Merlin 4.11 The Hunter's Heart
Dec. 12th, 2011 06:00 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
selenakIn which Arthur is quickly gaining a reputation as the anti Henry VIII, and Morgana has read Ovid.
After last week's ep which was mostly excellent, this feels very workman like by comparison; and as if the scriptwriter was working from a treatment that said what happened before rather than from actual knowledge of the rest of the season, which knowing the BBC working conditions was probably the case. (Several of the lines - the "we're not talking about Gwen" thing when two episodes ago they did just that, or "Agrivaine is beyond suspicion" when Arthur himself suspected him early on in the season - gave me that impression.) As usual, from complaints to things I liked:
1.) Giving what's his name and followers a vaguely oriental look was, given they're supposed to be villains, an irritating move.
2.) Gwen's first post season 3 finale encounter with Morgana felt wasted from Gwen's pov. (Though surprisingly not from Morgana's; I'll get to that.) Granted, the set-up didn't allow for an actual conversation, but then change the set up, writers. I've been waiting for eons for either Gwen or Arthur or both to encounter Morgana again because as opposed to Merlin, who betrayed Morgana first, they really are in a position to demand an explanation, plus it would have shown us how they feel about Morgana now. Methinks I have another Gwen story coming once the season is over.
3.) I take it Gwen needs to be not in Camelot for the next episode for plot reasons and Agrivaine has to be there because the way they justfied her not coming back to testify against Agrivaine in person really didn't make much sense. Mind you, I can totally buy that Gwen (with still no idea about what Morgana did to her, and given the banishment) does not want to return under normal circumstances, but these aren't normal, the kingdom is at stake, plus Shade!Lancelot or no Shade!Lancelot, if it's Gwen's words against Agrivaine's as to what she saw and heard, Arthur would believe her.
4.) On to the elements I enjoyed. While this was the third princess in a row (hence my anti Henry VIII crack - seriously, the female royalty in Albion must by now be convinced that if you go to Camelot, you end up being dumped before marriage by Arthur but at least make a good profit out of it), I do appreciate that like Elena, Mithian was not vilified by the show but was presented as very likeable, a person, not a romantic obstacle to boo and hiss at, someone who could have made a good queen and acted with intelligence, sensitivity and grace.
5.) As I said, Morgana and someone in the scriptwriting department have read Ovid and are fond of the Metamorphoses. It's not just the changing Gwen into a hind or that she inevitably ends up being hunted by Arthur and Mithian, it's also the imagery of Morgana on her horse hunting her before that, very Diana, with the whole capricious cruelty of the Graeco-Roman gods. Which brings me to the reason why Morgana's sadism towards Gwen feels right to me; in Morgana world, not loving her first and foremost is already betrayal (and no, this isn't a season 3 onwards thing - see her reply to Morgause in the season 2 ep Fires of Idrisholas why she spared Uther before when she had the chance to kill him - "because I believed he cared for me"), and Gwen not doing that in combination with Morgana's dreams of Gwen as queen were bound to get Morgana in an Ovidian Gods-versus-mortal mode. So of course she not only hunted Gwen down herself and taunted her about the past friendship but contrived a scenario where Gwen would/should end up getting killed by Arthur.
6.) The other great thing about the hind metamorphosis is that it got us some great Merlin and Gwen friendship scenes, and I am always a sucker for these. (Mind you, Merlin's general objections to hunting were a tad more believable if he didn't kill rats without compunction if he felt like it and showed no signs of being a vegeterian. Animal rightist material, you're not, Merlin.) There was a bit frustration that the writers didn't use the obvious opportunity to let Gwen find out about the magic by virtue of Merlin changing her back, but I liked their interaction so much I was willing to handwave that.
7.) Gaius cracks me up with the way he's by now completely ignoring Merlin's rants about Arthur.
8.) The last two Merlin and Arthur scenes were great, and the last one had exactly the right balance between emotion and humour that Overman's tag scene last week in his otherwise superior episode did not.
After last week's ep which was mostly excellent, this feels very workman like by comparison; and as if the scriptwriter was working from a treatment that said what happened before rather than from actual knowledge of the rest of the season, which knowing the BBC working conditions was probably the case. (Several of the lines - the "we're not talking about Gwen" thing when two episodes ago they did just that, or "Agrivaine is beyond suspicion" when Arthur himself suspected him early on in the season - gave me that impression.) As usual, from complaints to things I liked:
1.) Giving what's his name and followers a vaguely oriental look was, given they're supposed to be villains, an irritating move.
2.) Gwen's first post season 3 finale encounter with Morgana felt wasted from Gwen's pov. (Though surprisingly not from Morgana's; I'll get to that.) Granted, the set-up didn't allow for an actual conversation, but then change the set up, writers. I've been waiting for eons for either Gwen or Arthur or both to encounter Morgana again because as opposed to Merlin, who betrayed Morgana first, they really are in a position to demand an explanation, plus it would have shown us how they feel about Morgana now. Methinks I have another Gwen story coming once the season is over.
3.) I take it Gwen needs to be not in Camelot for the next episode for plot reasons and Agrivaine has to be there because the way they justfied her not coming back to testify against Agrivaine in person really didn't make much sense. Mind you, I can totally buy that Gwen (with still no idea about what Morgana did to her, and given the banishment) does not want to return under normal circumstances, but these aren't normal, the kingdom is at stake, plus Shade!Lancelot or no Shade!Lancelot, if it's Gwen's words against Agrivaine's as to what she saw and heard, Arthur would believe her.
4.) On to the elements I enjoyed. While this was the third princess in a row (hence my anti Henry VIII crack - seriously, the female royalty in Albion must by now be convinced that if you go to Camelot, you end up being dumped before marriage by Arthur but at least make a good profit out of it), I do appreciate that like Elena, Mithian was not vilified by the show but was presented as very likeable, a person, not a romantic obstacle to boo and hiss at, someone who could have made a good queen and acted with intelligence, sensitivity and grace.
5.) As I said, Morgana and someone in the scriptwriting department have read Ovid and are fond of the Metamorphoses. It's not just the changing Gwen into a hind or that she inevitably ends up being hunted by Arthur and Mithian, it's also the imagery of Morgana on her horse hunting her before that, very Diana, with the whole capricious cruelty of the Graeco-Roman gods. Which brings me to the reason why Morgana's sadism towards Gwen feels right to me; in Morgana world, not loving her first and foremost is already betrayal (and no, this isn't a season 3 onwards thing - see her reply to Morgause in the season 2 ep Fires of Idrisholas why she spared Uther before when she had the chance to kill him - "because I believed he cared for me"), and Gwen not doing that in combination with Morgana's dreams of Gwen as queen were bound to get Morgana in an Ovidian Gods-versus-mortal mode. So of course she not only hunted Gwen down herself and taunted her about the past friendship but contrived a scenario where Gwen would/should end up getting killed by Arthur.
6.) The other great thing about the hind metamorphosis is that it got us some great Merlin and Gwen friendship scenes, and I am always a sucker for these. (Mind you, Merlin's general objections to hunting were a tad more believable if he didn't kill rats without compunction if he felt like it and showed no signs of being a vegeterian. Animal rightist material, you're not, Merlin.) There was a bit frustration that the writers didn't use the obvious opportunity to let Gwen find out about the magic by virtue of Merlin changing her back, but I liked their interaction so much I was willing to handwave that.
7.) Gaius cracks me up with the way he's by now completely ignoring Merlin's rants about Arthur.
8.) The last two Merlin and Arthur scenes were great, and the last one had exactly the right balance between emotion and humour that Overman's tag scene last week in his otherwise superior episode did not.
