sherrilina | The new best Merlin episode yet this week! (Reply)

So yesterday I finally got to see this week's Merlin epp, which I've been dying to see ever since the spoilers came out and people were reacting to them (though I managed to remain spoiler free through a strength of will, thank goodness)! And it definitely met my high expectations! :D I even watched it a second time today and wrote a proper review instead of a running commentary....

Merlin 1x12:

Wow. Just wow. Definitely the best episode yet, hands down, IMO. I was expecting something epic and incredible from the promo and everyone’s reactions to the spoilers, and I was not disappointed! This episode had it all, true drama, emotion, tension and excitement, fantastic direction, back-story reveal, and a huge Morgana focus! :D

I have longed wanted to know more about her back-story, and I loved getting to do so—it was fascinating to learn another deep-seated reason why Morgana has always resented Uther, and it was also such a clever and interesting way to stay true to the whole “Uther is responsible for Gorlois’s death in battle and Gorlois’s daughter Morgan Le Fay resents him for it” part of the legend, even if Uther didn’t kill him with his own hand in this version—knowing the legend as I do, it always irked me a little how they changed such a major thing as Gorlois being his best friend instead of his enemy, and so I enjoyed seeing them work around that the way they did in this epp!

And the final resolution of Morgana/Uther in this epp, with him saying she was the daughter he never had and how much she means to him and all that, with the music and the wind (how do they do that anyway? Just wondering…) and ASH and KM’s wonderful performances, and with that slow-mo hug with their capes blowing about them…..gah! It was so sweet and beautiful and heartbreaking—I think that whole scene was perhaps my favorite of the whole series, even over the shippiest of Arthur/Morgana scenes (I guess I’m not *completely* of a one-track shipping mind after all! :p), it was just so beautifully done and directed, and a perfect balance of drama and emotion and tension—I loved how Morgana, after almost betraying him unto death, ultimately saves him there (more kick!ass Morgana saving Pendragons again!), and realizes how wrong she was to have contemplated killing him in the first place. I do wonder though now how the final break between them is going to come about—I always assumed it’d be when he discovered that she had magic of sorts, though it seems hard to imagine him trying to kill her for her visions after this epp….we’ll see I guess!

Which reminds me of another fantastic scene—when Merlin asks Gwen whether she would kill him if she could, and she says no, and he realizes at last what he should do. Angel Coulby was great in this epp as well, they all were great (well except her dad, I was not entirely convinced by that actor, but whatever, that’s a small thing). I loved Merlin following Morgana, and her being all badass and gorgeous as usual in that blue cloak and plotting at first (though I’m glad she realized her error by the end), that was so thrilling, the way she was trapping Uther, and Merlin trying to decide what to do. It was so sweet what Gauis says about trusting Merlin as well, I do love that mentor/father-son relationship as well, it reminds me so much of Giles and Buffy….and speaking of Giles I was so happy to see Anthony Stewart Head being likeable and sympathetic by the end (not many of those moments on the show, so when they happen they’re always really special!), his love for Morgana was so touching, and he played his scenes so well.

Though Arthur/Morgana didn’t have the best scenes this week (Morgana was a little hard on him in the dungeon there, poor guy!) they still had their moment—I love the shot when he’s talking to her as she leaves, and when she says “You’re a better man than your father. Always were.” It’s nice that he helped her as well, though I’m disappointed we didn’t get to see him be outraged at what his father did to her—because that was pretty harsh Uther, even for you….but lots of other scenes for other ships, I thought there was some good chemistry between Merlin and Morgana as well in that one scene when they’re talking about the chances of Gwen’s father….

But anyway, in all an AMAZING episode, and a promo for next week that looks pretty incredible as well—I mean, they even have different, more srs bsns, dramatic music for it than the usual promo music, and what they showed….gah! I can’t wait for this Saturday, it looks like it is going to be EPIC! I wonder what Nimueh is up to, and how they’ll get Arthur back to life (since obviously he can’t be dead permanently yet)—in the meantime it looks like we’ll have some great angst from Uther (carrying his body, man!) and Morgana and Merlin though….this series definitely has found its footing!

5/5

Oh and I just saw that ASH confirmed a second season of Merlin—yay! His whole “relationships have been developing” comment worries me a little though….it depends on which ones he means! :p

I also finally saw this week's GG epp today, which was also pretty effing incredible (perhaps the best epp yet of that show as well!), though I'll post more on that later...