Board Thread:Rewatching "Merlin" - Season One/@comment-5102537-20130323143713/@comment-5102537-20130324190603

Another episode that gave us a bit information about the great Purge. Even though Edward was the victim in his past when his parents were killed by Uther due to their magic, it was hard to feel sympathy for him now that he abused his powers in order to take revenge and by that even threatening Gaius and Merlin. Even though his desire for revenge was totally understandable, yet not the right thing to do, of course, I was hoping the whole time that he would be stopped by Merlin when watching this episode years ago.

It would have been a nice idea to present an opposer who was not like a comic-strip villain in order to feel sympathy for Edward. However, I believe that he was portrayed this way in order to make the viewer siding with Merlin and Gaius, if not even with Uther. I'm a bit uncertain which one was the better way - if Edward had been a likable character, everyone would have wanted Uther dead and sided with the very questionable concept of revenge. The way Edward acted by double-crossing and threatening both Merlin and Gaius, plus by tormenting first Morgana and then Uther, the terrible happening of losing his parents as a child somewhat became secondary.

On the other hand, we know nothing of what Edwin's parents had done in the past.

Again the danger of magical power was demonstrated even though Edward probably wouldnt have had a reason to act that way if it hadn't been for the death of his parents. And again it was only another magical force, Merlin, that made it possible to stop the threat. Non-magic users/magical beings were once again helpless.

I liked very much that Merlin and Gaius helped Uther without even questioning it. It was natural that they wouldn't let anyone murder someone else, whether Uther was right or wrong with what he had done. At that point of time, everyone was still in their right senses and Merlin wasn't the selfish and more callous person he would become later. There was still the lesson of acting right or wrong, and the show was still demonstrating that killing was definitely the wrong way.

I felt very sorry for Gaius who was sitting on the fence and couldn't expose Edwin due to the fact that he threatened to reveal Merlin's powers. However, it was good to see that Uther apologised to Gaius and genuinely was sorry for abandoning him. The scene in which he released Gaius from his duties showed the pain he felt when losing a friend that he saw in Gaius (and at that point of time, the friendship might have been even mutual). Gaius deserved to become a free citizen of Camelot - and Uther admitted his mistake for the first (but not the last) time on the show.

It was also good to see how much he cared about Morgana.