(no subject)

[themadpoker]

So. I had some mixed reactions to this episode. Have changed my mind about a few things I didn't like but still think there could've been some improvements. I think my chief problem was that it wasn't epic finale somebody-dies-and-a-secret-is-exposed enough for me. But there were good points!

- The Questing Beast! I did not think they were going to use the Questing Beast! I am totally using it as more implied proof for my Arthur and Morgana are secretly siblings theory. The nod to Malory with Bedivere was nice although WHAT, I can't believe they just killed him off like that. D= The first Pellinore and he dies within a minute on screen. Wait never mind, they killed off the first Pellinore in Excalibur. Why does the Pellinore family have such a short life expectancy on this show? D=

- Morgana doing the whole 'I am Cassandra, why do you not LISTEN to my visions' thing was very nice. And I think they are planting seeds for her turn to evil with it. My theory is now that Merlin's abandoned the dragon (more on that in a minute!) he's going to start calling her and it will further contribute to the 'driving Morgana crazy and evil' plotline.

- The dragon! He's totally going to be (one of?) the season 2 antagonist(s). The fact that he just did not get why Merlin would be ticked off he let him trade his mother's life for Arthur's was totally awesome because OF COURSE he doesn't care. The dragon has his own agenda and it's not "I act in the best interests of Merlin all the time", it's "I want to get the hell out of this dungeon and I need Arthur and Merlin alive to do so". Go characters with their own motivations!

- The Gwen/Arthur. I thought the speech she gave him would've made more sense coming from Morgana but when he started teasing her later because remembered what she said? And she was like 'I do not know what you are talking about, I said nothing of the sort, I am off now!' That was GREAT. =D Gwen, you are so adorable. I think the show should just have you in every scene for smiling purposes.

- Speaking of, not enough Arthur.

- Or Morgana. Why didn't she visit Arthur when he was dying? The two scenes she showed up in were good but I was surprised that we didn't get more of her.

- Wait this is my 'things that were good' list. Alright then, next, Merlin using dark magic! Which I didn't like at first because it felt like the show wasn't acknowledging what he did was wrong (I don't care what anyone says, him murdering Nimueh was not an act of self-defence. All she did was take Gaius up on his offer, she didn't kill him just because she felt like it. Granted, I'm sure she was very happy to do it but it doesn't make Merlin's actions any more justified). But I was thinking about and I think the show is deliberately pushing Merlin into a darker direction. Which, I have absolutely no problems with. I like characters dealing with grey areas and murky moral quandaries, I just don't like 'good' characters doing wrong things and no one calling them on it because they're 'good'. So as long as we get some acknowledgement of this come season 2 I will be a very pleased viewer.

Things Which Were Neat

- The nod to Poisoned Chalice. Episode 11 had Arthur drinking from a poisoned goblet, here we had him dying with fever and Merlin off on his own quest to save his life. I like parallel situations.

- All the references to the Old Religion. It reminded me a bit of Marion Zimmer Bradley's The Mists of Avalon, which is not a bad thing to be linked to. Allusion for the win!

- Merlin's goodbye speech. =DDDDDD "Just...don't be a prat" GOOD ADVICE ARTHUR, TAKE IT.

- Uther. He is really, really good at acting out deep grief.

Things Which Bugged Me

- This isn't so much a complaint as a question. Why was Merlin's mother the one who had to die to keep Arthur alive? My theory is the rabbit's foot somehow protected Merlin so the magic took the next person related to him but I dunno. :/ I don't think Nimueh did it deliberately either because it makes no sense. Why would she kill Merlin's mother? She was trying to get him to join her later on, and surely she'd realize she'd have a snowball's chance in hell if she killed Hunith. I know Nimueh's smart, she proved it in Poisoned Chalice.

- Nimueh died! DDDD= I liked her! She was a sympathetic villain guys, those are precious like gold! (This didn't bug me, it just made me sad. Maybe I should just rename this category Things Which Are Not of the Squee)

- Nobody died. =( I mean, it's not like I'd be happy if Gaius died. But the fact that he didn't felt like a rip off. It makes the show lose impact if we all know that none of the main characters are never actually ever going to die. I knew there was no way they'd actually kill off Arthur (or if they did, have him stay dead) but I was expecting them to off Gaius.

- The pacing? I'm not sure if that's exactly what I mean. I felt like they got over the Arthur's death hurdle far too quickly, particularly for an episode called 'Le Morte D'Arthur'. Shouldn't we have had to worry about him dying for more then 10 minutes then?

Stuff For My Bag of Merlin Theories

- So if Arthur remembered Gwen speaking to him when he was unconscious, does that mean he could remember other things people did he was unconscious? Like, say, MERLIN AND GAIUS TALKING ABOUT MAGIC REPEATEDLY IN VERY CLOSE PROXIMITY TO HIM? =DDDD I am building up more and more proof for my 'Arthur suspects/knows Merlin is magic' theory (which is possible okay! Because, seriously, Arthur would have to be an utter idiot to not have noticed ANYTHING yet. Merlin does not even approach subtle, he's all 'I use my magic here, there, everywhere! Golden light dragons, wheee!').

- Already mentioned the Questing Beast and the possible Morgana and Arthur implications.

I'd just like to say, I totally called it on Merlin talking about Gaius when he said to Nimueh 'You should not have killed my friend'. Go me.

Conclusion: Yay Merlin! You weren't as awesome as you could've been but you were still pretty awesome. Am going to be here, rereading King Arthur legends waiting for you to come back.