Merlin - Arthur's Bane Part One
Oct. 6th, 2012 09:25 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
daibhidcYes, while we fret over whether the Ponds' leaving actually made sense, and wonder if or how Asylum of the Daleks is going to fit in with the Christmas special, we've got this instead...
It's three years since we last saw Camelot, and the Round Table is fully established. Percival, Gwaine and a host of extras have been captured by Morgana in the Northern Wastelands, and are mining for something saught by Morgana and her new druid ally, Ruadan. Naturally, Arthur, Merlin and co have to go and rescue them.
A good start to the season. Arthur and Merlin's banter continues to be brilliant, and Guenevere is clearly settled into her new role as Queen, but still more comfortable chatting with the servants than Arthur will ever be - close bond with Merlin included. OTOH, the new villain is ... sigh ... a sorcerer who hates Arthur because the Pendragons persecute his people, suggesting that in the last three years Arthur hasn't actually got as far as actually reforming anything.
Nicely caught off-balance by Sefa; I was expecting her to be working for the villains as soon as I saw her hanging around outside the meeting room. And I thought "Of course, there has to be someone who spends the whole season being trusted while actually being a baddie, like Agrivaine last year, and like Morgana used to be." So I was really surprised when Gwen discovered and exposed her before the end of the episode. I'll be more surprised if she's actually executed, though; I think it's more likely she'll be the new Villain The Characters Are Conflicted Over, now that this is definitely not Morgana. Especially since Merlin seems to be a bit sweet on her.
Not at all sure about Freaky Translucent Blue Being watching over Gwaine, who seems to have wandered in from a sci-fi show by mistake, but I'll wait and see where that's going. Apparently, she's called the Euchdag, which isn't a mythological creature but is Gaelic for a charming girl.
Great supporting cast: As well as the return of Lindsay Duncan as Queen Annis we've got Liam Cunningham as the druid and Stephen McCole as the Saxon leader (I'm getting inured to Merlin's curious conviction that the Saxons were Scottish). But ... Julian Glover as a dying druid with one line? Well, that was a waste of an actor, wasn't it[1]? Almost as bad as Gaius just getting a couple of reaction shots.
And Alexander Vlahos manages to make Mordred just as creepy as Asa Butterfield did. And, like Butterfield in his first appearance, achieves this despite the fact Mordred hasn't actually done anything. Visions aside, he's saved Arthur's life, thanked Arthur for saving his life, and that's it. Yet somehow, everything about him seems wrong, without even the Creepy Child trope to play off.
Mythwatch: Merlin's vision of Arthur being killed by Mordred is presumably the Battle of Camlann. Northern Wastelands may or may not be a reference to the Waste Land, especially given that Percival is there.
Ruadan is the Celtic god of spying, appropriately enough. Lochru (Glover's character) is the name of a druid in the legend of St Patrick who got his head smashed by a rock when Patrick prayed he would die, in one of the more morally questionable miracles on record.
[1]In a total digression, I was interested to learn recently that Glover played King Richard the Lionheart in the 1982 TV version of Ivanhoe. Which as far as I'm concerned clearly makes it part of the Whoniverse...
It's three years since we last saw Camelot, and the Round Table is fully established. Percival, Gwaine and a host of extras have been captured by Morgana in the Northern Wastelands, and are mining for something saught by Morgana and her new druid ally, Ruadan. Naturally, Arthur, Merlin and co have to go and rescue them.
A good start to the season. Arthur and Merlin's banter continues to be brilliant, and Guenevere is clearly settled into her new role as Queen, but still more comfortable chatting with the servants than Arthur will ever be - close bond with Merlin included. OTOH, the new villain is ... sigh ... a sorcerer who hates Arthur because the Pendragons persecute his people, suggesting that in the last three years Arthur hasn't actually got as far as actually reforming anything.
Nicely caught off-balance by Sefa; I was expecting her to be working for the villains as soon as I saw her hanging around outside the meeting room. And I thought "Of course, there has to be someone who spends the whole season being trusted while actually being a baddie, like Agrivaine last year, and like Morgana used to be." So I was really surprised when Gwen discovered and exposed her before the end of the episode. I'll be more surprised if she's actually executed, though; I think it's more likely she'll be the new Villain The Characters Are Conflicted Over, now that this is definitely not Morgana. Especially since Merlin seems to be a bit sweet on her.
Not at all sure about Freaky Translucent Blue Being watching over Gwaine, who seems to have wandered in from a sci-fi show by mistake, but I'll wait and see where that's going. Apparently, she's called the Euchdag, which isn't a mythological creature but is Gaelic for a charming girl.
Great supporting cast: As well as the return of Lindsay Duncan as Queen Annis we've got Liam Cunningham as the druid and Stephen McCole as the Saxon leader (I'm getting inured to Merlin's curious conviction that the Saxons were Scottish). But ... Julian Glover as a dying druid with one line? Well, that was a waste of an actor, wasn't it[1]? Almost as bad as Gaius just getting a couple of reaction shots.
And Alexander Vlahos manages to make Mordred just as creepy as Asa Butterfield did. And, like Butterfield in his first appearance, achieves this despite the fact Mordred hasn't actually done anything. Visions aside, he's saved Arthur's life, thanked Arthur for saving his life, and that's it. Yet somehow, everything about him seems wrong, without even the Creepy Child trope to play off.
Mythwatch: Merlin's vision of Arthur being killed by Mordred is presumably the Battle of Camlann. Northern Wastelands may or may not be a reference to the Waste Land, especially given that Percival is there.
Ruadan is the Celtic god of spying, appropriately enough. Lochru (Glover's character) is the name of a druid in the legend of St Patrick who got his head smashed by a rock when Patrick prayed he would die, in one of the more morally questionable miracles on record.
[1]In a total digression, I was interested to learn recently that Glover played King Richard the Lionheart in the 1982 TV version of Ivanhoe. Which as far as I'm concerned clearly makes it part of the Whoniverse...
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Date: 2012-10-06 09:20 pm (UTC)