Merlin 2x13 The Last Dragon Lord

[themadpoker]

THE DOCTOR:
You let one of them go, but that's nothing new. Every now and then, a little victim's spared. Because she smiled... because he's got freckles... 'cos they begged... and that's how you live with yourself. That's how you slaughter millions. Because once in a while, on a whim, if the wind's in the right direction... you happen to be kind.

MARGARET:
(coldly)
Only a killer would know that.

- Doctor Who 1x11 Boomtown

That up there is pretty much Gaius' modus operandi. We know he stood by and let Uther kill hundreds. We also know he helped Morgause, Balinor, and Merlin live. I've been very very angry at the way he failed to really help Morgana in the past (sleeping potions and lies are NOT helping) but it really isn't the least bit surprising. That's what Gaius does. He makes a few exceptions that let him live with his guilt and everyone else is screwed. My memory's fuzzy but I think the writers even kind of made it explicit in the first episode finale with him being willing to die for Merlin (and again in The Witchfinder). Of course he'll do anything for Merlin, he's not just like a son to him he's also his means of atonement. But that's enough on Gaius, let's move on the boys.

Arthur

I LOVED the scene after the bar. Arthur noticed something was wrong! He tried to get Merlin to talk to him! I really do feel like season 2 has given Arthur some real character growth. Season One had him and Merlin doing the mutual lifesaving thing alot but we never got so much in the way of honest talking. And who's starting to get the sense that he's taken all of Gwen's talking on class differences to heart? "I know I'm a prince. So we can't be friends. But if I wasn't a prince..?" <3333 He's not really successful with getting Merlin to open up but he's TRYING. Definitely a step up from the guy we saw at the beginning of the series.

Conversely, on the Arthur not thinking front I winced when he announced he'd pay for information at the bar. Really Arthur? REALLY? I was waiting for you to get jumped in your sleep. You're lucky all you got was that one guy who oh so conveniently knew where to locate Balinor. But whatever, this is Merlin so coincidence drives plot. Speaking of, let's move on to the titular character.

Merlin

Poor guy just can't catch a break can he? When he met his father and he was so happy (his smile you guys. His SMILE. Seriously show, you couldn't let him have more than two minutes of joy?) I pretty much guessed that Balinor was doomed. Because if there's been one theme this season it's been 'Merlin is alone and sad. ALWAYS. Even when he isn't it's just so the writers can kill off whoever it is he's managed to form a connection to leaving him even MORE alone and sad'. Is it any wonder he's been pulling away from Arthur so much? If Merlin likes you IT IS A DEATH CURSE.

No seriously though, going back to the Merlin/Arthur relationship. I mentioned that I liked the bar scene because it showed Arthur trying to reach out but I also think Colin Morgan did some awesome acting there. He got across 'irritated because you keep asking me questions when I don't want to answer so kindly be quiet and leave me to myself' really well. I really felt bad for him being so closed off although I do think it's kind of his own fault. GWEN, Merlin, GWEN. Former BFF? You can talk to her, I swear to God she'd keep your secrets. Speaking of the girl in question:

Gwen

We didn't get a whole lot of her in this episode and that's pretty sad. I really wanted to know what she's going to do for employment now that Morgana isn't in Camelot. I mean we see her offering general medical help but that's just an emergency situation, not a permanent job. Or one so assumes; Camelot's attrition rate is fairly high but I don't think it's generally at killer dragon levels. Though that might point to her working as a medical assistant for Gaius next season? I'd actually really like that, it might mean we'd get more Gwen/Merlin friendship scenes.

On that note, they really missed an opportunity for that at the end of the episode. As soon as I saw Merlin breaking down over his father dying I started mentally begging the writers to just let him talk to Gwen about it. Think about it! She knows what it's like to lose a father and she'd never betray Merlin. I doubt she knows about the dragon lord powers being passed on from father to son so it's not like he'd even have to reveal his magic to her if he told her (since the writers seem dead set on putting off the Merlin magic reveal as long as humanly possible. You probably already know my opinions on THAT).

I liked getting a brief bit of seeing her reaction to Morgana's leaving though it would have been nice if Gaius hadn't switched the topic to Arthur two seconds later. But whatever, Merlin's all about the guys, always has been. Need to keep this in mind and lower expectations accordingly.

Though I will not let that stop me from discussing the girls. Morgana may not have physically been in this episode but I have thoughts on her anyways!

Morgana

So hey our new dude, Balinor. You know how he initially refused to help Merlin? Because he wasn't going to help Uther even if it meant the citizens of Camelot were dying? You know who else has a pointedly personal grudge at Uther, with little regard for the people at large? YUP, it's our girl Morgana. I may not like it but the show's been anviliciously clear that Morgana's hatred of Uther really gets pushed forward for very personal reasons (notice how her Big Disownment scene came not in episode 2x03 when he sent Arthur to murder the druid village but in 2x12 when he sends Sir Super Skeeve to prison). I'm thinking there might be a theme here on fear/hatred making people selfish. Pretty much all of our season 1 villains followed this trope (Nimueh was going to revenge herself on Uther even if she poisoned half of Camelot to do it, Edwin wanted to murder Uther and wasn't too fussed about making Morgana ill to get his way in...). Okay, after reviewing the plot of every single episode of season 1 most of the villains don't go beyond trying to hurt Uther or Arthur. Now I remember why I used to wonder why the show wanted us to see them as such bad guys. Trying to kill the genocidal tyrant isn't exactly an unsympathetic goal. :/

I give up then, it's really hard to talk about Morgana when the show can't be bothered to. Maybe in season 3.

Au revoir then Merlin. See you in season 3. Hopefully you'll have realized how woefully you've underused and misused your ladies but I won't hold my breath.

Wow. That was alot of commentary for an episode that was average at best. But I guess average comes out really good after the ragefest of last week (there's a reason I didn't post on episode 12. It had to do with wanting to BREAK THINGS when it was over. I had to watch an episode of Buffy to distract myself and calm down. On that note, watching Kennedy flirt with Willow is a great way to improve one's mood! Buffy season 7, I recommend it! ^.^)