Merlin 4.07 - The Secret Sharer

[corilannam]

Argh, so very late on this. And so very long.

Random note: it was really funny hearing John Hurt doing the opening credits VO this week after having just seen him playing...almost the same role in Immortals.



For some reason, I kept reading this episode's title as The Secret Sharer As In The Person Who Shares Secretly. Like maybe sharing has also been banned in Camelot and just nobody's mentioned it up until now. Or referring to Agravaine secretly sharing things with Morgana. And then for a bit I figured it referred to Alator coming to share your secrets whether you liked it or not.

But now I've decided it referred to Gaius, who shares a lot of secrets and keeps them as best he can. That's kind of cool. I still think it's kind of a dumb title, though.

***

So... not a lot of squee in this one? I loved the content, though I found it really tense and painful to watch as an episode.

But there was some squee! I kind of love how they gave us this enormous chunk of happy comedy Merlin/Arthur goodness right up front, before all the angst hit. Either they were trying to be nice and give us something to sustain us, or they were being evil and throwing us off guard with adorableness before slamming us with the teary-eyed angst (seriously, how many bottles of eye drops did Bradley and Colin go through this week?)

Merlin shoving food in Arthur's mouth and Arthur just opening up for it! Merlin still writing Arthur's speeches for him! The jibe about work! The jibe about the tavern! Merlin bolstering Arthur's confidence about his kingly performance! Merlin WRESTLING ARTHUR OUT OF BED. WRESTLING HIM OUT OF BED.

I really want some fan art now of Arthur and Merlin in Arthur's bed, with Arthur curled up sound asleep with his head pillowed in Merlin's lap while Merlin busily writes his next speech by candlelight.

We all talked this to death when the preview clip came out, but I still absolutely love how Merlin is now completely running Arthur's life. Arthur now literally cannot get out of bed in the morning without Merlin. No wonder Arthur is so cranky when Merlin fucks off "to the tavern" for days at a time. Arthur then has to figure out for himself what he's supposed to be doing, and (SPOILER!) Arthur doesn't really like figuring things out for himself.

***

Okay, I'm not giving Arthur enough credit. To be honest, I felt some trepidation about this episode because I was worried that it was going to be a cut and dried case of Arthur turning against Gaius purely on Agravaine's say-so because Agravaine is his uncle/substitute father.

But it really wasn't like that at all. He repeatedly rejects Agravaine's attempts to cast doubt on Gaius, asserting his longstanding trust. He doesn't even want to bother questioning Gaius.

So is it a sign of Arthur's weakness or susceptibility to his uncle's wiles that he finally gives in and lets Agravaine interrogate Gaius? You could argue it either way, but I don't think it is. He's willing to let Agravaine try to prove his supposed suspicions, but he requires real proof. He's not just going to take Agravaine's word for anything.

I love how this ties back to last week when Arthur was systematically going through his most trusted knights to consider if any of them could be the traitor before casting his suspicions on Agravaine himself. Merlin is very literally the only person Arthur trusts without any hesitation at all.

I loved the interrogation scene. LOVED IT. My favorite part, of course, was the way Arthur stood in the background - nervous, ashamed, but regal and determined to find the truth one way or the other. And even though his distaste for the whole thing was palpable, he was listening and analyzing. I love this Arthur so much. His look of grief when it became clear that Gaius was lying, or at least hiding something, was a thing of painful beauty. He hates every minute of this, and he still won't believe the worst without real proof, but now he has to allow Agravaine to continue his distasteful investigation. To do otherwise would be irresponsible.

Such a sad shot of him at the end of that scene, alone and lonely on his throne.

I actually really enjoyed Agravaine during this scene, too. He was so deliciously smarmy and snake-like. A great Cardinal Richilieu kind of scene for him. It played with nice tension against Gaius's combination of righteous anger and secretive hesitance.

***

Hey, look, Morgana's being proactive! I do find it so interesting how Morgana now goes by Morgana Pendragon. She hates Uther and rejects him as her father in favor of Gorlois, but dammit, she wants what she considers her birthright. I'd like to know what the show would consider to be the bigger obstacle in this universe -- Morgana's sex or her illegitimacy.

And now she's "High Priestess of the Triple Goddess" and the last of her kind. That's the first time we've heard that, and another very overt pagan reference for the show (which I love). So she's officially taken up Nimueh's mantle as High Priestess of the Old Religion, though it doesn't win her much reverence from Alator of the Catha (sp?).

This actually interests me primarily as a possible solution to the plot hole that's been bugging me for ages now -- she has magic, so why doesn't she just sneak into Camelot and kill Arthur (and Uther before him) in his sleep? Merlin's not in Arthur's bedchamber 24/7, although it probably seems that way to Arthur (hee).

But back in S1, Nimueh said it was not Arthur's destiny to die at her hand. This was a great explanation for why she had to keep cooking up increasingly far-fetched contrivances for Arthur to meet his doom in other ways. So I'm going to assume that Morgana's position as High Priestess has put her in a similar bind -- maybe she can't kill Arthur directly because the Old Religion won't allow her to slay the rightful king or heir, or maybe she just can't kill her own blood without risking some kind of magical consequence. Whatever, I'm just going to assume it's something like that so I can stop screaming at the TV screen every week.

***

That scene with Merlin and Agravaine was just... weird. I kind of feel like Merlin should have been more suspicious here. But then, I think I was assuming that Merlin knew about Gaius's interrogation, which he might not have. He seemed so shocked when he found out about the whole thing later.

But okay, it was kind of adorable, just the way Merlin smiled almost against his will with happiness at getting to give Arthur such a beautiful gift, and one which Arthur would obviously love. And wow! Awesome Gedref reference. You'd almost think that the writers still remember S1! And was that horse they released the same horse that played the unicorn? I thought I recognized that shaggy mane.

I loved Merlin's little grin when the bells woke up Arthur just as he was leaving the dagger for him. I was too tense to properly squee, but it was so cute, all "Haha, I'm just lurking like usual, whatever's going on, nothing to do with me this time!"

***

Argh. I feel like I have to talk about the scene with Merlin, Arthur, and Agravaine, but I honestly don't want to. I get tears in my eyes just thinking about it. It was gorgeous, but it hurt.

Oh, Merlin's face. His face when Agravaine is going on about the lies and the years of betrayal. Agravaine is unrelenting in his drive to condemn Gaius, but the real interaction here is between Arthur and Merlin, to the point where Agravaine is almost background noise until he leaves and the real scene can get going.

Arthur doesn't want to believe Gaius is the traitor, but the evidence he has is overwhelming. Merlin knows it's not true, but he has nothing to offer against it other than his faith.

It's an interesting conundrum. Logic and evidence vs. trust and love. Arthur's trying to walk a very fine line between them, with the fate of the kingdom at stake if he makes the wrong call. And although Arthur is swayed by the evidence, he also chooses love as much as he can by letting Gaius go.

"He would not leave without saying good-bye to me." Yeah, that's where I gave up and reached for the tissue box. Merlin can't even look at Arthur. Arthur looks at him with so much helpless love and pain, because he knows how much this hurts Merlin, but there's nothing he can do. I think if Merlin had had real evidence against Agravaine or that would have exonerated Gaius, Arthur would have listened.

I love that Gwen came to comfort Merlin as best she could. I also loved that her kirtle looks to be the same fabric as Merlin's neckerchief. Hee. Matching gifts from Arthur? Token from Gwen? I could go so many places with that!

And she perpetuates the "Agravaine is his uncle, he trusts him" thing, but I still disagree with that. Arthur is making the best judgement calls he can with the information he has available. What seems so obvious to us or to Merlin, Arthur knows nothing about. He's not blindly trusting anyone here -- the episode would argue that he should, but I have mixed feelings about that. He needs to be able to trust people, but then, Agravaine is a very logical choice of someone he should trust, isn't he? Arthur is still developing his instincts, but you can see that they're there. He just needs to trust himself more.

***

LOL at the box of sorcery schoolbooks under Agravaine's bed. I'm sure I'm not the only one whose first thought was "when did he have time to nip over to Flourish & Blotts??"

Though I did have a question about them. Do we think that Agravaine is practicing sorcery himself, or is he just keeping a stash of illegal books around just in case he needs to frame people?

I do love that he was smart enough to figure out exactly what Merlin must have seen and that he had enough respect for Merlin to know that he had reached the right conclusions.

***

I didn't find the Gaius torture scenes particularly pleasant or interesting, except....

You know, I've never been the biggest Gaius fan in the room. But I really, really loved him this week. His dignity, his determination to protect Merlin at all costs, his anguish when Alator finally ripped it out of him, the near-relief when he finally had nothing left to lose and could finally spill out all his hopes and dreams about Merlin and his destiny.

It really made me feel the weight of responsibility that must have settled on Gaius's shoulders the day Merlin walked through his door. Gaius knows exactly who Merlin is and what he's meant to do, and out of all the many, many secrets Gaius has kept throughout his life, that has to be the most enormous. His utter belief in Merlin made me cry as much as Merlin's belief in him did earlier.

***

GWAINE! GWAINEY GWAINE GWAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAINE!

I think it goes without saying how awesome it was that Gwaine came to see how Merlin was doing. FINALLY.

I thought Merlin's initial hostility was really interesting. I couldn't quite decide whether it was part of his general sense of isolation and anger at everyone for believing Gaius could be the traitor and not investigating Agravaine, or whether Gwaine has been in the doghouse for something else (after old Merlin's harsh digs at him last week, that doesn't seem entirely unlikely).

Oh, and Gwaine's hesitant "You probably don't need my help, then." Just throwing that out there, like he's assuming rejection, but wants to offer. And Merlin's little moment of dithering before accepting his help (though interesting that he won't tell Gwaine where he found the dirt).

And YAY! Gwaine has exactly the piece of knowledge to solve the riddle. *beams* Take that, jokesters.

Love him coming and snuggling up to Merlin on the bench. Love how hot he was fighting the Catha henchman. Love that weird little look he gives when Merlin tells him not to wait for him. Love how he looks in torchlight. Love how he dealt with Agravaine, interrogated him, forced him to exonerate Gaius, and MOST OF ALL, loved how he really, REALLY doesn't want to leave without Merlin.

My only complaint is that I was kind of wistfully hoping he'd find out about Merlin's magic this time. But I think it's pretty clear now that nobody's going to find out before Arthur, which is probably the way it should be, antsy though I get.

***

Blah, blah, blah, Morgana. Merlin is so not impressed.

It wasn't exactly surprising when Alator turned on Morgana to ally himself with Merlin, but OH HOW I LOVED IT. I can't help it, I go wild whenever a magical person or creature swears their allegiance to Emrys. HE KNELT TO HIM, OMG I LOVE IT. *happy wiggle*

I just loving seeing Merlin get the respect he deserves, but I loved this in particular because of what Alator said about understanding how alone and persecuted it feels to have magic and how he and so many others would give their lives to help Merlin achieve the world he's meant to build with Arthur. How much do you think Merlin really needed to hear that, after feeling so discouraged and alone all episode? And what a gift of unity and devotion he'll be able to lay at Arthur's feet some day, when Arthur is ready to accept it.

Also loved Morgana waking up and finding her precious bracelet there in the dirt, rejected. BURN.

***

Love that Gwaine got to be the one to give Arthur the news about Gaius. He was so proud! Suck it, Aggravating!

"Merlin was right all along." Hell to the yes. May this be the last time anyone doubts him. Love how Agravaine is saying out loud exactly what he knows Arthur is thinking, in order to get himself back into Arthur's good graces and avoid suspicion falling back on himself.

"Your boy." *flail* There's nothing else to say about that, I just loved it.

(sidenote: hello, Gwen's cleavage!)

The Puffs box came out again when Gaius said he was so afraid that one day he would let Merlin down. *wibble*

Merlin doesn't even care about that -- he just wants Arthur to know about Agravaine. He can't stand it anymore. He has to keep some secrets from Arthur still, but this shouldn't be one of them and Merlin feels that strongly after this. Arthur has proved he'll make the right decisions if he has the right information -- but how can Merlin truly advise him if he can't tell him the single most important thing he needs to know?

I am totally on Merlin's side here, but Gaius is correct, too. They're going to need evidence. Arthur proved before that he's willing to entertain suspicions about Agravaine, but he won't condemn him without proof. Merlin's word that he saw him with Morgana would probably be enough, but how can Merlin do that without revealing himself? Agravaine is so slippery, he keeps just enough doubt in play to be able to wiggle himself out of any circumstantial evidence. Argh.

And one more scene to make me cry! OH, Arthur. Uther would never apologize to anyone, let alone a servant, but Arthur takes his lumps like a man.

I love the light snark of the apology exchange between Arthur and Merlin -- as usual, all the important subtext was in the way they look at each other. Arthur knows Merlin was hurt. Merlin knows Arthur is sorry. They both know that the other did what they had to do, and they're okay with each other.

And I love that Arthur's traditional listing of Merlin's chores is just filler now. He's not actually giving Merlin work, it's just filler words for the conversation going on underneath. SO MUCH LOVE.

"I've looked after you since you were a nursling, Arthur. You should have known I love you far too much to ever betray you." And Arthur is tearful, choked up. *wibble* We don't get scenes of real emotion between Gaius and Arthur... ever, actually. And I didn't know how much I wanted one until I saw this.

I'm so glad that Arthur at least knows that Morgana is behind all this, even if he doesn't know yet about Agravaine.

And then, oh, I loved it so much when Arthur put his hand over Gaius's and talked to him man to man about the sorcery issue. That's what he should have done in the first place, rather than letting Agravaine run the show, and I think he realizes that now. He can seek the truth while still giving his trust where he knows it's deserved.

And OH, how wonderful was it to hear Gaius laying it all out for Arthur -- about Uther's death, about all the people with different beliefs (i.e., magic users, i.e., MERLIN) seeking to protect and help Arthur. "One day you will understand just how much they've done for you."

And Arthur accepts it. He nods, tears in his eyes. I think this moment is so critical for the reveal to come. No matter how many times Arthur slams his mind and heart shut, he is always willing to open them again when he hears something he recognizes as truth. He and Merlin are still going to have to deal with the years of lies, but I think Arthur just proved that when the time comes, he'll be able to accept and understand exactly what Merlin has done for him, and he'll love him the more for it.

***

Next week: A creature of the week episode -- how novel! But it looks kind of interesting. I'm thrilled Gwen gets to go out on an adventure with the boys, and it looks like some knightly shenanigans should prove entertaining. Just please let it be marginally less angsty than this week!

Comments

[destina.livejournal.com]

It's OK that you didn't have squee; I had enough for both of us. *g*

Merlin can't even look at Arthur.

He never can when he's crying! Dude, I was thinking about this last night, about all the times Merlin has cried over various things and looked away from Arthur, like he's ashamed to have Arthur see him that way. It just strikes me as so touching, because really, the minute Merlin gets choked up, Arthur seems to feel a compulsion to comfort and reassure him - teasing or joking or reminding him that no man is worth his tears, or getting choked up himself, you name it. AND I LOVE IT, because, I don't know, it goes to show that Merlin's feeeeeeelings impact Arthur to a ridiculous degree.

I think Arthur just proved that when the time comes, he'll be able to accept and understand exactly what Merlin has done for him, and he'll love him the more for it.

I will be totally shocked if it goes this way, to be honest, but I'd love it if it did. There are apples, oranges and bananas in the basket - the lie, the magic, and the reason for the lie. He's going to be fine with the magic and the reason for the lie, but I think it's going to take him a minute to come to terms with the lie itself. The foundation of trust will be shaken a bit, because that's human nature. See: 242346029364023946 predictive fanfics. Heh.

[corilannam.livejournal.com]

Well, yeah, like I keep saying, I think they're definitely going to have to deal with all the lying. I don't mean to brush that off as insignificant. I think Arthur is going to be hurt and shaken when he realizes the sheer magnitude of how Merlin has deceived him all these years.

But I think he'll get past that, and it's moments like his chat with Gaius this week that are building the foundation of understanding that he's going to need for it. At the very least, I am hoping it will let us avoid any exiling or things of that nature that tend to pop up in those fics. *g*

You're right that Merlin can never look at Arthur when he cries. Does he look at anyone? I do think he doesn't want Arthur to think he's weak for it, and of course, Arthur has never been able to deal with it (though he's getting better!) He just wants to comfort Merlin, but comfort isn't something he has much experience with.

[reni-m.livejournal.com]

I'm in the same boat as you. Not as many squee moments, but the actual episode was really, really enjoyable for me.

Some great acting too, especially in the scene where Arthur says to Merlin he doesn't want to lose another friend.

When we were first introduced to the Catha, I was laughing at the random Indian market that Morgana went too. And his half naked guard! I came up with a mini backstory for that guard. lol.

I loved when the Catha knelt to Merlin. Poor Morgana is making a lot of enemies.

[corilannam.livejournal.com]

Yeah, that was some amazing acting. So much power in that scene, all due to the emotional whammy Colin and Bradley delivered.

I was also totally laughing at the random Indian/Middle Eastern city randomly plopped somewhere in Albion. Tell me your backstory! I wanna hear!

[reni-m.livejournal.com]

When I first saw the guard my head canon decided he was a eunuch. Maybe he was captured and enslaved to serve the Catha. Especially since he had on that metal necklace!

Then of course my head wandered into a what if scenario of Merlin being a Catha, and given Arthur as a half naked salve guard.

[corilannam.livejournal.com]

Oooh, I like it! And that would be an awesome AU (but let's not make Arthur a eunuch for that one?)

[reni-m.livejournal.com]

(ahaha, my thoughts exactly!)

[junkshop-disco.livejournal.com]

The Secret Sharer As In The Person Who Shares Secretly.

This made me LOL, and put my word nerd hat on to briefly mourn the death of the hyphenated compound noun.

I was going to post about Agravaine and his box of magic nicknaks. Are we supposed to believe he has magic and that's why he's allied with Morgana, or was it - as you said - a handy way to frame pretty much anyone in Camelot any time he wants? So many questions about him rn.

edit for vital sense-making word. There's an internet rule about this, I swear

[corilannam.livejournal.com]

I really want to know what's going on with him! If he's a warlock, that would totally explain why he's with Morgana. But if that's the case, then why haven't we ever seen him use magic?

On the other hand, if Morgana gave him those books with which to frame Gaius, why didn't he use all of them? Why would he keep such incriminating material under his own bed?

I do love hyphens. Punctuation in general makes everything so much clearer!

[riventhorn.livejournal.com]

I completely agree with you regarding Arthur's reactions. It's so easy to forget how things look from his standpoint, because we're always in Merlin's pov. But yes, the fact that Merlin is the only one he trusts implicitly=a thousand hearts.

And I want that fanart, too!!! Arthur curled up in Merlin's lap as Merlin writes his speeches. I am so in love with all these domestic scenes we keep getting. I WANT MORE. ALWAYS MORE. And I kind of want Merlin to never give up taking care of Arthur, even when he's no longer his manservant.

Yes, it was so wonderful to hear Gaius saying those things to Arthur at the end. No matter how many times Arthur slams his mind and heart shut, he is always willing to open them again when he hears something he recognizes as truth. I agree completely. I think despite the fact that Arthur has an outward arrogance at times, he also possesses a very deep humility that makes him willing to think about others and different opinions and admit that he can be wrong. I think it's one of the strongest parts of his character.

[corilannam.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I think sometimes Arthur gets a bad rap for being stupid or missing what should be so obvious, but Merlin does a surprisingly good job of keeping a lot of vital information from him. The good thing is that once he has the right information, he generally makes the right choices with it.

MORE DOMESTICITY. It's almost my favorite part of this season. I can't imagine that Merlin will ever not take care of Arthur and run his life for him, even once Merlin has a more distinguished place at court. He'll just have staff to do all the actual unpleasant tasks to free him up to be with Arthur all the time. *squee*

[giselleslash.livejournal.com]

I gotta say, I love your recaps. They're always so spot-on and thoughtful. But I'm actually laughing over the John Hurt comment because I saw Immortals this weekend too (OMG, such a godawful movie. lol.) And I kept expecting the dragon to show up every time he was onscreen.

Merlin has ruined me. ;P

[corilannam.livejournal.com]

Aw, thanks! Immortals was a godawful movie, but I have to admit I enjoyed a lot of it (at least it was a better mythology fix than Clash of the Titans). I got the giggles every time John Hurt said anything. And now I kind of want to write a whole comparison where Merlin is Theseus the low-born hero and Arthur is Phaedra.

[giselleslash.livejournal.com]

I could totally get behind a fic like that. :D

Yeah, I spent the entire movie going OMG. HENRY CAVILL'S CHEST. AND FACE. and OMG. LUKE EVANS. NOM. and OMG. THIS IS SO AWFUL. and KILGHARRRRRAHHHHH!! AHAHA. every time John was on.

Good times. *g*

[lolafeist.livejournal.com]

I really want some fan art now of Arthur and Merlin in Arthur's bed, with Arthur curled up sound asleep with his head pillowed in Merlin's lap while Merlin busily writes his next speech by candlelight.

My head just exploded.

Such a sad shot of him at the end of that scene, alone and lonely on his throne.

I actually really enjoyed Agravaine during this scene, too. He was so deliciously smarmy and snake-like. A great Cardinal Richilieu kind of scene for him.

This so much. I loved how UNCOMFORTABLE Arthur was, but he was listening, and I think a part of him also wanted to be there to protect Gaius. Not that he'd think Agravaine would axe him or something but just because he feels responsible for his well-being.

I also loved the line where Arthur said that Gaius had been a friend of his father's. When he mentions Uther, his pain is so present and so awful but still very subtle.

Whatever, I'm just going to assume it's something like that so I can stop screaming at the TV screen every week.

I hadn't considered ANY of this. Brilliant.

Though I did have a question about them. Do we think that Agravaine is practicing sorcery himself, or is he just keeping a stash of illegal books around just in case he needs to frame people?

I'm curious about this too. Trying to impress Morgana? Learning magic? Handy framing people shit? WHERE DID HE EVEN GET THEM?

I thought Merlin's initial hostility was really interesting. I couldn't quite decide whether it was part of his general sense of isolation and anger at everyone for believing Gaius could be the traitor and not investigating Agravaine, or whether Gwaine has been in the doghouse for something else (after old Merlin's harsh digs at him last week, that doesn't seem entirely unlikely).

I felt like he was comfortable enough with Gwaine to lash out and release some of the uglier sides of what he's feeling here. The betrayal, resentment, bitterness. And Gwaine makes an easy target because he's got his brofriends now and participates in their jokey shenanigans and probably actually is at the tavern all the time. But then, just a quickly, Gwaine patiently waits it out and Merlin has that beautiful moment where you can see him chilling the fuck out and letting Gwaine in. I adored this scene. It spoke to their friendship in a way I really needed.

I loved Merlin with Gwen but also loved that he was a little reserved with her, almost as if it hurt to receive her comfort. Which was interesting. I appreciated her efforts and lovely boobs though.

THE END. I can't believe Agravaine said "your boy." I laughed and kind of squeed. I'm easy.

That whole ending scene was just so fucking great. I loved Gaius saying nursling, AWWWW I PICTURED THIS WEE BABY ARTHUR AND BASICALLY DIED. And like, knee-high Arthur knocking shit down and breaking it in Gaius's chambers and Gaius really, truly loves Arthur and I don't think we get to recognize that often.

(Oh and the boys making up with silent, perfect eyefucking. They kill me.)

I wanted to dance around and cheer when Gaius laid it on the line about Dragoon. And Arthur listened and didn't act like Uther. He didn't act like Uther AT ALL AT ANY POINT in this episode and that is so, so much cause for hope.

I need Arthur/Merlin makeup sex now and also Gwaine/Merlin. Hard.

[corilannam.livejournal.com]

I LOVE WEE BABY ARTHUR. I mean, he was trained to kill since birth, right? So Gaius probably had to bandage up all his wee boo-boos when he got scraped up while trying to make Uther proud, and little Arthur probably sniffled and Gaius comforted him while he cried like he couldn't in front of his father. *wibble*

You're right, he did not act like Uther even once. This is why I love this season so much, because in 4.04, he did act like Uther and regretted it, and I'm so happy that we're getting to watch him grow into his kingship and really become the man that we know he should be. All by making his own hard choices and learning to listen to Merlin and dammit, when he finally pulls Excalibur from the stone, he'll really have earned it. *flail*

YES WHERE IS THE MAKEUP SEX??? In my mind, when Arthur dismisses him at the end, Merlin goes off to find Gwaine to apologize for being bitchy and thank him for saving Gaius. I think Gwaine could be persuaded to accept Merlin's gratitude in the form of a good hard fuck against the wall. It's morning, so Merlin will have plenty of recovery time before he goes to take put Arthur to bed that evening.

[lolafeist.livejournal.com]

I have a vicious, unending kink for Merlin sleeping around and ending up always with Arthur by the end and Arthur loving it. I think one of the first things I wrote in this fandom was Merlin/Gwaine followed by Arthur/Merlin because IT JUST MAKES SENSE TO ME though it is possibly unfair to Gwaine. But I think he can be an easygoing bff/fuckbuddy and not be sad. Right, Gwaine? Right??

[corilannam.livejournal.com]

I have the exact same kink! Big time. I love seeing Merlin sleep around with everyone and everything, as long as Arthur is his OTP at the end.

And I don't think that would be necessarily unfair to Gwaine. I think he would probably be just fine with being Merlin's good buddy with benefits, either while or before Merlin is with Arthur. Gwaine does not seem at all like he's looking to settle down into a long-term romantic relationship, so a casual sex-and-mutual-adoration relationship with Merlin would be a pretty awesome situation for him.

Because Merlin deserves to get laid. A lot.

[lolafeist.livejournal.com]

He totally does deserve to get laid. I can even twist this around in my head to be like, HE HAS A LOVE OF LOVE AND MAGIC INSIDE OF HIM, HE LITERALLY REQUIRES AFFECTION AND FUCKING. And he has a lot of love to give. I basically just want everyone ever to pet him and fuck him in between his bouts of being a complete badass.

And I want him to pillow his head on Arthur's furry chest every night.

THIS IS ALL I WANT.

[corilannam.livejournal.com]

YES.

And then when Arthur finds out about Merlin's magical sex needs after the reveal, he's like, "Oh, so that's why you spend so much time at the tavern," and Merlin's like, "I WASN'T AT THE TAVERN OMG."

[lolafeist.livejournal.com]

Hahaha I just laughed out loud for real.

[castalianspring.livejournal.com]

This actually interests me primarily as a possible solution to the plot hole that's been bugging me for ages now -- she has magic, so why doesn't she just sneak into Camelot and kill Arthur (and Uther before him) in his sleep? Merlin's not in Arthur's bedchamber 24/7, although it probably seems that way to Arthur (hee).

Hm, interesting point. Perhaps she doesn't want anyone to know she's the one responsible, considering how badly it went the last time she tried to take over. The knights might not forget all of that, but the people might eventually come around to accepting her. Otherwise it does seem like a ridiculous plot hole, especially after seeing her successfully kill Uther.

Gaius and Gwaine both rocked this ep! I keep on being surprised that Gaius has lasted this long, but the show isn't letting go of those older adults just yet.

I agree that Gaius has just laid a HUGE amount of the groundwork necessary for Arthur to finally find out about Merlin's magic and accept it. I just hope we actually get to see that moment on the show one day.

[corilannam.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I've been waiting for Gaius to kick it since S1, but he keeps hanging in there! I'm kind of glad, because otherwise Merlin really would be so terribly alone in a lot of ways. And at this point, I'd like Gaius (and the show!) to at least last long enough to see Merlin finally accepted for who he is.

[archaeologist-d.livejournal.com]

Yes, I agree with you completely. There were so many wonderful moments in this episode that I really loved, esp the Arthur/Gaius one and the one with Agravaine, Arthur and Merlin. So darn good. Bradley has really stepped up his game this year and I'm loving it.

[corilannam.livejournal.com]

Bradley really has been amazing this year. Colin, too, of course, but Colin has had more opportunity to flex his acting muscles in past seasons. But now Bradley gets to show off more, and I love how much character he can convey without saying a word.

[lapislaz.livejournal.com]

I think the writers have rather gratuitously borrowed the term "Cathar" for their obscure religious sect of the week. The Catholic Church thought they were heretics of the very worst kind.

Whether or not they would have allied with the "Old Religion", is up for grabs.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Catharism

[corilannam.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I assumed that "Catha" was meant to evoke "Cathar" for an atmosphere of exotic heresy, though I can't see much similarity between the Catha of the episode and the real-life Cathars. Still, always nice to see that someone in the writers' room has an edumacation!

[stagarden.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the terrific recap and thinky thoughts. Amazingly thorough -- i think you discussed everything I liked or thought about Nothing to add at the moment, but you've raised a lot of interesting questions.

[corilannam.livejournal.com]

Thanks for the nice words! I should probably discuss less so people will talk to me more. *g*

[echoing-seas.livejournal.com]

So your post just made my day. Completely.

I love how you analyzed Arthur (I agree, by the way) and yes, the lying from Merlin will have to be addressed. At this point, despite understanding Merlin's reasoning, I feel awful for Arthur. The one person he completely trusts, and he's been lying to him for years...

I did enjoy Gaius's conversation with Arthur, mainly because (and I know that this opinion may make people hate me) I haven't cared for him at times in the past. I know that his primary concern is Merlin, but his consistent lying to Arthur and telling Merlin to do the say didn't always endear him to me. The conversation partly helped to fix my opinion of him though!!! ;)

Thanks again for sharing!