Merlin Club: The Gates of Avalon or The One Where Morgana Gets Screwed Over A Lot

It's time for this week's edition of Merlin Club! Yaaaaaay!

This episode opens with Arthur in full armor sinking beneath some spectacularly lit water with a beautiful young woman watching him drown, followed quickly by Morgana waking from a nightmare looking exceptionally gorgeous and not at all like anyone I’ve ever seen wake from a nightmare. But we can’t all be as freaking gorgeous as Katie McGrath. And also acting.

After the credits, Arthur and Merlin are hunting in the woods when they hear a woman scream and they find brigands attacking an older man and a young woman. Arthur leaps into the fray and beats fights off (confession time – I actually typed beats off before I corrected it) the bad guys (Merlin helps with a magical falling branch) and Arthur takes the travelers back to Camelot where Uther agrees to take them in. Now, Uther is suspicious of literally EVERYTHING being magic - but the two very wizardy looking staffs Aulfric and Sophia are carrying don’t set off any bells? I’m so disappointed in you, Uther.

Arthur and Merlin have a discussion about where to place Sophia (the choices being in the room next to Arthur’s and across the castle) and Arthur waffles back and forth about where to put her – where he wants her (in the room next to him) or where she’d be warmest, safest, etc. (across the castle). Merlin, knowing Arthur is crushing on Sophia, convinces him that the room next door is perfect. As Merlin his putting Sophia in the room next to Arthur’s, Morgana rounds the corner sees Sophia and flips shit (quietly and regally, of course) and immediately questions Merlin about Sophia’s identity. Morgana goes to Gaius to tell her about her dream and that she feels Arthur is in danger. Gaius totally blows her off and tells her that she’s imagining things and offers her a stronger sleeping draught for her nightmares. At first the viewer thinks that Gaius is just a doddering old fool – but then he tells Morgana not to bother Uther with this. What’s up with that, Gaius – this seems a little sketch.

That evening we see one of the brigands sitting by a fire and Aulfric approaches and he apologizes for Arthur killing his buddies then he uses his super wizardy looking staff to kill him. Morgana wakes from yet another nightmare of Arthur drowning. Meanwhile, Arthur is telling Merlin he needs him to cover for him because he’s ditching the patrol with his father and the guard in favor of taking Sophia on a riding tour of Camelot. Merlin’s not down with lying to the king, but Arthur talks him into it. The end result is that Merlin cops to something that’s not his fault and ends up in the stocks being pelted with fruit and veggies.

While Arthur and Sophia are our on their walk, Sophia begins to cast a spell, but they’re interrupted by Camelot’s guard who’s out searching for the brigand’s that had attacked Sophia and Aulfirc. Arthur cuts their date short and brings her back to the castle. When Merlin explains to Gaius that it’s love at first site for Arthur, Gaius get suspicious and sneaks into Aulfric’s room. He gets caught by Aulfric checking out the wizardy staff and Aulfric is not pleased and his eyes change color.

As Sophia heads back to her room, she runs into Morgana who confronts her about her plans for Arthur. Sophia gets a little sassy and taunts Morgana about her attraction to Arthur. Sophia returns to her room and has an exposition-heavy conversation with her father about how she doesn’t want to be mortal a moment longer and he reassures her saying that once she has Arthur’s heart, the Gates of Avalon will open for them again, and they’ll be able to go home. Morgana talks to Arthur about Sophia and Arthur is Assy McAsserton to her, insinuating that she’s jealous of his affection for Sophia. Morgana says that she’s trying to protect him, then she tells him about the dream and Arthur actually laughs at her and then blows her off.

The next morning, Arthur decides to ditch a knighting ceremony – because Sophia. Merlin covers for him and ends up in the stocks getting pelted by food. Again. Cut to Arthur and Sophia running through the forest giggling. Then she turns on him and enchants him. Merlin goes back to his room covered in drying food and Gaius scolds him for helping Arthur - not because Arthur is ditching his duties, but because Sophia might not be who she says she is. Gaius tells Merlin about Morgana’s dream and that she's a seer. And that he'd seen Aulfric's eyes change color.

Sophia continues her enchantment of Arthur and convinces him that he needs to seek permission for them to marry. Merlin catches Aulfric sneaking out of the castle and follows him to a lake where Merlin sees the Sidhe - small, homely blue fae type creatures that rise up out of the water to talk to Aulfric. As it turns out, Aulfric is a Sidhe but he killed another of his kind and is now being punished by living in the world as a mortal. His daughter is being punished as well. Merlin, as always, almost gets caught, but manages to evade both Aulfroc and the Sidhe. The only way they can return to Avalon is to give the Sidhe a human prince's soul. And of course, that soul is Arthur's.

The next morning, Arthur seeks  an audience with Uther and tells his father that he and Sophia are in love. There's this bit of eyerolling when Uther looks at Morgana - almost as if Arthur's behavior is a shared joke. You know - as if Arthur were the child and Morgana was Uther's partner. It's...unsettling.

When Arthur says they're going to marry, Uther laughs and then there's a big old standoff between him and Arthur and Uther threatens to have Sophia and her father executed if Arthur doesn't get his shit together and show him some respect. Arthur backs down and so does Uther. Morgana follows Uther out into the hallways as he's giving a cursory glance at some super official looking papers.Morgana tries to explain that Sophia is dangerous Uther blows her off (are we seeing a theme here?) and completely dismisses her and her concerns.

Merlin goes to Arthur's chambers where he's in his armor and packing his bags. Merlin tries to talk some sense into him and Arthur isn't having it. He's nasty and belittles Merlin. Merlin tells him he's enchanted and  intended to be a sacrifice. Aulfric and Sophia walk in and Merlin confronts them. Aulfric attacks Merlin with his super nifty wizardy staff and knocks him unconscious.

That night, Morgana looks out the window and sees Arthur riding away with Aulfric and Sophia. She runs to Gaius for help. Gaius convinces her not to tell Uther and goes off to find Merlin to fix this. He finds Merlin in Arthur's chambers. Merlin leaves Camelot and runs endlessly through the woods.

Sophia is upset because she finds out her father can't return to Avalon with her. But she leads Arthur into the water to sacrifice him and return home. Merlin reaches them while Aulfric chants a spell. Sophia kisses Arthur, he falls unconscious and she pushes him into the water where he does a nifty slo-mo fall to the sounds of swelling orchestral music.

He finally reaches the lake as Arthur has disappeared under the water. He sinks more slowly than you'd expect for someone wearing chain mail.  Merlin magics Sophia's discarded wizardy staff into his hands and blows up her father with its magic. He quickly does the same to Sophia. Then he races into the water to save Arthur. After a few harrowing dives, he finally finds Arthur and pulls him up to the surface.

The next scene opens with Merlin and Gaius sitting by Arthur's bed as he finally regains consciousness and wakes with a horrible headache. They convince Arthur that Merlin knocked out Arthur with a lump of wood to keep him from eloping with Sophia. And all of this ends up with Merlin in the stocks again.

The episode closes with Morgana going to Gaius for another sleeping draught and after she leaves, Gaius basically tells Merlin that Morgana can never know that her dream was true and the fact that she's a seer must be hidden from her at all cost. Way to make a girl feel like she's going crazy, Gaius. I know he thinks this will protect her - but nope. Not even a little.

Okay...the questions!

1.    If I’d written this episode, I'd have changed the Arthur confronting Uther scene. Actually, I would have deleted it altogether. Seriously, why do this? She's enchanted him to leave with her so she can sacrifice him. Why have the big "Dad, you just don't understand" scene when it serves no purpose?
 

 2.    The thing I loved/hated most about this episode. It's weird - I remembered liking this episode more the first time around than I did this time, and I can't think of anything I loved. There are lots of things I hated though, but the biggest is how everyone - literally everyone but Gwen discounted everything Morgana had to say and either reduced it to tricks of her mind or petty jealousy. That was for shit, people of Camelot. Okay, I guess I love that Gwen didn't do that to her.

 

3.    Something you’ve never noticed about this episode before.  The eyeroll look Uther shoots Morgana in the aforementioned unnecessary scene.

4.    Favorite Costume. Sophia's fancy hair wins favorite costume this week. 

 

 

5.    Here is Proof of some random head canon I’ve created. Since my head canon involves Uther and Morgana – what the hell is going on in this episode? Morgana is sitting in the other throne at Uther's side as if she's his queen. Again, their conversations are as peers and not liege and ward.

 

6.    What Merthur moment did Jess have the naughtiest thoughts about? This was yet another not very Merthur-y episode - but the interplay with Merlin and Arthur discussing Sophia in the beginning - basically because Merlin is all wide eyed and flirty. It's possible that I'm seeing subtext where's there's none, but I stand by it. 

7.   What made Jen lose her shit (in a good or bad way) in this episode?  Gaius knowing exactly what's going one with Morgana but refuses to clue her in and lies to her and attempts to drug her abilities away and make her think she's losing it.

You can read Jess' recap here and Jen's recap here! And you can join us for Merlin Club on Twitter on Monday nights at 8pm EST - #MerlinClub

Merlin Club: Lancelot or The One Where Bron Finally Understands the Appeal of Lancelot

It's Merlin Club time with me, Jess Jarman and Jenny Trout! (Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay!)

This episode opens with Merlin wandering through a lovely, idyllic forest, gathering mushrooms. All of a sudden he’s attacked by a giant terrifying CGI creature with the head and wings of an eagle and the body of a lion.  From out of nowhere jumps a hot dude with a sword and protects Merlin, fighting off the creature.  Lancelot breaks his sword fighting the beast and both he and Merlin have to run and hide. The creature is apparently a bird of very little brain and flies away thinking it’s lost his prey. Or maybe it just has a terrible sense of smell. Both Lancelot and Merlin breathe a sigh of relief and Merlin notices Lancelot is wounded as he passes out. Cut to credits.

The next scene show Merlin hovering anxiously over Lancelot’s sick bed in Gaius’ chambers, so presumably, Merlin carried Lancelot from the woods to the tower. Gaius assures Merlin Lancelot will be fine by morning. Meanwhile, Arthur and Uther are surveying the damage done to a distant city where a fire is raging in the distance. I think fire must be the visual shorthand sign of distress in Merlin because the creature doesn’t breathe fire or anything, but whatevs. Arthur points out that the creature only took people – not livestock and Uther decrees that there will be extra guards outside all the cities and towns. 

Back at Camelot, Lancelot divulges his childhood dream of being a knight of Camelot. In fact, this is all he’s ever wanted and all he’s ever trained to do. Merlin volunteers to talk to Arthur for him and Lancelot is all star-struck because Merlin knows Arthur.  I imagine that this is how I would react if someone I knew said they knew Anthony Stewart Head. Actually…that’s a lie. There would be more screaming. But I digress. 

So Merlin and Lancelot scamper off to the practice field where Arthur is testing a would-be knight. And being kinda douchey about it. The would- be knight fails and goes home defeated. Afterward, Arthur bitches to Merlin about how there aren’t any good knights available to defend Camelot. Merlin tells him about Lancelot and finds out a horrible truth – elitism is in full effect in Camelot. Only men of noble blood may become knights. So of course, Merlin lies his pants off. Arthur buys it and tells him to bring Lancelot (and his seal of nobility) to the training ground in the morning. 

So Merlin goes back to Gaius’ chamber where Lancelot is waiting and tells him that Arthur wants to meet him, but then drops the nobility bomb and Gaius elaborates on the code aka The First Code of Camelot.  Merlin asks Lancelot why he wants to be a knight so much. Lancelot tells him about how his whole village was slaughtered by marauders and he was the only survivor so he devoted his entire life to learning how to defend himself and others and never being helpless again. And now he’s totally depressed because he feels like his entire life was wasted. 

Merlin vows to make it right and skulks off to the castle’s library where he uses magic to copy of seal of nobility and adds Lancelot’s name to it right under the nose of the castle historian. This is important later. But for now, Lancelot has his patent of nobility listing him as Lancelot the Fifth Son of Lord Eldred of Northumbria. When Merlin shows it to Lancelot, he balks – you know – because he’s the noblest of the noble. And because lying goes against the knight’s code and all Camelot stands for (clearly, he doesn’t know Uther.) But Merlin is persuasive and talks him into is. To be honest, he could probably talk me into most ill-conceived ideas, so I can’t really hold that against Lancelot. 

 Merlin enlists Gwen’s help and she uses her super awesome seamstress skills and whips him up a tabard with the house seal and gets him suited up in armor from her father’s blacksmith’s shop. There’s some mild flirting between Lancelot and Gwen (because seriously, who doesn’t love Gwen) but Lancelot is all kinds of noble. Even though technically, he’s not. And there’s a bit of awkwardness while Gwen’s measuring Lancelot’s inseam. I feel your awkward Gwen. I can’t tell you how many awkward inseam measurements I’ve done while costuming dudes for plays. 

The next day, we see Merlin, Gwen and Lancelot (all gussied up in the gear Gwen busted out for him the night before) waiting for his chance to impress Arthur. Arthur put special emphasis on Lancelot’s name – pronouncing it Lance a-lot (It really is a stupid name.) and asks for Lancelot’s seal. As Lancelot bows to Arthur and hands over the seal, Arthur slaps him knocking him to the ground. He informs him that if this were the battlefield, he’d be dead because of his sluggish reactions and tells him to come back when he’s ready. Lancelot insists that he is ready and Arthur tells him he can start by cleaning out the stables. Merlin gives him a big thumbs up. Merlin is probably just happy to not have to do it himself.

 The next day, we see Lancelot sharpening swords and Arthur coming to find him. He tests Lancelot’s  reflexes by tossing a broom at him. He, of course, catches it. They spar using broom handles and Arthur (looking hot, sweaty and attractive – Lancelot, too for that matter) tells him that he just made basic training. The warning bells ring and everyone takes off to see WTF is going on in Camelot now. There’s an influx of wounded, presumably from outlying areas and Merlin and Gaius are helping tend to them. Lancelot joins them and he and Merlin exchange a meaningful glance when Gaius tells them it was a winged monster. 

Arthur and Uther discuss the monster and Uther tells him to prepare the knights. Meanwhile, Gaius is studying his books late into the night to identify the creature. In the morning Arthur is briefing his knights and lets Lancelot know that he’s moving his final test up to the following morning. Then BAM! It’s the following morning and Lancelot is ready to face Arthur. “Succeed and you join the elite. Fail and your journey ends here.” Sounds a bit like a British Ryan Seacrest…

Anyhoo…they fight and Lancelot is totally holding his own until Arthur punches him in the face and knocks him down. He thinks he’s beaten Lancelot, but not so fast. Lancelot surprises him by knocking him to the ground and forcing him to submit. (No…not that kind. Sigh…)

Arthur’s knights pull Lancelot away from Arthur and Arthur (all pissed the fuck off and very hot looking) jumps up, pulls his sword from the ground and says “On your knees.” in the angriest, sexiest voice ever and then I swooned and I can’t tell you what happens next. 

Okay, so I eventually recovered to see Uther knighting Lancelot and then really cagily question him about his parentage. As suspicious as Uther is, if he had questions about Lancelot, wouldn’t he have checked this shit out *before* knighting the dude? Anyway, he has the castle historian look up the Northumbiran seal of nobility. 

Here’s another question. The librarian knows Merlin was in there looking at that book because Merlin handed it to him when he was done and the dude looked at the spine of the book to see what it was. So he discovers that Lancelot lied. Merlin looked at the book recently and is a little shifty anyway. Wouldn’t you maybe think those two things are connected, library guy? 

Spoiler Alert: He does not.

So there’s a party to celebrate Lancelot’s knighthood and there’s a super unfortunate exchange where Lancelot and Arthur are looking at Gwen and Morgana (who’s got that damn dress on that I dislike because it’s so anachronistic) and Arthur asks Lancelot if he thinks “she’s beautiful”. The she he’s referring to is Morgana. Lancelot answers that he does think she’s beautiful. The she he’s referring to is Gwen. Now, I have no problem with Lancelot thinking Gwen is beautiful. I *wouldn’t* have a problem with Arthur finding Morgana attractive if the writers didn’t drop everything down the suck-hole in season three. But more on that later. Like…in season three.

The next morning, Merlin and Lancelot stumble out of Merlin’s room all hung over and Gaius hands them a hangover cute. Unfortunately, on the orders of the king, a couple guards bust in and drag Lancelot away. Lancelot is on his knees before Arthur, Uther and the court historian/genealogist dude and admits that he lied and Uther has a fit about him breaking the First Code of Camelot. Arthur just looks depressed and disgusted. After Lancelot is thrown in the dungeon, Arthur defends him, saying that the other man just wanted to serve and that basically his heart was in the right place. Uther is having *none* of it, though.

Merlin goes down to the dungeon to apologize to Lancelot who refuses to let Merlin take the blame. Merlin returns to his room and Gaius is psyched because he’s figured out that the monster is a griffin. And just as Merlin is confirming it, the warning bells ring. The griffin is attacking Camelot. Arthur and his knights run to the courtyard and get in griffin fighting formation, but the beast is impervious to their weapons. Meanwhile, Lancelot can hear the commotion in his cell, and it’s killing him not to help Arthur. Back in the courtyard, the fight continues and Arthur gets a good hit but breaks his spear on the creature. Arthur is just about to be carried off by the thing when one of the guards throws Arthur a lit torch and the fire scares off the griffin. 

In Uther’s council chambers, Arthur gives his report on the fight. He’s not happy because they didn’t defeat it. Gaius says that he’s identified it and that it’s a creature of magic. Uther totally dismisses this. You know…Uther…the dude who accuses everyone of using magic at one time or another? That guy? Yeah. Him. Totally blows off Gaius. Won’t even listen to him. Even when Arthur says he thinks Gaius is right. Uther basically sticks his fingers in his ears and sings “lalalalalalalalalalala I can’t hear you!” and decides to send Arthur and his knights our after the creature declaring that they’ll end it tonight. Right, Uther. Whatever you say.

Merlin and Gaius return to their rooms and discuss the possibility of using magic to defeat the griffin. And Gaius informs Merlin that Arthur will die if he follows the griffin and that Merlin must use magic to defeat the beast. Merlin flips out a little because he’s afraid he doesn’t have magic strong enough to defeat the griffin. 

Arthur goes to the dungeon to berate Lancelot and himself. And Arthur admits that he’s upset because Camelot needs men like him and he’s thoroughly pissed that he can’t have Lancelot’s service. But he goes against his father’s wishes and frees Lancelot. Gives him a horse and everything and basically banishes him from Camelot. And Arthur is in the dungeon still looking hot in his armor. It should also be noted that Lancelot in the dungeon is almost, but not quite as hot as Arthur last week. 

Gaius and Merlin look through the magic book and find the right spell to help Arthur. Merlin’s a little wigged because he’s never cast a spell that powerful. He tries and nothing happens. 

Lancelot shows up at Gwen’s place and asks for weapons and armor because it’s his duty to protect Arthur – knight or no. *Swoon* And Gwen, of course, gets him suited up. There’s a moment when it looks like they’re about to kiss, and she asks him not to go. But he must. For he is the most noble man who ever nobled. 

Gwen races to Merlin (who’s practicing and failing his spell) to tell him that Lancelot is riding out after the griffin. Merlin catches up to Lancelot and says he’s going with. Lancelot says he isn’t. They argue, Merlin wins. They follow Arthur and the knights into the dark forest after the griffin. The griffin attacks and when Lancelot and Merlin catch up everyone is either dead or knocked out. (How very typical…)

The griffin comes back for another round and Lancelot runs for his horse while romantic music swells in the background. He lowers his helm and his lance and gallops toward the griffin as the griffin runs toward him. Merlin chants his spell over and over until it finally works – enchanting Lancelot’s lance.

(Side note: Spell work is not in Welsh as previously reported, it’s in Middle English as awesome reader Aunt Suzy pointed out in last week’s comments. Thank you again, Aunt Suzy! You rock!)  

Lancelot kills the beast and Arthur wakes up to find the thing dead. And Lancelot still within Camelot’s borders. (Merlin runs off before Arthur can see him.)

Arthur is super excited that Lancelot killed the thing and Gaius is super excited that Merlin mastered the spell. Arthur and Uther get into a huge row over Lancelot. Uther flips shit that Lancelot is still breathing and Arthur wants him reinstated as a knight of Camelot because he embodies everything knightly and good. They argue some more and Uther finally wins because he’s king. And an asshat.

Merlin comes to check on Lancelot and Lancelot lets him know that he knows about Merlin’s magic. He swears to tell no one, and since this is Lancelot, you have to believe him. 

Lancelot busts into the room where Arthur and his father are arguing and says that he’s leaving because he can’t be the cause of conflict between them. He’s hoping that someday fate will grant him another chance to prove that he’s worthy of being a knight of Camelot. Arthur says he’s already proved that, but he leaves anyway. 

Gwen watches him ride away from Morgana’s window and Morgana says, “Lancelot?” and when Gwen nods, Morgana’s all like, “Come, Gwen. Busy day.” So yeah, never mind that your almost boyfriend is banished, I need my hair done. Not cool, Morgana. Not cool.

 Okay…now on to the questions!

1.    If I’d written this episode, I would have changed… I would have made Morgana less of a bitch at the end. Usually, she acts as though Gwen is her friend. In this episode their class difference is very clear.

 2.    The thing I loved/hated most about this episode. This Arthur/Morgana is NOT okay with me. Actually, it’s totally fine with me…until later and then it’s just wrong, wrong very wrong. Loved Props to the Merlin writers for depicting a man coming to the rescue of another man with no jabs or even winks or nudges at the rescued man’s lack of masculinity – especially since the scenario was so stereotypically “alone in the forest damsel in distress-y.” I just really liked that bit and I thought it was important in terms of the whole theme of equality that the show has.

3.    Something you’ve never noticed about this episode before.  The first time I saw this episode, I didn't notice how snotty Morgana was at the end.

4.    Favorite Costume. I’ve got to give it to Lancelot. There’s something kinda sexy about the simplicity and also the fact that Lancelot is wearing it.

5.    Here is Proof of some random head canon I’ve created. Since my head canon involves Uther and Morgana – I’ve got nothing in this episode since they didn’t interact at all, and Morgana was barely in it.

6.    What Merthur moment did Jess have the naughtiest thoughts about? This was not a very Merthur-y episode. I’m going to have to go with the extended eye contact when Merlin is trying to convince Arthur to meet Lancelot.

7.   What made Jen lose her shit (in a good or bad way) in this episode?  I’m gonna say when the castle historian dude didn’t connect Merlin with the forged seal of nobility. C’mon guy…he was *just* in there!

You can read Jess' recap here! And Jen's is here!

Merlin Club: The Mark of Nimueh or The One Where “Somebody Poisoned the Waterhole!” (And if you all have Toy Story songs stuck in your head now, I apologize.)

It's time for another installment of Merlin Club! You can see Jess' take on it here. And Jen's here. 

This episode opens in a cave with Nimueh, an attractive young sorceress with brilliant blue eyes (and a bad crimp job) is standing in front of what looks like a Baptismal font making a homely little clay fetus of some sort. 

Then she puts it in a large egg, casts a spell over it in Welsh and the egg begins to pulse and glow with life. Then she flushes it down the Baptismal font and it shoots through the ground water system like it’s a pod in one of those vacuum tubes at the bank and ends up in a cistern under Camelot. It starts to crack open and Nimueh finishes her spell. 

In the next scene we see Merlin and Gaius checking out a dead body laying in the middle of an alley in Camelot. The corpse is all gray with black veins. They load the dude up in a wheelbarrow that they just “borrow” from some poor peasant’s place and my kid chooses this point to look at the screen and immediately starts calling, “Bring out your dead.” And the other one hollers from the other room, “I’m not dead yet.” And chaos descends upon my house as the rest of the scene is reenacted because that’s what happens when you let your children watch Monty Python during their formative years. 

Back to Merlin. After Gwen gives her father his lunch for the day, she runs into Merlin and flirts with him a bit, gives him a flower and goes on her merry way to Morgana’s chambers where we see again that Morgana is actually good friends with her chamber maid. Merlin and Gaius study the corpse they brought home with them and Arthur summons them both to the King. And we see the opposite of Morgana and Gwen’s relationship in Arthur’s interaction with Merlin. Arthur is incredibly hot, but he’s kind of an asshat for 88% of the first season.

There’s another gray veiny body in Uther’s room where he does king things. (I can’t think of what that room is called because I’m mostly frozen and I cannot brain.) Gaius suggests that it’s SORCERY and Uther sends Arthur out on a door to door search through the town to root out the evil sorcerer. Merlin and Gaius head out, too and Merlin stumbles across a dying man and wants to use magic to cure him, but Gaius is all NO! SCIENCE! 

Gaius has mad autopsy skills and is able to test the contents of the first victim’s stomach. Meanwhile, Arthur and his knights bust in and start searching the room for evidence of magic. Arthur goes into Merlin’s room and calls Merlin in there. There’s some concern on the part of Gaius and Merlin because Merlin doesn’t pick up shit and they both know his spell book is likely lying around. Arthur goes into Merlin’s room and calls him in there, saying “Look what I found.” Spoiler alert – it was a cupboard to put away his shit. Not the magic book. But you know, moment of tension. Merlin and Gaius argue some more about Merlin wanting to use magic to cure people. 

Arthur tells Uther that he hasn’t found anything to identify any sorcerers. Merlin and Gaius figure out that the disease is water-bourn. Gwen wakes her father and discovers he has the sickness. Merlin demands to be allowed to heal Gwen’s dad. Gaius predictably says no. Merlin sneaks out that night and places a little poultice thingy under Gwen’s dad’s pillow and poof he’s healed. 

Hearing about the miracle the next morning, Arthur and his nights come to investigate and it’s determined that Gwen used magic to heal her father since she was the only one there with him. Gwen is arrested and thrown into the dungeon because she’s clearly the sorcerer that’s causing all the trouble.

Side note: Arthur is particularly hot in this episode. 

Anyhoo Uther sentences Gwen to death by fire and Morgana argues with him about it. And Arthur defends Gwen, too. It goes nowhere, because, well, you know how Uther is about magic. Gaius gets his angry face on with Merlin about healing Gwen’s father and Merlin figures out that yeah, that was a bad move. But here’s what I don’t get. WHY would Merlin leave the damn thing under Gwen’s father’s pillow. He knows they’re searching the town for magic-y things. Bad move, wizard boy. 

So now Gwen is in the dungeon, Merlin is vowing to save her. Merlin goes to Uther’s king type room where he’s doing king type things with his council members and confesses to being the sorcerer. There’s a pregnant pause and everyone laughs. Arthur immediately jumps into action to protect Merlin and explains that Merlin is in love with Gwen and also mentally ill. Of course, everyone believes him. So Merlin is left to figure something out.

Merlin and Gaius go on an adventure to find out what’s contaminating the water. They discover an Afanc – the clay creature who’s not a fetus anymore. It’s big and ugly and plague-y. Merlin goes to the dragon to get advice and gets riddles instead because the dragon gets off on being cryptic. But he hints that Merlin and Arthur must work together and use the elements. 

Gwen’s execution is moved forward because a ton of people are dying. Morgana gets Arthur to help with some well placed snark and they go with Merlin down to the water supply to search for the Afanc. Happily, they have torches and when the creature attacks Merlin uses his magic to suck some wind down into the tunnel and increase the flames to destroy the Afanc. Nimueh has a tantrum. 

After the Afanc’s destruction, people start getting better. Gaius brings Uther the Afanc’s broken egg and points out that it bears the mark of Nimueh. Uther flips shit. Merlin and Morgana go down to the dungeon to release Gwen. And Morgana tells him that she knows his secret. He of course thinks she’s talking magic. But she’s talking Gwen. 

The episode closes with Merlin and Gaius eating a ridiculous amount of food for two people and Nimueh deciding that she’s going to take Merlin down. Cue tense music for next week’s episode.

 Okay…now on to the questions!

1.    If I’d written this episode, I would have changed… Honestly? This is so petty, but I would have taken the crimper away from the hair stylist.  I can't take a villain seriously who employs crimping as a style choice.

2.    The thing I loved/hated most about this episode. The thing I hated was the love/hate flirtyesque banter between Morgana and Arthur because of later revelations. The thing I loved was how Arthur defended Gwen to his father and gave some thought to his own future as the King of Camelot.

3.    Something you’ve never noticed about this episode before.  The first time I saw this episode, I didn't notice that the poultice was still all glowy when the knight picked it up from Gwen's father's bed.

4.    Favorite Costume. I'm gonna go with Arthur's casual prince wear - long leather coat, breeches, boots...le sigh.

5.    Here is Proof of some random head canon I’ve created. Yeah...I know. I'm lame. I still have nothing. :/

6.    What Merthur moment did Jess have the naughtiest thoughts about? The lovely meaningful look shared by Merlin and Arthur when Arthur tried to protect Merlin by convincing everyone that Merlin is all kinds of crazypants. 

7.   What made Jen lose her shit (in a good or bad way) in this episode? I'm gonna guess it was when Merlin uses magic to save Gwen's father but can't be arsed to take care of the evidence.