Pssst, Merlin people ...

[blamebrampton]

I've only seen the first three episodes, but just rewatched the one where Merlin saves Gwen's father and Gwen is accused of sourcery. Looking at the scene where Arthur tells his father's council that there is no way Merlin could be a sourcerer, it seemed obvious to me that Arthur knows.

Is this the actual case or is Bradley James's skill in inappropriate levels of attractiveness rather than acting? And feel free to spoil away! 

Comments

[blamebrampton.livejournal.com]

When Merlin came in and confessed, Arthur's facial expression was immediate exasperation, not the surprise, realisation and then exasperation that I would have expected if he had not known. To me, it read as 'Oh bloody hell, how am I going to explain this one away?'

And he IS adorable!

[melusinahp.livejournal.com]

Ah, yes. But I think it was meant to be read more as, "Oh man, Merlin's doing something stupidly noble again and I'm going to have to get him out of it." At that point, I think Arthur still believed Merlin was a bit of an idiot. I don't think he believed him interesting or powerful enough to be magical.