Board Thread:Rewatching "Merlin" - Season One/@comment-5102537-20130316141226/@comment-5102537-20130322103323

I liked this episode very much. Lancelot's introduction was very well done, and despite the fact that he found his way into knighthood by actually cheating with Merlin's help, his nobility and honour was shown already.

In this epsiode, Merlin proved for the first time that he disregarded Camelot's law (aside from violating the ban of magic, of course) and presumed to know better what's good for Camelot and how things have to work by faking Lancelot's heritage in order to get him the chance to become a knight. Even though Merlin didn't mean to do something wrong and even though I had wished for Lancelot to stay,  Merlin actually showed great disrespect for the laws and tradition of which he has no idea about and doesn't know the reasons. It's one thing to try to liberate oppressed magic-users and to protect himself since he was born with magic, but another to ignore and disrespect other laws and traditions of Camelot up to that extent. No one's life was at stake when a commoner couldnt become a knight.

The viewer saw through Merlin's eyes and believed that the code of Camelot to only knight those of noble blood was a stupid and foolish law, without knowing the background. Personally, I would have wished for an explanation as to why Uther only wanted nobles to be knighted, even though the reasons are quite obvious to me regarding the real dark and medieval ages.

Anyway, Lancelot came across as a very likable character immediately and his decision to leave Camelot on free will before the debate between Uther and Arthur was over demonstrated his wisdom and kind heart. I wonder if Uther had changed his mind if Lancelot hadnt interrupted the debate. Could Arthur have convinced his father? Lancelot was a contrast to Merlin when he showed concern and didn't want to cause trouble between father and son, whereas Merlin hadn't given it a second thought and just did what he thought was alright and better.

It was also great to see that there was another person who knew of Merlin's powers - and Lancelot and Merlin made a great team, as well as Gwen and Lancelot, who, in my opinion, would have made the perfect couple.

The Griffin was believed to be a myth only, yet he was very real when it attacked the kingdoms. How come that the Griffin only attacked now? Where has it been, where does it come from, what's its purpose? Aside from that it was yet another piece of evidence for how dangerous magic was/could be and how helpless "normal" people were against the beast. It could only be defated by powerful magic. This was an indicator for the balance in all things, that one magical power could only be stopped by another magical force. On the other hand, it also demonstrated that the magical battles and fights weren't the fights of normal humans but that they were drawn into them. And since the Griffin was believed to be a myth only, I wonder if it was sent by someone, because it was indeed a coincidence that it appeared shortly after Merlin's arrival.