In today’s episode, MissSnowfox and Momo talk about the last episode of the first season of BBC’s Merlin, “Le Morte d’Arthur”.
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Find more stream or download options for this episode below the cut.
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News:
Maryluis on patreon
Camelot Drabble
Merlin Stills
Merlin Forever
Statistics:
- First aired 13 Dec 2008
- 4 female characters (with lines)
- 2 main cast (Gwen, Morgana)
- 2 supporting cast (Nimueh, Hunith)
- 4 male characters (with lines)
- 4 main cast (Arthur, Merlin, Gaius, Uther)
- Enemy/Monster of the Week: Questing Beast, Nimueh
- Merlin kills 1 creature: Questing Beast
- Merlin kills 1 person: Nimueh
Resources
Lao-Pendragon’s comment on Episode 18
Elirwen’s comment on Episode 8.2
Elirwen’s comment on Episode 7
“Le Morte d’Arthur” on the Merlin Wiki
Credits
Merlisten theme music composed by side_steppings
News music by Mansardian on freesound.org
Intermission music: “Monkeys Spinning Monkeys” by Kevin McLeod
Manip for the cover by brolinskeep, Cover by momo
momotastic on AO3 | tumblr | Podfic
misssnowfox on AO3 | tumblr | YouTube | Cosplay
You can talk back or not. I don’t need a reply.
I love Momo’s idea of why Pellinore died in Excalibur because of his shame of his incestuous family and the whole Questing beast thing. I wish someone would write that fic. It sounds fantastic.
The isle of the Blessed was filmed at Raglan Castle. It’s quite pretty in the sunlight. I love going there. It’s one of my favorite castles in Wales.
I bought the UK DVDs so I could see Merlin before it aired in the US. So I did binge watch. That’s also how I got my friends interested in Merlin. I showed them the first episode and they immediately wanted to see the second one!
I loved the Nimueh scenes! The last scene with her and Merlin is just so great. I wanted much more Nimueh, the backstory, and things going forward. I thought she was a much greater villain than Morgana ever was. She could have been both Uther and Merlin’s enemy and that would have made for such dynamic stories. Oh, well. (I also found her an excellent villain to write.)
Gaius is definitely Google because Google also often offers some basic info about stuff right on the search page which means that you don’t always have to click through to another page. xD
If ratty dress means high priestess then Merlin totally cosplayed Dolma as a high priestess. 😀
I’ve never seen Merlin using the rabbit’s foot as trying to avoid his death. More like clutching a plush toy when you’re scared.
As for Merlin coming back to dragon right after promising not coming back, I think it would be solved by somehow clearly stating that there’s about a year gap between season 1 and 2.
For me, the over-the-topness of Merlin killing Nimueh fit quite well. He was seriously pissed off and he was on the Isle of the Blessed which must have been vibrating with ancient magic, so he just went with the mood and turned on the bamf Merlin mode.
I have a theory for the scene with Gwen in Arthur’s chambers. I think Morgana wanted to be with Arthur but Uther didn’t allow it. Either because the lady can’t be alone with the prince or because Uther doesn’t want them to be too close. So instead of going to Arthur by herself, she at least sends Gwen. Gwen is her most trusted friend and I could imagine she felt comforted by the idea of her friend looking after Arthur.
Arthur does this too. When Gwen got kidnapped and Morgana said she didn’t come to work in the morning, Arthur knew he couldn’t go looking for her, so he sends Merlin instead.