Merlin Season 2 Round Up
Join us for the Season 2 Round up, as we discuss all things Merlin Season 2 and reveal a special surprise we’ve got for you next week, to hopefully brighten up the hiatus a little bit!
Use #DestinyAndChicken if live tweeting is your jam!
Check out The List of Destiny to see where we ranked all Merlin episodes so far and don’t forget to write in for our Lessons Learnt game by Monday midnight, the week after the episode airs.
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6th August 2021 @ 1:15 pm
Hey guys. I have just discovered your podcast and am really enjoying the rewatch having just finished season 2. I am not sure I have rewatched the whole show since it aired. And even then I think I may have missed some episodes, it’s amazing to actually watch the whole thing.
Not sure if you will see this as you are 2 seasons ahead of me. But I had a thought which I wanted to share.
You have spoken a lot (I think in season one, I don’t know which one I have binged your show. It’s really great 😊) about Uthers eating arrangements and how long his table is. Having studied set design at university I cannot, not make the link between how long and thin his formal table is compared to the round table of Arthur’s. Even before the round table was introduced into the story Arthur spent his childhood eating very far away from his father and very formally (it’s no wonder he eats in his room).
Uthers table is a total contrast to the round table of legend and this speaks wonders to how the different men are king and go about ruling the land. (Totally sorry this is not some profound comment. But it was where my mind was going to). Hopefully I will have caught up by the time you start season 5. Can’t wait to hear more as I go through the seasons.
10th August 2021 @ 10:55 am
Hi Katie! Thank you for joining us 🙂
Honestly, for me, a huge appeal of podcasting about Merlin was (of course the fact that merlin is awesome!!!) actually sitting down to rewatch it beginning to end, as we’ve never done that, either. We watched it live, and then we got the individual box sets, as they came out, and rewatched each season or half season, as we bought it. But yeah, we have failed over and over to do a full rewatch. So yeah, we’re totally in the same boat! haha
I saw your comment while we were on our Welsh Hiatus, so this has led to some interesting discussions in the car, and it’s interesting to hear that even from a set design aspect, the table doesn’t make any sense, and yes, I agree with you, totally explains why Arthur eats by himself in his room (and then later, when he gets a friend, with Merlin! <3 <3) because eating at his father's table is rubbish and lonely, so you might as well cut to the chase and eat by yourself.
--Uthers table is a total contrast to the round table of legend and this speaks wonders to how the different men are king and go about ruling the land.--
YES! love that.
You've still got a couple of weeks until we're back with season 5, hopefully "see" you there 🙂
M Xx
11th August 2020 @ 8:37 pm
Hi, newest dearest friends!
I, unfortunately, only found you all about three weeks ago, powered through every episode you had available and then realized with a horrid clarity that I discovered you mid hiatus, a tragic fate indeed. I completely finished today (I listened to the season round up yesterday and the Bradley interview I saved for this morning, because it is actually my birthday today and listening to Bradley chat Merlin is a VERY GOOD BIRTHDAY PRESENT). I realize I’ve missed the boat on participating in most of the particularly meaty Season 1 & 2 discussions and in LESSON points (although get ready for season 3, folks, I’ll catch up in no time.)
So, besides just a little hi, hello, new listener introduction, I did have some actual stuff to contribute. It’s been YEARS since I’ve watched Merlin in its entirety, although I return to favorite episodes often enough. One thing that I think might be important/interesting to track is Arthur’s relationship to magic not just episodically but as a season arc. We have a place Arthur starts re: magic: as close to Uther’s position as a shiny perfect prince could get, as in agrees magic is evil and bad but he’s certainly not fanatical and a place he’s SUPPOSED (doo doo doo doo) to end: golden age of Albion, returning magic to the land yada yada prophecy speak. I think it would make sense if each season sees an Arthur a biiiit more ready to accept magic, or moved significantly backward. In general I do think Merlin leans towards a “monster of the week” type of show than an especially season arc focused one, but there are certainly arcs that are important to watch and I think this one is particularly significant. I’m of the mind that Season 2 places Arthur further away from where he’s supposed to “end up” than Season 1. Season 1 has several important Arthur gets to see magic do good moments/Arthur sees Uther act particularly rashly towards magic moments: Uther condemning Gwen to death, the guardian angel-esque ball light in Poisoned Chalice, Uther wanting to kill an innocent Druid boy, “Will” saving the day in Moment of Truth, and while Anhora and the unicorn certainly caused problems for Arthur, he did leave with an important lesson about treating magic creatures with a certain amount of respect.
I don’t know if there’s a single moment of Season 2 that left Arthur with any positive impressions of magic/magic creatures and even went so far as to take a moment that would have been a watershed moment for him, meeting Ygraine and learning about the truth of his birth, and flipping it to move in the opposite direction, souring his relationship to magic further. You could MAYBE argue that Arthur requesting Balinor’s help showed him engaging with something Old Religion adjacent for the greater good, but that option was taken from him before he could probably learn from it, and his relationship to magic by the end of that episode was ultimately: y’know dragon pretty bad. Season 1 allowed Arthur to engage with moments where magic was explicitly not evil and moments where Uther’s fanatacism outweighed the potential evil of the magic. Season 2 either didn’t move him forward at all or actively moved him backwards (although I’d be happy to be reminded of a moment where I’m wrong in this case.)
Storywise, I think it’s a bit more interesting to understand it as Arthur’s relationship with magic actively moving backwards rather than leaving that thread to hang all of Season 2. I’m not sure how much this is textual but I’m sort of interested in exploring the possibility that there’s a bit of a mirroring (perhaps not quite as extreme) of Arthur moving towards a space more Anti-magic as Morgana moves into her magic and Anti-Uther throughout Season 2. They became more alienated and polarized on the topic of magic, without ever (or if they did, quite a bit less often than in Season 1) actively engaging on the topic with each other.
I think this particular thread will be a fun one to watch going forward. My HOPE is that Season 3 does a bit to move Arthur towards shiny high king of Albion Arthur’s relationship with magic but I just truly have no memory of that season in the details just in the broad strokes. And also Gwaine. I do remember Gwaine.
Anyway! I’ve got your return date put on my calendar and the countdown has begun! Looking forward to the pod being back and engaging properly this time round. 🙂
21st November 2020 @ 11:02 am
So I kept coming back to this comment, as we were going through season 3 in regards to Arthur’s magic journey, because you’re of course absolutely right, what would make sense would be a slow edging towards point Z, with the occassional dramatic backslide because of BAD THINGS HAPPENING (why do i suddenly picture this show as a giant game of Snakes & Ladders? hmmm.) and while I’d be happy to remind you of a moment in S2 where Arthur had a positive magic experience and prove you wrong, I’m afraid I cannot do that…. wrecking my brain, but I think you’re absolutely right that it’s all bad bad bad.
I was thinking we should definitely talk about this in the S3 round up, now that we’ve got there, and I was just wondering if you wanted to elaborate on the points you made for S1 and S2 in regards to arthur’s magic journey, to add S3? Of course absolutely fine if not!!! But I didn’t want to put words in your mouth in regards to the tracking, so I thought I would check 🙂
M Xx
2nd December 2020 @ 4:47 pm
I’m certain I’m too late at this point to get my tracking into the episode but I did want to send my thoughts your way. To be quite frank, I’m not sure if there are any particular *good* magic moments for Arthur this season either, although the negative interactions maybe aren’t quite as devastating as they were in Season Two (not including Morgana’s betrayal…) “Queen of Hearts” is a good example of Arthur getting to see Uther unfairly imprison Gwen for magic use though.
That all being said, I think Season 1 still holds the most episodes where Arthur gets to view “good” use of magic. And I think perhaps thats why there are certain episodes that loom really large in fan reimaginings. I read/see fan fiction about the Unicorn, the orb of light, the tornado, ALL THE TIME and I think that’s partly because we don’t see other examples of Arthur genuinely encountering magic working with him in that capacity again for most of the show.
20th May 2020 @ 8:08 am
Also I’m so happy and excited for you guys on next weeks episode! I was so happy I told my friends and my mom about it😅. But I can’t wait to hear it this week!
7th June 2020 @ 12:04 pm
sorry for the delay, things have been a bit mad over here in F&F world, but I love that you told your friend and mom about our podcast interview hahaha
I hope you enjoyed the actual episodes 😀
20th May 2020 @ 7:50 am
I love finding little communities of Fandom such as this one. It makes me feel less alone in my enjoyment. So thank you for your work!
20th May 2020 @ 7:48 am
This episode was so much fun! Thank you for reading my comment! I’m excited for this weeks episode. I’m looking forward to season three discussions. It’s really interesting to see it all unfold. You ladies have definitely opened my eyes to the many problems this series has that I had been blind to before. The first time I really watched Merlin was early 2019 and I rewatched it a couple of times, once while sharing it with my family and again for enjoyment. But now I’m seeing it with a more critical lenses. But I still adore this show and these characters. Although I still find myself occasionally looking at it with rose tinted glasses, without meaning to.
25th June 2020 @ 11:37 pm
I don’t think there is anything wrong with rose tinted glasses. Ruth and I always say Love What You Love, and we absolutely mean it.
For us, loving something means critcally analysing it, and occassionally taking it to pieces haha but that doesn’t mean I love it any less. In fact often, I almost feel more justified in my love of Merlin, or many other telivion or book, especially YA stuff that often gets looked down upon by people. People may dismiss this TV show/book, but they don’t understand even a fraction of the intricacies of it, so what do they know, anyway?? so yeah 🙂
19th May 2020 @ 4:07 pm
Woops. Edit, I wasn’t talking about the finale but The Fires of Idirsholas. I frequently forget that there’s another episode after that, and I actually love that episode, I suppose TFoI just feels more like a finale to me.
19th May 2020 @ 3:50 pm
I’m a bit late to it but I just wanted to say that I am loving your podcast after just watching all of Merlin for the first time. I immediately ordered the first DVD on your recommendation for all the bonus features. I can’t wait for your coverage of season 3, I’ve been binging your podcasts to catch up before you start that one. With all the new characters and new relationships, this was the season where I really started to see Arthur’s kingdom forming and got well excited (even though he isn’t king yet). I love all Merlin episodes (except the troll ones), but I feel like season 2 was the weakest (not because of the troll). Overall just not that much happened that had a lasting impact on the characters, apart from Arthur and Guinevere’s blooming romance. Morgana is meant to have an arc but it’s butchered and really you could leave all of it out except what happens in the finale and I don’t think it would change much. Merlin goes through something that should be really harrowing and haunting with Freya but it doesn’t seem to impact his personality much at all long-term. I feel like everything that does have a lasting impact on the characters, happens in the finale. Someone who has never seen Merlin could probably watch a couple of specific episodes and the finale and then jump into season 3 and understand everything. Maybe that’s being harsh, there’s certainly a lot of character moments to discuss in every episode but I just feel like most of them don’t pay off in the following episodes. Anyway, I’m excited for season 3 and I will rewatch each episode along with you. Much thanks to Bradley James for mentioning your podcast and bringing it to my attention. Your insight is very interesting and I think that has a lot to do with your respective backgrounds, I’ve learned a lot not just about Merlin but about TV and film in general, which is something that always fascinated me, and something I very nearly studied.
25th June 2020 @ 11:33 pm
Sorry for the lateness of response! I hope that your DVDs have arrive and you have been enjoying the bonus features 😀 😀
–I love all Merlin episodes (except the troll ones), but I feel like season 2 was the weakest (not because of the troll).–
I really look forward to getting to the end of 2021 and working out which season is my favourite season, because I’m not sure I could give you a straight (and correct) answer right now. It’s been so long since I rewatched the later seasons, and there’s stand out (and rubbish) episodes in all of them… so yeah, stay tuned! haha
–Someone who has never seen Merlin could probably watch a couple of specific episodes and the finale and then jump into season 3 and understand everything.–
I think that’s absolutely true. If you wanted to boil Merlin down to plot movements You could probable watch three episodes per season, and get 90% of the gist, Though you would be missing out on a LOT of delightful stuff! haha But yes, merlin has always had a huge problem with follow through, and with all the characters seemingly forgetting what they learned literally last week!! lol
–Your insight is very interesting and I think that has a lot to do with your respective backgrounds, I’ve learned a lot not just about Merlin but about TV and film in general, which is something that always fascinated me, and something I very nearly studied.–
thank you so much, that’s very kind of you to say! We’ve had a number of people say that they are using our critical analysis to help them with their own writing and plotting, or in crytical analyse of literature or television for classes, and that’s an amazing compliment!
17th May 2020 @ 11:44 pm
This is my first time writing in! I love your podcast; I hope the hiatus doesn’t last too long. I especially loved how you in this episode you point out that loving something means criticizing it. Yes, Merlin has serious issues, but I feel that part of loving a show is recognizing its issues and thinking about how they could be resolved, as well as the things it does well. On that note, while the underrepresentation of female characters is never fully resolved, I do feel that they improve upon it somewhat in the later seasons.
I know I’m late, but I feel the need to get out some of my thoughts surrounding the Morgana storyline.
This is my second time watching Merlin, and through the process of thinking and reading about the series I’ve come to the reluctant conclusion that Morgana has been a deeply flawed character from the beginning, and her ultimate betrayal is a result of her serious flaws manifesting themselves in ugly ways due to a variety of external factors. Her chief flaw, in my opinion, is that she is incredibly self-centered. How she responds in any given in scenario is about its impact on her and her life. She definitely cares about people, but she cares about them to the degree that they care about her— this can be seen in her response to Uther’s question about how many men she would sacrifice to save Gwen: “As many as it takes.” There is no sense of the big picture; Gwen matters most not because she is a human being who deserves rescuing, but because whether or not Gwen lives or dies has a direct impact on Morgana’s life in a way that the lives of soldiers do not.
“To Kill the King” establishes this very well. It is incredibly telling that Morgana’s response to Gwen’s father’s death is not to comfort her friend or talk to her about the serious grief she is going through, but to yell at Uther and ultimately make the event all about her, something that Gwen was clearly uncomfortable with. Then, she goes on to ally herself with the man who threatened Gwen and helped cause her father’s death, all for the sake of getting revenge on Uther, whom she believed wronged her. When asked about why she would be willing to kill him, she doesn’t cite how he murdered her friend’s father, instead, she points out the fact that he put her in chains. So, Morgana’s motivation has nothing to do with Gwen, who she more or less ignores for the majority of the episode, and everything to do with her own anger and frustration.
I agree that Morgana’s arc in season two is severely under-covered, especially her relationship with Morgause, but I do think they establish her self centeredness pretty well. First, her decision not to return to Camelot even though it means many people to die is shocking in just the right way, and makes perfect sense with what we’ve seen of her character in “To Kill the King.” She just doesn’t think about the effects her actions have on others; her instinct is to protect herself and her own emotions. This trend is even more apparent in season three, and considerably more damaging.
Similarly, in “The Fires of Idrisholas,” I believe that even though Morgana doesn’t know exactly what’s happening, she starts to get a pretty good idea that her encounter with Morgause has something to do with it. While it would have been nice to see her more active, I’m okay with her role in this episode for a couple of reasons. The first is that she did make an active choice: she told Morgause that she would be willing to help her kill Uther. It is my interpretation that if Morgana hadn’t said this Morgause wouldn’t have proceeded with her plan in the way she did. So, even if she is unaware of exactly the plan, she did in a sense decide to help. The second is that I am of the firm stance the passivity is a choice. If Morgana was committed to saving Camelot, she could have revealed her encounter with Morgause to Merlin and Arthur, or even tried to dissuade Morgause herself. Instead, she does nothing. This goes back to her self centeredness: she’s still not sure whether to align herself with Arthur or with Morgause, and she’s stalling to see what her best option is. It doesn’t matter to her that people could die, the only thing that matters is making the decision that will be the best for her.
The final thing I would like to point out is how ironically similar Morgana is to Uther: they are both harmfully self centered, both willing to put their own self interests over the lives of others. No doubt being raised by Uther had a huge impact on Morgana’s character, no matter how much she despises him. It is also interesting to note that in some ways Merlin is the opposite of Morgana. While she makes instinctive, emotional decisions based on what is best for her, Merlin (for the most part) makes more thoughtful, hard ones that take the big picture into account. For example, he poisons his friend, who he truly cares about, because he knows it is necessary to save Camelot. Morgana would never be capable of making such a difficult choice.
I got a little carried away, but it felt nice to get all of these thoughts out. Again, great podcast, and I really look forward to hearing your take on season three!
25th June 2020 @ 11:26 pm
Hi Liza!
Hope you’re doing okay with the hiatus and all the other craziness going on at the moment.
–Yes, Merlin has serious issues, but I feel that part of loving a show is recognizing its issues and thinking about how they could be resolved, as well as the things it does well.–
so much this! I really don’t belive in cancel culture, but I also don’t really believe in stan culture. Everything has flaws, and acknowledging, discussing, and addressing them is what helps us improve our own understanding of something, as well as (in the greater scheme of things) the creation of content. It’s interesting what you mention about the representation of female characters later on in the season, because as we’ve said once or twice on the podcast, both myself and Ruth have watched the first two seasons of merlin a dozen times, and we’ve always failed on our rewatch, so i think I’ve seen season 3 maybe 3-4 times, and I’m pretty sure I’ve seen season 4 twice only, and I saw season 5 only the once when it was live… And all of that is now nearly a decade ago… lol
–Her chief flaw, in my opinion, is that she is incredibly self-centered.–
again, I completely agree. I think it’s sad because there was a moment in S1/early S2 where we played with her being the spoiled princess on the outside, but then standing up and defending the underdog. but that went out the window really quickly and got replaced with selfish actions, maybe at best, if we are being generous, short sighted harmful actions. and yeah, everything you point out about Morgana in Kill the King is spot on. I hadn’t ever quite looked at it from that angle, but you’re correct. She decides that it’s down to her, to exact revenge for what was done to Gwen (despite Gwen not wanting this) and when she gets punished for this, she sees this as reason enough to kill uther, because of what he did to her. Your spot on, it stops being about Gwen within two scenes maybe?
— she’s still not sure whether to align herself with Arthur or with Morgause, and she’s stalling to see what her best option is. It doesn’t matter to her that people could die, the only thing that matters is making the decision that will be the best for her.–
I would have really liked it if we had shown Morgana as being paralized by having to, and being unable to make a choice. She loves both those people. Arthur who she grew up with, and Morgause who she has an inexplicable connection with. It shouldn’t be a difficult choice, because who even is Morgause to her, but yet, she can’t get herself to do something that puts her in harm’s way… wouldn’t that have been a fascinating conflict to explore?
I feel that a lot of the writing surrounding Morgana is just so lazy. It takes the easiest possible motive ‘anger at uther’ and fails to give it proper motivation and enough actual concrete reasons 90% of the time, but asks us to belive that it’s a legit decision on her part, anyway. Poor Morgana! she deserved better.
–The final thing I would like to point out is how ironically similar Morgana is to Uther–
Oh, 100%! And I do feel like that is something the writers are aware of. I belive uther even points it out at some point early on. It might even be in Kill the King, when he says that he was wrong to make the snap decisions he made that led to Thomas’ death. I don’t think he actually says ‘I’m just like you’ but I feel that rings through this entire scene.
thank you so much for taking the time to write in and I hope you’re keeping well!
michelle Xx
17th May 2020 @ 5:16 am
Hi guys. This is only my second time writing in so you might not remember me. But I’ve recently caught up with the podcast and wanted to share my personal List of Destiny including all episodes from S1 and S2. All your insights in the season 2 roundup have been really amazing and it’s been interesting to know other listeners’ thoughts as well. The comments on The Last Dragonlord are insane!
Like the both of you and some of the other listeners, Merlin holds a very special place in my heart. I’ve been afraid to analyze it too much, but listening to this podcast made me realize how much I truly love it despite all its flaws. I’m at the end of season 3 on the rewatch and I’ve been dreading the hiatus because I don’t think I’d be able to stop.
Hopefully, other things will keep me occupied until Destiny and Chicken comes back. I’m very excited for the extra episode and also the Yuri on Ice special. It’s one of my favorite anime series ever and I’m looking forward to hearing your thoughts about it. I’m also thinking of listening to your The Descent Is Easy podcast. I read The Mortal Instruments books a long time ago and never really got into the tv show. But your occasional comments about it in the D+C podcast made me want to give it a try. They also reminded me of how much I loved the parabatai concept and Ruth’s idea of applying it to other relationships in fiction is so amazing and such an eye-opener for me. Anyways, I just really want to thank you guys for making the hiatus bearable. I appreciate it so much.
And I almost forgot, here’s my personal List of Destiny (I’m sorry for being extremely late):
1) Sins of the Father
2) Last Dragonlord
3) Fires of Idirsholas
4) Poisoned Chalice
5) Lancelot and Guinevere
6) Le Morte d’Arthur
7) Once and Future Queen
8) The Moment of Truth
9) Lancelot
10) Lady of the Lake
11) Beginning of the End
12) Valiant
13) Labyrinth of Gedref
14) Excalibur
15) Dragon’s Call
16) Sweet Dreams
17) Curse of Cornelius Sigan
18) Witchfinder
19) To Kill the King
20) Gates of Avalon
21) Nightmare Begins
22) Beauty and the Beast
23) Witch’s Quickening
24) Mark of Nimueh
25) Remedy to Cure All Ills
7th June 2020 @ 12:00 pm
Hi Eira!
Absolutely rembeber you, if only because I still have the occassional moment of horrid guilt in which I worry about potentially having mispronounced your name live on air!
The season 2 round up and the content submitted for it was astonishingly thought provoking and such high quality, i completely agree! I’m so glad to hear that you feel similarly! I think there are things, especially things from years ago that you’ve not revised, that do always come with an element of fear. Is rewatching this going to ruin it forever. and sometimes that fear is big enough, so you don’t, and that’s okay, but sometimes you bite the bullet and it turns out to have been worth it.
One of the main things that we feel like we always highlight, but maybe we do not highlight enough, is that (for us!) crytical analysis isn’t to say that something is bad, or shouldn’t be watched anymore, or means that we’re not allowed to love it. or that our listeners aren’t allowed to love it. or that our listeners aren’t allowed to disagree with our crytisism and continue whole heartedly loving something that we’ve called out as problematic (in our eyes!). Love what you love is our bottom line. Just, for us, that includes analysing it and sometimes taking the mickey out of it, and sometimes uncovering why it’s problematic and discussing it.
We’re very close to Yuri on Ice now, which is super exciting. I’m actually gonna rewatch it, as the episodes comes out, in case we get any “live” discussion going haha we recorded it a while back, and editing it now has made me realise how much i want to watch the show again!!
Not sure if you’ve given tDiE a go since your comment, but if you have, I hope you’re enjoying it! if you haven’t, can I please interject here to say that it was our first podcast and our podcasting skill and recording technology was subpar, so please do give it a couple of episodes. we get better, i promise! lol
Thank you for sending through your list! I will add it to the other ones 😀 😀
16th May 2020 @ 10:09 am
I am so excited for next week’s episode, partly because obviously I’m excited to hear the interview but mostly because I’m really happy for you that you got to do it! When you mentioned the surprise my first thought was of that livestream where he mentioned you, but I didn’t want to get my hopes up lmao
Season 2 of D&C has been so great and I’m really glad I found you guys when I did. It’s made lockdown so far more bearable! These discussions have been fascinating and I’ve loved hearing your insights and getting to chat to other Merlin fans for the first time in a long while. I mean, Tumblr is great for art and fic and headcanons but it’s hard to have discussions there.
You guys clearly work so hard on this, and it shows.
7th June 2020 @ 11:41 am
Using the lockdown to finally catch up on a million comments on here… haha
This may not have been everyone’s fandom experience with Merlin, but for me, Merlin was so heavily a Livejournal based fandom, and the fact that the fandom still exists and is still amazingly active, but that technology and sharing platforms have moved on, is cause a really weird rift. Because I completely agree, tumblr just isn’t made to discuss anything. And neither is twitter, though at least twitter is about conversation, even if it is in tiny 260 character long chunks. But neither of them, it feels to be, are satisfying the currently still bubbling away merlin fandom, because they started on more long form text orientated platforms.
We had our shadowhunters podcast for two years, and it was very successful and very active, the show was live, the discussion was constatenly happening, but we maybe got one comment here on the website every other episode or so. because the fandom was born in the middle of twitter and tumblr, and that’s where the discussion was, and that was the format it was being held in.
just… an interesting fandom diversity to observe I guess, more than any actual conlusions or facts haha
–You guys clearly work so hard on this, and it shows.–
thank you so much. that’s such a kind thing to say!
14th May 2020 @ 10:13 pm
I’ve only just found out there’s a comments section and here I was wondering where all these discussions were happening (I clearly cant work websites!). Loved this round up episode, loads of greats points made and I’m in my happy little Merlin bubble now because of it.
I forgot to mention my season 2 highlight which has to be the Arwen kiss in 2×02! The cinematography is just so beautiful there with the music, the lighting, Arthur’s jawline and it’s what I always remember when I think of Merlin. The Arthur&Gwen theme that’s introduced here is such a beautiful piece of music (Rob Lane did an amazing job with the soundtrack btw) and it always tugs on my heartstrings.
Although season 3 is not one if my favourites, I’m still very excited to hear your views (especially in the finale) and also very excited for the arrival of the rest of the knights especially GWAINE. I’ve cheated and already watched ahead but will undoubtedly watch it again before September.
Also, I’m so excited for the episode with Bradley next week!!! I’m so happy for you guys to get the chance to do this and will definitely make this hiatus more bearable. Arthur Pendragon has been my favourite character for years and can’t wait to hear from the man himself.
15th May 2020 @ 10:51 pm
You know, it’s interesting that you pointed out the Arthur and Gwen theme used so soaringly to underscore their romantic first kiss. However, I noticed a while ago that it actually wasn’t the Arthur and Gwen theme to begin with. The first time this theme was introduced in the show was actually in the Lancelot episode (1.5.), so before it was Arthur and Gwen’s love theme, it was actually Lancelot and Gwen’s. And I feel there is a statement in that – perhaps unintentionally – as if the memories of the feelings that Lancelot first awakened in Gwen (her first love) will never quite leave her or he will always cast his shadow (theme) over even the most intimate and romatic moments of the Arwen relationship. It’s like they were trying to score the love triangle that is only shown in its barest form in the show because family TV.
Then again, maybe it’s not the romantic love theme at all but rather Gwen’s theme and then it would of course be natural to use at either moment and the thought behind using it to score her love for both men not quite as deep as I imagine. And that’s okay too – why overcomplicate things?
16th May 2020 @ 2:23 pm
You’re right! I always associate that music with Arwen that I forgot that it is actually used for Lancelot and Gwen first. I always thought the theme they used for them was a slightly different, muted version for the one that’s usually associated Arwen. The one I referred to in 2×02 is the powerful version, with the music swelling as they kiss and I always thought that was only ever used for them. However, I’ve just gone back to check some scenes and the same theme (the powerful one) is actually used during the Lancelot-Gwen kiss in 2×04 and the more muted version I associated with Lancelot and Gwen is used in a few Arwen scenes too. Although later on in the show, this music becomes exclusively the Arthur-Gwen theme.
It is interesting how the same music is used for both couples, and I agree with you about Gwen’s feelings for Lancelot casting a shadow over her relationship with Arthur. Since Lancelot was her first love, the fact that their music stays even after he leaves suggests her feelings for Lancelot will always be there despite how much she ends up loving Arthur. It also seems like her love for both men are equal in that sense. I’ve also noticed that this music is used during Gwen and Lancelot’s first ever interaction back in 1×05, but I believe for Arwen the first time it’s used is after Gwen calls him out in 2×02. This seems like although they’ve had a few “moments” before, the romantic nature of their relationship only comes into play after this scene whereas, with Lancelot, the attraction was always there from the beginning.
Perhaps rather than the music showing Gwen’s love for both men, I’ve always thought of it the other way. The way it plays when Lancelot is sacrificing himself for her in 2×04, and even in their first interaction I think of the music representing his feelings for Gwen. Similarly, when it’s played for Arwen, it always seems like it’s from Arthur’s point of view. This might alos be me overcomplicating it as the show is largely from Arthur’s POV anyway so it makes sense for the music to reflect this.
Another interesting point: this same piece is actually used during a scene between Arthur and Merlin in the very last episode (5×13). I don’t know if this has some significance but the fact that this music is almost exclusively Arwen’s and has never been used for Merlin and Arthur makes me believe it is. I always see parallels with the scene in 2×02 where Gwen calls him out. In both scenes, the music seems to signify Arthur realising his feelings and seeing the other person in a new light. It seems like it’s in this scene when Arthur truly realises how much Merlin means to him. It’s one of my favourite scenes from the whole show and it’s only made better by the fact they use my favourite music too!
7th June 2020 @ 11:49 am
guh! arthur’s jawline during that first kiss!!! I could write sonnets about it… <3 <3 <3
14th May 2020 @ 4:19 pm
i only found out about D+C beginning of this season but it has been the best thing during lockdown to make me laugh and give me an excuse to rewatch merlin. i am very sad not to have season 3 episodes done till september but it does give me time to rewatch all of it at least 5 times, so i can decide what i want to say about each episode. i really enjoyed this season as well as the last, i literally paused it for 30 mins to try to think what episode stands out most but i tried to do it without thinking too hard, it failed. my mum said i should name my new hamster Merlin as i called my last one Morganne but i decided on squeak with magnus as his middle name as i now have more shows to include. i forgot to say my best and worst moments of the season so imma do that now:
best:
-merlins face when in sweet dreams when he stands in front of the wardrobe and says it hasn’t opened for years
-when Gaius raises his eyebrows and asks merlin ‘clotpole?’ then laughs
-when merlin appears from under Arthurs bed
worst:
-when Alvarr is on screen
-Merlin poisoning Morgana
-the whole of beauty and the beast (1/2)
anyways, I’m really looking forward to hearing what Bradley has to say in a week and talking about season 3 in September. season 3 is probably my favorite season but I don’t know, it is such an important season for Morgana, we don’t really see much of a change in anyone else’s arcs apart from Gwen and Arthur.
7th June 2020 @ 11:44 am
the ‘just name the first thing that comes to your mind’ method never works for me, as it’s always the most random thing that comes to my mind and has nothing to do with whether i like something or whether it’s good. it might just be because it’s got the most ostantatiously annoying moment in it, which is why it sticks in my mind haha
–when Alvarr is on screen–
I totally read that as ‘when Arthur is on screen’ abd thought for a moment we couldn’t be friends anymore.. lol
How’s Mr Squeak Magnus getting on? <3
14th May 2020 @ 11:49 am
I was nearly halfway through, where you were talking about the poison for Morgana and I just wondered, did she know why she didn’t fall asleep or was she once again, lying to them to cover the truth. we are never given clarity of how much she actually knows.
14th May 2020 @ 12:41 pm
we really aren’t, and I think that’s on purpose. If not from the writing, than certainly from the acting. I feel that Katie McGrath always wanted Morgana’s descent into evil to be… less comic book muahahaha and now she’s evil, and more human. that Morgana was pushed into a corner, and made choices that with hindsigh were bad choices, but at the time, she didn’t know and she didn’t see the better options. But I feel that this interpretation of the character and the acting of this didn’t always marry up with the writing for her character, if that makes sense? Which is why I feel we often have unclear motivations when it comes to Morgana