Merlin 4.07 - The Secret Sharer
Nov. 13th, 2011 03:04 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
corilannamArgh, 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!
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!
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Date: 2011-11-13 08:39 pm (UTC)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.