By: Howard Overman
**Spoilers**
If you have not yet watched this episode, please go and do so before proceeding.
Well I guess we had to get around to the 'famine' episode eventually. Every fantasy/sci-fi show, no matter what it is, has a few certain types of episodes that it will hit at some point through its run. Some of these are: the famine episode, the plague episode, the enchanted/drugged romance episode, the tournament episode, and the siege episode. Merlin has already used up everything but the siege episode...and we're not even through the first series yet!
But don't let that make you think that this episode is bad. On the contrary, I have found Howard Overman to be one of the more excellent writers on this show and his stories rarely disappoint. This week we have a trials of Hercules crossed over with The Last Unicorn story with a title that makes me think of David Bowie. Fortunately that's not an entirely terrible groups of things to call reference to.
So Merlin and Arthur are out hunting (well...Arthur is hunting; Merlin is carrying all the gear) and they come across a unicorn. Merlin is awestruck by the beauty and grace of the creature, but Arthur just sees it as a prize to grace the walls of Camelot so he shoots and kills it with one arrow but miraculously no blood. (Do these unicorns bleed silver like the ones in Harry Potter?)From there on out the episodes progresses pretty much par for the course. The kingdom is cursed with famine, the people begin to starve, Uther is a jerk, creepy old guy comes in and speaks cryptically, Uther is a jerk, Arthur is given a series of tests, the water goes bad, even the nobles start to starve, Uther is a jerk, Merlin cooks rat stew, and did I mention that Uther is a jerk?
To the story's credit, it does do an excellent job of showcasing the two aspects of Arthur's personality that have been in discordant conflict throughout the first series thus far: the noble future king and the arrogant Prince Pratdragon. We see that he honestly does care for his people and want to do what is right for them, but he is also young and naive and more than a bit impulsive. The makings of a great man are there, they just don't always shine through. This episode took those two contrasting parts of who Arthur is (the ones that have made him seem inconsistent in the past) and wove them together to give us a more complete picture of who he will grow to be.
Favorite Moments & Random Thoughts:
- I love the colors in the beginning of this episode. The Welsh countryside is always something that I look forward to seeing in this show and here in these early series' (before the show tried to go all 'dark' and 'edgy') you can really see the beauty of it.
- I think the only real complaint I have with this episode that isn't down to personal preference is the unicorn itself. It's supposed to be a creature of beauty and grace...ethereal and otherworldly. Instead it just kind of looks a bit scraggly. And I don't trust it. You can't see its eyes...- Not to mention the fact that the horn is SO obviously taped on. It wobbles every time the poor thing so much as twitches!
- I love the way Uther sort of rolls his eyes in exasperation whenever he asks Gaius why the other man isn't chuffed about the unicorn horn like the rest of the court. Somehow I get the feeling that Uther and Gaius once had the same sort of relationship that Arthur and Merlin share.
- Then, of course, Gaius' predictions and warnings come true. (OF COURSE!) A famine comes over the land, killing the crops and edible plants overnight, presumably slaughtering many of the animals, and turning the water into sand. I'll admit that out of all these generic happens, the sand one was the most interesting.
- "You've had a face like a wounded bear ever since we've come back from that hunting trip." Charming description, Arthur, just charming.
- I think we've finally found a person in Camelot who is more cryptic than Kilgharrah. It's difficult to top the Great Slash Dragon...but I think Anhora could give him a run for his money.
- The tests Arthur has to go through reminds me of Hercules. A bit. Or maybe its more like Monty Python and the 'questions three'. Did Merlin seriously just make a Monty Python and the Holy Grail reference? Huh. I think I forgive them for everything else I've ever found wrong with this show...
- How did Arthur not even consider that Evan might be the first trial Anhora spoke of? I mean...the just the timing alone makes things a bit suspicious.
- Merlin and Arthur gulping down mugs of water in Arthur's chambers is rather funny. Their conversation in between drafts is what makes the scene:
Arthur: "I never knew water could taste so good."
Merlin: "My throat was so dry I didn't think I'd be able to talk."
Arthur: "Well some good would've come from the drought, then."
- Arthur then sees that a rat has chewed on his boots. This causes MUCH hilarity throughout the episode and leads exactly where I was hoping it would. Ah the good old days of the show where the dire straits and angst was balanced out by humor!
- *snort*snicker*chortle* They fed Morgana LeFay rat stew. Hahahaha!
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| Arthur's face when he discovers YET ANOTHER hole in his boot from that rat I think he just declared war on all rodentkind... |
- After the rat stew incident, Arthur and Merlin travel into the forest (Alone, surprisingly enough...where were the knights?) to find Anhora and try to complete the second trial. (I feel like I'm talking about Supernatural's 8th Season now.)
- Naturally, they get split up and Arthur finds Evan in the forest with baskets of stolen food. The man then proceeds to insult Arthur's honor and they have a sword fight, only for Arthur to find out that Evan was a mere illusion created by Anhora to test his humility and patience.
- Poor baby...his devastated expression when he hears that Camelot is damned just wrings my heart.- What I want to know, though, is why Arthur didn't think that Evan might be the second trial, given that the peasant was the first. C'mon, Arthur, use that noggin of yours. It must be good for something other than absorbing blows!
- Uther is a jerk...and a royal one at that. And yet, I can't demonize him for his decision to stop distributing the dwindling castle stores to anyone not in the army. He was right that the kingdom needed to defend itself and while he may not have been completely justified in his reasoning, neither was Arthur. I think the right answer was somewhere in the compromise between them.
- You'll also notice that Uther said nothing about including himself in the distribution. From the sounds of things, the nobles were going to have to seriously start tightening their belts too.- Poor Merlin and Gaius, having to eat those beetles. But seriously, where did Gaius get that species from? Weren't those scarabs from Egypt?!
- One of the things I really love about this episode is that there is no clear-cut villain. Anhora isn't wicked...he wasn't responsible for the curse and he did provide a way to lift it. But neither is Arthur the bad guy because he does feel remorse for what he's done to his people and he works so hard to free them.
- Things eventually get so bad in the kingdom that Merlin goes into the forest to seek out Anhora and to beg him to give Arthur one last chance. The Keeper of the Unicorns, being a good soul who we will never see again in the show, agrees to set up one last trial.
- "There are two goblets before you. One of the goblets contains a deadly poison, the other goblet a harmless liquid. All the liquid from both goblets must be drunk, but each of you may only drink from a single goblet." I feel like I've heard something like this before...isn't this scene lifted from The Princess Bride?
- I think this was the point when Arthur realized that one way or the other he was going to die.- You have to love the way Merlin is smart enough to figure out the goblet puzzle but still foolish enough to fall for Arthur's 'look out behind you' trick.
- And we all knew that Arthur wasn't going to die. The series wasn't even over yet. There was no way they were going to kill him...right?
- I highly doubt that I'm the only one who felt just a bit concerned whenever he flopped over like a boneless fish and didn't get up again. For just a split second I worried that he really had died (I shouldn't have overestimated how far Merlin would be willing to go for a twist) and then I spent the rest of the episode kicking myself because OBVIOUSLY it was a sleeping potion!
- I would very much like to know how those poor dead crops grew back and yielded a harvest by the time Arthur and Merlin got back home. Magic?
As you can probably tell, this is one of my favorite episodes from Series 1. Not only is the writing quite excellent for the series, but it's just fun to watch. Merlin and Arthur are hilarious, it has a good moral, the scenery is gorgeous, and it helps to push Arthur's character arc forward a bit more and reconcile some conflicting things about his personality. The Labyrinth of Gedref is an episode that I return to time and time again to re-watch and enjoy. It has a few minor flaws that don't quite add up, but over all it is a great experience. 4/5.
What did you think? Do you agree with my rating? If not - what would you say differently?
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