User blog:Alethia II/Arthur is a dumb blonde (solely opinion of moi)

I will keep this as simple as I can, seeing as opinion blog posts are not exactly my thing. Despite being from Croatia where new TV series are as rare as someone winning the jackpot, I have been Merlin fan since it’s beginning in 2008 and have not missed one episode. I will keep out of deep psychoanalysis because I am not good at that but ever since Series 5 began; my irritation with Arthur’s stupidity that seems to have no ending has been growing exponentially.

How many will agree with me on the opinion that Arthur is showing all the traits of dumb blonde matters little to me and so does how many will disagree with me. Just want to ask you not to turn this into some sort of battle ground as many blog posts concerning Uther’s total character change have become throughout last week.

The first time I really noticed repeating pattern of Arthur’s stupidity and obliviousness at things that to us, viewers, was clear as blue, cloudless sky was in episode ‘The Moment of Truth’. Just moments before the battle, Merlin is so close to telling Arthur his secret and to Arthur it was obvious that Merlin’s struggle to speak was a sign of how important whatever it is he was about to say was. And yet, after Merlin summons a whirlwind with Arthur staring right at him and Will from not so great distance might I add, he actually asks who did it. At that point, both my brother and I wanted to smack Arthur round the head for being oblivious.

Second, rather small account of Arthur’s obliviousness was the very next episode Labyrinth of Gedref. If I were a princess that is to lead kingdom one day, I would probably use small part of my brain that is tied to applying logical thinking and ask, in my case, my maidservant to tell me how exactly did she find the Keeper of the Unicorns and what made her believe that someone so powerful in ways of magic would listen to her. But that’s solely my opinion.

‘Le Morte d’Arthur’ is another proof that despite Merlin being as cryptic yet friendly as he could be in what he believed was a good bye to a person that he came to respect and consider a friend; that Arthur’s ability to connect dots is a poorly developed one. I suppose my expectations of Arthur’s ability to read between the lines is quite high but if someone starts talking to you about how great it was to serve you despite the troubles you put them through and asks you to promise not to take a bootlicker as a servant; it should be alarm sign number one for you. And then as a cherry on the top, Merlin tells Arthur with pained undertone that he will be happy to serve him until the day he dies. Mayday!

So…if you spend good part of your daily life with someone who has proven to have good instincts despite demonstrating rather foolish behaviour, you’d think Arthur would have learnt to put some small amount of trust in Merlin’s assumptions and warnings. Cedric in the ‘Curse of Cornelius Sigan’ being the obvious one. However, some might argue that it’s too early for Arthur to trust Merlin yet. Okay, I will concede to that.

Then could someone explain to me a hundred and eighty degree turn in Gwen/Arthur relationship? They had little if any interaction in series 1, the last episode of the series being probably the only time they spoke more than two words to each other, in second episode ‘Once and Future Queen’ they share the first kiss and by the episode 4 ‘Lancelot and Guinevere’ he is completely and totally, head over heels in love with her, unable to stop thinking about her. Contradiction in relationship development number one.

Anyway, back to Arthur. Throughout the series, the times Arthur ignores Merlin’s warnings are too many for me to mention them all because this would be hectically long post. From ‘Beauty and the Beast’ to most recent ‘Another’s Sorrow’, the jewels of Arthur’s stupidity are countless. Although the ‘Witchfinder’ shows some level of trust Arthur has in Merlin that he without second thought discards the accusation that Merlin is a sorcerer, it is still not it. Plus, to this day, Arthur views Merlin to certain degree as naïve fool that would headfirst dive into trouble and take blame for someone else’s crimes, especially people he cares about.

‘The Last Dragonlord’. Episode that has, up until then, been my greatest disappointment in Arthur’s observation skills, skill he actually likes to point out as being one of his strongest skills because he is a knight and a hunter that perceives danger before it actually appears. Wrong! Nothing but prattle. Yes, he has sharp reflexes in heat of battle but more than often, he fails to perceive real danger. He has never seen Merlin that upset before, even when Freya was killed, but he fails to at least at the very end of the episode ask why Merlin was that distraught and crying. Didn’t he find it at least a bit strange that Merlin was crying over a death of a complete stranger? No…Why? Because he chalked it up to Merlin upset because with Balinor’s death, Camelot was doomed to be destroyed by vengeance seeking dragon.

So, year passes and when we get first glimpse of series 3, Arthur still chalks up Merlin’s rightful feeling of caution as cowardice, more than often calling him ‘girl’s petticoat’. But then, I put aside his dismissal of Merlin’s advice and warnings in favour of seeing if he is actually able to perceive Morgana’s shift in loyalties and everything strange that happened since her return, starting with Uther’s sudden insanity and convenient siege of Camelot. I was once again disappointed. The signs were there but as usual, only Merlin was the one to see them from get go and interpret them right.

The point blank ungratefulness Arthur showed in ‘Eye of the Phoenix’ at being saved by Merlin once again and failure to connect the dots that screamed ‘Morgana gave me a bracelet that made me feel exhausted and almost got me killed’ was a proverbial slap in the face. Merlin, who has been through thick and thin, is still dim-witted and most incapable servant he ever met and to admit that without him he probably would not have survived many close death encounters, would probably be great blow to his ego.

I loved the ‘Coming of Arthur’. Yet, my brain did ask a question. Why in the name all that is holy in the Old Religion, Artur didn’t ask Merlin how did he know that the Cup of Life must be emptied and where to find it. Even though Merlin would probably give him an answer to first question as the most obvious ‘Gaius told me’, the second one would be really tricky to answer, considering that Merlin is not the most stealthiest of people Arthur knows and as such would have great problem getting around all the immortal guards in the citadel and reach the Cup of Life alive; without so much as cut or bruise.

The Darkest Hour ending of part one offers us first, true glimpse of the fact that Arthur does indeed think of Merlin as a friend and person he puts a lot of trust in him despite being the last person to ever admit it. Yes, we have seen throughout previous series that Arthur does hold Merlin’s opinion in great value but he is not willing to admit it. When series 4 was announced along with information that we are going to see development in the Arthur/Merlin friendship; I was happy and to extent content with what was served to us, with twists and turns in Arthur/Merlin wavelength.

At first, I believed that ‘His Father’s Son’ would be the only serious tripping stone when it came to Arthur once again ignoring everything Merlin said only to be proven right at the end. But then came the ‘Secret Sharer’. The blind faith that Arthur had in his uncle allowed him to dismiss any and all accusations Merlin had against Agravaine and actually believed that Gaius was a traitor, a man that has cared for and watched over him since he was a baby in favour of a man that was absent from most of his life and magically appeared at Arthur’s weakest point in life.

That alone irritated me from start of series 4. And how the hell did Arthur miss all of Agravaine’s nightly joy rides? In fact, how has any sane person...namely Knights of the Round Table, missed that Agravaine is going out alone in the middle of the night in unknown direction and that usually trouble followed the next day.

‘Lancelot du Lac’ was an episode I personally viewed as insult. Lancelot is not a perfect knight. He never was in my opinion and in any Arthurian movie or TV series I have seen so far. Sure, he was fair and kind and by many viewed as best of Arthur’s knights in all but one respect and that is the infamous love triangle. Perfect or not, for the life of me I could not understand how easily Arthur fell in his uncle’s proverbial clutches and allowed to be so deceived. He did not even try think if there were any other reasons behind this ‘betrayal’ as deeply as he should have and allowed his temper and uncle to make him miserable. Not to mention that until Merlin comes clean with his secret, Lancelot and Guinevere’s reputations remain smeared by the act of adultery that was anything else but that; especially Lancelot’s because dead man can’t exactly explain his actions, now can he?

Very recent example of Arthur’s stupidity is the ‘infamous’ episode ‘The Death Song of Uther Pendragon’. Irony abound, starting with the fact that he contradicts his own decisions by using magic to summon his father’s spirit; Arthur quite arrogantly dismisses Merlin’s explanation that he has in fact released his father’s rather angry spirit in the world of the living and proceeds to deny it until Guinevere almost gets killed in the kitchen fire.

Even then, as he watches Gaius tending to his injured wife, he is in state of denial that his father would ever do this to the woman he loves. Did he temporarily forget the conversation he had with his father earlier in the episode where Uther clearly stated he does not approve neither of his marriage nor the knighting of the commoners?

‘Merlin has m…’

Merlin has what? If my father’s final words were some sort of warning rather then some sort of statement of affection or assurance, I would most certainly ask Merlin what was my father on about.

And we come to most recent episode ‘Another’s Sorrow’. I understand very clearly that as you age, your appearance changes. But how can Arthur, who has spent half of his life with Morgana, fail to notice that the old lady that makes princess Mithian jumpy and very quiet, is actually his sister? Honestly, her disguise is not the best one and anyone who has seen Morgana up close more than one time, could tell it’s her. Merlin of course realizes immediately that something is off and tells Arthur so but not surprisingly so, Arthur slides it off.

The one other thing that is a constant irritant to me as a viewer and a fan is the fact that Arthur and the rest of the knights, gets conveniently knocked out every time Merlin uses magic and his secret is revealed, preferably to villain or villainess that is about to meet his/her unfortunate end. Arthur must have some serious head trauma from all these knock outs, which might in extent explain his stupidity and obliviousness.

And to finish what most of you by now think is mindless rambling :) there is one other thing I want to point out as Arthur’s stupidity jewel.

MERLIN IN THE TAVERN!

Come on! Has Arthur seen what Merlin looks like? He’s almost skin and bones. What makes him think that with that body constitution Merlin has high tolerance for alcohol? That lanky man he calls his manservant and friend probably can take up to one…maybe two tankards of good mead. And why doesn’t he ever actually go to the tavern to actually see if Merlin is there? Just one of many questions, the way the show is going right now, we probably will never get answer to.

There is only one thing that I would probably say to Arthur after I would give him really good reset head slap.

“Perhaps mucking out my horses will help sober you up.”