Merlin club is a weekly feature in which Jessica Jarman, Bronwyn Green, and myself gather at 8pm EST to watch an episode of the amazing BBC series Merlin, starring Colin Morgan and literally nobody else I care about except Colin Morgan.
Okay, I lie. A lot of other really cool people are in it, too.
Anyway, we watch the show, we tweet to the hashtag #MerlinClub, and on Fridays we share our thoughts about the episode we watched earlier in the week.
So, here’s a quick rundown of episode seven: After Merlin practically sky writes “I have magic, Uther!” in horse-shaped smoke above the forest, Uther sends for Tywin Lannister, who is a witch finder (hence the episode title), and Gaius is almost killed before Merlin and Gwen unveil the witch finder as a fraud who has been drugging belladonna eyedrops. They frame him for sorcery, too.
If I had written this episode, I would have changed: Because the show is about Merlin helping Arthur achieve his destiny, I would have worked that in a little more. It’s not that it’s not in there– Arthur does argue with his father several times. But it’s not as tied-in as it could have been.
The thing I loved most about this episode: Gwen is like CSI: Camelot in this one. She’s the one who figures out that all the witnesses to sorcery were women, and therefore whatever hallucinogen the witchfinder was passing out was in cosmetics.
The thing I hated most about this episode: Uther was pretty out of character, I thought. He lets the witchfinder talk all sorts of shit at him and he’s never like, “Hey now. Cool it.” And I get that he respects the guy’s ability to combat magic, but in any other episode he would have been like, “ONE MILLION YEARS DUNGEON!” and thrown everybody in jail.
Also, Leon was such a fucking worthless snitch in this episode.
Something I never noticed before: The thing about Gwen solving the entire mystery. Merlin gets all the credit from the storyline, because the show is named for him, but really, it was Gwen who saved the day.
Favorite Costume: Anthony Stewart Head is wearing chain mail. HE IS WEARING CHAIN MAIL.
Here is proof of some random headcanon I created: Nuthin this week.
What object would Bronwyn steal from this episode?
What Merthur moment did Jess have the naughtiest thoughts about? When the witchfinder declares Merlin a sorcerer, and Arthur is like, “What?”
Check out Jessica Jarman’s take on the episode here
Check out Bronwyn Green’s take on the episode here
ASH is chain mail is a glorious sight to behold… and Gwen was awesome.
I have a sweater that bracelet would look fab with.
I loved Gwen in this episode too! And yes, Arthur’s reactions whenever Merlin is accused of something delight me to no end. 🙂
ASH in chainmail….AND the leather pants and gloves…HOW DID YOU SURVIVE THIS EPISODE??
I noticed something. Gaius and Merlin actually unintentionally incriminated themselves: neither of them suggested the amulet was planted until after they talked in the dungeon. They gave the witch hunter exactly what he was looking for. Obviously one of them, or both, had to have magic and both knew, otherwise they would both be crying foul. The fact that they didn’t proved that they had something to hide.
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