Day Four: Favorite Episode

Queen of Hearts. {Please see these lovely gif’s from this episode.}

* Forgive the image quality; I need to get my hands on high-res caps.

Frankly, I might be biased for this episode due to my undying love for the pairing that is Arthur and Guinevere. I sail the Arwen ship like it’s the freakin’ Black Pearl and I’m Jack Sparrow. It was a truly beautiful moment for Arthur and Gwen and their relationship. For the first time, Arthur blatantly declares his love for her and to his father of all people (although Uther believes he is under a spell which leads me to believe that Uther requires the most royal backhand). Arthur’s line —“I will always love you!”— almost brings me to tears. The pairing is set in stone for me from this moment onward, and any doubts of the chemistry between Bradley and Angel crushed. (To those who still doubt it, I can say with assurance that if the writers gave Gwen better dialogue it would be more believable. Hemhem.)

Beyond my shipper bias, the episode would still be one of my favorites. The plot was far more alluring to me; Arthur and Gwen are finally truly falling in love and it’s completely adorable but Morgana can’t have that, so she attempts sabotage and succeeds, temporarily. (That skank; backstabbing her former best friend and the boy she loved as a brother? Daaaaang, Morgana, you need a hobby.) I love that we really get to see Arthur give himself to Gwen, and we also get to see Merlin be a true hero, and we all love when he does that. His friendship with Gwen is so sweet, and I’m glad we get another snippet of that. There’s also the plus that you get the humor of Dragoon and the brilliance that is Colin Morgan’s acting.

Despite the fact that I know Gwen would never die in the episode, I was still really on edge when she was about to be burned at the stake. And Arthur’s torment over it was quite palpable. And I cannot rave enough about Colin Morgan. He can take on silly Merlin, serious Merlin, wise Merlin, sad Merlin, and old Merlin and it’s completely believable. I can hardly even notice the Irish slip-ups and they’re only noticeable if you watch an episode more than once.

Also, as a graphic designer, I have to say that I believe this is one of Merlin’s most beautiful episodes. If you don’t mess with graphics then this sounds completely odd, but if you do, look at the caps and try to tell me otherwise. There are so many different colors and there’s beautiful scenery and it’s just lovely.

I have so much love for this episode. Enough that I might hunt it down to get it onto my iPod. Maybe?

Day Three: Favorite Guest Star Character

Lancelot.

I’m sure with the fourth series he’s soon to be a regular, but Lancelot is by far my favorite guest character. (I would say Gwaine, but he’s more than a guest character by now.) I don’t have the energy to be long-winded, but my love for Lancelot couldn’t be described with words anyhow! This show brings such a wonderful take on Lancelot; they’ve taken notes from the recent romantic interpretations. He’s a good man with a good heart (let’s see the trend with me favoring the characters with good hearts……). I find it interesting that they’ve made Lancelot fight for his knighthood, and even when Arthur wants to bend the rules early on to accept him he will not allow the knighthood without proving it to himself. I’ve always imagined (story-wise) that it would only really be Gwaine who has to fight for his place, but to have Lancelot be a man of non-noble blood with the most noble heart makes it even easier to root for him.

Furthermore, he knows about Merlin’s magic. Aside from Gaius, he’s the only true friend Merlin’s got who knows about him and would never betray that trust. And he always wants to do the right thing. He’s a lot like Merlin in that way, being selfless. I really think he’s Merlin’s best ally and friend at the moment, and I do want to see more of him. I also want to see him become Arthur’s closest friend (aside from Merlin, obviously). His character becomes so key to the relationships of all the other characters in the show, and it will be so great to see it all play out. Lancelot’s perfection dizzies me. It’s really no wonder Gwen loves him.

Day Two: Favorite Male Character

Merlin.

Another predictable answer, I’m sure. (Honorable mentions: Arthur Pendragon and Lancelot. I love Arthur the most, and Lancelot certainly has a large part of my heart, but it’s Merlin who I’m always rooting for and it’s Colin Morgan’s acting that has made the show so amazing.)

Merlin has been lovable from the start. We first see him standing up to Arthur, and even when he’s been treated poorly he saves Arthur’s life. He’s not perfect, but he has such a good heart and he tries desperately to avoid wrong. He can’t even bring himself to let Morgana die; he knows it could be best but between his love for who she used to be and seeing the pain in those he loves over her suffering, he saves her. The only times Merlin kills is when he is fighting away true enemies. The closest he’s come aside from that is when he poisoned Morgana, knowing her death could save all of Camelot; even so, he was still crying and obviously pained by it and he let her be saved by Morgause.

Furthermore, Merlin has such a wonderful connection to so many other characters, his relationship with Arthur the most poignant. The Merlin/Arthur bromance is something I’ve loved from the start, and as Merlin has grown wiser and Arthur has become less of a prat, their unannounced-but-clearly-there friendship may or may not be the biggest reason why I love the show so dearly. And then there’s Merlin’s sweet friendship with Lancelot, another bromance with Gwaine, another sweet friendship with Gwen, and his paternal relationship with (uncle?!) Gaius. It’s hard not to love him! Now give me a Merlin who is an adviser and not an “idiot” and I will be the happiest camper alive. (Plus, the “embrace rock” hug is something I’ve been looking forward to, and I don’t ship Merthur. Whut.)