Episode 39: Review 2×01 The Curse of Cornelius Sigan

cover art in which Merlin wears a headset with microphone and holds up a finger to his lips as if to tell you to be quiet

In today’s episode, MissSnowfox and Momo get started on Series 2 of Merlin, starting with the first episode: “The Curse of Cornelius Sigan.” The episode is about two and a half hours long, and features momo explaining why Arthur is shirtless so much, and Momo and Rox loving Mackenzie Crook the right amount.

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Find more stream or download options for this episode below the cut.

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News:

New Merlin Reverse Schedule
After Camlann Runs Again
Kink Meme Fill-a-Thon
Merlin’s Spring Cleaning challenge

Statistics:

  • First aired 19 Sep 2009
  • 2 female characters (with lines)
    • 2 main cast (Gwen, Morgana)
  • 8 male characters (with lines)
    • 4 main cast (Arthur, Merlin, Gaius, Uther)
    • 4 supporting cast (Cedric, mine worker, Sigan, knight)
  • Enemy/Monster of the Week: Cornelius Sigan
  • Merlin eliminates 1 person: Sigan

Resources

Eirene’s comment on Episode 14
Eirene’s comment on Episode 15
Aspen’s comment on Episode 17
Julilily’s comment on Episode 31
“The Curse of Cornelius Sigan” on the Merlin Wiki

Credits

Merlisten theme music composed by side_steppings
News music by Mansardian on freesound.org
Manip for the cover by brolinskeep, Cover by momo

momotastic on AO3 | tumblr | Podfic | (Pod)Fic updates
misssnowfox on AO3 | tumblr | YouTube | Cosplay

4 thoughts on “Episode 39: Review 2×01 The Curse of Cornelius Sigan

  1. No need to comment on these.
    I thought the thriller jacket was the velvet one with the buttons. Oh, well.
    I HATE Arthur stepping on Merlin’s back. Hate it.

    You can comment about the rest if you want.

    I thought Merlin was jealous about Cedric taking his job. Especially with the way Merlin was looking at Cedric, so annoyed and getting his back up. Merlin’s jaw was working overtime – he looked like he was grinding his teeth and I found that hilarious.

    FYI, Boars can be very very big. Height: 1.8 – 4.1 ft. (Adult, At Shoulder)
    Length: 3 – 6.6 ft. (Adult, Without Tail), up to 220 lbs.

    Uther hunting witches. – He had bounty hunters going around looking for magic folk as explained with Freya in Lady of the Lake. So I was assuming he’d been doing it in the background for a while.

    And lastly, I really like the idea that Merlin and Arthur had a big fight about Merlin’s job right before the episode started. That would have made the episode and the dynamics of Merlin, Arthur, and Cedric so much more emotional and interesting.

  2. Oh dear God. Every time I saw this episode, I wondered where Merlin came from when Arthur called him in the beginning. I expected it to be very early in the morning and Merlin was awake but did not look as though he was actually awake. It was really confusing. But finally, thanks to you, the puzzle is solved and I can concentrate on being mad that Merlin had to move out after this episode.

  3. When you mentioned Gaius touching Morgana’s knee as she’s still in bed, I instantly remembered the “roofies” scene in Excalibur when Gaius gives Arthur the sleep potion and helps him lie down and watches him as he falls asleep. 😀

    *

    Arthur’s blue jacket is my absolute favourite. It suits him so well!

    *

    As for Merlin calling Arthur “Sire”, I especially remember that one Dom/sub moment in 5×04 when he tells Arthur that he can’t see Mithian right away.

    But I went through all the transcripts and found all the times Merlin calls Arthur Sire and created a pretty pivot table which can be found here.

    I didn’t look for My Lord or Your Majesty or any other title (of endearment). 😀

    *

    Merlin calls Arthur Sire 52 times in the whole show, in season 4 the most (17 times). And he calls him Sire more when they’re alone (but that might be because they have so many scenes where they’re alone). He often uses Sire when he’s either trying to show his respect or needs to tell him something important or when he’s making fun of him. But sometimes he uses it in normal domestic scenes too.

    *

    They might not have explained Merlin’s miraculous survival by immortality and used the excuse of magic but was there ever anyone who knew that Merlin was supposed to be immortal? I guess dragon might have known but he had his own agenda so I totally get why he wouldn’t share that tiny bit of information. So it makes sense that both Merlin and Gaius must have thought that anytime Merlin survived something that normal person wouldn’t it was because of his magic.

    *

    I decided that my new headcanon for this episode will be that Arthur’s shitty behaviour towards Merlin stems from his sexual frustration because of the lack of Merlin’s neckerchief. 😀 It’s not an excuse but it makes for a nice writing prompt. 😀

  4. I’m glad you mentioned the audio commentary of this episode -I really liked it too. : ) I was particularly impressed that Bradley was quick to sarcastically point out how the shirtless scenes aren’t necessary.

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