Merlin 4.10 Herald of the new age
Dec. 4th, 2011 05:41 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
selenakIn which the show gives me what fanfiction never did, despite also adding a stupid slapstick scene.
Complaints first: if Howard Overman in his Merlin scripts has one flaw, it's that he tends to sometimes include supposed to be funny Arthur/Merlin banter that's not (and also not needed in context of the rest of the episode). That last scene was really superfluos and annoying. Also earlier Merlin's "all he does is shout at me" is several seasons out of date given all of this season's proofs of friendship (without the pretext of kidding) alone. In fact, Merlin in general was written very shallow throughout the episode, seeming to come straight of an early season 1 comic relief episode while everyone else was living in a mature season 4 dealing-with-your-guilt episode. And one more complaint: we still have no idea of how Elyan feels about Gwen's banishment, though there is a lot of talk about how the rest of the gang things he feels.
That said: I'm prepared to forgive a lot because the episode did not only deliver several things I hoped it would but also delivered something I hadn't expected but always wanted. Remember when I said one thing that I keep missing in Arthur-finds-out-stories was Arthur dealing with his own guilt in taking part in Uther's persecution of magic users? And that I actually didn't want Arthur to change his mind because of a "Merlin is a sorceror, Merlin is my friend, therefore, I was wrong about magic, fine, from now on magic is allowed in Camelot, hooray" rationale but because he goes through that very painful thing, a change of mindset first, based on ethics and moral self realisation? Which is why I dug the Arthur and Gaius conversation a few episodes back so much, because that to me seemed to lay the groundworks for such a moral awakening as opposed to a friendship based change of mind? That I wished someone would write something exploring Arthur's own culpability (especially in the sense of Arthur dealing with it)?
...I still didn't expect quite such a follow up, which is exactly what no fanfiction ever gave me. But our flawed, sometimes irritating, and yet so captivating show just did. From the moment Arthur went into the woods I daring to hope it might, and then when the plot twist came where he pointed out it wasn't Uther (as the audience naturally assumed, given the s3 opener, and, well, Uther in general) but Arthur himself who was responsible for this particular death I was breathless for the reminder of the episode until the annoying supposedly humorous tag scene. I'm in two minds about whether or not they could have/should have made the druid camp the one from The Nightmare Begins from season 2, because that was an on screen example as opposed to an off screen backstory one, but otoh if they had done that then the episode should have included Morgana and it would have diluted Arthur's guilt. (As Morgana, too, was responsible for what happened to most people in that camp; her refusal to return to Camelot even when people were getting executed at Uther's orders for her supposed abduction as this basically not being her problem is one of those instances where I wonder why people assume Morgana had a complete change of heart only after season 2, as the self-centricity and willingness to let people die was there well before that.) And it needed to be something for which he could justly feel responsible. That the episode also includes Arthur's acknowledgment that Uther's order itself was already wrong (not in an excusing himself manner, but as a matter of general principle) is also important for the overall arc and mentality change.
Moreover, this episode builds on the season so far. In terms of Arthur applying learned lessons - from Queen Annis, in this case, and the importance of acknowledging guilt, but while the death of Annis' husband was one individual deed (well, order) carrying out raids on the druids was a recurring event and something that goes to the heart of this version of the myth's great wrong. And in terms of emotional continuity; the knights talking about Gwen's banishment, putting themselves in Elyan's place, Arthur very much dealing with Gwen's absence (and being on the defense, not offense with Elyan because of that even before he hears about Merlin's possession theory). Even the fact that it's Elyan who ends up as the dead child's avatar. (I.e. someone who lost his father because of Uther and currently his sister because of Arthur.) As I said, my only problem with the use of Elyan is that at no point does the script give him the chance to reveal his own feelings on the Gwen matter, and that could easily be done, since this was a type of possession where his own self was still present and interacting with the spirit of the dead child - btw, eerie and perfect visual, that embrace, which is then repeated later in the scene with Arthur. The Merlin versus Agrivaine struggle, and Arthur making up his mind about what he must do independent from either. The visual of the drowning child from season 3. Arthur carrying out a lethal raid against a druid camp in season 2. You can even go back to Mordred and Arthur's willingness to save him even in his season 1 Uther-is-right-about-the-evils-of-magic state of mind, which, yes, was at Morgana's request but takes on another layer when taking into account Arthur's awareness that he himself is guilty of the deaths of children. (It's even useful to explain why Morgana didn't ask Arthur for help at the start instead of the end of that episode.)
I also love that we're getting a step by step process, rather than a big dramatic complete change. With the Gaius-gets-framed story and the Arthur and Gaius conversation as one step, and now Arthur revoking Uther's laws on the druids as the next as part of his penance for his own share of culpability after acknowledging - to himself and to others - the wrongness of it. While this isn't the complete freedom of existence for all magic users, it's hard to see how that cannot follow, because well, in this 'verse the definition of "druid" doesn't seem to be much different from "magic user with a penchant of living in the woods".
Complaints first: if Howard Overman in his Merlin scripts has one flaw, it's that he tends to sometimes include supposed to be funny Arthur/Merlin banter that's not (and also not needed in context of the rest of the episode). That last scene was really superfluos and annoying. Also earlier Merlin's "all he does is shout at me" is several seasons out of date given all of this season's proofs of friendship (without the pretext of kidding) alone. In fact, Merlin in general was written very shallow throughout the episode, seeming to come straight of an early season 1 comic relief episode while everyone else was living in a mature season 4 dealing-with-your-guilt episode. And one more complaint: we still have no idea of how Elyan feels about Gwen's banishment, though there is a lot of talk about how the rest of the gang things he feels.
That said: I'm prepared to forgive a lot because the episode did not only deliver several things I hoped it would but also delivered something I hadn't expected but always wanted. Remember when I said one thing that I keep missing in Arthur-finds-out-stories was Arthur dealing with his own guilt in taking part in Uther's persecution of magic users? And that I actually didn't want Arthur to change his mind because of a "Merlin is a sorceror, Merlin is my friend, therefore, I was wrong about magic, fine, from now on magic is allowed in Camelot, hooray" rationale but because he goes through that very painful thing, a change of mindset first, based on ethics and moral self realisation? Which is why I dug the Arthur and Gaius conversation a few episodes back so much, because that to me seemed to lay the groundworks for such a moral awakening as opposed to a friendship based change of mind? That I wished someone would write something exploring Arthur's own culpability (especially in the sense of Arthur dealing with it)?
...I still didn't expect quite such a follow up, which is exactly what no fanfiction ever gave me. But our flawed, sometimes irritating, and yet so captivating show just did. From the moment Arthur went into the woods I daring to hope it might, and then when the plot twist came where he pointed out it wasn't Uther (as the audience naturally assumed, given the s3 opener, and, well, Uther in general) but Arthur himself who was responsible for this particular death I was breathless for the reminder of the episode until the annoying supposedly humorous tag scene. I'm in two minds about whether or not they could have/should have made the druid camp the one from The Nightmare Begins from season 2, because that was an on screen example as opposed to an off screen backstory one, but otoh if they had done that then the episode should have included Morgana and it would have diluted Arthur's guilt. (As Morgana, too, was responsible for what happened to most people in that camp; her refusal to return to Camelot even when people were getting executed at Uther's orders for her supposed abduction as this basically not being her problem is one of those instances where I wonder why people assume Morgana had a complete change of heart only after season 2, as the self-centricity and willingness to let people die was there well before that.) And it needed to be something for which he could justly feel responsible. That the episode also includes Arthur's acknowledgment that Uther's order itself was already wrong (not in an excusing himself manner, but as a matter of general principle) is also important for the overall arc and mentality change.
Moreover, this episode builds on the season so far. In terms of Arthur applying learned lessons - from Queen Annis, in this case, and the importance of acknowledging guilt, but while the death of Annis' husband was one individual deed (well, order) carrying out raids on the druids was a recurring event and something that goes to the heart of this version of the myth's great wrong. And in terms of emotional continuity; the knights talking about Gwen's banishment, putting themselves in Elyan's place, Arthur very much dealing with Gwen's absence (and being on the defense, not offense with Elyan because of that even before he hears about Merlin's possession theory). Even the fact that it's Elyan who ends up as the dead child's avatar. (I.e. someone who lost his father because of Uther and currently his sister because of Arthur.) As I said, my only problem with the use of Elyan is that at no point does the script give him the chance to reveal his own feelings on the Gwen matter, and that could easily be done, since this was a type of possession where his own self was still present and interacting with the spirit of the dead child - btw, eerie and perfect visual, that embrace, which is then repeated later in the scene with Arthur. The Merlin versus Agrivaine struggle, and Arthur making up his mind about what he must do independent from either. The visual of the drowning child from season 3. Arthur carrying out a lethal raid against a druid camp in season 2. You can even go back to Mordred and Arthur's willingness to save him even in his season 1 Uther-is-right-about-the-evils-of-magic state of mind, which, yes, was at Morgana's request but takes on another layer when taking into account Arthur's awareness that he himself is guilty of the deaths of children. (It's even useful to explain why Morgana didn't ask Arthur for help at the start instead of the end of that episode.)
I also love that we're getting a step by step process, rather than a big dramatic complete change. With the Gaius-gets-framed story and the Arthur and Gaius conversation as one step, and now Arthur revoking Uther's laws on the druids as the next as part of his penance for his own share of culpability after acknowledging - to himself and to others - the wrongness of it. While this isn't the complete freedom of existence for all magic users, it's hard to see how that cannot follow, because well, in this 'verse the definition of "druid" doesn't seem to be much different from "magic user with a penchant of living in the woods".
no subject
Date: 2011-12-05 02:57 am (UTC)Instead, it's Arthur having a sobfest and then moving right on with next to no cost to himself because he's the hero. I don't mind the show handwaving most of this, but the murder of children, that Arthur has been walking around with this for a while and no consequences is just - it reminds me why I can never take Merlin as a show seriously. The underlying structure is horrific.
My husband and kids also had an extended argument about Camelot's staffing issues. One was aghast that the King has two (not very good) guards attending him only, while the rest of the argument is who exactly is running this giant drafty castle? Merlin appears to do all the housekeeping single-handed, except for the cooking.
no subject
Date: 2011-12-05 09:42 am (UTC)For Arthur, this is going directly against the memory of the father he revered.
For the Druids it's a big gain. It won't make an instant difference, laws to remove prejudice and persecution never do. But it will make a change over time, especially as Arthur is doing this because he believes it to be right and not because he's being pushed into it.
The boy's kin are dead. That Druid camp was composed of families.
Bringing the knights/soldiers to justice is problematic. The issues there are complex. I often think South Africa post-apartheid had the right approach. Forgiveness rather then prosecution. Soldiers follow orders, or what they perceive orders to be. If the message from above was that 'Uther wants all druids dead' then they would loot and kill regardless of what Arthur said. (especially if Arthur wasn't being clear about what he would do to any men who disobeyed his command - and he probably didn't take any action at the time). It is scarily easy for people to carry out evil acts when they are either under orders or see others around them doing likewise. There's some classic psychology experiments in this area.
Arthur's strength in this episode is that he came forward to accept his guilt without anyone else pushing him into it. No Gwen (and with her gone, he could easily have tried to take out his pain relating to Gwen by doing the opposite of what she might have wished him to do in this situation). To unilaterally take that step (and as Delen would have said, to do it with no audience and for no glory) - that's what shows how much maturity he has gained.
no subject
Date: 2011-12-05 02:17 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-12-06 07:50 am (UTC)