Merlin Episode 6: (Death Is) A Remedy to Cure All Ills.

[crabby_lioness]

A clever plot disguises a massive exposition dump, but has a weak ending.

 

Let's break it down:

The Clever Plot:  An extremely clever and very slick evil physician-sorcerer cons his way into the castle to discredit Gaius and kill Uther.  This guy didn't miss a beat the whole episode.  I was impressed.

The Massive Exposition Dump:  We get a dump-truckload of back-story about what was going on around the time Arthur was born.  Which, it turns out, was about 25 years ago, the same time as the Great Purge when Uther killed all the magic users.  Except for Gaius his court physician, who at least stood back and watched as his colleagues were massacred, if not collaborated in it.  The records from that period were sealed by Uther.  Gaius knows the Great Dragon, who is looking forward to Uther's death with great anticipation.

The Weak Ending:  Merlin as deus ex machina.  Meh.  The awesome bad guy deserved better.

If I were watching a Who affiliate, I would bet this was the double-banked title-character-light episode.  Since BBC Wales made it, it's probably a safe bet.

In the end it's a character study of Gaius, but what does it tell us?  That 25 years ago he stood back and let all the other magic-users be killed.  Even now, when push comes to shove he always sides with Uther, even if it means endangering Merlin.  Why?  We are left with no idea.

 A character study is supposed to illuminate a character.  Interesting word that, it can mean both "clarify" and "lighten".  We get a clearer picture of Gaius, but not by much.  And instead of being lightened, he's become a much darker character.

All this back-story better be going somewhere before the end of S1.

Episodes 1 - 3

Episode 4 Review: Innocence at Camelot

Episode 5: (The Once and Future) Lancelot

Episode 7:  Deception for Dummies

Episode 8:  Deception for Non-Dummies 

Episode 9:  What Color is Your Fairy Tale?

Episode 10:  The Practical Exam
 
Episode 11:  Today is a Good Day to Die

 

Comments

[theafterimages.livejournal.com]

I was definitely really impressed with Edwin, I remember that. (Though I have to add that I loved how he died, just because Merlin's complete and utter lack of hesitation or remorse about killing people kind of makes my life). And Arthur turns 21 in episode 9, for what it's worth.

[clancy-s.livejournal.com]

complete and utter lack of hesitation or remorse about killing people

Agreed. There were a fair few people in the comms I follow saying that was wrong for the character: IMO given what we know of the times it made sense.

wrt the history, it was a bit unclear but as Uther said in ep1 the ban on magic (and Arthur) was 20 years old at the beginning of the series. Presumably Gaius had been working for Uther for 5 years at the time of the ban.

eta: having seen all the eps I find I find it difficult to discuss things in any detail without getting caught up in spoilers. wrt Merlin as Deus Ex Machina, I can see why you call it that but IMO it also fits with a theme you identified in ep 4 and which is central to the show: Merlin has a natural magic the other sorcers we've seen don't and although he's a novice at spell casting Merlin has a lot more native power than anyone else has shown so far.

[crabby-lioness.livejournal.com]

Some of the sweetest people I know also think that there's just some folks what needs killing.

[crabby-lioness.livejournal.com]

The called it the Dark Ages for a reason.

[etharei.livejournal.com]

I thought that Episode 6 was rather boring, compared to the other eps. I did like that they developed Gaius' character a bit, and that we saw more of Lord Geoffrey. I was about to say something, and then I realized that my observation would be coloured by events in later eps; it's one of those, where you don't necessarily grasp the full extent of the backstory until you get more details later.

One of my favorite parts was Merlin having a bit of a panic attack at the thought of performing magic on Uther :D

[crabby-lioness.livejournal.com]

It's a reason to panic. Actually, I can't think about the scene now without imagining Tony, Colin, and Richard having giggle fits. Just like I can't see that beetle crawling on Morgana's face without shouting, "Katie, don't flinch!"

[kathyh]

Really just wanting to comment and say how much I've been enjoying your reviews but I'll expand that a bit to say this isn't one of my favourite episodes either though Edwin was excellent. What I liked about it was that it showed that all the characters, even the seemingly benevolent Gaius, have dark sides and can make mistakes. Gaius is possibly what Merlin could become if he and Arthur make similar mistakes to Gaius and Uther.

[crabby-lioness.livejournal.com]

Thank you. All would have been forgiven if the ending had been stronger.

[antychan.livejournal.com]

around the time Arthur was born. Which, it turns out, was about 25 years ago

Do you remember the exact line referring to that? Because between this, Bradley's real age, and SOME PLACE (I think the BBC website) describing him as "a teen"...I have no clue how old Arthur is.

[crabby-lioness.livejournal.com]

No, I'm starting my next head cold and my brain is wonky this morning. It's mentioned about three times in the episode that the Great Purge was 25 years ago, and once that it corresponded with Arthur's birth.

[feanna.livejournal.com]

Maybe you've read it in the other comments, but Arthur's 21st birthday is in one of the next eps.

[crabby-lioness.livejournal.com]

Thank you.

[antychan.livejournal.com]

Thanks both of you! :-)

[rebeccama.livejournal.com]

I am sorry to be OT, but that is a great icon.

[antychan.livejournal.com]

Oh, thank you - you can use it if you want to, just give me credit please. :-)

[mossylawn.livejournal.com]

The timeline bugs me greately, since Arthur comes of age two episodes later.
Not so young and fresh-faced are you, ehh?

[crabby-lioness.livejournal.com]

Can I, Ilke, nail a copy of the timeline to the script editor's monitor? And one for the head writer and the director as well? It's really inexcusable.

[mossylawn.livejournal.com]

They really should have it attached to their stupid screens, because that was just ridiculous.

[feanna.livejournal.com]

I spent most of this ep kind of irritated by the fact that Edwin pibged me as female. I don't know excactly why, but I couldn't shake the impression, even when I knew for sure that he was male.

Other than that you're right, the ep should have been much more interesting.

I find Gaius an interesting character. I just don't recognize him in the fandom interpretation, where he's terribly nice and all.

[feanna.livejournal.com]

pinged (can't spell or edit, sorry)

[rebeccama.livejournal.com]

I had the same impression about Edwin which was distracting.

[crabby-lioness.livejournal.com]

There's Miss Manners assumption that if one is addressing a truly competent person, they are probably female. Edwin was truly competent.

Gaius can be nice, but he can also be terribly cold. I still can't get over the third episode where he's just standing around waiting for people to die so he can get on with the post mortems.

[kagie.livejournal.com]

Episode 6 is when I really started getting into Merlin. I loved Edwin as a character but I was pretty annoyed at the ending. I don't think they should have killed him off so easily and it was understandable that he was annoyed at Gaius IMHO.

[crabby-lioness.livejournal.com]

I was annoyed at Gaius. Make that furious.

[firthgal.livejournal.com]

Hey, I've been reading your reviews and just wanted to let you know that I've really been enjoying them. It's great seeing the eps through new eyes. As for this one, I really hated it on the first watch. I enjoyed staring at Uther, and the Uther/Morgana was wonderful, but the stuff with Edwin and Gaius bugged me to no end for the exact same reason that you mentioned. Gaius sticks by Uther's side, he chose Uther over his friends, he's chosen Uther over Merlin before, he does whatever Uther personally wishes of him, he even leaves so that the truth never comes out about the purges, but why? Why does he care so intensely about Uther? Why is he so loyal to a man that he doesn't even agree with most of the time? A man who so readily stopped believing in his abilities? What the heck is Gaius's motivation? This is NEVER answered, and it's what bugs me most about the character. I cannot figure him out one bit. His inaction makes him appear terribly weak, and in the finale they kind of try to rectify this, but they still fail in showing us why Gaius is who he is and why Uther has such a hold over him. They build on Uther/Gaius in episode 9, but at the end of the day, I still feel like Gaius only supports Uther because he's afraid to do anything else. It's all he knows, and it's the safe route.

What I did love about this episode was that it managed to show that Uther truly cares about the people he loves. He was pretty much unable to make any decisions of his own when Morgana was near death and Arthur had to take over, and Uther was so lost that he just went along with anything. He was so blinded by his worry that he couldn't see the threat that Edwin posed and his usual paranoia was missing. And then when he got Morgana back, he was so relieved, and the thought of ever losing her again hurt him so much that he was easily led astray by Edwin and ended up getting rid of Gaius since it appeared that Gaius was the one who almost took Morgana away from him. This ep really set up Morgana being one of his greatest weaknesses. But in the end it also solidified the Uther/Gaius bond, and it showed that Gaius is his only true friend. But why? Man, it frustrates me to no end that they never show us why Gaius and Uther are so close. I guess we're just supposed to assume that they are an older, darker version of Arthur/Merlin.

[crabby-lioness.livejournal.com]

It was really Gaius' and Uther's episode.

[tigger-01.livejournal.com]

I suppose we never really do know why Gaius sided with Uther... there are times you get the impression they once had a relationship like Merlin and Arthur currently have, and Gaius really does trust Uther despite his misgivings - but now I think it's more fear than anything.
Yes, that made him a much weaker and darker character than he had seemed to me earlier, even though I still love him.

[crabby-lioness.livejournal.com]

He got dark for me in Ep. 3. All that standing around waiting for people to die so he could disect them. Brr.

[analyst-1.livejournal.com]

I loved the episode "A Remedy to Cure All Ills". However, I must agree the ending was weak. I thought that the plot had a lot more potential that could have been brought out. I don't think Edwin could have died that easily, he was such a good villain and they killed him off so suddenly.

This episode inspired me to write my fanfic "A Blackened Core" which is a what-if of the episode and heavily based on Edwin's deception and the themes :)

I agree, Gaius was quite dark in this episode...
I really loved the character of Edwin, I thought they could have done a lot more with him and the story between him and Gaius' past IMO (:

Anyway, im ranting :P
Nice review (:

AnalystProductions~

[crabby-lioness.livejournal.com]

Thank you. But, y'know there have to more "Edwins" out there. Somewhere....