Trouble’s knocking on the gates of Camelot, this time in the form of the mysterious Morgause (played by the fabulous Emilia Fox), who’s all up in everyone’s business – bonding with Morgana, challenging Arthur to a duel (which he accepts without knowing her identity – will Arthur never learn not to pick fights with mysterious strangers?), and revealing some bits of the past that have been covered up for a long time. And Ruby and I are here to discuss it all.
Julia: So this was really Morgause’s episode, was it not? I’ve been wondering when they’d bring in that character and how, and I really, really like the way they did.
Ruby: Well, she’s another hot sorceress. I have a theory about this. When a man discovers that he has superpowers, the first thing he does is test them out, show off a little bit, maybe levitate some objects or kill someone or destroy something. When a woman gets magical powers, the first thing she does is make herself gorgeous. Like Lucy in The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, she goes straight for the “spell for beauty beyond the lot of mortals.” Who knows what these sorceresses really look like? (Remember Catrina after all!) But I guess in Morgause’s case, she probably really is that good-looking, because she’s Morgana’s sister – unearthly beauty probably runs in the family.
Julia: Yeah, I was going to say, I think there’s some sort of gene. Or, alternately, they’re all on television, which accounts for being really, really ridiculously good-looking. There aren’t tons of ugly people running around Camelot, period.
Ruby: And I really love Morgause’s tenderness toward her sister. It’s so sweet. And it will come to play in a big way later in the season.
Julia: That it will! Though I have to say, I’m not sure if it’s tenderness or Morgana’s just really, really grateful for finally getting a good night’s sleep. I mean, I know I would be.
Ruby: Morgause cuts down Arthur’s men pretty easily. I know this is supposed to show us her power … but it actually just makes Arthur’s knights look like wimps. In fact, Arthur’s knights always end up looking like red-shirt losers. This is why Uther should have hired Lancelot. At least Arthur would have one knight who can actually kick butt.
Julia: Literal red shirts, too! How convenient! It’s sort of a joke amongst Merlin fans, I’ve noticed, that Camelot seems to have an ever-replenishing army of extras whose sole purpose is to die. I’m pretty sure that’s why they added a character like Sir Leon (the guy who tried to stop Merlin from coming in the chamber and who tried to point out to Uther that his wife was a troll with Gaius). I like him a lot. Rumor has it he’ll appear more in season 3, too, so good on them! It would bode really poorly for Arthur’s future round table if he can’t have at least one knight who doesn’t bite it within, like, a month.
Also, not gonna lie, whenever I see girls on television sword fighting, I squeal. I blame this entirely on my childhood obsession with Tamora Pierce. (Fantasy fans, especially the ladies who are reading this — if you haven’t read her stuff and like this show, read it right now. In fact, I have a huge list of recommendations that everyone who loves this show would enjoy).
Ruby: When reading Arthurian literature, I would get severely confused by the sisters Morgause and Morgana/Morgan le Fay. (Although that was not nearly as confusing as keeping track of Queen Isolde of Ireland, her daughter Isolde the Fair, and Isolde of the White Hands). But I guess it’s common enough for parents to give their kids matching names — although this is like naming your daughters Emily and Emma. Come on, Mrs. House of Gorlois! You could have named one of them Zoe. Zoe is a cute name for a sorceress.
Julia: God, don’t even try to logic your way through Arthurian legend. It’s totally impossible. It was a bunch of different people essentially writing fanfiction about legends, really. That’s right, fanfiction is a historical thing. Though I’m not sure I’d by Zoe as a name, simply because I had a gerbil named Zoe. It’s kind of like when you meet someone who has the same name as your dog. Just doesn’t work out.
Sidebar, was I the only one who noticed the nice shout-out to Gawain and the Green Knight in Mogause’s challange! Anyone? Anyone? Arthurian legend nerds? Beuller?
Ruby: I’ll admit, I thought Morgause’s challenge would involve Arthur getting nekked with her. I think in the legends she seduces him at some point and that’s how Mordred is born … but since we already have a creepy little Mordred running about in the woods, I guess there is no need for the seducing bit.
Julia: Oh, don’t lie, you just wanted to see more of Bradley James prancing around half-naked. Though I would argue we got to see something even sexier – honest-to-god amazing acting. He’s not just a pretty face with comedic timing who looks good swinging a sword! He emotes like a genius. Universe, I think we’ve severely underestimated this man and judged him by the content of his pectorals. And if you were really after eye candy, both he and Colin Morgan got sopping wet, which… very nice, ladies, am I right?
Ruby: Bradley really got to show a lot of emotion in this episode. Arthur is evolving beyond the arrogant prat of Season 1 through his relationships with Gwen and Merlin, who are both drawing new emotions out of him. And now meeting his dead mother and almost killing his father revealed the passionate side of Arthur that we usually never get to see because he’s that snarky, “cool” kid who refuses to show weakness of any kind. From the moment Arthur got his ass handed to him by a girl, his show of invulnerability started slipping.
Julia: Oh, gosh, the Merlin and Arthur relationship in this episode was phenomenal. They’re just such an old married couple, with the re-assurance that Arthur’s done the right thing giving Morgause a chance to withdraw, the teasing and joking, the heart-to-heart in the woods, Merlin sacrificing his future friendship with Arthur for Arthur’s sake… I just love their relationship in whatever form I get it. It’s so sweetly intimate (not in a sexy way, guys, chill, I mean in an emotional closeness, bonded on a soul level sort of way) the way they know each other even though they clearly know very little concrete information about each other – they just click. They know when to tease (Arthur being beat by a girl), when to prod, when to push the other to grow, how to make the other one smile when they’re feeling down. (That rope scene was just so cute – though I’m upset Arthur went the route of commenting on Merlin’s “fatness” instead of going “Merlin, is that rope that went up your trousers, or are you just happy to see me?”) They trust each other. I find that whenever I get an episode like this or “Lancelot and Guinevere” and the audience gets to see this bond (which, again, I argue is the entire point of the show) is when you get the best episodes.
Don’t get me wrong, they’re still amazing characters apart from each other, but when you bring them together for huge scenes like at the end of the fight in the council chambers or around that campfire or at the end when Merlin’s so proud that Arthur’s thanking him but totally dying on the inside – it’s cliched to use the word “magic”, I know, but that’s really what it is.
Ruby: I liked Merlin and Arthur having a little heart-to-heart about the parents they never met. Poor little Merlin wants to meet his daddy. I could say more about that, but not without giving away major spoilers. So I’ll just say, it’s lovely to see Merlin sharing some of his story with Arthur, because that will help Princey Pants drop the “Woe-is-me-it’s-so-hard-to-be-Arthur” attitude and realize that Merlin went through all kinds of crap too. The difference is Merlin is the friend who never complains and never tells you all the bad things that happened to him but simply listens to you complain about everything that happened to you. I feel for him, because in most of my friendships, I am Merlin.
Julia: I definitely think it’s a big step to Arthur, a person, viewing Merlin, a person, as an equal, which is the real emotional trajectory of this show. It’s partially about Arthur becomming king, but to do that he needs the help of Merlin. And I think it’s important that besides the fact that Merlin and Arthur are both born with great powers, and that creates a bond of understanding that no other two characters have, that they understand each other as people who have things in common with each other. They’re both noble and brave, they both strongly believe in what’s right even though they disagree on what that right thing is, and they both have this hole where a parent’s supposed to be. Even if they were both ordinary dudes, I think it’s really good that the writers are choosing to make it seem like they’d be friends anyway.
Ruby: I also liked Merlin stops Arthur from killing his father because he’s worried about the effect it will have on Arthur. I can buy that – he doesn’t want his buddy to grow into a twisted person. But this is yet another instance of Gaius and Merlin saving Uther’s ass, when he’s clearly a bad, unjust king who deserves to be replaced … by creative means, if necessary.
Julia: But that would mean no Anthony Head! I mean, I know he’s not really Anthony Head, he’s King Uther, who’s bad and blah blah blah, but Anthony Head! No! I don’t care how many terrible things he does! I love him anyway. In a twisted, abusive relationship sort of fashion.
Ruby: The fact that Gaius could admit to Uther that he saved Morgause from death and gave her to the Druids after she was born says a lot about their relationship. Uther knows Gaius’ past and forgives him for whatever he did back then, because back then Uther himself was willing to use magic in order to have a son. (If only Gaius’ Mysterious Manhood Tonic had been available, Julia! Everything would be different).
Julia: I can’t tell if it’s because he still feels guilty from being a douchebag last week or he’s really that worried about Arthur and what he may or may not learn about his mother. But I am kind of confused about that part — ever since I saw this episode back when it aired on the BBC in England, I’ve been going back and forth on if the vision of Ygraine was real or not. On one hand, we know she’s telling the real story, but on the other hand it sounds way twisted. Didn’t Arthur say earlier that his mother died before he opened his eyes? If so, how could she have held him? Something jars me a little. This is all too convenient. Plus, we know Uther had no idea that the life taken would be Ygraine’s. Something is rotten in the state of Albion. Or wherever it is Morgause was hiding out, behind a waterfall in Cendred’s kingdom, in Avalon, whatever. I doubt we’ve heard the last of it.
Clacked by Julia Hass 
on May 21, 2010 @ 23:00 EST5EDT
Having not seen the remainder of series 2, it was hard for me to enjoy the end of this episode. Suffice it to say, I would not lose any sleep over both Uther and Merlin dying screaming in magical fire (or dragonfire).
I agree that the Merlin-Arthur bond is the heart of the show, which is why this was so disheartening. To lie about his own magic is understandable, but about Arthur’s own being, his mother, and his father? How does their relationship survive that betrayal when Arthur inevitably discovers the truth? And what of vilifying Morgause in everyone’s eyes, Morgana’s relative who, thus far, has yet to do anything more evil than revealing Uther’s treachery and hypocrisy (the murder of five royal knights seeming to be an acceptable practice in the issuance of a challenge, but, then again, those same royal knights seem to hold little qualm in butchering unarmed, fleeing magical folk, even when led by Arthur)?
This sort of chronic deception made sense with Clark and Lex, as they were destined to be enemies, but Merlin and Arthur should not be following that storyline. Every time he lies, Merlin seems like more of a pompous ass, and Arthur seems like more of a daft simpleton for not figuring out the truth on his own.
And Uther might be Anthony Head, but he’s certainly no Lionel.
If Arthur actually remembered the circumstances of his birth and his mother’s death, he has a better memory than most. Or Uther told him that story enough times as a child that he can’t differentiate it from a true memory now. And Uther might not have known who the life taken would be, but there’s nothing to say that Ygraine would ever have known that, and she could have believed the worst of him after her death. Everything the apparition said could have been Ygraine’s spirit speaking honestly out of grief and bitterness, many years after the fact. It’s not fair to Uther, but then she would have no reason to be.
Yeah, that lie was not a good idea – but Merlin tends to act impulsively in order to protect people. He’s done that pretty consistently. I don’t think he ever considers the long-term consequences of his actions.
@Julia – I neglected to say that, yes, I also immediately thought of Gawain and the Green Knight! Great minds think alike (well, except perhaps when it comes to Team Cheekbones vs. Team Blondie).
You’re right, that is in keeping with Merlin’s recklessness, but that’s separate from the show’s responsibility to portray the development of their relationship believably. At least they’re doing better in that regard than in developing Arthur-Gwen, a bond which seemed to me to spring up parthenogenetically out of the ground.
As I said, I haven’t seen beyond what Syfy has given us, so perhaps your perspective is more balanced than mine.
This episode came up on the heels of The Witchfinder, which I did not think could be topped, but then the writers went ahead and did it anyway with this! EPIC backstory for multiple characters, emotionally devastating revelations and confrontations, Uther being a douche bag and such, Gaius casually revealing that he had had contact with Druids without so much as looking wary, Merlin being a self-sacrificing boy that makes me want to cry, and ARTHUR! OMG ARTHUR! That man just about killed me with everything he went through!
Also, I think Morgause is probably going to be the best female villain ever. She was so effing awesome. If we’re going to have a villain that will ultimately get thwarted (because that’s the formula until they decide that Uther has to go so Arthur can be kind), then I want one whose plans are so complex and such that the good guys have to do some really, really fancy footwork to win at the end of the day. Like in this episode. Morgause damn near succeeded in getting what she wanted — a dead Uther and a devastated Arthur (though whether or not she wanted the latter is debatable, she might have considered Arthur just as a tool and casualty of her war to get rid of Uther). If it hadn’t been for Merlin’s intervention and sacrifice, she probably would have gotten what she wanted. The good guys won, but the price they paid for that win was a bitter one. SQUEE!
Despite how much I loved the episode though, I was a little confused by several things. Yes, there is the whole debate about whether or not Ygraine was real and such. I’m of the opinion that she was real, but that she had been manipulated and not told the whole story. I firmly believe that Uther had no idea that asking for Nimueh’s help in conceiving Arthur would result in Ygraine’s death. That Uther loved her I do not doubt, and the fact that he actually confessed his own regret that Nimueh agreed to help is no small thing. He loves Arthur to pieces (though he rarely shows it), but at the same time, the price he paid for Arthur was a hard one.
Also, I’m confused as to who is older — Morgause or Morgana. From what I can tell from the legends, Morgause is generally the older sister of the two. Also, Emilia Fox (who rules) is significantly older than Katie McGrath (almost by a decade, I believe), so there’s another point in Morgause’s favor of being the elder sister. Still, if she was, and Morgana appears to be around Arthur’s age (maybe a year or two older, but not much more than that), then what was the need to smuggle Morgause out of Camelot? Uther’s crusade against magic users didn’t begin until Arthur’s birth and Ygraine’s death. If she was born before Ygraine died, then she could easily have been fine until Ygraine lost her life.
It’s all so very confusing! But then, that’s pretty much par for the course in the Arthurian legends. ;)
Great recap! :)
I loved this episode to pieces. Bradley got to show his superb acting skills. He’s great with comedy and physical skills but had been a bit overshadowed by Colin’s brilliance. Now we know just how good he can be. Awesome.
As for the Ygraine debate, I actually contacted the show about the spell Morgause used. According to the translation, Ygraine was brought back from the dead. “Use my great might to arise from death to help your son. Hurry back again to this earth to seek your son.”
So the Ygraine we saw was real. As to what she said to Arthur, it was from her POV so it might not be the same as Uther’s or even Nimueh’s.