lily_handmaiden | With all the strength of a raging fire, mysterious as the dark side of the moon...

cleolinda. Do I seriously not have an, "I am no son of a bitch! I AM A GIRRRRL!" icon?

Here is my review of the Merlin episode "The Moment of Truth." In which the literal Moment of Truth never actually happens. Enjoy!

Oh noes, Merlin’s home village is being raided by a bunch of guys dressed like ninjas and/or the Dread Pirate Roberts. Uther won’t help because he sucks. Or, you know, so as not to have to go to war against the bad guys. But Merlin goes home to see what he can do (coughmagiccough), and Morgana and Gwen decide they’re going with him, because they’re awesome. We will get to that in a minute.

Arthur eventually decides he’s going to go help, too, because, as Merlin’s mother points out to her son, “He likes you.” So, now all the parents’ support is firmly behind the Good Ship Courtly Hoyay, I guess. Regardless, all of this means that back home Uther must be pitching a hissy, so I’m on board. Although apparently Uther is not so put out by his heir’s life-and-kingdom-risking antics as to actually go out and retrieve him, so.

Now, back to Morgana and Gwen. Morgana sets out from Camelot prepared to do some hardcore guerilla fighting. She is in armor, and she is sword-wielding, and she is pure, unadulterated awesome. Because of course Uther let her practice swordplay when she was little. And of course she rivals Arthur in that medium. Of course she does. Because the creators of this show know their audience, and they’re pandering. The target audience for this show, I’m fairly certain, is pegged as young women who like fantasy. Therefore all the men are hot, there is magic, and Morgana wears pretty dresses and kicks ass. She is actually tailored to be the most awesomest awesome who ever awesomed. It’s almost to the point of being… contrived, and while naturally I still liked this side of Morgana (because I do fall into that target audience), the fact that it is so obviously a make-Morgana-fill-this-mold move makes me unable to work up as much enthusiasm as I would otherwise do.

Let’s put it this way: even with all of the witty banter with Arthur and the chainmail and showing off, the writers still did not allow Morgana to light a fire correctly because she is a girrrl. (Is this fair? I mean, I guess it could have been anyone in that plot-device position of not being able to light the fire, but it just happened to be Morgana, and that seems to undercut what they were doing with her for the whole rest of the episode. And she’s kind of on a streak of Not Being Able To Do Anything Right. I don’t know. Someone get this grad student out of my head.) But I still gave a “hell yeah!” when she took out her ensuing frustration in some fierce, ninja-hacking swordplay. So. That’s pretty much where I stand with that. Go on and pander, show. Apparently I am not immune.

But what surprised and pleased me more about the ladies in this episode is that Gwen? Is also catching the Awesome. She, too, wielded a sword. And she was the one who seemed to genuinely care about getting all of the women involved, letting them all fight to actually save the town. Morgana seemed more, “Huh? Oh. Yeah. Whatever. Of course,” about it. She was going to do her part, no matter what. She was going to show (especially to Arthur) that she could make a contribution, that she could be a productive member of society and fight. Gwen knew that wasn’t enough. Gwen was passionate about actually saving the town, and especially about equality for everybody, not just for Morgana.

It was a surprising, new show of backbone for Guenevere the Saracen Princess. One that led her even to the point of standing up to Arthur. At which point I cheered, “Yeah! Make him notice you, girl!” I mean, we all know that Gwen’s going to have to do something to draw Arthur’s attention to her as more than just Morgana’s servant. Here is the start of that. He can remember her now not just as the shadow perpetually attached to Morgana, but as Gwen. I really liked the Gwen/Arthur scene, actually. You could see the beginnings of how their relationship and eventually their marriage is going to work. A sort of mutual, affectionate chiding. And I felt a sense of foreshadowing in the familiar way that Arthur called, “Gwen. Guenevere.” I always respond in a certain way when people on the show call Gwen by her full name, and I think Gwen does, too. Finally, I liked the very quiet but absolutely firm and steady way that Gwen told Arthur, “I have faith in you.” She’s been beginning to see that, regardless of the fact that sometimes he’s still a prat, he’s also a very good prince with the makings of a very good king. He actually cares. And for that reason she will always have that faith in him.

So, spurred on by “Guenevere’s” faith, Arthur renews his efforts, Aragorn-style, to train the villagers he’s pretty sure are doomed. They’re a spineless, pale, pathetic lot, and they haven’t got a clue; but Arthur, somehow, will make men out of them. He even goes so far as to give a moving speech before the pivotal battle. Way to Henry V it up, Arthur. “We few, we happy few, we band of brothers… and sisters, I guess.”

The fighting goes well for a while, before the villagers start to lose catastrophically. Like the Ewoks, really. Which puts Merlin in a dilemma. Does he risk his magic being discovered by 1) Arthur and 2) everyone else in order to save the lives of the villagers?

Of course he does. Duh.

Actually, I was a little disturbed that it took him so long, and that he let anybody die when he could have prevented it. Maybe those are just my priorities. Though I’m sure after what ends up transpiring, he regrets letting the fight happen. But finally, in a special effect which for once does not suck, Merlin conjures up a tiny dust tornado, and I’m not sure how that helps, but it does, so… okay.

This was yet another case when I was all ready for Morgana to catch Merlin doing magic, but no. She has to find out eventually, right? I would bet money that she finds out before Arthur, at least.

I really liked how this whole episode, Arthur and Merlin’s friendship was questioned and tested without Arthur ever being aware of it. It was always a question of, “Merlin, if you’re his friend, why haven’t you told him about your magic?” and “Merlin, if he’s your friend, why are you so afraid he won’t accept your magic?” Questions for Merlin to continue to ponder, but which are put off for the time being by the timely dying of Merlin’s former BFF, Will.

The dying captain of the Dread Pirate Ninjas rouses himself to attempt to kill Arthur, but Will steps in at the last second to take the blow instead, just instinctually, probably, because he hates Arthur’s guts. Yeah… Arthur, you’re gonna have to learn not to let the dying guys follow through, lemme tell you what. So poor Merlin is put in the horrible position of actually have to trade his old best friend for his new best friend. Sad. And as he’s dying, Will lies and says he’s the sorcerer who conjured the Tiny Tornado, saving Merlin from having to confess to it. It makes sense that he does it—might as well die saving the guy you really do love in the slightly-longer run as opposed to just saving That Bastard you hate at the moment.

Unfortunately, a side effect of this is that Merlin and Arthur’s friendship remains untested as it needs to be if they are going to continue to be BFF. They still have secrets between them, and the opportunity for resolving, for better or worse, has been deferred. It’s a stalemate.