Board Thread:Rewatching "Merlin" - Season Three/@comment-5102537-20130928101530/@comment-5102537-20131005140216

I liked this episode for it showed us some more background of Gaius, plus we learnt more about the Great Purge.

I've never figured out the reason why the Manticore did what he did. Was he sent by someone to kill Uther, did he do it on his own or was he simply evil who wanted to kill and use others?

Another thing I've never figured out is if Uther had even known that Alice used to be Gaius' fiancé.

I agree with you, Reaper, it's understandable that Uther gave it a short shrift after everything that happened. On the other hand, Alice was possessed by the Manticore and it wasn't her fault. But then... Alice practiced magic aside from that. It was yet more proof in Uther's eyes that magic was dangerous and could never be controlled, whether someone like Alice practiced good magic or not. She was the vessel for a ruthless and malicious creature and nobody could do anything against it, except Merlin and Gaius - the greatest and most powerful sorcerers of all with the help of a wise old friend who had been parcticing sorcery all his life.

It was yet again obvious why Uther hated and feared magic and he wasn't so wrong after all. It's just so sad that an actual innocent person like Alice had to suffer the consequences. On the other hand, I'm not entirely sure if Alice was really that innocent since she never showed any sign of remorse about trying to kill Uther under the manticore's influence. Did she agree with killing him but was only concerned about Gaius?

Fact is, had Uther had the chance to kill her back then, she wouldn't have had the chance to return more than twenty years later to kill him. From his perspective, every magic-user who escaped was a potential great threat and he was proven right here once again.

What I didn't like was that Uther still forbid healing magic after he himself had used it to heal his daughter. Understandable from his point of view but notheless hypocrisy. Aside from the fact that him using magic in order to heal Morgana should have terrified him because even healing magic came to a price, he had experienced first hand that saving or creating lives had terrible consequences.

Speaking of twenty years, the show confused the time spans again. The Great Purge had been twenty years ago in the first episode of season one already, so since Alice had to flee back then, it should have been at least 23 years here in this episode, if not 24.

I felt extremely sorry for Gaius having to lose his loved one again. He gave up a life with Alice decades ago and now lost her again. The question is, why did he decide to stay in Camelot instead of leaving together with her?

When she escaped in the end, with Gaius' help, Uther and Arthur should have known that someone had helped her, alas nobody every spoke of it again.

And where was Morgana? Shouldn't she have been happy to see Uther dying?

I liked that Merlin was still in his right senses and compassionate enough to save Uther's life. Good times back then in the first three seasons.