Merlin 5.09 With all my heart
Dec. 2nd, 2012 08:39 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
selenakIn which Merlin does what he should have done one and a half episodes earlier. I mostly really appreciated this episode - with a certain ongoing nitpick about the show's use of "humour" and another that can't described unspoilery - and it made me feel better after my disgruntlement during the last few eps, but I'm still getting the Alias feeling of "should have ended after s4" from the season as a whole.
The visuals were as gorgeous as ever. They had me from the start since we didn't waste half the episode on Merlin trying to convince Arthur Gwen is under the influence but showed Merlin demonstrating the same right in the teaser, and state the getting-Gwen-back goal immediately. Also appreciated: Under-the-influence Gwen continuing to come up with clever excuses (to Percival, this time).
Since one of the earliest Arthurian stories is Arthur and his knights going to the cauldron (not of Arianrhod, though), another famous Celtic myth deals with the cauldron traded when Bran's sister married the Irish king creating zombie knights, to put it in modern terms, I thought using the whole cauldron idea to restore Gwen to her old self (true life, instead of perverted life-in-death) was a good idea, and so was the fact that the way she entered it willingly instead of being forced or tricked was by Arthur going there with her. I really loved that scene taken on its own. Mind you, in a larger context I think it shows the continuity fail of this season, specifically when it comes to writing Gwen post Dark Tower, because if there was a part of her that couldn't be broken and thus could be reached by Arthur we should have seen that in the preceding two episodes, if only briefly, should have seen her having moments of struggle. But we didn't, just as I suspect we won't get scenes with Gwen dealing with the aftermath of what happened to her. Still, Angel Coulby and Bradley James acted their hearts out in that scene, so I can't get into my rant about unfulfilled and wasted potential of storylines from previous weeks right now, I'm in too good a mood. Therefore, there shall also be no rant about how the don't-forget-magic-got-your-queen-back-and-is-neutral/you-have-my-word exchange between in disguise Merlin and Arthur would be far more effective if we hadn't already gotten that scene between Gaius and Arthur last season, about which however both seem to have amnesia given their earlier dialogue about the way Uther died in this episode.
Instead, you'll get my virtual eye roll about the humour fail. Not re: Merlin donning a female disguise this time, that actually worked and I bet Colin Morgan had great fun. But the final gag of Arthur (and Gwen, and Mordred) forgetting to collect Merlin is not only ooc in general but for this particular episode where earlier Arthur was climbing after Merlin mid-quest, and appears to be there simply so Merlin can feel underappreciated once more and because of the episode-needs-humour-moment-in-final-five-minutes tradition. It's just stupid on the writer's part, because the episode really didn't need that.
Back to the good stuff: everything connected with Mordred. Who continues to be one of the few undisputed good things about this season, even though the way Merlin continues to react to him - never missing an opportunity to leave him for dead, seething at the way Mordred can be openly appreciated by Arthur - makes Merlin look bad (but in an in character way, as opposed to the above mentioned "gag"). Mordred's scenes with Arthur, Morgana and Merlin all bristled with emotions and layers; the one with Morgana, where Mordred defeats her by tricking her but also (sincerely) expresses the hope that she'll focus on love instead of hate again is particularly interesting because earlier in the episode we get another Morgana and Aithusa scene (their scenes are another of s5's few undisputed highlights, showcasing Morgana still capable of affection without diminishing her general ruthlessness and monomania), and of course Morgana's behaviour towards Mordred himself is still affectionate despite him having turned against her. Her angry despair at his current Arthur-siding comes across as due to a similar root as the part of Merlin's antagonism that's not due to his visions of Mordred as Arthur's death; both see in Mordred's relationship to Arthur a might-have-been for themselves, methinks, and that becomes increasingly unbearable.
On a minor note, Mordred has a way with words. His "if Emrys were here, wouldn't we both feel the presence of such a powerful sorceror?" to Morgana was a splendid lie-by-telling-the-direct-truth.
Also good in a shiverworthy way: Old!Merlin confronting the Dochraid, first the way he got her to tell him how to free Gwen (which btw included a rare example of good continuity this season in its use of Excalibur) and then the fact that as far as he knew, he killed her after she tried to kill him. It's Merlin at his most ruthless. Am in two minds about whether or not the Dochraid should have remained dead, though I see why they needed someone to update Morgana on the goings on.
If the rest of the episodes are like that I'll still grumble but be mostly moved and will find fanfiction ways to deal with what I'm missing (not limited to, but definitely the usual: more Gwen).
The visuals were as gorgeous as ever. They had me from the start since we didn't waste half the episode on Merlin trying to convince Arthur Gwen is under the influence but showed Merlin demonstrating the same right in the teaser, and state the getting-Gwen-back goal immediately. Also appreciated: Under-the-influence Gwen continuing to come up with clever excuses (to Percival, this time).
Since one of the earliest Arthurian stories is Arthur and his knights going to the cauldron (not of Arianrhod, though), another famous Celtic myth deals with the cauldron traded when Bran's sister married the Irish king creating zombie knights, to put it in modern terms, I thought using the whole cauldron idea to restore Gwen to her old self (true life, instead of perverted life-in-death) was a good idea, and so was the fact that the way she entered it willingly instead of being forced or tricked was by Arthur going there with her. I really loved that scene taken on its own. Mind you, in a larger context I think it shows the continuity fail of this season, specifically when it comes to writing Gwen post Dark Tower, because if there was a part of her that couldn't be broken and thus could be reached by Arthur we should have seen that in the preceding two episodes, if only briefly, should have seen her having moments of struggle. But we didn't, just as I suspect we won't get scenes with Gwen dealing with the aftermath of what happened to her. Still, Angel Coulby and Bradley James acted their hearts out in that scene, so I can't get into my rant about unfulfilled and wasted potential of storylines from previous weeks right now, I'm in too good a mood. Therefore, there shall also be no rant about how the don't-forget-magic-got-your-queen-back-and-is-neutral/you-have-my-word exchange between in disguise Merlin and Arthur would be far more effective if we hadn't already gotten that scene between Gaius and Arthur last season, about which however both seem to have amnesia given their earlier dialogue about the way Uther died in this episode.
Instead, you'll get my virtual eye roll about the humour fail. Not re: Merlin donning a female disguise this time, that actually worked and I bet Colin Morgan had great fun. But the final gag of Arthur (and Gwen, and Mordred) forgetting to collect Merlin is not only ooc in general but for this particular episode where earlier Arthur was climbing after Merlin mid-quest, and appears to be there simply so Merlin can feel underappreciated once more and because of the episode-needs-humour-moment-in-final-five-minutes tradition. It's just stupid on the writer's part, because the episode really didn't need that.
Back to the good stuff: everything connected with Mordred. Who continues to be one of the few undisputed good things about this season, even though the way Merlin continues to react to him - never missing an opportunity to leave him for dead, seething at the way Mordred can be openly appreciated by Arthur - makes Merlin look bad (but in an in character way, as opposed to the above mentioned "gag"). Mordred's scenes with Arthur, Morgana and Merlin all bristled with emotions and layers; the one with Morgana, where Mordred defeats her by tricking her but also (sincerely) expresses the hope that she'll focus on love instead of hate again is particularly interesting because earlier in the episode we get another Morgana and Aithusa scene (their scenes are another of s5's few undisputed highlights, showcasing Morgana still capable of affection without diminishing her general ruthlessness and monomania), and of course Morgana's behaviour towards Mordred himself is still affectionate despite him having turned against her. Her angry despair at his current Arthur-siding comes across as due to a similar root as the part of Merlin's antagonism that's not due to his visions of Mordred as Arthur's death; both see in Mordred's relationship to Arthur a might-have-been for themselves, methinks, and that becomes increasingly unbearable.
On a minor note, Mordred has a way with words. His "if Emrys were here, wouldn't we both feel the presence of such a powerful sorceror?" to Morgana was a splendid lie-by-telling-the-direct-truth.
Also good in a shiverworthy way: Old!Merlin confronting the Dochraid, first the way he got her to tell him how to free Gwen (which btw included a rare example of good continuity this season in its use of Excalibur) and then the fact that as far as he knew, he killed her after she tried to kill him. It's Merlin at his most ruthless. Am in two minds about whether or not the Dochraid should have remained dead, though I see why they needed someone to update Morgana on the goings on.
If the rest of the episodes are like that I'll still grumble but be mostly moved and will find fanfiction ways to deal with what I'm missing (not limited to, but definitely the usual: more Gwen).
