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Nov. 9th, 2009 @ 03:19 pm The King Stupid Show
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Charles Dance doesn't just spend his time sitting in the row in front of me at the theatre with Penelope Wilton; no, sometimes he does a bit of acting as well. Like a guest spot on this week's Merlin. Actually I'm not crazy about Charlie Dancer, mainly after seeing him in a production of Long Day's Journey Into Night where he got out-acted by Paul Nicholls. By Paul Nicholls! But he was fine in this as the titular witchfinder, Rhydian Aredian, giving it just the right amound of creepy. And while the setup of a witchfinder arriving in town and accusing the central characters is familiar (for some reason I really, really wanted them to copy the ending from the Witchsmeller episode of The Black Adder) this was very tightly done and made for a real return to form. A lot of it came down to how far the producers were willing to show an old man being degraded, so kudos to them and to Richard Wilson for going there with the upsetting scenes of Gaius being thrown into prison, drenched with water, and the not-at-all-subtle suggestions that he was being tortured off-camera. Having the usual deus-ex-machina, the Great Dragon, be stumped for ideas on how to get out of it was great as well. So we get a bit of a detective story as well, with Merlin and Gwen trying to figure out how Rhydian Aredian framed Gaius, and working on a plan to frame him right back.

If I'm being critical, I've mentioned before that Uther's fear of magic blurs into downright idiocy a lot of the time, and here it was essential to the plot that the king be utterly stupid. From taking the word of a servant that she saw some funny-shaped smoke as a cue to call in Rhydian Aredian, to utterly buying Gaius' confession despite knowing full well it had been tortured out of him, he's King Sillly of Silliton. At least this finally got confronted at the end when Gaius pwned him over it.

Plus, we got some of Merlin's strongest points that have been neglected a bit lately: Some splendid pronunciation of SOSSERY! by Richard Wilson, and GAYWATCH! with Arthur grabbing Merlin and OMG Breakin the Lawz to let him see Gaius in prison. Although I'm not entirely sure what Arthur's distraction of Rhydian Aredian at the end consisted of, as far as I could tell he just told him to stop the burning and he's like, yeah fair enough, let's get a coffee or something.
From:(Anonymous)
Date: November 9th, 2009 04:26 pm (UTC)
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I actually cheered when we got Gaius' "SOSSERY!" - and Charles Dance also said it, which was a bit of a bonus. (I fear Mr Dance will now be known to a new generation as 'him off ITV WTFery Trinity' instead of 'him off award-winning BBC adaptation of Dickens classic Bleak House', but I digress.)

Arthur grabbing Merlin got me all hot and bothered, so I knew it would be making an appearance in your round-up!
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From:[info]nick730
Date: November 9th, 2009 11:36 pm (UTC)
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(I fear Mr Dance will now be known to a new generation as 'him off ITV WTFery Trinity' instead of 'him off award-winning BBC adaptation of Dickens classic Bleak House', but I digress.)

Nah, he'll be known for this one-episode guest spot, because there's a greater chance of people actually watching it all the way to the end without clawing their own eyes out.
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From:[info]drunkendeadcat
Date: November 9th, 2009 05:03 pm (UTC)
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I like how Richard Wilson says Sossery too :)

I know you mentioned you wanted it to end like it but this was a bit blackadder actually I think, especially with the silly king bit
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From:[info]nick730
Date: November 9th, 2009 11:43 pm (UTC)
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I don't think even King Brian of Blessed was as daft as Uther.
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From:[info]parthenia14
Date: November 9th, 2009 10:47 pm (UTC)
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I quite liked Richard Wilson doing a bit of acting for once.

I do enjoy it but the stupidity of the king is getting to me a bit. It is still mostly balanced by the kewtness of Arthur and Merlin.
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From:[info]nick730
Date: November 9th, 2009 11:41 pm (UTC)
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I do enjoy it but the stupidity of the king is getting to me a bit.

At least he got a bit of a bollocking for it at the end. Although I would have liked Gaius to also point out that having the entire world know that the slightest mention of magic makes him run around like a headless chicken means he's incredibly easy to manipulate. Which is a bit bad seeing as how he's, oh, THE KING and that.