rionaleonhart | Only Those With Magic Can Hear It, As You'll Remember From Professor Sprout.

So Merlin is back on our screens! Here are my primary thoughts on 'The Tears of Uther Pendragon, Part One'.

- I realised moments before the episode ended that it was probably going to be a cliffhanger. SO ANNOYED. You can't have a massive cliffhanger in the first episode of the series, Merlin; that's just unsporting.

- I want more emotional conflict when people are doing horrible things to people they once loved! We had it in 'To Kill the King', back in the first series, but now Morgana is entirely without remorse and it troubles me. There was a scene in which she looked conflicted, but as soon as Uther was out of the room she was back to EVIL SMIRKING, JUST SO WE'RE CLEAR, WOULDN'T WANT YOU TO THINK ANYTHING INTERESTING WAS GOING ON EMOTIONALLY. This was something that also bothered me when Merlin was trying to poison Morgana; he didn't want to do it, obviously, but ultimately the failed attempts to poison her were treated as mere practical obstacles, rather than every failure reinforcing Merlin's feeling that he shouldn't be doing this. Guys, how am I supposed to send you to Silent Hill if you don't show remorse?

- Uther's love for Morgana is breaking my heart, incidentally. I can never cope with relationships in which one person genuinely loves the other and the other loathes them. (See also: Harry and John Watson in Sherlock.)

- I did very much like Morgana's 'because he's already here'. Merlin has always been terrible at stealth, and finally somebody notices!

- The feel of Merlin has changed quite a bit from when it began, which makes sense, I suppose; given all that's happened, of course it's going to be darker. I have to respect the writers for bringing it so far; I expected an purely episodic, 'now back to the status quo' format, but they made actual changes. They killed Nimueh; they freed the dragon; they brought in Arthur/Gwen; they turned Morgana. The changes are in part made to bring it more into line with the myths, of course, but I'm still impressed by how dynamic the world of Merlin is, although of course the basic 'nobody can know of Merlin's magic!' concept remains unchanged.

- Morgana's turning, incidentally, distresses me enormously. I knew it would have to happen, but - but - my OT4! No more episodes in which Merlin and Arthur and Morgana and Gwen all go on adorable adventures together! It didn't happen nearly enough even when they were all on not-betraying-each-other terms!

- What hasn't changed is the bucketloads of homoerotic subtext (although it looks as if we may now be deprived of the wonderful love-that-was between Morgana and Gwen, sob), in this episode involving a literal bucket. Arthur, shirtless for absolutely no reason, braced a hand on Merlin's face and scrubbed him with a wet cloth. The scene was probably titled 'OBLIGATORY HOMOEROTICA' in the shooting script, and I am absolutely not complaining.

I suppose my thoughts essentially boil down to 'I'm very happy to see Merlin back, but nooooooooo so many character dynamics I loved have been lost.' I need to purchase the second series and relive happier times in Camelot, I think.

Only Those With Magic Can Hear It, As You'll Remember From Professor Sprout.

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