Merlin – Series 2

Episode 11:  The Witch’s Quickening

It’s entirely possible that we might have seen the title, then pictures of Morgana and Morgause together, and wondered if one of them got the other magically pregnant.  It could happen, okay.

Mordred’s hooked up with a new druid overlord named Alvarr.  Yes, Alvarr.  We have exhausted the A names, writers, okay?  No more.  Unlike the previous A-named druid guy, the one who got a crossbow to the head a few episodes ago, this one isn’t very nice.  He and Mordred sneak into Morgana’s room to have a chat with her about stealing the Crystal of Neahtid, which shows the future.  Merlin goes to talk to the Dragon about it, and after reminding Merlin that he promised to set the Dragon free, he has a laughing fit because apparently “the witch” isn’t powerful enough to wield the crystal.  We’re about ready for the Dragon to stfu now.

I want to play with yoooooouuu

Anyway, because Morgana isn’t very good at stealth, or noticing other unstealthy people following her, Arthur and his knights go off to find the Druid camp where A-druid and Mordred are staying.  For a while there Arthur yells at Merlin and we hear it from Merlin’s POV so it sounds like the teacher from Charlie Brown.  Then the fighting starts and Mordred runs away, and for whatever reason, Merlin doesn’t just go talk to him and instead trips him and almost gets him killed.  Mordred looks at him like this (see picture) and we are like, oh, sorry Merlin, I hope your funeral is nice and stuff.

Meanwhile, Arthur and his men kill the HELL out of the rest of the druids and take back the crystal, and Merlin takes a look into the future with it.  He sees the Dragon burning down Camelot.  Then he sees himself crying and is like, “Oh, just a normal day then.”  Phew!

Alvarr’s about to be executed for treason, and Morgana drugs the guards and allows him to free himself.  We have always been confused as to why magic-users don’t just magic their way out, anyway, so thank Rupert Young somebody finally did.  But does anyone actually stay in Camelot’s jail cells? Uther knows it was Morgana, but only says that if he ever finds out who did it, they’ll rue the day.  Morgana’s like “you’ll rue the day, bitch,” and walks off with her wig held high.

Episode 12:  the Fires of Idirsholas

Guess who’s back, viewers?  Morgause!  Morgause is back.  Sorry, we couldn’t wait for you to guess, we’re too excited.  This time she’s raising the Knights of Medhir, a bunch of old dead dudes who are apparently now under her command.  Merlin and Arthur go off to Idirsholas to check it out, and get all the redcapes killed.  We think this might be the episode where Colin Morgan fell and broke his arse.  We at With an Accent would like to offer him a hand to help with that, but we’re sure he’s fine by now.  At any rate, the scene yields one of our very favorite Arthur faces:

Meanwhile, Morgana goes off to meet Morgause, who makes out with her puts her to sleep and sends her back to Camelot with a little something extra.  When she gets back to Camelot, everybody falls asleep.  By the time Merlin and Arthur return, sans expendable knights, there’s not a single person awake except for Morgana.  The Knights of Idirsholas come running in with Morgause, and the rest of the episode is pretty much Morgana being useless while Arthur and Merlin run around going “Ahhhh, try not to fall asleep!  Hide the king!”  Merlin suggests dressing him as a woman, which seems to be his go-to plan.  Arthur is not even fazed by it anymore and is just like, “No, I don’t think that’s a good idea.”  Don’t worry Merlin, someday you’ll get another dude in a dress.

Sadly, the only way to stop the Knights and wake everybody up is to kill Morgana.  Merlin is all, “Here, I know things are stressful and stuff, why don’t you have some of my yummy wine and we’ll have a smoke break?” and Morgana, totally trusting him, drinks the nice belladonna poison.  Morgause comes in to rescue her and Merlin bribes her with the antidote to the poison, and off they go in a tornado of paper (why papers?  We don’t know).  The episode ends with everybody all upset that Morgana’s gone and Gaius is like, “Hey, don’t blame yourself, Merlin, Morgana didn’t choose to use her magic to keep Uther alive and able to kill more sorcerers, like you and I did.  This is all totally not our fault!”

To make himself feel better, Merlin goes down to the caves under the castle and frees the Dragon.  Let’s talk about your choices, Merlin…