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.
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regna
(no subject)
Date: 2009-02-05 05:45 pm (UTC)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.