Merlin Review: Arthur’s Job is to “Woo”

Last week’s love story was a rather dramatic one, with Merlin falling in love and losing said first love all in the span of an episode. Now it’s Arthur’s turn to fall victim to one of the most notorious enchantments of all time – the love potion!

Peace talks are about to begin in Camelot amongst the five neighboring kingdoms. King Alined (David Schofield) arrives with his jester in tow and with absolutely no interest in peace at all because fighting in wars brings him a nice income. His evil plot involves Arthur and fellow King Olaf’s daughter, Vivian (Georgia Moffett), to fall in love with one another. How could such a sweet sounding fairytale be evil?

Well, King Olaf is fiercely protective of his gorgeous daughter. Anyone who dares lay a hand on her will have their heads cut immediately! Arthur is the first to be tricked into an enchantment by the jester Trickler, but the bitchy Vivian turns down his advances rather quickly so Trickler performs the same enchantment on her.

Seeing a love drunk Arthur so openly proclaiming his adoration for Vivian is hilarious to watch – Arthur is rarely so open about his emotions. Merlin’s blatant confusion is pretty fun to watch as well, though it’s sad to see Gwen become so upset because she thinks Arthur is over her.

Olaf eventually catches Arthur and Vivian making out on her bed and he throws down his gauntlet, challenging Arthur to a fight till the death. Arthur happily accepts to fight for his love, while Merlin scrambles to break the enchantment and once again save Arthur’s life.

According to the dragon, the only way to break the love enchantment is if Arthur kisses his true love (not Vivian, duh). Merlin explains the situation to Gwen and she hesitantly agrees to smooch him during a break in the fight. Surprise, surprise the plan works and what follows are some of the cheesiest romantic lines I’ve ever heard on this show. They include: “Live for me, Arthur!” and “Gwen’s not dispensable to me.” I’m not one for cheesy dialogue, but even this managed to get an “awwww” from me.

If anything, this was another enjoyable episode of Merlin. You’ve probably noticed I’m constantly using the word “fun” to describe this show, but that’s really what it is. One hour of pure, fun medieval entertainment. And there’s nothing wrong with that!

Season 2, Episode 10: Sweet Dreams (aired June 11, 2010)

For more on Merlin, click here.

Fridays at 10/9c on Syfy

Photographs courtesy of NBC Universal and SyFy.