#Gaius serves as a plot device a lot of time

[cynthia39100]

Merlin rewatch -- S1E6: A Remedy to Cure All Ills

Gaius is the worst (part 2)

Now, About Gaius and Merlin's interaction.

Unlike the last episode, in which I also had some issues with Gaius but could still appreciate their father-son emotional moment, the scene before Gaius took off in this episode just irritated me to no end.

Merlin was saying how much Gaius had guided him and how much he still needed him. Did he though?? Gaius wasn't good at magic so he could only give Merlin books. That's why Merlin was so tempted by Edwin. As for the " right way of using magic", Gaius only taught him not to use magic unless it was necessary i.e. saving Arthur and Uther.

At the beginning of the episode, Gaius prohibited using magic to heal Morgana. He used the incident with Gwen's father as an example, but the situation was totally different. At the time the illness was caused by magic, everyone was ill, plus witch-hunting was active. This time it’s only Morgana and it’s a (seemingly) nonmagical illness, so Gaius could easily make up stories without causing suspicion.

That in itself is fine. I can see that it isn't good to do whatever you like because you have the power. There could also be risks of failure since Gaius didn't seem to know the cause of the illness.

But then at the end when Uther was under the same situation, Gaius half-forced Merlin to heal him! It was way more probable for Uther to be suspicious since he knew Edwin was a sorcerer now. Merlin said it. " We can't use magic on Uther. He'd kill us." And what did Gaius say to him?

" We don’t have a choice." (In fact, we have. We can let Uther die and take one step towards destiny. Also, Gwen just told you we always had a choice. So there's that. )

" There are times when it’s necessary.”(Necessary only for you because for some reason you love Uther so much.)

" It is your right" (What does that even mean?? He didn't have the right as far as the law was concerned. He didn't have the obligation either as far as destiny was concerned since it only told him to serve Arthur, who was almost nonexistent in this ep... )

I know he told the dragon that he thought it was too soon for Arthur to lead, but I didn't see any indication from previous episodes. I did, however, see a lot of indications of Gaius' devotion to Uther in this episode alone, so Gaius' words just seemed like selfish excuses.

I know that Gaius can be a grey character and Merlin can still love him, but since they (mostly Merlin) are our eyes to examine the moral in the show, Gaius is always regarded as a wise and good character. It's the most frustrating part.

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[shiobookmark]

Binge watching Merlin when you’re familiar with the stories is such a weird experience. I need to vent. 

I have so many problems with the show. They mostly boil down to the fact that there’s an awful lot of character development that drags its feet for several seasons before picking up all at once, meaning characters can seem to never learn their lesson only to make huge strides in the course of an episode seemingly at random. And unfortunately, Arthur is the biggest victim of this. And the show suffers for it. I was doubtful he’d make a good Arthur at first, but mum, who’d seen the series before, assured me it was all in service of his character development. And there is a great arc struggling under there somewhere, but it’s mired down in seasons and seasons of episodic ‘monster of the week’ stuff where Arthur waffles back and forth in his ideals. I know what they’re trying to do but the effect seems more like Arthur is a weak-minded man who follows only what he believes other people think is right. He learns his lesson about this again and again and it never seems to take. The unicorn, the execution at Agravaine’s order, the ghostly child, and just recently the Disir. It’s episode 5 of the final season. There’s only eight episodes left. Yet here he is, prancing into the sacred grove with no regard for the laws and customs, every bit the arrogant jock, much like he did in season one.  It ignores his character development. Arthur knows better by now. Yet for plot reasons all that has to be thrown out the window. He’ll turn on a dime and be forthright and humble a few minutes from now- oh yes, there he goes. How is he still a creature of hindsight? Where was this wise kingly fellow an hour before? Another problem is Merlin. Early on the show really suffered from Disney morality, how Merlin couldn’t be responsible for anyone’s death. Now it suffers from protagonist-centred morality. In the later seasons Arthur just follows along with whatever Merlin thinks is best, even if he resists at first. It’s supposed to show that he’s learned to listen to others, but because he can never make a right decision first time, he ends up seeming more like Merlin’s puppet.

The most egregious example of this is this episode, where Arthur faces a dilemma and outright asks Merlin what he should do... and does it. Which then means Mordred survives and Arthur is doomed. It wasn’t really Arthur’s choice, was it? Not a product of his own beliefs and actions, it could have easily swung the other way. The choice was Merlin’s. How are we supposed to root for Arthur that way? The show’s called Merlin so I understand that it has to follow his perspective, but there are far better ways to do that. Look at the trilogy by Mary Stewart. Her Merlyn doesn’t spend as much time at Arthur’s side, but you could easily write similar stories where he does. Merlyn has his own enemies, his own goals, he loves Arthur and helps him but they are his own adventures. They’ve started calling Arthur The Once and Future King out of nowhere now and it’s weird. Why would people call him that. They have no idea he’s going to die and be destined to return. What the fuck. And it’s not that I dislike the show I actually really like it? It’s got some ‘it’s so bad it’s good’ qualities for the first two seasons but after Richard Wilson (Gaius) finally learned to act with more emotion than a wooden spoon it really picked up. There was good payoff in some bits. Morgana was a bit forced and I could have used a few less false starts with her hatred of Uther (how many times can she almost betray him?) and a bit more exploration into why she hates Arthur other than ‘he’s Uther’s son.’ She loved Arthur until her villain arc what the actual fuck And her actor is terrible but nevermind they all are I just particularly despise the smoozy style she adopts

Uther in general is great I just needed a lot less of him Arthur should have become king at the end of season 1, maybe the middle of season 2. Not season 4. Uther ends up being an annoying thorn in Arthur’s side. It’s a game of ‘what stupid shit is Uther gonna pull this episode and have they beefed up security on the dungeons yet?’ The episode where he comes back as a ghost and Arthur finally tells him where to shove it was brilliant and I loved every second of it. I was afraid it was going to be yet another ‘Arthur doubts himself and reverts to the path of a tyrant before he sees the error of his ways’ episode but it wasn’t, which was nice. They dallied around so much I only really started enjoying the show once Arthur became king. Because there were stakes. We got to see what he was made of. But the biggest problem I have with the show, is the treatment of magic. The old religion had a bit of an image problem within the show itself because other than Gaius and Merlin, no one seems to use it ‘correctly.’ And boy does that open up a can of worms.  But I was willing to roll with it. There’s been a lot more specifically Celtic stuff in later seasons which I appreciate as it certainly works better than the weird grab bag of monsters we had previously. (But what happened to Tristan after Isolde died? He just vanished once he served his narrative purpose.) It’s just as of this latest episode, Arthur is being blackmailed into bowing down before the triple goddess or else he and his kingdom will fall to ruin. And that’s... not okay. That’s the same kind of shit Uther did. It’s Might makes Right.  It’s religious oppression. ‘If you don’t do what we want then you’ll suffer.’ Arthur is supposed to be about Might for Right*. Objectively he shouldn’t stand for this shit. But because it’s the Old Religion ooooooh how mystical and shit, he has to. Because protagonist-centred morality. Why didn’t this happen to Uther? Has Arthur been continuing the executions? Has he been encouraging the hunting down of Sorcerers? We know he goes after the dangerous ones, but is his ‘outlawing’ of magic a ‘supporting them under the table’ sort of deal or is he as ruthless as Uther? We don’t know. And now that the show has committed to specifically the Triple Goddess branch of paganism rather than just vague mostly made up stuff with a Celtic ‘flavour’ it has some really nasty real world connotations. We’ve never seen benevolent magic users outside of Merlin and Gaius, or if we did they died. The Druids are sometimes around but they’re more like plot devices for when the show needs some wise and pacifistic victims. It’s really uncomfortable. They’ve just doomed Arthur by having Mordred live, because he refused to embrace magic. Or as I’d put it: Because he refused to bow to tyranny. Arthur promised to make life better for magic users and he broke that promise. Taking him to task for that is more than okay. Have the Druids do it. Have them demand recompense and then let Arthur do what he does best: Forge alliances.  We’ve seen him do this. We’ve seen him face up to the consequences of his hasty and violent actions before, we’ve seen him behave with grace and humility and turn enemies into friends. It’s what makes him a good Arthur. Instead we’ve got this crap that’s supposed to be about not defying the natural laws of the world, but because it’s specifically a religion it’s just really gross. And finally, Mordred. What even is his deal. He’s given a pisspoor reason to hate Merlin way back in season 2 or something when Merlin trips him up with a tree root to hopefully get him killed by the pursuing knights because he’s destined to kill Arthur And somehow that’s supposed to be a grudge he holds into adulthood. But grown up Mordred seems a nice fellow, he’s put all that behind him. And he’s supposed to be Arthur’s doom. This is going to be rushed as all hell isn’t it? The problem is Mordred was never given a legitimate grievance to replace the one he lost when he stopped being related to Arthur. Going the incestuous bastard baby route isn’t necessary since it’s actually a modern addition, but having Mordred be Arthur’s cousin might have worked just as well. The problem is Morgana has taken all that over. What I would do is have Mordred be Merlin’s character foil. A sweet kid who grew up with the Druids and becomes a Knight because he, like Merlin, believes he’s destined to do great things. But he makes the opposite choices to Merlin about magic. He’s open about his beliefs, hoping to find understanding and instead Arthur rejects him. He looks for support from Merlin but finds none. He swears to hurt Merlin however he can as a traitor to their kind. And the best way to do that is to kill Arthur.

Bonus rant: Lancelot is boring. I like his actor, he does the noble and handsome bit right but his character has no texture or grit to him. Give me TH White’s ugly angst muffin any day. The Lancelot/Guinevere romance subplot was lame as hell and it only really delivered when Guinevere was enchanted into having an affair with his ghost. I prefer to think there was no enchantment but gotta keep things squeaky clean. Guinevere can’t just love two people simultaneously I guess, gods dammit.

It’s Arthurian legend with all the edges sanded down smooth and a lot of pacing problems.

[djjohnnyt]

I know I’m really late to the game, but how on Earth did Merlin get more than one season? That first season was painfully horrible, especially for anyone who loves Arthurian myths. I’m talking only a level or two below Earthsea. I need to go re-read Mary Stewart just to cleanse my memory.

First of all, Arthur is a (16-20? year old) prince and leader of the knights under his living father Uther? The return of a lost (or unknown) heir to the dead Uther, returning a country torn by civil war to order is one of the core features of the myth. Erasing that erases one of the reasons people look for a return of Arthur in times of trouble. Not to mention the fact that he’s a self absorbed rich child. He’s utterly disliked by most people around him, except when it’s convenient for him to not be.

And Morgana is Uther’s ward, openly courted by Arthur? Then Mordred is revealed later not to be their child but some random druidic child with no ties to either? I don’t know if they go and retcon it later in the show, but one of the two pillars of the tragedy is innocent love/lust turned into shame and betrayal turned into hatred that destroys everything.

The other half of the tragedy, the double edged power of true love, is completely lacking. Guenevere and Arthur have zero chemistry and only the smallest hint (with no prior basis of course) of interest in each other at the end of the season finale. When Lancelot shows up, for a one-off, Arthur can barely care less about him; while there’s lots of interaction, there’s very little chemistry or camaraderie. And all we get of Gwen and Lancelot is a shot or two of her checking him out.

Merlin himself is fine as far as the myth goes, but he is treated more often as a plot device than a full character himself.

All of this would be fine; I could treat the show just as a random fantasy show and pretend it has nothing to do with the King Arthur, but it doesn’t even do that well. Merlin’s magic is described early as very limited - he can slow time and does some limited telekinesis - but unlike other magic users can cast silently. Then he starts learning more spells and suddenly everything he used to be able to do needs magic words. Then he goes back to his home village and his buddy says he can chop down trees and defeat 40 armed and trained bandits alone.

The rest of the supporting cast are paper dolls and used as crutches throughout. Uther is a petty tyrant of one city (don’t get me started on Camelot and the Knights existing, and many dying, long before Arthur’s rise). Gaius is just three cliches in a robe pretending to be a doctor. And the dragon, imprisoned by Uther to never cause any harm again, is accessible to any random nobody, is perfectly happy to do anything, even create in an instant the most powerful magical weapon in the land.

None of the characters had any drive other than what is useful for each individual episode’s plot. The writers used them as crutches throughout and is the main reason Merlin himself seemed so empty.

Finally the villains. They all are treated as single serve enemies, a brainless goblin to be walloped on the way through the dungeon to find the princess. Even the big baddie of the season, Nimueh (yet another failure to understand the myth), had no strategy and seemed more to resemble the witch in the original Power Rangers sending random beasts to trouble the heroes than a powerful, brilliant threat who has been planning her revenge for a couple decades. Then, in the final confrontation, she gets killed when magical novice Merlin calls a lightning bolt down on her in all her power in her temple? And that murder with no bargain is supposed to placate the Ancient Gods and save all of the supporting characters?

I can forgive a mediocre Arthurian Myth retelling, I can not forgive such poor execution.