my anticlimax, let me show you it
Dec. 6th, 2009 09:48 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
rivendellroseWell, that was a bit underwhelming, all things considered.
So, I'll be honest - I wasn't really paying the greatest attention to this episode, being as how I was distracted working on some graphics stuff most of the time. So, take these impressions with a grain of salt.
However.
1. Merlin says he heard people... from his room... going to Morgana's chambers. Hang on. I'm pretty sure I'd gotten the impression somewhere along the line that Merlin and Gaius' rooms were in the bottom of the castle, whereas Morgana's is at least two stories up. Um. Now, granted, Merlin's totally ass at lying, but Arthur believed him. Is Arthur really that much of a spaz? ...Don't answer that question. But really - doesn't this seem a teensy bit beyond even Arthur's ability to completely miss the blatantly obvious? Or is he still just working on the assumption that Merlin has a crush on Morgana and likes to hang around outside her rooms, per the beginning of the season?
2. Where was Gwen in this episode? She only had one scene. How is it that we have an ensemble cast, of whom we only ever see one of the two female characters for more than 2 seconds in any given episode?
3. Lastly, isn't the Dragon perhaps aware that if Mordred gets killed now, that's really going to mess things up later? Or does he really want to avoid Arthur's death later? I'm confused. While I'm okay with not quite understanding the Dragon's motivations (because, after all, he's a dragon), I'm not okay with them being outright incoherent.
4. Is it just me, or would this have been a lot more interesting if Morgana's decision to go over completely to the Druids' side hadn't pretty much consisted of "oh, look, there's a creepy little boy and a strange man in my bedroom, and they say they want my help. Sure, I'll help them!" Like I said, I wasn't paying the best attention to this episode, but this did seem like a pretty damned weak way of making such a huge character change. And if they'd been actually building it all season, I would be totally behind it. I really would. I can't tell you how much I was looking forward to this episode, at the beginning of the season. But then they went and ditched Morgana for most of the season, and she became That Girl Who Stands Around Looking Vaguely Angst All The Time, and I kind of got a little bitter.
All of that said...
I really did enjoy the bit with her and Uther finally getting their big confrontation. I know, shocking - I enjoyed a scene where Tony Head yells. Oh yes. Let's all be stunned and astonished. But seriously. They have such great chemistry, the two of them, and I don't just mean that they're pretty - I mean that Katie McGrath is not the world's best actress, but her emotions when she's in a scene with Tony Head always come off as very real, very... lived-in, if that makes any sense.
And of course, there was the shippiness. Oh yes, it was there. Her bit about lying to Uther every day, the look of utter betrayal on Uther's face when she tells him that she disowns him, the way he plays his lines about a traitor inside Camelot right to her, letting her know he knows exactly who's behind this whole fiasco... and then lets her go anyway. Who was right about that, by the way? Have I not said, about a hundred times over, that I'm sure Morgana could light a hundred candles with her mind right in front of him, and Uther would look right at her, yell something about how evil sorcerers are and how he will not tolerate magic within his kingdom, send her to bed without dinner (excuse me while I write fanfic), and then never bring it up again? Because he loves her (one way or another, you can't tell me he doesn't - it may or may not be platonic, but that is definitely love, to the extent that selfish old Uther can feel it), and he can't stand the thought of Camelot without her.
Poor man, it's going to break him when she leaves. Ahem, sorry, right. He's a bad man, I know. He's just also so terribly screwed up himself, and it's so obvious that all the times he overreacts are out of fear. Someone says, "oh, blah blah magic, blah blah your kingdom in danger, blah blah witchcraft," and you can see the PANIC in his eyes. "Shit, magic, something I can't hit with a sword! What do I do, what do I do?" And they tell him, of course, because everyone with an ounce of brains knows how to manipulate Uther Pendragon using the dreaded m-word, and it's just so damned pathetic.
...Right, this episode was not actually about Uther. Except in as how every episode of Merlin is sort of about Uther, at least in my mind. Anyway.
What I'm trying to say is that this, finally getting an episode that's meant to be all about Morgana... really didn't work for me. Morgana, in all her clueless and petty and spoiled glory, was hardly evident here. She had one good scene with Uther, and other than that... meh.
I feel bad for Katie McGrath, honestly. This is an awesome part... if only they'd let her play it a bit more.
In summary? The Morgana in my icon... she's still bored. :(
So, I'll be honest - I wasn't really paying the greatest attention to this episode, being as how I was distracted working on some graphics stuff most of the time. So, take these impressions with a grain of salt.
However.
1. Merlin says he heard people... from his room... going to Morgana's chambers. Hang on. I'm pretty sure I'd gotten the impression somewhere along the line that Merlin and Gaius' rooms were in the bottom of the castle, whereas Morgana's is at least two stories up. Um. Now, granted, Merlin's totally ass at lying, but Arthur believed him. Is Arthur really that much of a spaz? ...Don't answer that question. But really - doesn't this seem a teensy bit beyond even Arthur's ability to completely miss the blatantly obvious? Or is he still just working on the assumption that Merlin has a crush on Morgana and likes to hang around outside her rooms, per the beginning of the season?
2. Where was Gwen in this episode? She only had one scene. How is it that we have an ensemble cast, of whom we only ever see one of the two female characters for more than 2 seconds in any given episode?
3. Lastly, isn't the Dragon perhaps aware that if Mordred gets killed now, that's really going to mess things up later? Or does he really want to avoid Arthur's death later? I'm confused. While I'm okay with not quite understanding the Dragon's motivations (because, after all, he's a dragon), I'm not okay with them being outright incoherent.
4. Is it just me, or would this have been a lot more interesting if Morgana's decision to go over completely to the Druids' side hadn't pretty much consisted of "oh, look, there's a creepy little boy and a strange man in my bedroom, and they say they want my help. Sure, I'll help them!" Like I said, I wasn't paying the best attention to this episode, but this did seem like a pretty damned weak way of making such a huge character change. And if they'd been actually building it all season, I would be totally behind it. I really would. I can't tell you how much I was looking forward to this episode, at the beginning of the season. But then they went and ditched Morgana for most of the season, and she became That Girl Who Stands Around Looking Vaguely Angst All The Time, and I kind of got a little bitter.
All of that said...
I really did enjoy the bit with her and Uther finally getting their big confrontation. I know, shocking - I enjoyed a scene where Tony Head yells. Oh yes. Let's all be stunned and astonished. But seriously. They have such great chemistry, the two of them, and I don't just mean that they're pretty - I mean that Katie McGrath is not the world's best actress, but her emotions when she's in a scene with Tony Head always come off as very real, very... lived-in, if that makes any sense.
And of course, there was the shippiness. Oh yes, it was there. Her bit about lying to Uther every day, the look of utter betrayal on Uther's face when she tells him that she disowns him, the way he plays his lines about a traitor inside Camelot right to her, letting her know he knows exactly who's behind this whole fiasco... and then lets her go anyway. Who was right about that, by the way? Have I not said, about a hundred times over, that I'm sure Morgana could light a hundred candles with her mind right in front of him, and Uther would look right at her, yell something about how evil sorcerers are and how he will not tolerate magic within his kingdom, send her to bed without dinner (excuse me while I write fanfic), and then never bring it up again? Because he loves her (one way or another, you can't tell me he doesn't - it may or may not be platonic, but that is definitely love, to the extent that selfish old Uther can feel it), and he can't stand the thought of Camelot without her.
Poor man, it's going to break him when she leaves. Ahem, sorry, right. He's a bad man, I know. He's just also so terribly screwed up himself, and it's so obvious that all the times he overreacts are out of fear. Someone says, "oh, blah blah magic, blah blah your kingdom in danger, blah blah witchcraft," and you can see the PANIC in his eyes. "Shit, magic, something I can't hit with a sword! What do I do, what do I do?" And they tell him, of course, because everyone with an ounce of brains knows how to manipulate Uther Pendragon using the dreaded m-word, and it's just so damned pathetic.
...Right, this episode was not actually about Uther. Except in as how every episode of Merlin is sort of about Uther, at least in my mind. Anyway.
What I'm trying to say is that this, finally getting an episode that's meant to be all about Morgana... really didn't work for me. Morgana, in all her clueless and petty and spoiled glory, was hardly evident here. She had one good scene with Uther, and other than that... meh.
I feel bad for Katie McGrath, honestly. This is an awesome part... if only they'd let her play it a bit more.
In summary? The Morgana in my icon... she's still bored. :(
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no subject
Date: 2009-12-07 06:32 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-12-07 07:35 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-12-07 10:06 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-12-07 03:28 pm (UTC)Which brings me to my major complaint:
With all the "if you spin it this way" explanations floating around for every damned thing, Merlin is starting to feel a whole lot like Torchwood. :P
no subject
Date: 2009-12-07 12:55 pm (UTC)I'm sure Morgana could light a hundred candles with her mind right in front of him, and Uther would look right at her, yell something about how evil sorcerers are and how he will not tolerate magic within his kingdom, send her to bed without dinner
Ha ha! Yes! That's assuming of course that they actually let Morgana have some agency with her powers.
Bitter Morgana fangirl is bitter.
no subject
Date: 2009-12-07 03:30 pm (UTC)