Merlin Club S02E09 “The Lady of The Lake” or “I hate this one.”

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 eight: Merlin’s new girlfriend is a cat monster.

Merlin rescues a girl from a bounty hunter who’s looking to profit by selling magic people to Uther for execution. Only, this girl wasn’t born magic, she was cursed and now she’s a wereflyingpanther. In the course of keeping her safe, Merlin falls for her. So, as is the case with all supernatural adventure TV shoes, she dies, and Merlin gives her a viking funeral.

If I had written this episode, I would have changed: I just wouldn’t have made this episode. That’s how bad it is.

The thing I loved most about this episode: Nothing. I don’t like anything about this episode.

The thing I hated most about this episode: Everything. Everyone was out of character. Yeah, Arthur antagonizes Merlin often, but in this episode he’s downright abusive. Uther is largely unconcerned when the bounty hunter tells him that a dangerous, cursed druid is loose in Camelot. He even says, “Don’t worry,” at one point in the conversation. And Merlin completely forgets his destiny (or he just ignores it because Arthur is mean to him? That doesn’t seem like Merlin).

On top of that, the romance seemed rushed and unbelievable. And if Merlin feels all these romantic feelings toward this girl just because she’s magic and alone in the world because of it… you know, Morgana is right over there. Why didn’t the writers explore that possibility, and add to the depth of Morgana’s betrayal of Camelot later in the series?

Something I never noticed before: The music is quite different from other episodes. I also just noticed that all of Merlin’s spells are just mispronunciations of words that describe what the spell is doing. How did I miss that? This is like my third time watching the series or something. Maybe even fourth. How did I not get that?

Favorite Costume: None from this episode.

Here is proof of some random headcanon I created: None from this episode.

What object would Bronwyn steal from this episode? 

 

That lovely Celtic dragon shield in the corner there, obviously.

What Merthur moment did Jess have the naughtiest thoughts about? I think any episode where Arthur and Merlin have angry altercations end, in Jess’s mind, in angry, Sam and Diane style sex. But since Merlin is supposed to be falling in love with this girl, I’m guessing this isn’t her favorite episode.

Check out Jessica Jarman’s take on the episode here

Check out Bronwyn Green’s take on the episode here

That’s it for this week. Join us on Monday as we watch S02E10, “Sweet Dreams” at 8pm EST on the hashtag #MerlinClub.