Merlin Club: The Darkest Hour or The One Bron Phones in for Reasons Listed Below

Okay, my loves, here's the deal, the last two weeks have kind of blown with family and work drama - much of it good, some of it less than good, and in the last five days, there have been two oral surgeries in this house - two kids and 8 impacted wisdom teeth. And now? I'm getting sick. My throat is swollen, and I'm pretty sure I'm running a temp, so this post is going to be so, so short.

This was another two-parter. It's a year later, Arthur is ruling by proxy since Uther is a shell of the man he once was and basically sits in his jammies, stares out his window and refuses to eat. Arthur's got his Uncle Agravaine there to help, but he's super sleezy.

Morgana is nowhere to be found (until of course Sir Leon and some other knights find her) and she kills two of the four of them by throwing them around with her magic. She's heading to the Isle of the Blessed with Morgause so she can sacrifice her sister and the entirety of Camelot can be killed off by Dementors. (called something else, but fever brain cannot remember)

Arthur, Merlin and the knights head out to stop the Dementors, but the only way to stop them is another blood sacrifice. Arthur plans to sacrifice himself for the kingdom and Merlin plans to sacrifice himself for Arthur, but Lancelot beats them both to it and sacrifices himself for Gwen because he promised Gwen that he'd protect Arthur with his life.

Oh yeah, Uncle Sleezewad is totally evil and in cahoots with Morgana. 

I'm bummed that I feel like ass, because I actually like a lot of stuff that goes on in these episodes, but blergh. Okay, so the questions.

1. If I’d written this episode...There would be better explanations for shit. Where have Morgana and Morgause been for the past year? Why is Agravaine all Team Morgana?

 

2. The thing I loved/hated most about this episode. 

 

Loved: There are a ton of things I loved about this episode. I loved that Arthur was willing to sacrifice himself for his people and that Merlin was ready to sacrifice himself for Arthur and he almost did. I also loved how worried Arthur was about Merlin surviving.

 

Hated: I can't stand Agravaine. He's the douchiest douche who ever douched, and I don't think his reasons for wanting Morgana on the throne are ever adequately explained. 

3. Something you’ve never noticed about this episode before. How Gwaine is basically Winnie the Pooh eating honey from a tree and getting attacked by bees.

4. Favorite Costume. Going with the Cailleach. Nothing says evil like cheesecloth that's been dyed black. But whatevs, it works. 

 

5. Here is proof of some random head canon I’ve created. Not mine, but there are definitely some Merthury moments in this one.

6. What Merthur moment did Jess have the naughtiest thoughts about? I think she had all the feels when Merlin and Arthur were having their heart to heart talk before Merlin jumped up to protect Arthur from the Dementor. 

7. What made Jen lose her shit (in a good or bad way) in a bad way? The way magic is just not as scary and all powerful as it was in the last three seasons.

Jess' take on the episode is here, and Jen's is here.