Uther Pendragon (Anthony Head) is utterly frustrating. When Merlin burst in accusing his former enemy, now tentative ally of trying to poison Arthur, Uther's response was more than predictable. He decided that the best thing to do was to have Merlin drink the potential poison so that he would have the pleasure of killing the poisoner himself if Merlin's allegations were true. I suppose it is an indication of how little Uther thinks of his servants, or potentially how much of a pain he has decided Merlin is (despite his track record of saving Arthur's life), but if I were him I would have at least had one of my supposed enemy's servants drink the drink.
Uther must really have it out for Merlin, as, after all the effort Arthur put into recovering the antidote, he still tried to prevent his son from rescuing the boy. Infuriating that he is so unyielding, blind to anyone's perspective but his own.
Arthur, meanwhile, proved himself quite the hero. Not only did he go on the quest for the antidote, but he defeated quite a number of vile creatures handily while he did it. Yes, Nimueh (Michelle Ryan) could have killed him, though she said it was not Arthur's destiny to die at her hands, but he still handled himself honourably and well in the situation. I quite liked the self-doubt he felt, both because he had been spared and because some other force had brought him a light to save him from his difficulty. It also indicates yet another time where Arthur isn't entirely certain that his father's desire to totally annihilate witchcraft is justified.
Finally, we got to witness Gaius (Richard Wilson) use a bit of his magic, but even more so we got to witness Merlin using his while poisoned and right off his nut. The man is powerful and driven.
So, let's hear your thoughts on Uther and whether or not he is in the way of the progress of Camelot.
