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selenakI suspect during the hiatus Richard Wilson went to the producers and said something along the lines of "pray give me more to do than spouting exposition", and lo, they did. The second Gaius episode this season (and he had plenty of scenes in other episodes as well), which if you're into the show for the young 'uns probably means it's not interesting to you, especially since this one has neither Gwen nor Morgana. However, I liked it.
First of all, Pauline Collins as Alice was lovely and also happened to make up for the undertone of "old people's sexuality is funny, ha ha" in the otherwise good The Changeling; the Gaius/Alice relationship is played straight and tender. (We also get an age for Gaius; if he was 50 when being made king's physician and this was just before the purge, he must be 74 or 75 now.) Moreover, Alice survives and ends the episode free and herself, as opposed to poor Freya (whom she mirrors in some ways, more about that later). Not that I don't have quibbles; I'd have prefered it if Alice had decided to poison Uther because he's, well, Uther, not becaue the manticore made her, but that would have demanded a "why-ARE-we-keeping-Uther-alive?" argument between characters the show apparantly isn't ready for yet. Otoh the manticore business works with the Freya parallels (Freya, too, was what she was because of a spell, not because she chose it), so I'm divided on that point.
Continuity for the win: Merlin brings up Uther's galling hypocrisy in condemming people using magic to heal their loved ones when he himself asked this of Gaius (and believes Gaius did just this to save Morgana), and Uther's "there are no circumstances that justify the use of magic" near the end is another pointed reminder, so I think my guess earlier this season that Uther's conviction Gaius did indeed save Morgana via magic will backfire badly sooner or later will still come true.
When the first unfunny Arthur-Merlin slapstick scene happened I sighed because I had so not missed those in the last four episodes which had been blessedly free of them, but just when I was prepared to rant the second scene happened and lo and behold, this was actually going somewhere and turned into a good character scene. We had Arthur noticing Merlin being distressed before, in the second season, but then Merlin in both cases didn't tell him the true reason when asked. This time he did; he omitted the reason for his and Gaius' quarrel, but he did tell the emotional truth. And we got confirmation of what's been speculated for eons, that Arthur's roughhousing really is because he doesn't have any other frame of reference of interaction when attempting to cheer someone up. "It works with the knights."
Now, about those parallels: The Lady of the Lake Merlin was wilfully blind towards the obvious Freya = werebeast conclusion for as long as he could, leading to arguments with Gaius who nonetheless covered for him until there were three deaths and then told Uther the truth. In Love at the time of the dragons Gaius is the one wilfully blind, leading to arguments with Merlin who covers for him until it's Gaius life at stake, then tells Arthur the truth. Both Freya and Alice are also counterparts to Merlin and Gaius; Merlin's identification with Freya - "you don't know what it's like to think of yourself as a monster" is revealing of the self loathing that has grown inside him until that point in s2. But Freya also is who Merlin isn't - she kills without meaning to, she is an innocent who did not wish for her magical fate (as opposed to Merlin whose attitude might become ambivalent but who still mostly wants it), and she can/could leave Camelot because there is nothing to bind her. Alice is who Gaius isn't - the magically gifted healer who fled instead of staying, who didn't compromise with the ruling power and never gave up the use of magic. She's also his lost pre-Uther innocent life. But Gaius isn't young like Merlin is, and so it's no wonder he doesn't consider running away with Alice or sees that as a viable option, as opposed to Merlin and Freya.
Speaking of Merlin's ambiguity: "It wasn't your choice to make." But that's the rub. Gaius, by staying, by crossing Alice's name of that list and by saving some (like Balian, like little Morgause) but not others, made choices, and continues to make them. Merlin makes them all the time (and when they're, say, Morgana's life versus the entire castle, Gaius tells him there was no choice), though they come rarely as stark as denouncing Alice - for something she's guilty of, yes, but still - to save Gaius. Again, this comes, as in Gaius' case, with the staying in Camelot territory. The only way to avoid having to make them is by leaving. And neither of them is prepared to do that.
Lastly: despite my earlier quip, this week's reason for saving Uther's life actually works for me because if Uther had died after Alice had confessed to poisoning him, Arthur would definitely have condemmed her to death, so it was damned if you do, damned if you don't.
Trailer for next week: ooooohhhh. OHHHHHHHHHH. Let's just hope there is no back button for that one.
First of all, Pauline Collins as Alice was lovely and also happened to make up for the undertone of "old people's sexuality is funny, ha ha" in the otherwise good The Changeling; the Gaius/Alice relationship is played straight and tender. (We also get an age for Gaius; if he was 50 when being made king's physician and this was just before the purge, he must be 74 or 75 now.) Moreover, Alice survives and ends the episode free and herself, as opposed to poor Freya (whom she mirrors in some ways, more about that later). Not that I don't have quibbles; I'd have prefered it if Alice had decided to poison Uther because he's, well, Uther, not becaue the manticore made her, but that would have demanded a "why-ARE-we-keeping-Uther-alive?" argument between characters the show apparantly isn't ready for yet. Otoh the manticore business works with the Freya parallels (Freya, too, was what she was because of a spell, not because she chose it), so I'm divided on that point.
Continuity for the win: Merlin brings up Uther's galling hypocrisy in condemming people using magic to heal their loved ones when he himself asked this of Gaius (and believes Gaius did just this to save Morgana), and Uther's "there are no circumstances that justify the use of magic" near the end is another pointed reminder, so I think my guess earlier this season that Uther's conviction Gaius did indeed save Morgana via magic will backfire badly sooner or later will still come true.
When the first unfunny Arthur-Merlin slapstick scene happened I sighed because I had so not missed those in the last four episodes which had been blessedly free of them, but just when I was prepared to rant the second scene happened and lo and behold, this was actually going somewhere and turned into a good character scene. We had Arthur noticing Merlin being distressed before, in the second season, but then Merlin in both cases didn't tell him the true reason when asked. This time he did; he omitted the reason for his and Gaius' quarrel, but he did tell the emotional truth. And we got confirmation of what's been speculated for eons, that Arthur's roughhousing really is because he doesn't have any other frame of reference of interaction when attempting to cheer someone up. "It works with the knights."
Now, about those parallels: The Lady of the Lake Merlin was wilfully blind towards the obvious Freya = werebeast conclusion for as long as he could, leading to arguments with Gaius who nonetheless covered for him until there were three deaths and then told Uther the truth. In Love at the time of the dragons Gaius is the one wilfully blind, leading to arguments with Merlin who covers for him until it's Gaius life at stake, then tells Arthur the truth. Both Freya and Alice are also counterparts to Merlin and Gaius; Merlin's identification with Freya - "you don't know what it's like to think of yourself as a monster" is revealing of the self loathing that has grown inside him until that point in s2. But Freya also is who Merlin isn't - she kills without meaning to, she is an innocent who did not wish for her magical fate (as opposed to Merlin whose attitude might become ambivalent but who still mostly wants it), and she can/could leave Camelot because there is nothing to bind her. Alice is who Gaius isn't - the magically gifted healer who fled instead of staying, who didn't compromise with the ruling power and never gave up the use of magic. She's also his lost pre-Uther innocent life. But Gaius isn't young like Merlin is, and so it's no wonder he doesn't consider running away with Alice or sees that as a viable option, as opposed to Merlin and Freya.
Speaking of Merlin's ambiguity: "It wasn't your choice to make." But that's the rub. Gaius, by staying, by crossing Alice's name of that list and by saving some (like Balian, like little Morgause) but not others, made choices, and continues to make them. Merlin makes them all the time (and when they're, say, Morgana's life versus the entire castle, Gaius tells him there was no choice), though they come rarely as stark as denouncing Alice - for something she's guilty of, yes, but still - to save Gaius. Again, this comes, as in Gaius' case, with the staying in Camelot territory. The only way to avoid having to make them is by leaving. And neither of them is prepared to do that.
Lastly: despite my earlier quip, this week's reason for saving Uther's life actually works for me because if Uther had died after Alice had confessed to poisoning him, Arthur would definitely have condemmed her to death, so it was damned if you do, damned if you don't.
Trailer for next week: ooooohhhh. OHHHHHHHHHH. Let's just hope there is no back button for that one.
no subject
Date: 2010-11-07 04:19 pm (UTC)