Merlin 4x07 - The Secret Sharer
Nov. 12th, 2011 08:27 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
castaliaAnother solid ep! I am not believing this season, seriously.
I've watched the first scene with Merlin and Arthur about a million times. There's nothing about it I don't love: Merlin waking Arthur up for a bath, Arthur whining about it, Merlin actually in charge of how Arthur spends his day AND still writing speeches for him, Merlin stuffing a scone into Arthur's mouth when asked about breakfast, the running joke about polishing, Arthur already realizing kings don't get much personal time, Merlin snarking about how being king is almost like having to work for a living, Merlin dragging a half naked Arthur out of bed and onto the floor and Arthur just lying there and admitting he's worried about being a good king. This is all NORMAL for these two and I love it so. Maybe Uther would've been less nasty if he'd had a good servant manhandling him and giving him good advice all those years. We never saw him with a personal servant, come to think of it, which is odd.
Agravaine is so not subtle, but then I suppose it's not entirely out of character that Arthur miss all those subtle things. It was quite clever of him to get Merlin out of the way so Gaius could be abducted and quite telling that he chose to use a present for Arthur as the way to do it. I do wonder if Agravaine is at least smart enough to realize he can't turn Arthur against Merlin, that bond is too strong for him to mess with. At least now Merlin and Gaius know for sure that he's the traitor and can be on the lookout for ways to expose him.
Arthur needs to not let Agravaine take so many liberties anyway. If you're going to question your most loyal servants, then do it yourself, Arthur. It was nice to see him being willing to let Gaius run instead of dragging him back to be interrogated and potentially executed, though. He's different from Uther in the ways that really count.
I expected Merlin to burst out his objections in front of everyone like he used to, but he seems to have learned to wait and hash things out with Arthur in private. I really loved that scene, with Merlin not even moving from his spot across the room. His anger is more mature now. It was a painful scene for both of them, as evidenced by the fact that Arthur went directly to Gwen afterward to pour his heart out about the whole problem. It was great to see Merlin and Gwen get even a short scene together again; I miss that friendship extremely.
Poor Gaius, he really suffered in this one. But he held out until the last and I had a feeling, after his speech about how awesome Merlin is and is going to be, that the priest guy was probably going to not want to help Morgana kill Emrys after all. That was a nice turnaround; Merlin needs some more magical allies.
Gwaine! I was so happy to see him coming to support Merlin, wanting nothing more than to be helpful when he knew Merlin would be upset. Sadly, he let Agravaine sweet talk his way out of being caught red-handed, trying to kill Gaius, but oh well. His loyalty to Merlin is so sweet and I loved that he was the one going along to help rescue Gaius.
I was glad to see Arthur personally apologizing to Merlin and Gaius. With Merlin it was more of a gentle teasing and "get back to work" type of thing, not as many words necessary, but he sat down and talked it out with Gaius and was honest about what sowed those seeds of doubt. I was expecting Gaius to brush it off saying he was protecting "informants" or whatever, but then he KEPT GOING and told Arthur how much help he's getting from those implied magical circles and how much they all believe in the future Arthur wants to build. And Arthur sat and listened and got all wide-eyed and didn't object when Gaius insisted that magic didn't kill Uther, it just failed to save him. That probably did more to push Arthur down the road of accepting magic than anything so far. Go Gaius!
I'm loving this season so much, I don't even know. Usually by this time in the season something awful and ridiculous has happened, but it just keeps getting better. The trailer for next week isn't really getting me all that excited, but seriously, I'm actually trusting that it will be good. For better or for worse, I trust this show again and after last season, that's really saying something.
I've watched the first scene with Merlin and Arthur about a million times. There's nothing about it I don't love: Merlin waking Arthur up for a bath, Arthur whining about it, Merlin actually in charge of how Arthur spends his day AND still writing speeches for him, Merlin stuffing a scone into Arthur's mouth when asked about breakfast, the running joke about polishing, Arthur already realizing kings don't get much personal time, Merlin snarking about how being king is almost like having to work for a living, Merlin dragging a half naked Arthur out of bed and onto the floor and Arthur just lying there and admitting he's worried about being a good king. This is all NORMAL for these two and I love it so. Maybe Uther would've been less nasty if he'd had a good servant manhandling him and giving him good advice all those years. We never saw him with a personal servant, come to think of it, which is odd.
Agravaine is so not subtle, but then I suppose it's not entirely out of character that Arthur miss all those subtle things. It was quite clever of him to get Merlin out of the way so Gaius could be abducted and quite telling that he chose to use a present for Arthur as the way to do it. I do wonder if Agravaine is at least smart enough to realize he can't turn Arthur against Merlin, that bond is too strong for him to mess with. At least now Merlin and Gaius know for sure that he's the traitor and can be on the lookout for ways to expose him.
Arthur needs to not let Agravaine take so many liberties anyway. If you're going to question your most loyal servants, then do it yourself, Arthur. It was nice to see him being willing to let Gaius run instead of dragging him back to be interrogated and potentially executed, though. He's different from Uther in the ways that really count.
I expected Merlin to burst out his objections in front of everyone like he used to, but he seems to have learned to wait and hash things out with Arthur in private. I really loved that scene, with Merlin not even moving from his spot across the room. His anger is more mature now. It was a painful scene for both of them, as evidenced by the fact that Arthur went directly to Gwen afterward to pour his heart out about the whole problem. It was great to see Merlin and Gwen get even a short scene together again; I miss that friendship extremely.
Poor Gaius, he really suffered in this one. But he held out until the last and I had a feeling, after his speech about how awesome Merlin is and is going to be, that the priest guy was probably going to not want to help Morgana kill Emrys after all. That was a nice turnaround; Merlin needs some more magical allies.
Gwaine! I was so happy to see him coming to support Merlin, wanting nothing more than to be helpful when he knew Merlin would be upset. Sadly, he let Agravaine sweet talk his way out of being caught red-handed, trying to kill Gaius, but oh well. His loyalty to Merlin is so sweet and I loved that he was the one going along to help rescue Gaius.
I was glad to see Arthur personally apologizing to Merlin and Gaius. With Merlin it was more of a gentle teasing and "get back to work" type of thing, not as many words necessary, but he sat down and talked it out with Gaius and was honest about what sowed those seeds of doubt. I was expecting Gaius to brush it off saying he was protecting "informants" or whatever, but then he KEPT GOING and told Arthur how much help he's getting from those implied magical circles and how much they all believe in the future Arthur wants to build. And Arthur sat and listened and got all wide-eyed and didn't object when Gaius insisted that magic didn't kill Uther, it just failed to save him. That probably did more to push Arthur down the road of accepting magic than anything so far. Go Gaius!
I'm loving this season so much, I don't even know. Usually by this time in the season something awful and ridiculous has happened, but it just keeps getting better. The trailer for next week isn't really getting me all that excited, but seriously, I'm actually trusting that it will be good. For better or for worse, I trust this show again and after last season, that's really saying something.
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(no subject)
Date: 2011-11-13 01:53 am (UTC)It would be really fun to see him try, though. OH THE ANGST that could result! And in the end, if Arthur realized Merlin really IS the one he should trust more than anyone, that would be excellent. I thought they were heading that direction in this episode. It's that way in my head canon, now. *g*
(no subject)
Date: 2011-11-13 03:03 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2011-11-13 02:53 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2011-11-13 03:04 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2011-11-13 02:58 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2011-11-13 03:05 am (UTC)