ 5:21 pm
Haha! Good point!
6th April 2021 @ 10:50 am
The folk over on Merlisten actually have a bingo card for their own podcast, and the idea has always amused me, and yes, you can most definitely do a drinking game on the way we talk about story that will get you BATTERED in a very brief amount of time, so I hope you’re okay! hahaha
–After a traumatic experience, Arthur should have gone to chat to Merlin about this, or just let him blow off some steam for a while.–
I see what you’re saying but I would almost take it further than this even, because we have him insanely relieved that Merlin is back and (apparently) unharmed (and yes, he should be asking questions, but if he did things would fall apart REALLY fast because Merlin was only gone for… two days maybe? his broken ribs couldn’t have healed in that time, so we’d have to have Arthur ask a hell of a lot of questions, which is why he doesn’t get to ask any, as always) and then we have Gwen serving Arthur his lunch and when Merlin is pissed off about that she says ‘I thought I would take over your duties so you could rest’ but clearly she didn’t tell Merlin that, or even tell Gaius to make sure that Merlin rests and that she will take care of his duties, which implies that Gwen’s not been to see him and hasn’t spoken to him, and yeah, in that same scene Arthur then says that he should take it easy, as well, but again, clearly didn’t feel the need to make that clear to Merlin/Gaius the second they got back to Camlot… so we’re kind of showing just h0w concerned Merlin’s friends are about him, but we’re doing it by highlighting how they failed to be concerned in the first place… it’s just weird, isn’t it?
–I do believe fanfiction got it right in fix-its when Merlin becomes so kill crazy it’s impossible for Arthur and everyone to not notice and they all go on the search for morgana’s Hut together to help save Merlin.–
I’ve never actually read a fix it for this episode, but yes! that’s exactly what I want!! And also that the fomorroh is almost driving Merlin a bit mad the longer he doesn’t achieve his goals, so his assassination attempts become more and more desperate and obvious, the longer he fails. that would have worked, too. Though would make using fomorrohs for mind control a less obvious choice for the high priestesses of old. hmmm.
–The headcanon I have made from evidence given in the show is that friends make bad assassins because their bond is too strong. Getting strangers to kill each other is easier. Merlin must have had a big battle in his head for control over Fomorroh Merlin which I would have loved to see. He may have deliberately hidden his magic from himself.–
I think there’s dozens of ways you could have justified it, and with a few simple lines as well, the easiest of which is literally that Morgana gives the commands and controls the formorroh, and Morgan doesn’t know about Merlin’s magic, and therefore magic isn’t part of the assassination attempts. But I totally agree, all of the completely random (but paid, unemotional) assassins have always been the most (nearly) successful!
–And I wish there was more George in future. I like him!–
I jsut said this to someone else, I don’t think we see him again, but George makes such an impact I find it almost impossible to believe that we won’t get him back! hahaha
M Xx
8th April 2021 @ 6:51 pm
Exactly! I don’t know how much of a big FanFiction reader you are, but type in this episode, and you would get a nice collection of Fics where they all end with more or less the knights bursting in just as Merlin is bout to stab Arthur and then have to tie him up and talk to Fomorroh Merlin before going to seek out Morgana. Depending on whether the author wants it to be a magic reveal, the endings can be varied.
George is also explored more, thanks to good old FanFiction, ikr, I didn’t remember that he literally only appears in one episode until rewatch. He clearly made such an impact on viewers and also boosted the staff number of the castle by… 1 haha.
The unofficial tourist-only filmed deleted scene ‘the whole package’ was probably debunked for the very reason it also trashed the already very flimsy excuse fans have for Merlin not able to just use magic to kill Arthur. From what it looks like, Merlin uses magic to break an axe Arthur is fighting with in training so he is defenceless in front of Elyan. Of course all this scene would have been good for was showing the casual dress of the knights for once but also would have made out Arthur was trying to fight them all to impress Merlin, especially when Merlin says (shirtless) Gwaine is the whole package. Now THAT seems more ‘queer bait’ than a little 2 second hug to me haha.
12th April 2021 @ 9:55 am
I stop reading fix it fics quite early on in any fandom, unless they’re like HIGHLY recommended, or turn into more longform stories, so I wouldn’t have been reading any of the fics you describe, but I am not in any way surprised that fandom was covered in them! However I do absolutely adore how often George pops up in fanfic, be it as a domestic antagonist to Merlin, or as a genuine fleshed out character, that’s just a little bit too into polishing lol it’s one of the many many things that makes fanfic just so much fun!!
I had never even heard of that non-official deleted scene, that sounds utterly ridiculous and awesome, but yet, also so much more queer bait-y than anything we ever get in the show, you’re totally right! wow. haha
M Xx
3rd April 2021 @ 4:19 am
Well, you didn’t completely butcher this episode and ruin it for me, so I thank you for that.
First of all, I do have to say that I was listening to your podcast while getting ready for work and I got to your interpretation of “the hug” right before I needed to leave, but I paused it and just said “NO! NO!” out loud and almost logged on to write a comment (but I was late for work). I honestly had never thought of this hug as queer-baiting until you talked about it. I think that might be because the first time I watched Merlin, I wasn’t aware of the fandom or any of that and really just thought they were the best of buds with a bromance (like I said before, sometimes I ship them and other times I see a bromance). I guess I never realized they never hugged (except that half/side hug during S4E2 when Merlin survived the Dorocha) before now. I understand where you are coming from saying it isn’t real because Merlin is possessed, but it is real for Arthur! He doesn’t know that Merlin isn’t himself. I know your actual point was that this whole episode wouldn’t exist without Merlin being possessed because the extremes of Arthur showing fondness to Merlin vs Merlin trying to kill Arthur while being possessed wouldn’t need to be highlighted, but still….. don’t take this wonderful hug away from me! 🙁 Before listening to y’all, I just adored how Arthur just went in to bear hug a dirty Merlin (even though last Arthur knew, Merlin’s chest was bruised and damaged).
I agree with everyone in praising Bradley and Colin for their performances in the first few scenes. I don’t know if it is because Arthur is alone with Merlin during this scene where he is hurt or if it is because it is longer than the scene where Merlin almost dies from the dorocha, but I feel like he was more concerned here than during that episode when Merlin was damn near certainly going to die. I mean Merlin looked a hell of a lot worse then… Maybe this was because Arthur was also worried about his own death in that episode and wasn’t too sad because at least if he did die, Merlin would be there in his next life?
Do you think Arthur thinks rock falls are like a really common thing? I mean Merlin does this so often to save Arthur and his friends, you would think they would start to wonder about the frequency…..
I honestly love basically every scene in this episode, but the scene with Merlin and Morgana in the hovel is AMAZING! The SASS from Merlin is simply the best! I love the lighting and shadows. I love how he is tied up. I love Katie’s performance. Colin looks STUNNING when Morgana throws the fomorrah in the fire. I have no words.
Is anyone else bothered by the fact that Arthur just went back to Camelot with the knights and decided to have some wine? I guess this could be because he is King and needs to get back to the castle. Also, he wants the patrols to be dispatched at first light, but there is some pretty bright light coming through the windows right then!
I agree with you about the tones of this episode being jarring. I normally don’t notice because I am usually casually watching the episode, but when I sit down to examine it, I don’t like how they play the fun and light-hearted music when Arthur is just waking up. Sure the scene is great with George and Bradley does wonderful at ALMOST being tempted by preferring this perfect manservant over Merlin, but I feel like Arthur wouldn’t have slept that soundly with Merlin being missing. Especially since he knows Merlin isn’t in the tavern and was left in the forest crawling with bad guys and a serious wound. He was so concerned earlier and now he is just sleeping in until the cock crows? No, Arthur should be up worrying or out looking for him even in the dark. I don’t mind them changing the tone of the episode, but maybe they should have done that after they found Merlin? Also, every time I hear Arthur say “…but he is…my… manservant” my brain automatically fills in “my Merlin” during his pause. Haha
Why doesn’t anyone ask Merlin how he got better? Surely this would have clued someone in on something not being right here. I know Gaius asks how Merlin escaped (it is unclear to me that Gaius knows Morgana had him captive at this time), but not how he was cured. Gaius…. aren’t you the king’s physician?
I agree with whoever said Merlin has become Morgana’s version of Merlin and that is why he doesn’t use magic to kill Arthur and why he does horrible with all his attempts. It’s funny that when Merlin is not in control, he loses his filter and is VERY sassy, which I quite enjoy. Do you think Merlin has these snarky comments going on in his brain all the time, but has a wonderful filter to not let them out (most of the time)? (I find myself having a lot of sassy comments going on in my head, especially at work, but I’m not possessed by Morgana’s snake so I keep them inside.😊) Colin does an AMAZING job with his delivery of ALL his lines (“Well, if you did want to hurt a fly, or even a human, what would you use?”). I especially love how jealous he is of Gwen/Arthur and when he leaves he shakes his finger at them.
I do not understand why Merlin doesn’t kill Agravaine when he is Dragoon. We all know he is a murderer. He could have followed Agravaine a little into the forest and killed him with magic and return in time to kill the mother beast.
Last thing, why does Morgana pull out a knife on Dragoon? She has magic! Kill him with magic! Why does Merlin hesitate when she is down? Does he do so because somewhere deep inside he wonders if Arthur will allow magic? He has been king for a little bit and we haven’t heard any suggestion of him legalizing magic… Is Merlin losing faith?
Overall, outstanding performances from everyone! Still one of my fav episodes despite the flaws! (Sorry for the long comment! I just really love Season 4 and 5 so I’m not going to make promises the long comments won’t happen again…)
Side notes:
It’s nice to hear at least one personal detail about Percival and why he wouldn’t pledge allegiance to Morgana since she was Cenred’s ally.
FINALLY competent Arthur!!! Until Agravaine brings up the magic topic….his mother
3rd April 2021 @ 11:37 pm
Is anyone else bothered by the fact that Arthur just went back to Camelot with the knights and decided to have some wine? –
Oh, so much! I actually made a note in my book how offended I was that instead of looking for Merlin, Arthur decides to ride home first and have a drink. And then later have the audacity to punish his servant for being in the tavern!
6th April 2021 @ 11:08 am
— Before listening to y’all, I just adored how Arthur just went in to bear hug a dirty Merlin (even though last Arthur knew, Merlin’s chest was bruised and damaged).–
oh god, I’d never even thought about that two days ago as far as Arthur’s concerned, Merlin broke multiple ribs!!!
I mean, I guess he’s standing up and crawling out of a bog under his own strength, so clearly he’s feeling better, but dude! Arthur! watch the fragile Merlin!!! hahaha
(I’m certain we’ll be talking more about Arthur’s POV of this episode, the hug, queer baiting, and everything else in the up top section this week, so I will leave it there for now)
— I mean Merlin looked a hell of a lot worse then… Maybe this was because Arthur was also worried about his own death in that episode and wasn’t too sad because at least if he did die, Merlin would be there in his next life?–
definitely the preoccupied with his own death, but I think also the fact that he was utterly unable to do anything about it. there wasn’t any healing they could do to something who’d been dorroccah’ed, but also Arthur had to continue on, and he has to leave Merlin’s care to someone else / leave him behind. Whereas here he’s physically present, and apart from ‘get away from bandits’ has nothing to do other than to ensure that merlin stays alive and he gets him our of there. So I think the more active concern is based on the fact that he’s more actively able to do something to help.
–Do you think Arthur thinks rock falls are like a really common thing? I mean Merlin does this so often to save Arthur and his friends, you would think they would start to wonder about the frequency…..–
all mountains, castle walls, and trees in all of camelot are incredibly fragile. it’s one of the biggest concerns when trying to sell real estate in the kindom… lol
–Is anyone else bothered by the fact that Arthur just went back to Camelot with the knights and decided to have some wine? I guess this could be because he is King and needs to get back to the castle. Also, he wants the patrols to be dispatched at first light, but there is some pretty bright light coming through the windows right then!–
at least we very clearly established in Aithusa that the current king of Camelot is very bad when it comes to the concept of time, and how long a day actually is… lol
Seriously though, it would really help of they were more bruised and battered, and they all looked like they needed to get back to Camelot and eat a decent meal and get a good night’s sleep, and while this was happening they could send out a secondary patrol to look for merlin, and then take over when they are recovered. as always, it wouldn’t take much to get us there.
–I feel like Arthur wouldn’t have slept that soundly with Merlin being missing.–
totally! it’s problematic because we as the audience know that Merlin isn’t dead, and in fact at that point is “save” as far as Morgana has let him go and is not planning to just cut his head off, and the episode is using that to give us the comedy, but it makes Arthur seem mean and uncaring, which isn’t great.
Also we just a couple of episodes ago talked about how Arthur is a ridiculously sound sleeper (the woodworm jokes) sometimes, but then other times wakes up and kills bandits before even really opening his eyes, and the only thing we could justify it with was the fact that he knows what merlin sounds like moving around his room and therefore his body doesn’t go into high alert. So why is he sleeping through this new guy who he’s never seen before moving about his room? And clearly having had to come in and out at least five times to set up that giant breakfast! lol
–Also, every time I hear Arthur say “…but he is…my… manservant” my brain automatically fills in “my Merlin” during his pause. Haha–
we all know that’s what he meant!! <3 <3 <3
--I do not understand why Merlin doesn’t kill Agravaine when he is Dragoon. We all know he is a murderer. He could have followed Agravaine a little into the forest and killed him with magic and return in time to kill the mother beast.--
YES! oh, all the missed moments where someone could have killed Agravaine and didn't 🙁 🙁 🙁
--Is Merlin losing faith?--
I think mostly it's a reminder that Merlin is not a cold blooded killer, and that Morgana was his friend. I'm just not sure it works, but I think that's what the hesitation is mostly trying to convey.
M Xx
3rd April 2021 @ 3:29 am
Did you guys secretly time it so that this episode came out on April Fool’s? ‘Coz that would be appropriate!
– Loved the Merlin-Morgana at the hovel & Merlin’s evil snark
– Once again, not keen on Arthur’s Season 4 cluelessness. But have to admit, Arthur and Gwen are so cute in the bit where she walks in on him. Last episode there was some implication that Arthur might be visiting Gwen in the late hours sometimes. Which is fair and we didn’t need to know the nature of these visits. But it’s sweet that in this scene there’s an implication that goes back to the whole ‘they’re waiting until marriage’ thing and so don’t know each other, shall we say, intimately which would explain their awkwardness. Nice to see the consistency.
– In the decade that passed since I first watched this episode, I noticed something about similar scenes where the female lead is in the presence of the undressed male: the distinct brazen attitude of the guy. He never feels awkward, has zero sense of modesty. No, that’s a woman’s job, to turn away and cover her eyes. Instead, the guy has a ‘I dare you to look at me’ attitude. More or less what Giuliano as played by Bradley says in Medici. Another recent example is the Arthur from Cursed. Man, it’s refreshing to see a lack of that attitude in our Arthur!
– Is Arthur made of metal? More importantly, why isn’t there a cyborg Arthur fanfic? (I might have googled it in the late hours after listening to you guys..)
3rd April 2021 @ 4:57 am
I like the awkwardness/innocence as well during the bath tub scene between Gwen and Arthur. I love how Gwen doesn’t turn into a terribly embarrassed woman and runs away but stares down Arthur to make sure he doesn’t get in the bath even though it is so awkward for her! Haha
6th April 2021 @ 11:09 am
love love love love love that!!!
6th April 2021 @ 11:13 am
hahaha we are not nearly organised enough for that. I realised as I was schedulling the episode ready for posting that it would be released on the first of April and thought we should have recorded a spoof version of it, but considering we were already worried people were going to hate us for our opinion on this episode, making a piss take episode about it and delaying the release of the actual episode didn’t seem like the greatest idea, even in hindsight lol
—– In the decade that passed since I first watched this episode, I noticed something about similar scenes where the female lead is in the presence of the undressed male: the distinct brazen attitude of the guy. He never feels awkward, has zero sense of modesty. No, that’s a woman’s job, to turn away and cover her eyes. Instead, the guy has a ‘I dare you to look at me’ attitude. More or less what Giuliano as played by Bradley says in Medici. Another recent example is the Arthur from Cursed. Man, it’s refreshing to see a lack of that attitude in our Arthur!—
100% agreed!!!
–– Is Arthur made of metal? More importantly, why isn’t there a cyborg Arthur fanfic? (I might have googled it in the late hours after listening to you guys..)—-
hahaha i most definitely remember reading a merlin cyborg fic once. very little memory other than it was heartbreaking and sweet…
6th April 2021 @ 11:21 am
okay, this wasn’t in any way the fic I had in mind. This is a pornathon ficlet and… well, pure smut. but rather cute.
https://archiveofourown.org/works/455326
the one I was thinking about was long form and much more about the world building, and ironically came out years before Colin Morgan was in Humans, but very much dealt with those types of issues. And now I cannot find it any more. And there’s also one… in space??? My brain says that’s ridiculous but my memory says it’s 100% right… so who knows?!?!
6th April 2021 @ 11:29 am
okay, sometimes the internet is hilarious. I went to search for the one in space, and I found it… via a livejournal ‘fic finding’ post I wrote 8 years ago, searching for this story…. that’s terribly full circle! hahaha
https://lunadeath02.livejournal.com/805789.html#cutid1
2nd April 2021 @ 3:29 pm
The tone shift in this episode really let it down. The serious parts- though very compressed – were really amazing, and the funny half was not bad, I love how we got so many funny interactions in the castle, but it was such a let down from the build up of emotion.
I didn’t like how we were having the ‘Merlin’s gonna die’ speech right at the beginning of the episode- it’s such a huge emotional thing that we don’t deal with as often as we do with Arthur potentially dying. As a knight, Arthur has a ‘ready to face death’ speech he can whip out at the drop of a hat and it works, because he is constantly dealing with danger and knows how to settle his business before he pops off. Merlin faces death almost as frequently, but it is always in the background where Arthur doesn’t see, and when Arthur does see it is a huge deal. The Poisoned Chalice for example- Merlin’s potential death kind of needs a whole episode because it’s not expected and nobody is prepared for it in the same way. Especially since the gravity of the episode drops off about 15 minutes in, it’s too jarring to have him in that state right at the beginning with no real consequence.
I agree with Denise, for me watching this episode I definitely felt that we were getting a little insight to what Arthur and Merlin’s daily life is like. Arthur has so much important stuff to think about, and it makes sense for him to chat to Merlin about it in quite a light hearted way- it’s like he’s just oiling the cogs in his brain, working through his thoughts. He is quite overly affectionate, because he almost lost Merlin, which is maybe a little over the top considering their usual mocking of each other, so I do get your point about them only being able to do this because Merlin isn’t himself.
GAIUS SHOULD BE DEAD OMG!!!
-He is a shrewd fella, I agree with Morgana or whoever said that, and doesn’t appear at all concerned that Merlin has disappeared (maybe he and the knights talked it out and have finished their mourning)
-I know at the end of the episode, Agravaine pinning the betrayal on Gaius is just setting up for the future… but really, Morgana’s complaint that he isn’t dead or mortally wounded is so ridiculous- what good does killing him do for you, Morgana? So confusing.
Gwen didn’t work for me in the first half of the episode- she came running out to tell him not to go on one of the least dangerous dangerous missions? Clearly they were just trying to keep her present throughout the episode as she would be in it later, but it’s so unwarranted, and pushes her back into that matronly role, which will not do for our only good female character at the moment! Well I hope Angel had fun running down those lovely steps at least. Her part got better as it went on though, I love her boldness in dealing with Merlin and she always has brilliant facial expressions. I was initially kind of annoyed at how squeamish she acted at the neck snake, but after you pointing out that Colin was playing it as equally gross I don’t have a problem with it.
As with many episodes of Merlin, this was almost a really good episode. It did have some brilliant lines I thought (maybe without the clearest intentions on Morgana’s part), but “Bogman” remains the favourite of this girl right here.
2nd April 2021 @ 3:40 pm
Oh I forgot to mention; the cover art for this week is amazing! I absolutely love the shading on his face- really beautiful, Michelle!
6th April 2021 @ 11:29 am
Thank you very much!!! 😀
3rd April 2021 @ 11:40 pm
As with many episodes of Merlin, this was almost a really good episode. –
That is the perfect line to sum up season 4 so far. Well done. 🙂 I’m going to say this now because I may forget later: (ALSO SPOILER!) That’s how I feel about the ending of the show also.
6th April 2021 @ 11:37 am
–Merlin faces death almost as frequently, but it is always in the background where Arthur doesn’t see, and when Arthur does see it is a huge deal.–
or alternatively they face death together, where Arthur knows that it’s happening, but as far as Arthur’s concerned, either Arthur is going to succeed and save the day and they will both live, or he’s going to fail, and they will both die, which of course is completely different than being faced with your best friend’s death when you can’t influence the outcome of it at all.
–but really, Morgana’s complaint that he isn’t dead or mortally wounded is so ridiculous- what good does killing him do for you, Morgana? So confusing.–
the show doesn’t seem to remember, so it’s difficult for us to, and honestly I forgot until Ruth said it this episode, but of course it was Gaius who used magic to bring down the castle on top of Morgause and foil their plan and saved the day at the end of season 3… and I guess morgana knows that? But if she does, she also doesn’t seem actively concerned enough about wanting him out of the picture… hmpf.
–I was initially kind of annoyed at how squeamish she acted at the neck snake, but after you pointing out that Colin was playing it as equally gross I don’t have a problem with it–
I also think it really helps that she isn’t actually doing anything. I’m sure if she was having to be brave and remove it because no one else was around, she’d get on with it and do it (many of us would, if put in a situation where we have to), but because Gaius is doing it, she’s literally just looking at the gross, and there’s no need for her to do so, so fair enough for eventually looking away. But I also really like that she doesn’t leave, even though Merlin’s unconcious and doesn’t know she’s there for him. It’s all around just kind of sweet because she doesn’t need to do any of it, and yet she does!
M Xx
2nd April 2021 @ 12:03 am
I love this episode. I think that’s mostly because I think that 1. I like there’s both very emotional beats as well as the silly comedy beats which work really well for me and 2. Me as a big Merthur shipper just thrive on the absolutely beautiful moments between the two. This episode shows us so much of what makes their relationship so special. Usually we don’t have time to go past the banter, but in this episode it’s so important to see how far their relationship goes, so we see so much of it.
On that note:
I have to disagree with you when you said that Arthur’s affection wouldn’t be there if Merlin wasn’t possessed. I think we are finally given the time to see how they usually would be like. Arthur is acting just as he always does around Merlin and finally that is relevant to the plot, so we see their domesticity and what usually is a part of their life that the show doesn’t have the time to cover. Even if it isn’t real for Merlin, it is the real Arthur and I never doubted when watching the episode that it’s too much just for the sake of contrast, but that it’s just because it’s finally given some time to actually be portrayed.
Maybe it’s just my sapphic ass trying to deflect of the fact of how problematic it really is so it doesn’t hurt me a much (I have my fair share of practice coming from the Sherlock fandom) but you managed to put some doubt in my viewing of the episode and it hurts. I just want Arthur to be happy and hug Merlin and be domestic with him. I’ll just keep having faith in my own theory and enjoy the Merlin and Arthur goodness of this episode. So I’ll mostly keep on loving the episode in this comment.
I absolutely love the beginning of the episode when we see Arthur being endlessly worried about Merlin. There are just so many beautiful beats.
As so often it takes an extreme situation for Arthur to be able to open up and I have to be honest, seeing Arthur confessing how much he really cares for Merlin and seeing Merlin’s surprise at Arthur actually saying these things out loud brought me to tears. This understanding of his affection for Merlin was always there, but it’s just so beautiful to see him actually saying it instead of keeping it a silent understanding. Those words are just so powerful.
I know Merlin is under the influence and it’s probably just annoyance that his plan isn’t working like it’s supposed to but he’s just straight up jealous of Gwen. Apparently serving dinner and preparing a bath is something you do when you have a crush on someone? Okay.
Merlin seems older when he is hanging in Morgana’s chains. I wonder whether that was a conscious choice.
He is very childlike when he’s taken over by the Fomorroh. Adding the comedy aspect of these scenes enlarges that effect. But it wouldn’t even need that silliness because Colin is doing all that on his own already.
When he’s in his right mind, however, he’s a lot more mature. All of his responsibilities and past experiences seem to age him.
The curse sucks all of Merlin out of him, so it would make sense that all of the things that have happened to him in Camelot which have aged and matured him would be erased with it.
I love the fact that Gwen is finally given a more prominent role in this episode. She felt so absent this season and was just there for some weird small scenes spread all over the place. So far it seemed like they forgot that Gwen was supposed to be one of the main characters. One episode doesn’t fix that of course, but I’m glad to see her back on screen in a way that makes sense.
We’ve said this many time before but: Gaius is the worst. He knows Merlin will get in trouble if he tells Arthur Merlin is at the tavern. Does he have any desire to keep Merlin in Arthur’s service? If Arthur didn’t like him as much, Gaius would have caused Merlin to get fired.
The secrecy around Merlin’s possession makes even less sense. Why is Arthur kept in the dark again? It’s not even like it’s an invisible spell like it usually is. You can literally see that there’s something weird in Merlin’s neck. There would be no trouble to proof it’s an external force doing it to Merlin. And surly Arthur should notice that Merlin is acting out of the ordinary, just like Gwen and Gaius noticed. We aren’t given any explanation and I feel like the writers just hoped we wouldn’t question it if the episode didn’t question it either.
Anyway, I adore this episode and it’s just a lot of fun to watch. It definitely has some issues, but my enjoyment of the episode isn’t impaired by that. I was a little scared your criticism of the episode could ruin it, but I’m still able to just enjoy the episode 🙂
3rd April 2021 @ 5:06 pm
Absolutely agree. Though if ever there was a time that Merlin being in the tavern is logically warranted, it’s now. So merlin has got back from nearly dying and spending a couple days, as far as anyone’s concerned, captured by bandits until he escaped and fell in mud and miraculously recovered from mace wound. Arthur should either be telling Merlin that getting over trauma by drinking like Gwaine is not the answer or asking him if he’s really okay, not berating him like usual about neglecting his duties and fobbing him off on some random servant to get trained on polishing!
4th April 2021 @ 5:00 pm
You’re definitely right. There’s just a lot wrong with it in general and given that Merlin was just kidnapped there surly must be better excuses than the tavern. Or like you said, the tavern excuse should cause a different reaction from Arthur given the circumstances.
6th April 2021 @ 11:41 am
we talk about it in this week’s episode I believe, but basically the whole repetition of the tavern nonsense would be so much less egregious if it was actually used to inform where the characters are at any given moment, so yes, have gaius say merlin’s in the tavern here, and have that worry arthur, and have gaius say merlin’s in the tavern some other time, and have gwaine for example joke about how ‘he’s a man after my own heart, but why didn’t he ask me to come’, etc. – just actually DO something with the annoying repeats of the joke
M Xx
3rd April 2021 @ 11:40 pm
When he’s in his right mind, however, he’s a lot more mature. All of his responsibilities and past experiences seem to age him. –
Oh my, just wait for season 5…
4th April 2021 @ 4:57 pm
god I don’t even want to think about season 5 Merlin. I miss his smile just thinking about it.
4th April 2021 @ 9:02 pm
I know! Without his smile, Merlin is un-Merlined.
6th April 2021 @ 11:41 am
🙁 🙁 🙁
6th April 2021 @ 11:51 am
We’re definitely going to get into this further in this week’s episode, so I won’t go into too much detail, but honestly, I think the argument that you, Danuta, and various other people have made in regards to seeing what the Merlin/Arthur relationship is like when there is time to actually show it to us is definitely valid, and definitely something that makes me feel better about that aspect of the episode!
It’s also interesting in regards to going into the Secret Sharer, and we’ll talk about that as well, so again, won’t ramble on about it here, but I absolutely agree that everything that happens in this episode is 100% real for Arthur and whether you assign it cynial metatextual reasons (as we often do) or not frankly just doesn’t matter when it comes to Arthur, because canonically it does not change that these things happened for Arthur, that Arthur remembers them, and that it becomes a canonical part of what makes up Arthur’s character and the Merthur relationship going forward. And no one can take that away from you, because that IS canon.
7th April 2021 @ 6:33 pm
I guess that’s what I appreciate about this episode. Even if there might be metatextual problems with this episode, it’s still fun to watch and it doesn’t make its content any less canon. However weird it might all be because Merlin doesn’t have control over his mind and can’t remember anything afterwards, watching Arthur being genuine is delightful and builds for everything else we see of him and Merlin, while Merlin gives us comedy that really shouldn’t work in the heavy contrast to the emotional and dark bits, but somehow does.
Looking forward to what you’ll have to say in the next episode!
1st April 2021 @ 2:52 pm
Confession time: The Servant of Two Masters is actually my go-to episode when I just want to watch a Merlin episode, because it has everything: the emotional bits at the beginning (which are moving but don’t make me completely incapable of functioning), the jokes which are actually funny, and, most importantly, Merlin tied up in a hovel by Morgana, which… well, excuse me while I have my bi breakdown in the corner. BUT I can see all the absurdities in the plot, so I guess I usually watch it more like a collection of scenes than like an actual story. And yes, the shifts in tone are jarring. I guess when I watched it for the first time, I was actually quite grateful that they went into hilarious territory, as the stories about mind control and possession usually scare me a lot (and at the same time, I like writing them! I’m weird).
I agree about the hug! While I always felt like, in comparison to other shows from the time (and admittedly, the bar is pretty low… *cough*Sherlock*cough*), Merlin has never been maliciously queerbait-y, this scene really feels like that. Oh, the joys of modern world in which two men can’t just share a hug without one of them being not in his right mind… (which sets me off on a digression mode: while I do believe that the show often has important things to say about toxic masculinity – whether on purpose or not, doesn’t matter – which, of course, is an issue in our time, I sometimes wish we lived in some alternate reality in which they actually decided to make Merlin more medieval-y Arthurian, as in medieval legends men don’t really have any problem with showing physical affection for each other, especially when they’re close. Just think of LOTR and Tolkien – who was inspired by medieval lit, obviously – and Arthur kissing Merlin’s brow like Frodo kisses Sam’s! Okay, end of digression here, for I might never come back)
Now, to miscellaneous thoughts:
“Arthur is strangely fond of the boy” – Morgana’s parroting Morgause’s words, which, in her own lips, sound odd (didn’t you have quite a history with this “boy”, Morgana?). But then again, maybe it’s a strategy to distance herself emotionally from Merlin?
It’s so symbolic that Agravaine puts the bloodied/scorched piece of Merlin’s coat literally over the map of Camelot, in the center, over the image of the castle. It’s a visual representation of Merlin literally shielding Camelot from danger – and suffering because of it. Again, it feels like it creates a foundation for something really serious in the episode. But no, we go into comedy.
The fandom has talked A LOT about the meta of Merlin being possessed and whether he’s trying to fight it, and I even had a discussion on tumblr about it recently 😀 Personally, I’ve always headcannoned it as Merlin being Morgana’s version of himself, which, effectively, makes him a parody of himself. She doesn’t know Merlin has magic, therefore he doesn’t use it to kill Arthur; and, as it has been pointed out to me in this discussion, the first method of killing he uses is poisoning, which he also used on Morgana. Ouch. In a way, this theory also explains, at least partly, why Merlin is such a bad assassin: Morgana knows he sometimes thwarts her plans, but she still, at that point, in her hate, takes him for an useless idiot, underestimating his abilities. And thus, in a way, her own overconfidence in Merlin’s stupidity is her undoing. But that’s just my interpretation.
Colin’s performance: he’s STUNNING. There is one interesting thing I noticed. In between numerous rewatchings of this episode, I watched The Living and The Dead. Without giving away any spoilers, let’s just say that Colin has a very emotional mental breakdown/”going mad” scenes there, and it’s absolutely terrifying and not at all funny. And then I rewatched The Servant of Two Masters… and in the scenes with Gaius, especially the one where he’s pacing, he’s using a very similar tone of voice to the scenes in TLATD. Which makes me think that 1) he’s actually magic for managing to make the same tone of voice hilarious at one time and SO scary at the other, 2) there is a component of mental breakdown/madness/”I’m not being myself” kind of thing in Merlin’s behavior, at least from Colin’s POV. Which is interesting.
In Dragoon’s scene with the knights, Dragoon says to Gwaine: “and you are not what you seem”. WHAT ON EARTH IS THAT SUPPOSED TO MEAN??
Katie is superb. We can see in her confrontation with Emrys, how the years of Gaius’ gaslighting have “paid off” for her: she immediately questions herself, taking Emrys for her hallucination. Which is sad, but realistic. And then, her joy at temporarily overpowering him… there’s something poignant about that.
I’m glad you noticed the weird soundtrack choice from the final scene with Agravaine and Morgana! It’s actually a part of Excalibur theme, which got me thinking: is Morgana treated here like an “iconic” element of the legend, like Excalibur or the dragon egg? In any way, it’s weird.
That’s all from me today. Upon my word, this was a long comment. Sorry about that 😀 Love the podcast, as always!
2nd April 2021 @ 3:39 pm
I didn’t pick up on the Morgana-parroting-Morgause thing but I think you’re totally right and it does feel weird! Morgana, you have known Merlin as long as Arthur has, you have seen how they interact and you used to be friends with Merlin too! He kept her secret, trusted her with Mordred, she accompanied him to save a village and so she knows of Merlin’s appeal and strength as a friend so it doesn’t make sense for her to distance herself as she does, unless it is just out of hatred for him after the poisoning incident.
And that links in well to your comment about Merlin becoming Morgana’s version of him. It would be cool if the episode had focussed on that. The hovel scene at the start is such a great moment to see the state of Merlin and Morgana’s relationship, she seems to have decided that he is sly and bad, maybe it’s her delusion that makes Merlin so mean to Gaius and just about everyone else.
Either way, you are so right that her overconfidence in Merlin’s stupidity, and underestimation of him, is her undoing.
3rd April 2021 @ 2:42 am
I noticed Morgana parroting Morgause as well… Morgause being puzzled by their relationship is fair, but I don’t understand how Morgana is puzzled by his importance to Arthur and Merlin’s loyalty when it was Morgana in “The Moment of Truth” that said “Arthur may act like he doesn’t care, but he wouldn’t be here if he didn’t.” And that was in season ONE! She lived in the castle for a couple years after that and still didn’t see how they became friends? Also, does she not remember when Gwen was more than a servant to her? They were actually friends in the beginning. She stood up to Uther many times on behalf of Gwen and her father. Why is it so hard to believe servants can be friends?
If Morgana had remembered ANY of this, I think she would have tried this Merlin as the assassin thing earlier. It is actually a brilliant plan. Who is the closest to Arthur (physically and mentally)? Merlin. Who does he trust most? Merlin. The fact that the episode is kind of silly makes it not seem like a great plan, but it actually is….
3rd April 2021 @ 6:34 pm
I thought the ‘you are not what you seem’ quote too was odd. At the time, I remember thinking ‘oooh are we going to get some juicy backstory reveal about Gwaine, something Merlin knew off screen from Gwaine but we don’t know yet. But no, it’s nothing. I think it’s possible to just refer to Gwaine being noble but again don’t see how that’s relevant anymore.
I love what you said about Colin’s style of acting when his character is ‘not themselves’. I too watched TLATD and that ‘madness’ part is heartbreaking. To see it toned down but still there in Merlin is a good link to make that maybe he is trying to act the most odd to basically shout at Gaius to help him. If it was clear that afterwards Merlin had been aware the whole time of events during his brainwashing it would be a neat little add in, and show of merlin’s Strong psyche trying to push through, but evident by merlin’s words, he was only aware until Morgana put in the snake head.
3rd April 2021 @ 11:48 pm
I sometimes wish we lived in some alternate reality in which they actually decided to make Merlin more medieval-y Arthurian, as in medieval legends men don’t really have any problem with showing physical affection for each other, especially when they’re close. –
This reminds me of a discussion I had with a professor and basically the rest of my seminar group at university. We were looking at male relationships in medieval literature and the entire seminar, everything everyone had been saying was about how that had homosexual connotations etc, etc. I finally had enough and said something along the lines of: You know, you are welcome to say that from our point of view, we may perceive the male friendships in this way. But perhaps, could it be, that men who were friends simply weren’t as afraid and inhibited as in our society nowadays? Even today, there are many countries where men who are friends will walk down the street holding hands and it’s considered a normal sign of a friendly affection! I feel similarly about Merlin: I get why people ship Merlin and Arthur but I enjoy the bromance as something rare and precious that males are too afraid to show in our modern world. But I wish the show had been a bit more careful with the messages they were sending with the hug scene. Why not normalise the hug among Arthur, Merlin and his knights?
4th April 2021 @ 12:34 am
I loved the moment from The Eye of the Phoenix where Arthur was all about awkwardly patting Merlin on the arm, but Gwaine went for a full hug without any reservation. I wish they kept this characteristic of Gwaine this season at least. They could have make some of the knights more physically affectionate than others – that would also be another aspect of their characters.
As to bromance vs. homoerotic undertones – I’m always so conflicted on that one. Because on one hand, I wish we could see more affectionate male friendship on screen, and I can also see how the modern interpretations of medieval friendship can often go overboard because of the differences in culture.
On the other hand, we are starved for good LGBTQ+ representation and I get it why people ship Merthur (heck, I do too). Or how we hunt for representation in history because our minorities have been erased so much in the past. So, I guess what I’m saying is, if the representation was good, the problem of people attributing romance to bromance would be much smaller, probably. Because there would be enough canon non-straight couples to see.
As to what message does the show want to convey – I really have no idea at this point. As I wrote in my original comment, Merlin never felt overtly queerbait-y to me (in comparison to other shows from the time) and I often felt like the constrictions of the family show + the fact that they were adapting a medieval legend which is very important to many people for some reason (sigh…) were the main reasons they didn’t dare to just go for the gay territory. Like, I sometimes feel they wanted to. But who knows.
I’m trying to make this comment more or less coherent, but I guess today is my bad English day, so apologies for that.
6th April 2021 @ 12:16 pm
I agree so much about how they should have kept gwaine being physically affectionate, and just differentiated the different knights because hey, they’re all different people, with different characteristics and comfort levels, and it’s perfectly fine if Leon is more reserved, because he was Uther’s knight for such a long time and would still be very formal and “proper” and that a lot of the new knights became knights under different circumstances and different rules, and weren’t raised with the knight’s code at the heart of everything they do, but that Elyan and Gwaine for example are much more touchy feel-y, because Gwaine has been friends with merlin and arthur the longest, and Elyan is Gwen’s brother and therefore feels safe and at home here in Camelot, whereas Percival for example is newer than any of them, and more of an outsider than any of the them, and was brought in by Lancelot, so his closest friend is dead… there’s so much casual characteristics you can give to the knights just by thinking about how these things would affect their behaviour, including their physical proximity and comfort levels, with each other, with Arthur, with merlin…
–As to bromance vs. homoerotic undertones – I’m always so conflicted on that one. Because on one hand, I wish we could see more affectionate male friendship on screen, and I can also see how the modern interpretations of medieval friendship can often go overboard because of the differences in culture. On the other hand, we are starved for good LGBTQ+ representation and I get it why people ship Merthur (heck, I do too). Or how we hunt for representation in history because our minorities have been erased so much in the past. So, I guess what I’m saying is, if the representation was good, the problem of people attributing romance to bromance would be much smaller, probably. Because there would be enough canon non-straight couples to see.–
one of my favourite things about Shadowhunters, and in hindsight BBC Merlin (now Shadowhunters has given me the language and the concept for it) is the Parabatai relationshiop between Alec and Jace (and if applied outside of that world, Merlin and Arthur). It’s a platonic soul bond, and it’s about two people coming together and creating something bigger than the sum of their parts, that they wouldn’t be able to achieve on their own.
I do think we hugely miss this in media, and one of the issues is not having the language to define it and therefore express it to someone else in a way that makes sense.
And one of the earliest reasons that led me to reading and writing about same sex relationships (romantic or not) is because age 12 I found that the easiest way of removing the preconceptions that you have when you write/read about characters of the same age and opposite sex – ie they must at some point end up together, because otherwise, what is the point of your story, because they are sexually compatable (of course they are, because they’re of the opposite sex, and everyone is assumed to be straight), so inevitably that’s where the story will lead. It’s every disney movie ever made. every rom com ever written. every three year old girl holding hands with a three year old boy and their parents saying that they’ll end up married when they’re older… And I hated that, and what it made me feel about myself and how constricted it made me feel in my options in life… which is why I turned to same sex relationships in my fiction, to escape that power imbalance. Which I understand now was very naive, and it’s not as simple as that, either, but aged 12 it was that simple, and it allowed me to start at a simple point, and then complicate it the way I wanted, not the way the world told me it had to be. And then you do still sometimes want the happily ever after romance trope, which is how you end up in the world of slash.
And it took me a really long time to get out the other end of that, and suddenly seek out stories (within Merlin fic especially) that weren’t just about a “neutral” general relationship like what we see on the show, but stories that leant into the special, destined relationship between these two characters, without having them both of them realise that oh yeah, turns out, we are gay, so that’s awesome, go! sex now! but actually celebrated the fact that they were platonic best friends.
Sorry, I feel like this didn’t end up hugely coherent, either, but I clearly have *feelings* about all of this. Because yes, at the same time i agree that occassionally it felt like the show could have been just a little bit braver and gone just a little bit further, and actually dared to just go for the gay territory. and they didn’t. But because they didn’t actually go there, but also cut a lot of the stuff that aaaaaalmost went there, I think largely they avoided queer baiting, in a way that many other shows of the time didn’t. So in a way they dodged a bullet there.
And I did intelectually understand the fic writers that wrote girl!merlin, to prove that if Merlin had been female, the show absolutely would have let arthur and merlin fall in love, because it’s the only “natural conclusion” – but then that’s also right back to my original point about how two characters of the same age and opposite sex have to fall in love and get married, because why wouldn’t they?? and that’s infuriating, also…
I’m now just circling, so I’ll stop, but yeah. complicated and frustrating, but I did also feel like it taught me a lot about not just fictional tropes but also human preconceptions and trying to do better, in life and in art.
M Xx
6th April 2021 @ 4:00 pm
Oh yes, this is such a complex and fascinating topic with no one simple answer!
Just wanted to add that to me, shipping two male characters also stems from the desire to escape a relationship imbalance, but there are also definitely some aspects of me leaning into masculinity from time to time, gender-wise… so I can vicariously live through one of the boys and kind of become one of them. I almost never identify with female characters in media, whether because that’s just not who I am or because they rarely get interesting storylines? Idk 😉
There are so many reasons people either prefer slash, or like male couples platonically, and it’s all such a fascinating phenomenon 🙂
6th April 2021 @ 5:04 pm
completely agree on the failing to identify with female characters in media, and as mentioned above, I am so aware that for me that is because of bad role models I was given in media growing up, and so much of it is internalized misogyny. I think that all women in stories are boring and dumb and identify with the male characters, because so much of what I consumed growing up showed me that women in stories are boring and dumb, and that the men are where the action and interesting plots lie, and when I started writing my own stories I didn’t write better female characters, I put myself into the male characters in my story. and it is absolutely an ongoing battle I still fight on a daily basis. But yeah, as you say, there are so many different reasons for why people do or don’t identify with characters and why they consume/create the media that they do. It’s also why I get so angry at the hate crowd on social media that just scream fetishism at anyone enjoying slash fiction without any conversation or thought, because it’s not that bleeding simple… ::eyeroll::
6th April 2021 @ 5:12 pm
100% agree!
6th April 2021 @ 12:25 pm
— most importantly, Merlin tied up in a hovel by Morgana, which… well, excuse me while I have my bi breakdown in the corner.–
hahaha so. very. fair.
— BUT I can see all the absurdities in the plot, so I guess I usually watch it more like a collection of scenes than like an actual story.–
which makes a lot of sense and I absolutely felt the same. I watched the episode and I loved it, then I watched it again to take notes, talked about all of the things that were jarring and weird, placed it surprisingly low on the list of destiny, and then watched “normal” again the day after, and loved it. Which is how television watching and podcasting works for me, and I do really worry that other people don’t function the same way, and that we may permanently ruin stuff for certain people, and that is (obviously) not our intention, but also really worrying to me, because I wouldn’t ever want that, I just… wanna talk about the bad, and then go right back to loving the good. does that make sense?? ::facepalm::
M Xx