Merlin Episode 4 Review: Innocence at Camelot
Now we're starting to rock.
We begin with an awesome ballroom scene (I assume that was intended to be the Chateau's ballroom anyway.) where we find out that Uther can do something besides fight. He's been working on a peace treaty with his neighbors. That's nice, gives him a bit more dimension and more evidence of common sense. It also allows the Nimue to sneak into the castle, meet Merlin, and hatch a Cunning Plan right under his nose.
But why would he suspect anything? Right now Merlin is the ultimate innocent, the perfect embodiment of the Fool card of the traditional Tarot deck, a smile on his face, his eyes in the skies while his feet walk off the cliff. In fact Merlin and Arthur are probably both more innocent in a way than other boys their age, for as we saw in the first episode both are somewhat protected from feeling the full consequences of their actions, Merlin by his magic and Arthur by his position. Destiny and attraction aside, this gives them a shared bond not readily apparent. It also makes them more vulnerable. Merlin may be able to walk off that cliff into thin air safely, but faces the social threat of execution for it. Arthur may be somewhat sheltered by his royal birth, but he also faces more physical danger from assassination.
So there is the possibility that Arthur is more innocent than he first appears. Is there any evidence to support this?
The way Arthur interacts with Merlin when they are alone has an innocent quality to it. There's pranks and banter that we don't see Arthur engaging in with anyone else. I wonder if this is the only opportunity he gets right now to drop the facade of maturity and be a kid, to be an innocent. Keep this in mind, we'll come back to it later.
(I don't equate sex with a lack of innocence or innocence with a lack of sex. Some of the most innocent people I've ever met have been pregnant teenagers.)
The line about food fights also reminds us that while Arthur may be older and more mature than Merlin, it's not by much. That immaturity is reinforced by the prank with the hat. This is important for in the first quest episode we're given a lot of evidence that while Arthur is smart and a great fighter, he's not used to either recieving or practicing subterfuge.
At the feast Nimue appears upset, extracts a promise of confidentiality from Merlin, then tells him that Arthur's goblet was poisoned by Bayard. Merlin disrupts the proceedings to save Arthur, but can't validate his statement. Just as with his attempts last episode to help Gwen, he gets in over his head socially.
Merlin is innocent of the full consequences of interrupting. The grownups are understandably peeved; the lives of many people will be spared if this deal goes through without a hitch. To have so crucial and delicate an undertaking ruined by a fool would drive far more peaceful souls than these to the conclusion that he needs killing. At this point I can't blame Uther for thinking Merlin's nonsense has got to stop before it causes irrerparable damage. Bayard offers to drink it himself to prove his own people's innocence, but Uther is too annoyed with Merlin for that. By ordering Merlin to drink the goblet and if it proves safe give him to Bayard for whatever punishment the King will inflict (including death), Uther both takes out his irritation and salvages the moment.
Arthur tries to take the goblet away, but Merlin won't let him. He salutes Bayard with it (but not Uther whose livery he wears, is this a deliberate or unintentional insult?), then Arthur, then drains it. (The witch licks her lips while he drinks, nice touch.) Merlin is fine for a moment, then falls. Swords are pulled on Mercia, but Arthur has no time for anything but Merlin. Gaius orders Arhtur to help him get Merlin to the infirmary, and Arthur doesn't even pause to think about the class system before scooping him up. Gwen, who has been by Merlin's side for most of this, assists.
And the award for Greatest Anachronism (So Far) goes to (dun, dun, dun) Gaius' herbal! (Exceptions made for designer clothes, that's a different category.) While there were medieval herbals, their depictions of plants stunk. Accurate botanical drawings didn't come until the late 18th-early 19th Century.
The antidote involves a rare ingredient whose attempted acquisition risks almost certain death. But of course. Arthur gets quiet and looks thoughtful. He paces. He asks what will happen to Merlin. A slow, painful, and very certain death. He looks thoughtful some more. Then, "Sounds like fun," and he's off.
In many ways Arthur's next scene is the real climax of the episode. Uther would certainly think so. Arthur tries to get his father to understand why he must go, Uther tries to get his son to understand why he can't. Neither succeed. Finally Uther forbids his son to leave.
If Arthur were alone he might well have acted like a child and done what he was told, even with Merlin's life at stake. We'll never know, because Arthur isn't alone. He has Morgana to both understand his point of view and kick his rear end into gear.
Uther has been a good leader. He has brought peace and stability out of chaos. In the bitter experience he's come to place a differential value on human life. Now he's having trouble with the concept that the rewards of peace are more than meat for his table and pretty singers to grace his hall. It also brings innocence to question the very foundations of his society. Arthur is innocent of the reasons not to go. Maybe those reasons have changed since the days that shaped his father. Maybe they have not. But just for a potential ruler to entertain the question is a seismic shift in the culture.
And this, for those of you who told me you didn't study King Arthur in school, is the Arthurian Legend in a nutshell. It's not about swords, sorcery, and damsels in distress. It's about in a time when warlords only fought for a select few, one king stood up and said, "Everybody is worth fighting for. Regardless of class, age, gender, or nationality, EVERYBODY is worth fighting for." That's Arthurian chivalry, and that's what makes the Arthurian Legends more than just a national myth. And this point, where Arthur rides out of the castle to save Merlin, is the point in this retelling where the Legend begins.
(Yes, fellow Whovians, when Jack tells Rose in The Parting of the Ways, "you are worth fighting for", that's Arthur's line. It doesn't matter who you are, you are worth fighting for.)
Notice the look on Nimue's face when she sees Arthur ride out to the forest. She played Uther like a harp, but Arthur takes her completely by surprise. No, she's more than surprised. She's worried. This wasn't in her calculations. How could it be? No one at Camelot had ever done such a thing before. There was no way she could prepare for it, as evidenced by the hasty and lame-brained plan she hatches to thwart Arthur in contrast to the meticulously thought out plan she used back at the castle. I know there are people (even in the story) who think she had a three-for-one deal planned, but the evidence is against this.
Cut to Arthur on a set that would make the Pre-Raphaelites proud. Nimue tries to play the "damsel in distress" and distract him, but she fails. Neither Uther nor Nimue can get Arthur to do what they want him to do, try as they might. She finally ditches him in the cave with the line that it's not her destiny to kill him today. Funny, she doesn't seem to mind killing him as collateral damage in either plague or war. It's just killing him directly that makes her squeamish.
When Uther finds out that Arthur has gone he is very upset. Morgana tries to defend Arthur on the grounds that he's a grown man. Interestingly, Uther is willing to consider Morgana an adult before he is willing to consider Arthur an adult. But maybe she convinces Uther that his son is grown -- with near tragic consequences.
Merlin is unconscious, feverish and unresponsive (although technically not comatose). At the same time he's exhibiting magical powers that neither he nor anyone else we've seen yet has shown before nor does he appear to know about when he is concious. This is more significant than it first appears. The writers may be making this stuff up as they go along, but if they've done the least bit of research they'll know that the most common definitions of magic in use today involve the concentration of the conscious will. (This is what Gaius was questioning Merlin about when they first met, what method was Merlin using to focus his will.) Merlin's not conscious, so by definition he can't be concentrating his conscious will. Yet his magic is even more powerful than we've seen him do before, and more elemental. This suggests that Merlin isn't fully human, but may be partially descended from a creature of pure or elemental magic. How much is Merlin a human being, and how much is he a being who thinks he is human?
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Maybe that's why he needs two mentors, one for his Human side and one for his Other side.
Arthur returns successful and is arrested. His confrontation with Uther reveals that the two men are operating on completely different playing fields. Arthur is focused on saving a man's life. Uther is focused on punishing defiance. Arthur doesn't matter what happens to him, as long as Merlin lives. Uther considers that attitude the real problem, and Merlin's life, if saved, will only reward and reinforce his son's defiance. But his action to punish his son only causes the same defiance to spread to more people.
Apparently many people were surprised at Uther's heartless attitude behavior towards Merlin when Arthur has shown Merlin such affection. Why? Historically, the fate of the unsuitable favorite (typically a commoner) of the teenage Prince whose father/guardian was a tyrant was to be bumped off. In Russian history so many Handsome Young Things were "accidentally" poisoned, knocked down staircases, or trampled by horses it got to be a bit of a (sick) joke. (I don't know if all the cases involved homosexuality, but homophobia is not native to Russia.) If Uther gives up after only one attempt he's being nicer than his peers.
(Not that they didn't have reason, these were tyrants. Quite a few of the HYTs that weren't bumped off went on to play leading roles in the next uprising. In one case the HYT was the Emperor's favorite until the Emperor dumped him for a younger boyfriend. The HYT turned around and took over the state, became the new Emperor of Constantinople, and butchered his ex in front of the crowds at the City Stadium. Talk about messy breakups....)
In a way Uther is grasping at straws here. Arthur has just openly shown that he can and will act against his father's orders, and he is too old to spank. Uther can't undo that. They can never go back to where they were before this night. Their relationship has lost that innocence. All Uther can do is retaliate as he would against a rival warlord, as he would against an equal. There may be some hope on his part that doing so will over the long run harden his son just as he has been hardened, but that is a poor substitute for what he has lost. Since he is also a warlord, this also means he has just passed the apex of his power. Uther appears to believe that if he can just keep things a certain way, everything will work out. But from now on the harder he tries to keep things from changing the more dramatically and unpredictably they will ultimately change.
The defiance of Uther spreads not just to Gwen but to Gaius as well. In order to ensure the antidote's effectiveness Gaius spikes it with magic. He does it clumsily, as if he hasn't done so in a long time, but he still does it. I get the feeling it won't be the last time either.
Merlin appears to die, then isn't dead. This may be a clumsy attempt to add drama (there's plenty of those in the first three episodes) or it may be significant.
First Gaius kisses Gwen's hair, then Gwen kisses Merlin. Are these the first kisses we've had?
Throughout all this Gwen is helpful and steadfast. Merlin has obviously made great strides up her list of favorite people. Morgana has brave and understanding. I know there are those who read this as simply the story of their favorite pairing, but it takes all four of our teens working together to reach their goal.
Gaius lays out the evidence for Uther. It's interesting how Uther calls Gaius a fool when arguing with Arthur, but is willing to stop a war on his say-so. Servant or no, Uther trusts Gaius more than Uther himself is comfortable admitting.
Next we see the Mercians leaving. I like Bayard, for all his ponitficating and for trying to drink the goblet himself. You know Uther had some major making-up to do to make up for the diplomatic faux pas of arresting his party falsely. I hope Bayard took several extra treasure chests back home with him. Make that an extra baggage train.
Arthur, Morgana, and Uther watch from the castle wall. Arthur and Morgana stand together, Uther a little way apart. Morgana asks Arhur what happened on his quest. Arthur admits that someone sent him a light to save his life. He says he doesn't know who did it but he twitches, very broadly, in the manner of an inexperienced liar while saying it. It only emphasizes how still he holds himself normally.
Does Uther hear them? We don't know. He doesn't react, but any warlord clever enough to hold power for over 20 years is clever enough to know how not to react. When he does speak, though, he asks of the witch and warns against the inherent evil of all magic-users. Arthur asks if he knows her. Uther admits to, then deflects Arthur with, "know one, know them all."
Uther then admits that his son did the right thing. By extension he also admits that he did the wrong thing. It's not an apology from the man Arthur said last episode never apologizes, but it does acknowledge that his relationship with his son has changed to something closer to equals. Whether Uther is sincere or just diplomatic, only time will tell.
Arthur goes to see Merlin. Since last they spoke, both have nearly died to save the other. They are awkward around each other, taking refuge in brusque speach and their employer/employee relationship. Then as Arthur is about to leave Merlin thanks him. Arthur returns the thanks and expresses caring for Merlin. It's clear this relationship has changed as well.
But back to the question of innocence. Merlin has it, but has to practice a great deal of deceit just to stay alive. Arthur appears to have it as well, although not quite as much. The subterfuge with Gwen in the prison is clumsy, as was the lie to Morgana. Their relationship looks like a case of the complete innocent being led by the nearly-complete innocent. I was reminded of Zeppo and Harpo, of Jeeves and Wooster (only in this case with the Master as the slightly more experienced one.) However, Merlin's innocence comes with a price for Arthur. The only time Arthur gets to be innocent is around Merlin, but the only way for him to protect Merlin and preserve that time is to give up some of his own innocence, to learn how to lie and deceive as he waits for Merlin to trust him enough to admit to being a magic-user. That may cause greater imbalance in their relationship over the long run than the class system.
It's time I put this to bed. I've delayed watching Episode 5 until I finished it, and my husband and children are about to mutiny. While the Arthurian Legends have (depending on which you read) Arthur/Guenivere, Arthur/Merlin, Arthur/Lancelot, Arthur/Morgana, Arthur/Lancelot/Guenivere they almost all end with Morgana carting both Arthur and Merlin off into the sunset so the boys can be 2GETHR 4EVAH. Works for me.
Episodes 1 - 3
Episode 5: (The Once and Future) Lancelot
Episode 6: (Death Is) A Remedy to Cure All Ills
Episode 7: Deception for Dummies
Episode 8: Deception for Non-Dummies
Episode 9: What Color is Your Fairy Tale?
Episode 10: The Practical Exam
Episode 11: Today is a Good Day to Die