Merlin- The Secret Sharer Review

Gwaine and Merlin talking.

In this week's Merlin episode The Secret Sharer, Gaius's loyalty it put to the test as evil uncle Agravaine plays on Arthur's in experience. In a way this is similar to in Season 3 when Morgana was manipulating Uther in doing her biding. Morgana even had Uther's trust all up to when she betrayed Uther and took her place as queen of Camelot. In a way, this is a similar situation with Arther and Agravaine. Arthur has no family left (excluding Morgana), and Agravaine is more than happy to lend a "helping" hand.

So in the previous episode, Agravaine used the fact that hes the brother to Arthur's mother to clear his name and place doubts about Gaius in Arthur's head. In The Secret Sharer, Agravaine manages to convince Arthur to interrogate Gaius to see if his "betrayal" is true. Earlier in the episode Morgana and Agravaine came to the conclusion that Giaus knew who Emrys was, and decided to get the information from him. Back to the interrogation, Agravaine clearly knows what hes doing and asks questions that he knows Gaius can't answer truthfully and makes Giaus look very suspicious. Unfortunately for Giaus, Agravaine plan works and Arthur begins to doubt. 

Things take a turn for the worst when Morgana has Gaius kidnapped and makes it appear like Gaius ran away in the night. Arthur asks Merlin for his opinion on the matter. Merlin knows that Agravaine kidnapped Gaius, but once again can't say it out loud and simply tells Arthur that Gaius wouldn't have left without saying goodbye. In a way this in applies that this isn't normal Giaus behavior, and that Arthur should more into it than he did.

But there is more at work in this episode than just Agravaine framing Giaus. Morgana was on the hunt for her doom Emrys and knew Giaus knows where this man was. The man, Alator who she paid to kidnap Giaus also happened to be some sort of truth mage. So using magic, Alator begins to en-spell Giaus to reveal the truth. Gaius does try to fight it, he even trys to use magic, but unsuccessful.

Back in Camelot, Merlin is looking for Giaus, and lucky for him, good old Gwaine comes to his rescue. In season 3, Merlin and Gwaine became good friend, but we didn't see much of that this season. So finally they show this friendship, and Gwaine figures out where Giaus is and the two off. Like in Digital Spy's review of the episode, I'm glad to see Gwaine get a moment to shine despite in the end where he too is tricked by the devious Agravaine.

Another good plot point for the episode was when Alator betrayed Morgana ans saved Merlin. You knew as an audience that Morgana couldn't find out his true name for a while, but you weren't sure how it would exactly play out. Despite Dork Adore's review commenting on how cheesey it is, I believe there is much a much larger picture playing out here. Every person we have seen here with magic has been evil and has wanted to destroy Camelot or the Pendragons. Alator is one of the few with magic who is willing to believe in the kingdom that Arthur will built.

Now the ending scene was nice set for whenever Arthur discovers Merlin has magic. How clever Gaius is when he tells Arthur, "One day, you will understand just how much they've done for you" when he and Arthur discuss magic. For when he does that he doesn't mistrust Merlin, but understands how much Merlin has protected Arthur.

Now next episode, we're going to see all the knights again in action, unlike the last few episodes where they made cameo appearances. This episode titled, Lamia, is where they find a girl in the forest and she somehow is controlling the knights to attack Merlin. I don't worry that any of them will figure out whats so special about Merlin. Although I suspect that Gwen will be a help. I'll leave a preview below.

Why all the review relations? I'm using this blog for an assignment, so please bear with the next two reviews. Thats all I promise. Check out the Digital Spy, and Dork Adore reviews.