Merlin 4.07 The Secret Sharer

In which the pay off lies in two particular scenes near the end that made me go from "well, not bad, but we've done that before, so compared to the other eps this season, what is the point?" to "Ahaaaaaa! Well done, show!".

( On betrayals, friendships and connections )

Yuletide fandoms and Lawrentian letter excerpts

Yuletide nominations are running until Monday morning. Mine were The Borgias (with characters Lucrezia, Giulia, Vannoza and Rodrigo - I really want a story about Lucrezia and Giulia, but the rest of the clan in supporting roles is welcome as well), 18th Century CE RPF (with characters James Boswell and Mary Bryant because I wish someone would write the story about Boswell's defense of Bryant after her return from Botany Bay, the clash of two utterly different worlds, etc.), and Sharon Penman's novel The Reckoning (with characters Davydd ap Gruffydd, Llewelyn ap Gruffydd, Elizabeth de Ferres and Ellen de Montfort - even though this is the Penman novel which inevitably makes me cry and breaks my heart every time I read it, I would love to read more about the fraternal relationship at the core of it). The Borgias as a fandom were accepted, but we'll see about the others.

I was going back and thro as to whether or not to nominate something T.E. Lawrence related, because I've been browsing through his letters again, but I wanted the other subjects more. Still, Lawrence (as in Lawrence of Arabia): one of the great letter writers of the 20th century, both because he was great with descriptions and because his letters have the gift of feeling like immediate speech, with the tone varying depending on the recepient. (With the most revealing and intimate letters probably written to Charlotte Shaw - wife of G.B.S who became Lawrence's confidant post war - and to novelist E.M. Forster.) And the subjects are great, from vivid and astute pen portraits of many of his contemporaries to books and plays to his life long struggle with his sexuality.

( Choice excerpts beneath the cut )