nyxelestia

Goblin? He’s apparently been inside a small box for fifty years for “having fun” (which appears to involve copious amounts of destruction...)

To be honest, for the entire first half of the episode, there’s nothing really interesting. A bit of shirtless Arthur and Arthur fighting in a sheet, Uther sulking while bald, Gaius arm-wrestling and licking his lips in a tavern full of half-naked men...

...okay, it is funny. But there’s nothing to it, besides demonstrating how much power Gaius could have if he were to utilize it, or abuse it, at any point. That is a rather curious fact, today, and something many (um, don’t know about everyone else, but Americans, at least) with empathize with, if the rate of doctors abusing their medical degree to rip off hapless patients is anything to go by. D:

Nothing of interest particularly happened (except for the goblin recognizing that Morgana was evil - seriously, how does no one else see this?) until Merlin’s arrest for sorcery.

There was actually a touching moment where Arthur clearly hated having to order Merlin’s arrest. He looked so sad - I was rather surprised that this was in the middle of a comedic episode. I wonder what was going through his head as Merlin was accused of sorcery. Poor bb!

Uther finalizes the verdict (and we get a rather interesting look for Morgana - how much does she buy of this?), and Merlin gets taken away, while Gaius looks smug and Arthur looks heartbroken.

Gaius runs into an incredulous Leon in the bar, and Merlin breaks himself out of jail - not the smartest of moves, considering he was trying to claim innocence. Though I suppose at that point, he was mostly just concerned for Gaius. Anyway, he hides out with a rather suspicious Gwen, while Gaius yells at Arthur for letting Merlin escape. Really, every time he gets arrested, he escapes - you’d think they would eventually learn.

Anyway, Gwen is humiliated from the fart (ladies that are complaining that she’s humiliated, how would you feel if you farted in front of your high-school/college crush? Maybe it’s because I’m on the younger half of the fandom age spectrum, but I can still remember that kind of humiliation easily, and I don’t blame Gwen at all). I do love Merlin’s expression, though, that Arthur would love her, “warts, farts, and all”. Funny and sweet. :)

So, the goblin gives himself away by saying he looked forward to Merlin’s hanging. Lovely Arthur, knowing all that. It’s rather obvious that he’s testing Gaius straight from the beginning - even if he knew Merlin as a sorcerer, he wouldn’t look forward to Merlin’s hanging. And he was right, the Gaius he knew wouldn’t look forward to Merlin’s hanging, either.

But then the goblin knocks him out. Poor boy, he never gets to do anything useful in this show.

Anyway, the relatively old (young? how do goblins age?) lech walks out as Gwen walks in. Then, Arthur ends up as humiliated in front of Gwen as Gwen in front of Arthur, so now they’re even.

Also, the Pendragon sulk is totally genetic, and should be freaking patented. Even on Uther, it’s so cute...but on Arthur, with donkey ears?!

So, back to the point: Arthur is unable to use his words to express his feelings, but he’s good with tone and facial expressions and his hands and conveys his point, anyway. Also, we now have evidence of what Arthur’s orgasm face looks like from Gwen stroking Arthur’s ears. He realizes immediately and jerks her off, and she looks mostly amused at that.

He really does look adorable sulking in that corner. Anyway, Merlin and Gwen have a guilty giggle over Arthur literally becoming an ass, and Merlin tells Gwen his plan is to “temporarily kill” Gaius. I love how casual Merlin is about all this, now. :D As he goes and gets the box, Leon and everyone else who was in the tavern the previous night breaks out into warts. Gaius starts the swindling again of the poor (how no one else notices this is beyond me - Gaius helps everyone that he can! When did he become an American ~~doctor~~ healthcare profiteer? ToT )

So, once again reverting to the gold, Merlin poisons the coins that he knows Gaius will lick. They hide, and have to watch Gaius having oral sex with his gold. Gaius, we love you, but you’re getting a bit on in your years, so it’s not really all that sexy, anymore. ~~Except for Uther, but he’s the Arthur to your Merlin, so he doesn’t count.~~

The goblin leaves Gaius, and Merlin catches the little golden ball with his mouth, and spits it back into the box. If this doesn’t say anything about how he is in bed, I don’t know what will. This show is mocking us all, I guarantee it. :P

Another serious moment when they fear Gaius might actually be dying, but hey, look, Merlin has actually learned something as Gaius’s apprentice and identifies the antitode! Yay! (I love nerd!Merlin, in case you haven’t noticed. :P) Also, he calls Gaius a stubborn old goat. It seems he uses name calling only for those he likes and feels affectionate towards.

Gaius goes and explains everything to Uther, how the goblin, through him, was responsible for everything. As he assures Uther that Merlin is actually innocent (this episode has done nothing to convince me of that in any meaning of the word), Morgana looks at Merlin oddly - does she buy that Merlin is innocent? Did she ever buy that Merlin was magic?

At the very least, the show now seems to acknowledge the awkwardness of Arthur/Gwen - rather than trying to force it, they play it out so the characters themselves are awkward, rather than just their scene/interaction, a much better method than before.

And the show ends with a few donkey!hiccups from Arthur. Merlin’s doing - and he’s right, it is too good. The look on his face is just so adorable! :D

Okay, so, this episode actually was quite good. I’m starting to actually have faith in the writers, again! \o/