3.11 The Sorcerer's Shadow

[Perpetual Man]

The only rule in Camelot's legendary tournament is that there are no rules. The mythic city fills with terrifying warriors and are joined by Gilli, who despite his small stature has victory in his sights and a secret weapon to help him - magic.
As Gilli begins to realise the full potential of his powers, Merlin finds himself torn. Not only is his new friend putting his own life in danger, but his actions threaten to rip apart the very fabric of Camelot itself. Can Merlin make Gilli see sense before it's too late?

It seems that our interest is waning in this series as the third enters the home straight, which is a shame, as the last few episodes have been a definate improvement on the early episodes.

But will that improve with this one?

[Dave]

I thought they were just teasing us now with the "Uther is going to die in the Tournament" routine - how unfair is that? And that "He can't die by Magic if Arthur is to make make Magic legal" line is even more unfair. How else are we going to get him killed?

And it seems that Camelot Tournaments are just as fake, staged and dishonest as WWE Wrestling Matches are.

[sloweye]

Originally Posted by Perpetual Man

It seems that our interest is waning in this series as the third enters the home straight, which is a shame, as the last few episodes have been a definate improvement on the early episodes.

But will that improve with this one?

No, no, there are still fans of the show here. we just avoid Merlin posts as it always seems to end up as a 'why the show is bad' thread

[Perpetual Man]

Now that is understandable Slow.

I thought that last nights was a bit weaker than the last few weeks, but still a good episode. I did wonder whether they were going to do the unexpected and take Uther out, but in the end they didn't and for what the story was about that was good enough.

Hmmm, Dave how were the tournaments fake? Only in the sense that Gilli was using magic. We did not see all the match-ups, only the ones that were important to the story, and we do not know what happened in those other contests. In the ones we did see, Gilli killed at least one opponent, hardly fake. The only fake bit was Arthur giving in to Uther, but that was dealt with at the end of the episode when Uther knew.

I liked the way that Morgana tried to manipulate the king into doing the tournament, not done particularly unsubtly perhaps, but then we know what she is doing - and she could have been under the impression that it was a bit of a desperate outside chance anyway.

All in all a lightweight, fun episode, with no real plot progression, but then I did not expect much else this close to the end of the season. We did get to see a softer side to the Uthur/Arthur relationship and a glimpse of what Merlin might have been had he not had Gaius guiding him.

Good fun, and the trailer for the next episode looking promising indeed...

[Dave]

Forgive me, I'm always slightly tongue-in-cheek here. I need to post more of these.

It wasn't nearly as staged as Wrestling, but if one person was using Magic and one person threw a fight, and they were only the fights that we saw, it does make you wonder about all the rest. On the other hand, surely it was all about 'Entertainment' anyway? The crowd absolutely loved it, and happy people are easier for a King to rule over. Pity some had to die for entertainment and to stroke Uther's ego.

[Perpetual Man]

Originally Posted by Dave

Forgive me, I'm always slightly tongue-in-cheek here. I need to post more of these.

It wasn't nearly as staged as Wrestling, but if one person was using Magic and one person threw a fight, and they were only the fights that we saw, it does make you wonder about all the rest. On the other hand, surely it was all about 'Entertainment' anyway? The crowd absolutely loved it, and happy people are easier for a King to rule over. Pity some had to die for entertainment and to stroke Uther's ego.

What, wrestling is staged?

You'd be think that I would be used to the humour around here by now, I mean only been a member of Chrons for 5 years. (Not that you could tell from the amount I post). It's very hard to think at that time in the morning.

I do see your point though, and although I'm sure there were other contests that we did not see, I have to admit some of the magic Gilli used did seem to be a bit obvious, but then I guess the writers have only so much time to fit events into.

Two episodes to go, and something big might still happen.

[sloweye]

I think the contest was quite well done, I mean its a 45min show. A contest like that would take 3 days atleast to play out (I took part in martial arts comps with far less participants that took 2 full days) so they did well cutting it to fit the story. (the only beef I had was why, given the time period, the Asian blade didn't cut the British blade in half.)

[FeedMeTV]

I also found this an enjoyable episode. I liked how Uther recognised Arthur's sacrifice for him, it was a touching moment.

Nice to see Harry Melling (Gilli) moving on from Harry Potter (he plays Dudley Dursley in the films) too.

[Mouse]

Just watched this ep. I liked it. Didn't get why Morgana was getting so excited about Arthur vs Uther though. Obviously they wouldn't kill each other!

And can Merlin have a change of clothes, please?

[Ursa major]

If Arthur won, she was hoping that Uther would feel humiliated and react accordingly.

If Uther won, she was hoping that he would see Arthur as unfit to rule, providing her with a greater chance of gaining the throne.

Oh, and she's evil.

*removes tongue from cheek*

But you're right: if Uther was to be badly injured or killed, it wouldn't be at Arthur's hand; so if anytone was going to benefit, it would be Arthur, by becoming King or Regent.


I quite liked this episode: a good, moral tale, with the bad getting their come-uppance and the good (and Uther) learning from the experience.

[Mouse]

Ah right, I was just thinking that she was hoping they'd kill each other!

What I did like about this ep (well, actually I liked all of it, but what I liked in particular) was when Merlin finally showed his magic to someone.

[Dave]

Originally Posted by Mouse

What I did like about this ep (well, actually I liked all of it, but what I liked in particular) was when Merlin finally showed his magic to someone.

You didn't think that was a particularly stupid thing to do? Given how impetuous Gilli had showed himself to be? He could have got drunk in the bar and told everyone.

I understand why he did it, but he took an enormous risk. I mean he didn't even tell Gwen when she told him about Morgana, yet he tells a total stranger.

[Mouse]

Oh yeah, it was a daft thing to do as I thought matey was definitely going to go and tell someone that Merlin had magic, but I've been waiting so long for it to happen that I was pleased when it did.

[FeedMeTV]

Originally Posted by Mouse

And can Merlin have a change of clothes, please?

That's a very good point, have we ever seen him in anything other than the red neckerchief, and brown shirt ? It's a bit like Clark Kent in Smallville, he's always in red and blue so the audience doesn't forget who he is.

And Merlin must have to wash his clothes quite often with the amount of horse manure he finds himself in. Poor boy.

[Ursa major]

Yes, it was a risk, Dave. Merlin let his good nature get the better of him, but the risk was limited: okay, Gilli could have blurted out the truth, but all Merlin would have to say was that Gilli was trying to divert attention from himself.

I think Merlin would be believed: On the one hand we have Gilli, who's beating large, talented fighters, even though he's small and lacks armour; on the other we have a servant who has a reputation for falling down (sometimes literally) on the job. Which one is likely to be thought a user of magic? My money would be on Gilli.

(Also, Gilli thought that he was powerful, and built up his self-importance on this, because that's how he saw things: people should defer to those with the most power, such as him; he soon saw that Merlin wielded the greater magic, and knew his place. (It is a feudal society: this sort of deference is swallowed unthinkingly with mother's milk.) And Merlin knew that he was the real magician, so would expect to get out of any tight spot.)