Merlin – Recap & Review – The Labyrinth of Gedref

photo: nbc

Merlin
The Labyrinth of Gedref

Original Air Date: August 16, 2009

Andi – Sr. Reviewer
andi@thetwocents.com

This time, Arthur is really mean to Merlin, but it’s only because he loves him; Gaius is a flip-flopper; Uther is still dumb; PETA is up to no good; and Arthur takes part in the Triwizard Tournament!

We open on Arthur, two of his knights, and Merlin hunting in the woods with those handy crossbows that always make me think of Buffy. They hear something and decide to send Merlin in as the hound to flush it out. Understandably, Merlin balks at this, concerned that whatever they’ve found might be dangerous. Arthur says he sure hopes so and shoves Merlin off. I suspect this is the only way Arthur can satisfy his princely need to rescue the damsel in distress.

But Merlin doesn’t find a deer or a wolf or a beast. No, he finds a unicorn, which he is immediately drawn too because he’s magical and pure and a girl… wait… huh?

Anyway, Arthur is none of these things, so he pees himself with excitement and kills the creature in a fit of glory-seeking manliness. Or something.

Merlin is very angry and sad about this and while he’s about to tell Arthur that this is a very bad thing he’s done, he’s distracted by Gandalf skulking around behind them. Arthur turns to see what has caught Merlin’s attention, but Gandalf has vanished.

When we come back from the credits, Arthur is presenting his father with the horn of the unicorn so they can both pee themselves with excitement. Gaius does not, however, because there is an old legend that bad fortune will befall anyone who drinks the blood of…I mean, slays a unicorn. Both Arthur and Uther guffaw and pshaw at this, as is their way.

Merlin asks Gaius how Arthur can have taken any pleasure in killing the unicorn and Gaius tries to explain that men are from mars and women are from venus. Merlin’s all, “IDGI. My BFF sucks.”

Some days later, after Arthur gives Merlin flack for still mourning the unicorn and jumps all over his case about a rat in his chambers until Uther beckons him to the countryside. Apparently all of crops in the kingdom have died. I’m going to make a leap here and say that this is a problem.

Because Gaius has eyes, he states that only the edible plants have died. Merlin has the honor this episode of being the one to stand up and shout, “Magic did it!” But Gaius decides to be suddenly skeptical and says that he’s not sure the science behind Global Warming is reliable… oops, I mean, he’s not ready to climb on the Magic band wagon yet. Well, that’s new and different.

Arthur gives his dad the state of the union: food is being rationed very tightly, livestock has started to die, there’s almost no grain left in the stores, and the people have been scared into looting. Uther’s all, “Looters will die! And a curfew will be imposed! And off with your head for bringing this horror upon us!” All right, he hasn’t put that last part together yet because he’s Uther and has no brain, but whatever.

But when they discover that all the water in the kingdom has turned to sand, Gaius decides to jump on the Magic Did It! band wagon after all. Uther readily agrees because all bad things are due to magic, duh.

Back in his room, Merlin tries out a little opposite Jesus trickery – sand into water instead of water into wine – but has no luck.

Later, while Arthur is harping on Merlin about being out after curfew and being outwitted by a rat, they see Gandalf and run after him. He pulls a little hocus pocus on them, before getting down to business. His name is Anhorra, Keeper of the Unicorns, and he’s there to deliver a message from his bosses at PETA: Arthur is totally a jerk for killing the unicorn and now Camelot is suffering for it. He will be tested in order to make amends for his act of brutality and if he fails any of the tests, Camelot will fall. But no pressure.

Over at Gaius’ chambers, he and Merlin have a tiny breakfast and drink Merlin’s old bath water and look wary and woeful.

Arthur, who is very stressed out these days, discovers a hole in his boot and stomps and yells at Merlin about that damned rat. Merlin, of course, thinks this is hilarious, at least until Arthur acts the prat and refuses to entertain the idea that Anhorra was telling the truth and Arthur only has himself to blame. He thinks he’s figured out Anhorra’s next move so it’s off to capture him! Oh, Arthur, you big dummy.

Somewhere near the Chamber of Secrets (I think), Merlin has fallen asleep on watch. Arthur comes in, hits him over the head with a broom, and then yells at him. Man, he sure is secure in his relationship if he can treat Merlin so badly without worrying that Merlin will totally leave his ass. Just sayin’.

Their stakeout yields only a peasant trying to pilfer some grain from the castle’s stores. Arthur, because, as we all know, is really a big softy, lets the guy go. The guy says that this act of mercy and kindness will bring its own reward. And sure enough, water is restored to the kingdom.

Merlin points out that this is probably due to Arthur passing the first test, but Arthur’s skeptical. Merlin suggests that they seek Anhorra out, but don’t tell Uther because he hates PETA. The prospect of fixing things and defying his dad has Arthur suddenly intrigued.

It’s worthy to note, in light of last week’s ending, that Arthur is all over the board with his opinions of magic in this episode. One minute he says, “You can’t ever trust a sorcerer!” And the next minute he all, “I can’t negotiate with a sorcerer because my dad would lose his shit,” which is not the same thing at all. And once or twice he even differentiates and says, “some sorcerers,” instead of using a sweeping generalization. It’s a nice touch.

The people are becoming more lethargic and miserable and it’s kind of killing Arthur, so he goes home and mopes and refuses to eat anything because his people are starving. Aww, Arthur, you’re so awesome. Then its Merlin’s turn to pee himself with excitement because Arthur has agreed to go seek out Anhorra, and then he does this, which is so awesome, I can’t even recap it properly, so just watch.

The next day, Merlin gets a crash course in tracking, but the boys get separated and Arthur winds up on his own with that guy who was stealing grain from the castle. Evan is his name and he’s sitting pretty in the forest with baskets of food and a little tent. Evan goads Arthur with taunts about his daddy issues until Arthur loses his temper and strikes him down. And there you have it boys and girls, the end of the game, the ultimate fail, the big bada boom. Sorry, Arthur, you lose. It was a test of his pride, you see, and he failed with flying colors. Way to go.

He and Merlin go home to find all of the remaining food rotten, so Uther declares that the people cannot have what little food is left, it must be saved for the army. Arthur decides that this is the worst idea ever and refuses to have any part in it.

Merlin, seeing how emo Arthur’s being, runs off to plead his case to Anhorra, who decides that Arthur can have another chance to save Camelot, but only if he can best the third Triwizard task.

Despite Arthurs orders to stay behind, Merlin follows him to the Labyrinth of Gedref. Eighteen years later, Arthur makes it to the end of the maze, which also happens to be Bad Wolf Bay or something. There he finds a picnic! How lovely! Except not. Merlin’s been apprehended and forced to be part of the test, which involves a little table and a pair of goblets. The objective: one goblet contains poison, one contains a harmless liquid; they each can drink from only one goblet. So, after much debate and Arthur telling Merlin, “I’m glad you’re here,” Arthur pours all the liquid into one cup and drinks it, to Merlin’s many and loud objections.

Anhorra jumps up and down, yelling, “Ha ha! Fooled you!” Okay, maybe not, but he does say that the “poison” was really just a sleeping draught and that now that Arthur has proven himself pure of heart, Camelot is saved.

When the boys get home, a bunch of extras are wandering about with giant vegetables and baskets of grain and everyone is joyful. But Arthur wants to do something important – bury the unicorn horn and apologize to it for killing the rest of it. Aww. But then we learn that it’s okay because once the slayer of the unicorn proves himself pure of heart, the unicorn will live once more.

Happy endings all around! If you donate your two cents, I can send it to PETA for their Save the Unicorns campaign!