3.04: Gwaine

Dave

Dave

Non Bio
Staff member
Joined
Jan 5, 2001
Messages
22,697
Location
Way on Down South, London Town
When Merlin and Arthur find themselves vastly outnumbered in a tavern brawl, an enigmatic man helps them to victory. The stranger risks his life to protect the prince, and is seriously wounded in the process.

Arthur takes him back to Camelot, where he quickly sets about drinking, charming the ladies, and causing trouble for Merlin. But when what appear to be two unscrupulous Knights try to kill the Prince, can Merlin and the inscrutable stranger save the day?
Click to expand...

Even though it started out just like an episode of Firefly, I liked the humour in this. I thought it was more subtle than the humour last week.

Uther was back to normal. Arthur: "My father is a stubborn man." No kidding! I think the "Uther Must Die!" Club needs to start letter writing.

I didn't quite get the amulet problem. Merlin: "What can we do?" Well, you could pull their chains off. I have a feeling that might work wonders when everyone realised they were imposters.

Next week "Mordana attempts to kill Uther." Hmm, what it the problem exactly? Bring it on, I say. I hope Merlin doesn't try to stop her.
 
Comments that I've seen around the Net on this episode seem split right down the gender divide:

Woman think Gwaine is "yummy" and a great new addition to the cast. Men bemoan yet another love interest for Gwen. "Arthur, Lancelot and now Gwaine!" "She is so fickle!" "Bad Gwen!" Being a Man myself, I do find myself in that unbelievable camp too. Are there really no other beautiful women in Camelot (if they clean up a bit)?

Speaking of which, how does Gwen survive - her father is dead, and I assume she was made redundant from her job as a lady's maid when Mordana went missing (for a whole year!) Most women would have been forced into marriage. Arthur must have pulled a few strings?
 
Well I quite enjoyed the episode, although I prefer the traditional spelling of Gawain, unless of course this is meant to be a totally different character!

The story itself was a good fun romp, although I did get frustrated in the same way as Dave - why did Merlin just not pull the crystal off!

I think we are seeing more growth in Arthur, the way he seems to be standing up to his father more, and in what he believes is right - last week Merlin this week Gwaine shows at least some character progress.

I can see why the Gwen/Gwaine moment seems to have split people, but I thought it was well handled. Gwen did not seem to take Gwaine to seriously and in her own way remained true to Arthur even though they both believe that can be nothing between them (I might have been distracted toward the end of the episode, so I could have missed something.)

All in all I feel that this has been a good start to the new season, and in an interview with Anthony Head, he insisted that there would be some major changes and darker episodes before the end of the season!
 
I'm in the Gawain is foxy camp! Lots of particularly good looking fellas in it this series, which I'm liking! Makes up for lack of Lancelot.

What I didn't get, was why didn't Merlin say something when Gwaine/Gawain got caught in Sir Oswald's room? Really annoying.

Also, why do we get introduced to all these knights, Lancelot, Gawain, and then they end up having to leave Camelot! Who's going to be appearing/leaving next? Galahad?
 
Mouse said:
What I didn't get, was why didn't Merlin say something when Gwaine/Gawain got caught in Sir Oswald's room? Really annoying.
Click to expand...

Probably because:
  1. Uther would have ignored it as evidence; he clearly thought the word of a noble trumped that of a commoner. That two commoners had spoken up would have made no difference (particularly when there were two nobles giving evidence).
  2. It would have put Merlin back in the spotlight (and so soon after the unfortunate events of the previous episode).
What was harder to understand was why the two villains didn't demand Merlin's head for helping Gwaine. Perhaps they didn't want to push their luck (and having seen how Uther ignored the words of Gwaine - who had saved Arthur's life - they didn't see Merlin's continued existence as a problem).
 
HareBrain said:
Not next, I shouldn't think -- he was Lancelot's son.
Click to expand...

I thought about that too, then thought, since when has this show stuck that closely to the traditional stories - Mordred was Arthur's son by his half sister Morgaine... (or Morgana or Morgan Le Fey) and that certainly isn't the case here!

Let's face it anything can happen...
 
That comment regarding Gwaine charming the ladies is to give a bit to much credit to the guy. He only tried his charms with Gwen and with no success. I personally prefer Lancelot.

I liked the end when Arthur and Merlin were on the roof.
 
Another enjoyable episode and I am glad these past two episodes have allowed a bit of respite from Morgana's antics. It seemed a little silly that Merlin didn't speak up when the bad guys had been revealed as simply removing the amulets would have proved he was correct but we will use Ursa Major's logic to side-step that problem!

Very much liked Gawain and we do indeed seem to be collecting knights - do you think when Uther dies and Arthur becomes king he will forge his Knights of the Round Table using the men he has come across during the series? Drop the 'only nobles can be knights' law and round up Lancelot and Gawain (though he is technically a noble anyway) and anyone else we might come across in the future. Would be a nice series finale I think.
 
I liked Gwaine, the character and the actor fit the story better than Lancelot,the guy who was playing him. Gwen thing is horribly forced, like she is the only pretty common woman in Camelot. Add another girl to the story just for Gwaine next time.

I want to see Gwaine in an episode again soon unlike Lancelot i look forward seeing the guy again. Maybe he could be a Knight and help Merlin out with Arthur not getting killed.

Uther must die and new characters like Gwaine must be added to the story.

Overall it was a fun story, good story. Much better than silly thing that was last weeks ep.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top