Joust a little bit more

[redscharlach]

What's that galloping through the woodland, tripping over the bushes? Why, I do believe it's another episode of Merlin.

Here are a few thoughts on The Once and Future Queen:

• Some images are just begging for a caption, aren't they?
  
  
  
  Arthur was perturbed to hear that this week, he'd be required to give a chick a bit of tongue action.
  
  Other suggestions are very welcome, by the way...
  
  
• "That's the point, Merlin. It's not a pillowfight." - This line gave me a great desire to try pillow-jousting. Ideally, you'd have to use those very long continental-style pillows. Find a suitable partner, back up to opposite sides of the room and CHARGE! And best of all, you don't need to polish your armour first. (In fact, whether you choose to wear anything at all is entirely up to you.)
  
  
• "Any time you want to swap places, just let me know." - Hmm, I bet Merlin's used THAT line a few times. The jury's out on whether Arthur ever takes him up on the offer, though.
  
  
• I giggled at Arthur making up a dangerous magical creature by sticking random bits of other animals together. Hey, it always works for the special effects department.
  
  
• Continuity corner: I take it we're supposed to have forgotten that Gwen used to live with her dad until his unfortunate demise, and therefore there should really be a second bed in her cottage. Unless, of course, her dad had a special relationship with potatoes. Or she sold it to buy hair-care products.
  
  
• I hope Adrian Lester had fun running around in a big swirly cloak, because sadly he was given very little else to do, apart from lurking in the shadows a bit, exhibiting his unlikely Spiderman powers, and threatening Arthur with his Fist of Not-Much-Fun (make up your own painful jokes about that one). My only other theory about Myror is that he only became evil because he was cheesed off about people calling him Myra by mistake.
  
  
• It's a good job for the scriptwriters that every single person in Camelot is so utterly unobservant. Assassins stalk the corridors! Nobody cares that Merlin is helping out some strange knight that no one's ever heard of! Arthur is totally unrecognized just because he's wearing a slightly girlie blue cloak! Have they all got their eyes so firmly fixed on the parade of bulging breeches that they never notice anything happening above waist level?
  
  
• Nonetheless, the plot (such as it was) was really just an excuse for some prettily shot Arthur/Gwen rapprochement. Big cheers to Gwen for giving Arthur the darn good telling-off that he's been gagging for, and kudos to Arthur for achieving a lovely balance between "nice guy really" and "still a prat on the outside".
  
  
• When Gwen said that she had one more thing to tell Arthur, I did wonder whether she might ask him to stop calling her Guinevere because nobody else does, and because it's basically the dramatic equivalent of shouting "DESTINY, HELLO!" every time they talk to each other. Nonetheless, they do have a rather nice chemistry together, even after 600 years of canon, so I find I can't complain.
  
  
• Note to the slash contingent: Arthur canonically snores like a pig. I imagine that will be cropping up in all romantic snuggleathons from now until doomsday.
  
  
• The exhausted-Merlin subplot was fairly pointless and the climactic leech joke was particularly poor (what's the point of comedy leeches if they don't end up down someone's trousers, eh?). Nonetheless, Merlin's big ol' rant about his MISUNDERSTOOD EMO MAN-PAIN raised a cackle from me, as well as an eyebrow from Gaius.
  
  
• Morgana had nothing whatsoever to do this week: perhaps she should be renamed Lady Not-Appearing-In-This-Episode. But tune in next week, when she'll be... yep, waking up squealing in her nightie. AGAIN.
  
  
• Overall: a sweet start to the obligatory Arthur/Gwen romance was the highlight of an otherwise forgettable romp. Passable, but try harder next week, team.

Still with BBC Saturday night TV, I just caught a glimpse of Josette "Dayna from Blakes 7" Simon on Casualty. Blimey, she's aged well, hasn't she?