Merlin Review: Series 1 Episode 4 "The Poisoned Chalice"

By: Ben Vanstone

**Spoilers**

If you have not yet watched this episode, please go and do so before proceeding.

              So we've had the tournament episode and the plague episode, now comes the time to meet our villain for the series. Nimueh is a cunning woman, travelling all the way to the heart of a hostile country and infiltrating the court of the man who wishes her dead simply to off a young serving boy. I can only assume that she wanted to watch him expire with her own eyes (instead of using a scrying bowl), but why didn't she turn him in to Uther? That would have guaranteed death and she wouldn't have needed to put herself in danger. But maybe I'm over-thinking this...

Favorite Moments & Random Thoughts:

- I like all of the pomp and circumstance at the feast that will, according to Arthur, descend into a food fight by the end of the evening. Shame we never got to see that...

- I laughed so hard when I saw what Arthur had made Merlin wear for the feast. None of the other servants are wearing similar monstrosities, are they? That means that Arthur deliberately cooked up this horror for his manservant. Ah...too funny! 

- Arthur almost drank from the chalice twice while his father gassed on and on about boring delusions of grandeur. Not surprising...the speech was dull.

  

- And of course Uther makes Merlin drink from the chalice. Gotta love the way Morgana instantly goes for a knife the moment he cries "Poison!" though. I miss this old Morgana!

     

- Unlikely though it is, I do appreciate the way Arthur takes it on himself to carry Merlin to Gaius. He could have employed one of the many guards or servants to take care of that, but instead did it himself. It's a nice gesture (as is his running to check Merlin's pulse when the boy first collapses) and, while I feel this development happened too soon in their relationship, says worlds about Arthur's overall character.

- I love how Gaius always manages to find the right page in the right book for every given situation (and that he remembers he has it amidst all of that clutter). Talk about convenience coincidence writing!

- Okay. So both Uther and Arthur have points in their whole 'worthless vs. worth less' discussion. I get that we're supposed to side with Arthur in this whole thing because he wants to save Merlin...but I find myself seeing it more from Uther's point of view in that it is very foolish for a prince to risk his life for a servant. Yeah, yeah no one life is more valuable than another and all that - but a prince has been trained from birth to rule the country. Every person has their own set of skills and their role to fulfil in life. And while there are many manservants there is only one prince.

- I'm still glad that Arthur went to save Merlin, though, as otherwise the series would have been short and depressing indeed!

- I love Arthur's little hair-flip that he does after he defeats the Cockatrice. Very dapper...

- Wow...Nimueh can play both Arthur and Merlin like a fiddle when it comes to the distraught damsel in distress card, can't she? 

- How doesn't Arthur notice her double-talk? She's lost, but she knows this place? Come on! Even his horse shook its head!

- So she leads him into a cave, tips him over the brink, flings back the cowl of her cloak and declares that she is the last face he'll ever see. Why are Merlin villains so over-dramatic?

- Interject another shot of Merlin sweating and dying from fever on Gaius' bed, just to ramp up the tension a bit. 

- Okay. It is official. I hate spiders! Especially creepy, red-eyed, fantasy spiders with a mind of their own and a taste for human flesh. I hated them in Chamber of Secrets, hated them in The Return of the King, and I HATE them here too. Spiders always make everything scarier!

- Why does Arthur draw his sword? They're spiders...a flyswatter would be more effective!

- That ball of light Merlin conjures is certainly interesting. Whenever he finally does reveal his magic to Arthur, this is what he should use as proof that not all magic can be evil. He would be an idiot to do otherwise. 

- What I want to know is did they use up all of their magic budget here in Series 1? I mean, here the magic is gorgeous! What happened? When did they purchase rights to The Force?

- I still don't understand why Uther made a point of crushing the Mortaeus plant after Arthur went to all that trouble for it. Was it just to make a point? If so, he's an even bigger rotter than I initially thought.

- The scene of Arthur desperately reaching for the flower through the bars, though, I'll confess makes me choke up every time.

- I have to give kudos to the make-up team for making sick!Merlin genuinely look sweaty and disgusting. All too often, especially with rather attractive leads, we have scenes where they're dying but they still manage to look amazing.

- "...we may need magic to make an antidote." After a statement like that, how wasn't Gwen suspicious when the potion did an aka seltzer impersonation?

- Oops; we got a bit of the flower in there. Poor Merlin's dead...no, wait, it's just a cop-out. Thank goodness!

           In short this episode was a lot of fun. It was silly in places and very melodramatic...but it still manages to be an enjoyable watch for numerous re-watches. It's certainly one that I go back to again and again. The Poison Chalice ranks at a 4/5.

What did you think? Do you agree with my rating? If not - what would you say differently?