MERLIN CLUB: GOBLIN’S
GOLD
Or the One With Gaius
Licking Stuff and Making Bron Throw Up in Her Mouth a Little
RECAP—So Merlin’s down in the library – which is in dire
need of a clean. Geoffrey needs to get on that – to get Gaius a book. While
there, he finds a secret chamber where he finds a box. Noises are coming from
the box, and despite my yelling at the screen for him NOT to do it, Merlin
opens the box. Out pops a goblin.
It causes mischief and, when Melin tries to get it back in
the box, it transforms into a little light and escapes from the chamber. Merlin
races after it, and finds that it’s made a HUGE mess of Arthur’s rooms. Arthur
comes along and demands an explanation and Merlin – brilliant liar he is
:-/ – says he’s spring cleaning. He sees the goblin leave and chases after it. It
goes after Morgana’s jewelry but makes a quick escape out the window when
Merlin comes in. As he’s trying to put the jewelry away, Gwen walks in, who
doesn’t even question what Merlin is doing on the floor with Morgana’s
trinkets. WTF, Gwen?
Back in Gaius’ chambers, Merlin identifies the creature as a
goblin and Gauis warns him that goblins are mischievous and dangerous and
desire nothing more than gold. Arthur comes in and says they need to come to
the king’s chambers for an urgent and delicate matter. They come in and we see
poor Uther has lost all his hair.
Bald as bald can be. And ASH pulls it off,
the bastard.
Alone again, Gaius tells Merlin it has to be an enchantment
from the goblin for Uther to lose his hair like that, and when Merlin giggles
over bald Uther, the physician takes him to task, reminding him what Uther
would do to whoever was responsible for releasing the goblin. They work out a
plan to trap the creature, using gold as a lure.
That night, Merlin swipes a chest of gold coins from
Arthur’s chambers. He breaks a dish on the way out and wakes the prince. Melrin
uses magic to make the bed curtains fall on Arthur, giving him a chance to
escape unseen. Using a trail of gold coins to lead the Goblin into their
chambers, Merlin and Gaius try to capture the creature, but it again turns into
the bit of light and enters Gaius. Merlin doesn’t notice, but the older man is
clearly possessed by the goblin and sends the young man on a wild goose chase
after the “escaped” goblin.
The goblin, as Gaius, tears the chambers apart, looking for
gold. When Merlin returns, it orders Merlin to clean up and heads out to the
tavern. Which confuses Merlin. At the tavern, Goblin!Gaius arm-wrestles and
wins lots of gold. And there is lip licking and it’s kinda gross. The next
morning, a hungover Goblin!Gaius sends Merlin out for his breakfast. Morgana
comes in asking for a sleeping draught as her bracelet has been stolen. The
goblin mocks and makes fun of Morgana then tells her he sees into her cold
heart and knows how she really feels about Uther. He gives her an enchanted
sleeping draught and she leaves.
Goblin!Gaius goes around town, lies about the severity of
peoples conditions and making up sickness to get gold out of them – Gwen
included. He also manages to slap Uther around on the head as he “treats” what
has caused Uther’s hair loss.
Back in Gaius’s chambers, Merlin catches him
licking coins and finally realizes it’s the goblin.
The goblin warns him that
if he tries to hurt him, he’ll only hurt Gaius.
While Arthur gives Uther a report about vandalism around the
castle, suddenly the king, Morgana and Gwen all start farting – a result of the
goblin’s enchanted remedies. There is
much horror and Uther dismisses everyone. When Merlin later confronts the
goblin, the creature realizes that Merlin has magic. The young warlock promises
to free Gaius and goes to look for Arthur.
When he finds the princes, Arthur orders the guards to
arrest him. Turns out the goblin has blamed Merlin for all the things going on
and shows Uther a book of magic he claims to have found in Merlin’s room.
Merlin tries to tell them Gaius is possessed but without proof, no one believes
him. Uther orders his execution. But, wait! Arthur isn’t quite as convinced as
the others and seems to suspect something.
Later in the tavern, Goblin!Gaius has a confrontation with
Sir Leon (SIR LEON! How very DARE he??) but he apologizes. Then he serves the
knights drinks he put some potion into…it causes ugly boil-y things to break
out all over the knights’ faces.
In his cell, Merlin magically takes the keys off a sleeping
guard. He flees, and when the warning bells sound, he hides at Gwen’s. The next
morning, he asks her to talk to Arthur about Gaius being possessed. She’s
embarrassed and hesitant…you know because of the farting…but agrees to do it.
Arthur invites Gaius to his rooms and when the old man seems happy about
Merlin’s upcoming death, Arthur’s suspicions are confirmed—because Gaius would
never be happy about that no matter what Merlin had done. Arthur draws his
sword but the goblin knocks him out.
When Gwen comes to him, she finds that Goblin!Gaius has given Arthur
donkey ears and the prince can only bray like the animal.
Merlin finds out that if the host is dying, the goblin will
be forced out of its body. He goes to get the box that once contained the
goblin so they can trap it again. Then he puts poison on the gold coins the
goblin has hidden. The pair hides in Merlin’s room and watch as Goblin!Gaius
comes in. When it licks the coins, Gwen is once again the voice of we the
people, saying it’s disgusting. Yes, Gwen, yes, it is! They come out as the
goblin leaves Gaius’ body. It knocks into Gwen, who was holding the antidote to
the poison—which was to be administered quickly. To bottle flies into a bunch
of other bottles and now she doesn’t know which bottle is the antidote. Let
this be a lesson to us all – label shit clearly.
The goblin tries to possess Merlin but he managed to spit it
in the box and seal it closed. Merlin and Gwen search for the antidote and
eventually try the one they think is it. After a couple long moments of
thinking maybe they gave him the wrong one , Gaius wakes and is back to normal.
The physician tells Uther Merlin is innocent and that he was
indeed possessed and the goblin was the one who did all those things. Merlin is
pardoned and Uther orders the box be sealed in the vaults (because that always
works, right?). When Uther asks who let the goblin out to begin with, Gauis says
he has no idea.
Later Gwen and Arthur run into each other and there is an
awkward moment. They agree to never speak of what happened the last few days.
As Merlin and Gaius watch Arthur train, Arthur laughs but it sounds like a
donkey’s bray. Merlin says it’s just too good and he’ll leave the spell, just a
little, for one more day.
If I’d written this episode, I would have changed…While this isn't my favorite episode, there isn't really anything I'd change. Well, maybe less licking on Goblin!Gaius' part. (though Richard Wilson did a bang up job as Goblin!Gaius, IMO)
Thing(s) I loved about this episode—Donkey!Arthur. Hands down. Especially when Gwen scratches his ears...fave part of the episode.
Thing(s) I hated about this episode—No shocker here, excessive licking.
And also, how no one realizes Gaius is not himself. Especially Gwen who is normally so intuitive about these things.
Something I never noticed about this episode before—It wasn't until Jen pointed it out and I was rewatching again...it really does look like ASH was trying not to laugh as Gaius/Richard Wilson was smacking his head. I think the whole episode must have been a hoot for the cast to film.
Here is proof of some head canon I’ve created—None in this episode. :(
Favorite costume—Because it delights me. FFS, Uther, you're the KING; you couln't have found a better hat? But I never tire of seeing it.
What would Bron steal from Camelot in this episode? Hmmm I can't think of anything...WAIT! She'd steal all the gold from Camelot so Goblin!Gaius has nothing to slobber over!
What made Jen lose her shit (in a good or bad way) in this
episode? That Morgana went to Gaius for a sleeping draught. And I agree. It did seem as though she at least suspected Gaius was on to her and Merlin clearly was. So why would she go to Merlin's mentor for a potion that could easily be poisoned? It doesn't make sense.
NOTE: We won’t be Merlin Clubbing it next week (8/4). Jen,
Bron and I will be attending the Authors After Dark convention so we are taking
the week off of Merlin Club. But we’ll be back the next week….AND I’ll still be
at Bron’s so we get to watch together…IN PERSON! YAY!!!!
So, until the next episode – Gwaine – which we’ll be watching in TWO WEEKS on 8/11 at 8pm EST.
We’ll be on Twitter with the hashtag #MerlinClub