#bbc merlin 2x11

[merlin-gifs]

Live Uther Reaction

MERLIN | 2x11 "The Witch's Quickening"

[arcanespillo]

bradley james really was the perfect match for a character like arthur, in the series he always looks so beautiful.. he's truly looking like a real life prince, big smile golden hair and all, i really wish he did more medieval and fantasy themed movies, like dev patel with the green knight because look at him

and also because there aren't much good arthurian themed movies i'm starved if i was rich i would spend all my money on movie founds and on making-people-make things i like, retellings and movies based on EVERY single book i've ever liked ever

[two-sheep-in-one-wolfs-clothing]

2x11 of merlin went from a glimpse of s4-5 merlin with "why should I [trust you]?" "bc you don't have a choice" to this shot

[sexy-sapphic-sorcerer]

Adam raised a Cain

BBC Merlin, The Beginning of the End (1x08) /// Cut by Catherine Lacey /// BBC Merlin, To Kill the King (1x12) /// Comfort Me With Apples by Catherynne M. Valente /// BBC Merlin, The Crystal Cave (3x05) /// Someday I'll Love by Ocean Vuong /// BBC Merlin, The Witch's Quickening (2x11) /// Cassandra, Florence and the Machine /// BBC Merlin, The Coming of Arthur: Part 1 (3x12) /// The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde /// BBC Merlin, The Coming of Arthur: Part 2 (3x13) /// Adam Raised a Cain, Bruce Springsteen /// BBC Merlin, The Sword in the Stone: Part 2 (4x13)

[eddiediaaz]

rules: link your favourite and/or most popular post from each month this year & tag some ccs you love! thank you so much @khaotunqs @tthrawn @cabbageheadss @moirainesedai @matlillard for the tag loves

— January — most popular: merlin & arthur scene in 2x12 favourite: morgana & merlin + would've, could've, should've

— February — most popular: merlin & arthur scene in 2x08 favourite: buck/eddie for pscentral's anniversary event

— March — most popular: buck & eddie parallel 5x13 vs 6x11 favourite: evan buckley + jesus of suburbia, and buck/eddie + all the girls you've loved before

— April — most popular: merlin & arthur scene in 3x11 favourite: hen/karen + purple, and evan buckley + seventeen going under

— May — most popular: buck & eddie parallel 2x02 vs 6x17 favourite: buck/eddie for pscentral's event 15: favorite ship

— June — most popular: merlin & arthur scene in 2x11 favourite: karen wilson + lesbian colors, and merlin + the prophecy of arthur's death

— July — most popular: charmed 2x03 scene favourite: maddie buckley + growing sideway, and 9-1-1 + speak now part 1

— August — most popular: arthur quotes about knowing merlin favourite: red, white and royal blue + the great war

— September — most popular: bbc merlin's 15th birthday episode posters favourite: buck/eddie + a little bit happy, and eddie diaz profile character

— October — most popular: morgana & uther scene in 1x12 favourite: bbc merlin + double exposure, and buck/eddie + the loneliest

— November — most popular: eddie diaz in 6x12 favourite: buck/eddie + homoerotic love languages

— December — most popular: merlin & arthur scene in 4x12 favourite: 9-1-1 + bullets, and merlin/arthur + blue blending

tagging (no pressure!!): @maygrantgf @zerokinkade @jdeanmorgan @laurabenanti @singularities @craintheodora @tawaifeddiediaz @disasterdiaz @thebookluvrr1816 @captain-hen and anyone that sees this and wants to do it!

[mothmage]

1x04 The Poisoned Chalice / 2x08 Sins of the Father / 2x11 The Witch’s Quickening / Goya, The Sleep of Reason Produces Monsters / Radcliffe Hall, The Well of Loneliness / 5x01 Arthur’s Bane / Rachel Yoder, Nightbitch / BBC Merlin promo / Rachel Yoder, Nightbitch

[xviruserrorx]

Merlin Tags

#bbc merlin

Seasons:

#merlin s1 : 1x01 - 1x02 - 1x03 - 1x04 - 1x05 - 1x06 - 1x07 - 1x08 - 1x09 - 1x10 - 1x11 - 1x12 - 1x13

#merlin s2 : 2x01 - 2x02 - 2x03 - 2x04 - 2x05 - 2x06 - 2x07 - 2x08 - 2x09 - 2x10 - 2x11 - 2x12 - 2x13

#merlin s3 : 3x01 - 3x02 - 3x03 - 3x04 - 3x05 - 3x06 - 3x07 - 3x08 - 3x09 - 3x10 - 3x11 - 3x12 - 3x13

#merlin s4 : 4x01 - 4x02 - 4x03 - 4x04 - 4x05 - 4x06 - 4x07 - 4x08 - 4x09 - 4x10 - 4x11 - 4x12 - 4x13

#merlin s5 : 5x01 - 5x02 - 5x03 - 5x04 - 5x05 - 5x06 - 5x07 - 5x08 - 5x09 - 5x10 - 5x11 - 5x12 - 5x13

Characters:

Main: arthur pendragon | morgana pendragon | guinevere pendragon | merlin emrys | sir gwaine | sir elyan | sir lancelot | sir percival | sir leon | sir mordred | gaius the court physician | uther pendragon | agravain de bois

Side: mithian of nemeth | ygraine de bois | bbcm sefa | bbcm freya | bbcm morgause | bbcm nimueh | bbcm iseldir | king cenred | geoffrey of monmouth | alator of the catha |

One Off: bbcm daegal | bbcm kara | eoghan the map makers apprentice | bbcm gilli | edwin muirden | tyr seward | will of ealdor | elena of gawant | princess vivian | anhora keeper of the unicorns | tristan de bois | bbcm alvarr | bbcm enmyria | julius borden | bbcm aglain | lady catrina | aredian the witchfinder | knight valiant | king alined | the cailleach | bbcm tauren

Extra: knight!merlin | shade!lancelot | enchanted!arthur | enchanted!gwen |

Ships: (that I know of)

Arthur: #arlance | #arlyan | # armor | #arwen

Elyan:

Gwaine: #gwaincelot | #gwainevere

Gwen:

Leon:

Lancelot:

Merlin: #merthur | #mergwen | #mergana | #merwaine | #merlance | #merleon | #merwill | #merthian |

Mordred:

Morgana: #morgwen |

Percival: #perwaine | #perlyan |

| #geon | #morgal | #morra

Poly ships:

#merwaincelot | #mergwenthur | #mergwainthur | #merlyanthur |

Group Tags:

pendragon house

pendragon siblings

smith siblings

knights of camelot

people of the old religion

awotc

[coinofstone]

2x11 The Witch's Quickening

Hey Arthur, remember last time you were on a manhunt in Camelot and it led you to Morgana's chambers, and she talked you out of searching them and later admitted that she'd been hiding a fugitive in there? Have you learned NOTHING

And Merlin too, he doesn't like, double back and confront Morgana or suggest Arthur do that?

Why is Arthur yelling at Merlin so much in this? Who wrote this episode.

::Coin watch the show instead of playing on her phone challenge::

Morgana being manipulated by a nine year old

Why is Arthur insulting the food as if Merlin cooked it himself? Every other meal he brings up is from the palace kitchens but on this occasion Merlin cooked himself? Ok.

Even the fkin dragon is OOC in this ep

Morgana is so much more intelligent than this.

Gaius needs to bring this to Uther in the throne room like a member of the public? He couldn't get a private audience with the king? Ok.

I really don't remember this episode being so terrible, maybe I'm in a bad mood.

You know, not for nothing, but from Mordred's perspective Merlin is being an absolute dick, not only siding with the oppressor but actively working to sabotage their plans and hurt their people. As we, the audience, are privy to the reasons behind this, WE don't necessarily questions Merlin's actions, WE know he's after the crystal because he's trying to prevent Mordred and Morgana from teaming up and bringing harm to Arthur - that's all good and well but like... Merlin could never bring himself to kill Mordred because he's just a boy, but yet he's allowed the boy to go off and become somewhat radicalized (I say 'somewhat' because honestly, it's not all that radical to plot to overthrow the king that has been waging a genocidal war against your people for twenty fucking years) without ever trying to bring him into the fold. If Merlin had explained his and Arthur's destinies to the boy, made an argument for waiting out Uther's reign in the hope that Arthur's reign will bring peace and magic back to Camelot, but which may not happen if he sees his father killed by sorcerers, and explained his reasons for hiding who he is from Morgana, regardless of Mordred's ultimate destiny to be Arthur's doom, Merlin would've at least had a shot at cultivating an alliance or at very least an understanding between them. Instead, all Mordred sees is this supremely powerful sorcerer who isn't even a druid, serving the very people that would bring an end to their entire race if they could. Although, it seems as tho Mordred has forgotten who exactly snuck him out of the castle and back to the druid camp in three first place. Makes you wonder if Morgana never explained to him that she was believed to have been kidnapped when they found her with the druids last time, and that she went along with that lie for her own safety.

Tl;dr: communication is important kids!

Do I even need to point out how much sense Morgana's little tiff with Uther did not make? Or her sudden distrust of Gwen? If anything she should think Gwen would be an ally considering a) her father was killed by Uther, as an innocent victim of Uther's war on magic, b) Gwen was party to Morgana's previous involvement in aiding and abetting a druid fugitive, c) Gwen L-I-T-E-R-A-L-L-Y sacrificed herself to save Morgana from Hengist's men, the is zero reason to question Guinevere's loyalty to Morgana, and d) Gwen has never said a WORD against sorcery or hinted at any kind of prejudice against druids or anyone with magic.

I looked up the writing credit for this, it's Jake Michie who is also credited with some fantastic episodes like Lancelot, Beauty and the beast, and the Lamia to name a few. It was directed by Alice Troughton who has also done some good eps, including other eps written by Jake Michie, so like I really don't understand what went wrong here.

Oh God there's a commentary track on this episode. I don't wannnnnaaaaaa but maybe I'll learn something, like why it turned out the way it did.

Commentary by Julian Murphy, Alice Troughton, and Katie. I do not have high hopes.

Katie right off the bat explaining shit that's important to note, God I love her on these tracks. Apparently, this was one of the last things to be shot (Merlin films everything out of order and films several episodes concurrently, depending on filming location.) and it was being shot while three other episodes were being wrapped up - so they had FOUR episodes filming concurrently and a lot of THIS episode was directed by Julian Murphy, and Jeremy shot some of it as well. This COULD explain a lot of the inconsistency, but I question how much since Julian seems to be involved in filming lots of scenes in lots of episodes. But I guess it's possible that just that on top of the rush to finish and the pressure of so many spinning plates in the air right at the end. They've just said that for this episode they had the least amount of days to shoot it out of all the episodes they've done, which is partly why they had so much going at once. It's as good a reason as any to explain it being so off, but I don't really see that explaining the wildly off characterization.

Katie going on the whole thing about Alvarr-as-revolutionary and Alice picks up on Morgana's sort of desire to be in that position and they're having a quite meaningful discussion then Julian:I think she just thinks he's hot 🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️🤦‍♀️

Katie says the script changed a lot even as it was filming, and that things were being changed as it was filmed so I'm kind of thinking for whatever reason this entire thing was a mess and that's why it came across looking so disjointed to me.

At least Julian realize the soup scene was terrible.

Idk why they're ganging up on Katie over the chemistry between her and Alvarr. She says she wasn't playing it that way and that she wasn't feeling it and they're just like "yea uh huh sure."

They're talking about having two units filming like a few feet away from each other in the forest, while there is another two units going in France.

Julian says they had added Alvarr's girlfriend in because they wanted to dramatize his charisma and calculation... but it's not manipulation - ?????????? Someone get the man a dictionary. 'We added a random blonde in four him to kiss so that the audience knows he's got a girl already, who sees him working his charm on Morgana and comments on it 'you played her well', but Alvarr isn't actually manipulative' ??????????

They've just pointed out two entire significant beats within a sequence that was constructed on set and off script. Arthur's confrontation with Alvarr in the forest and Merlin's slow motion tracking the crystal to show its got a powerful draw. The more they describe the specifics of filming the more it sounds like an utter disaster which kind of makes me feel bad for being so harsh on the episode.

I keep having to rewind to focus on what they're saying and I feel like I've been watching this episode for about 4 hours.

Awkward bit of prop-exposure there. Trying to work out what LK could even stand for.

Idk everyone's really happy with this scene between Morgana and Uther and I'm still sitting here thinking the dialogue was utterly ridiculous.

They talked about changing that final scene, where Uther clearly knows/suspects it was Morgana who helped Alvarr escape, so that it doesn't prematurely push the story too far ahead. They cut a look Morgana gives Merlin which, rightfully so, because it would've been too much too soon. The ending to this episode still feels wholly unsatisfying to me. I understand the little tag with the dragon yelling for Merlin to release him, I don't mean that, but the ending to the main story where Alvarr just escapes and Uther not only accepts that but also accepts that Morgana must've helped him. Overall Uther's been entirely sort of neutered throughout this episode, which I understand that partially has to do with it being Morgana, but like, in previous episodes when she's been so defiant against him, he's had her by the throat and locked her in a dungeon overnight. So I just doubt understand him being so subdued here, especially since he directly threatened her when he found pr Mordred escaped, and now another druid's escaped and he essentially knows she was involved given how she spoke to him, yet he doesn't do anything? Just wildly inconsistent behavior.

Anyway apologies for overanalyzing this episode, I realize I tore it apart pretty thoroughly during the commentary and the post became quite long. I wish there was a way to add a cut on mobile but there isn't. I'll have the S2 finale post up in a few hours - I might hold off on posting until I've watched the extras, I didn't do that for S1 but then I felt the extras didn't quite warrant a whole post on their own, so I might just tack on any thoughts I have to the 2x12 post. We'll see.

[leafblogger]

This episode sucks :/ it's like drinking room temperature skim milk :/ or school lunch :/

[lilsjames]

[merlinoutofcontext]

[merlin-gifs]

MERLIN | 2x11 “The Witch’s Quickening”

[twoohugs]

BBC Merlin 2X11 The Witch’s Quickening

[Click here for a full list of my BBC Merlin commentary]

Urgh no wonder Arthur’s knights are so legendary, these knights are useless. Like, every time Arthur goes on adventure all of his accompanying knights die. The round table lasted that long despite staying with Arthur for years, of course they are famous.

Ah, sibling banter. How I missed you .

Ooh! One point for Arthur! 

First of all, oooooooooooooh! So cool, so badass, I like.

I love how this shows how Uther is totally Not Ready for Morgana. He is still stuck in the parent-child mindset and thinks that he can control/discipline her. He probably he just thinks Morgana is simply being rebellious, and his ultimate punishment for her is “go back to your room”. That’s 100% parent-speak. Meanwhile Morgana’s hatred has much more depth and she’s totally ready to kill him for it. I think Uther is so not used to being challenged that he simply cannot comprehend the severity of the situation.

I know they say Alvarr escaped because Morgana drugged the guards, but honestly he totally could have got out on his own. Maybe with a lot more bloodshed and inconvenience, but I think he totally can manage. Like, the locks can’t hold him, and the knights can’t fight him. The only thing stopping him from slaughtering everyone outside and running off by himself is the plot. (although to be fair the only thing stopping someone from just killing Uther and saving the day is also The Plot so...)

[arthursshittypoetry]

Merlin & Arthur in Every Episode - 2x11 “The Witch’s Quickening”

[sunflower-le-tournesol]

The Witch’s Quickening

Merlin is a mess in this episode, omg. bb.

I swear I get vibes that Arthur knows about Merlin’s magic in this one. He’s like, “Merlin, how do you know they’re in Morgana’s chambers; how do you know where the camp is?” and Merlin gives the shittiest answer and Arthur is literally like, “Really?” and then gives Merlin a chance to make a better excuse, haha. 

Also has Merlin watch the crystal, like, um, you are the magical one.

Like, Arthur just thinks Merlin is shit at magic. 

[heller-obama]

I made another shitty Merlin meme