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rivendellroseJust finished watching the latest Merlin...
Lancelot du Lac, hereby forever known in my house as The One In Which Gwenevere Doesn't Even Have Enough Agency To Commit Adultery On Her Own.
Seriously, I... what? I refer back to the very first episode with Lancelot, in which I praised Merlin as a show for setting up an Arthur/Gwen/Lancelot triangle in which it makes a lot of sense for Gwen to be so drawn to Lance - she was close with him before Arthur ever paid her more than the vaguest mind, and she and Lance had a hell of a lot more in common than she and Arthur did at the time. Back when Lancelot walked away into the fissure between the worlds, I told The Boy, "Ah, this is perfect! Now everyone is upset because he's dead and Gwen feels she caused it by telling him to protect Arthur with his life, and nobody will expect when he makes a miraculous, magical return from the world of the dead just after their wedding!"
Oh, how foolish and short-sighted I was.
Because, you see, what really happens... is the utter removal of every aspect of human agency from the story of the love triangle. Let's see. Lance loses all his memories, so there's no fretful agony of which to chose or which to betray, the woman he loves or the king he considers his brother. Lance is completely under the control of Morgana, who is, of course, the show's remorseless cardboard cut-out villainess of late (am I the only person who lost track of when, exactly, she decided that Gwen was the worst person in the world and she hated her more than anybody? Did I just forget about that, or was it just so poorly written that I erased it from my memory?), so he doesn't have any doubts or feelings or thoughts about this at all. Not at all.
And Gwen! Loyal, clever, pragmatic Gwen, who I had envisioned being torn between her first love and her later love, and perhaps caught up in the idea that the kingdom might not be so happy about a common-born king and that her status might hinder Arthur somewhat, or maybe something happens to Arthur and she's stuck in Camelot with Merlin and a handful of the knights, trying to rule without him when Lancelot returns and everything gets out of control in their grief for his loss (which, of course, is quickly discovered to be not a loss at all)... or, better, perhaps she might just plain be allowed to be Human for five seconds and be overwhelmed with joy at seeing Lancelot alive again. No, instead, Morgana gives evil!Lance an enchanted bracelet that works as a love charm and brings back all of Gwen's long-ago-never-again love for Arthur and takes away all her will to stop herself from snogging him, no matter how hard she tries.
Is it just me, or did one of the most classic love stories in the Western canon just get completely gutted of all its humanity?
I recognize that this is the tea-time child-friendly version of the legends, and believe me, I approve of stepping away from the traditional "Guinevere is a terrible shameless harlot like all women and therefore cannot keep her skirt down when there's a handsome knight around, and is the source of all evil and the fall of Camelot because women are why we can't have nice things" telling of the story, but... oh, wait, this is still pretty much the same story, because the whole thing is Morgana's fault! The only difference is that Gwen gets to stay perfect and unsullied, while everything bad ever in the whole universe gets laid on Morgana's door. Because she's unredeemably evil, don't forget! I'm surprised they haven't shown her drowning puppies yet.
I don't mean to be bitter. I do get aspects of what happened to change Morgana's character. But... on the other hand, I keep remembering the girl she was in the first season, the one who loved Gwen and Merlin a hell of a lot more than Arthur did at the time, and was a lot more moral, and a lot less arrogant and nasty, and... damn. I still don't totally buy it all, I guess that's all I can really say. I really do feel she's been taken down to one dimension, and that Gwen's got the same treatment, and now Gwen doesn't even have the personal agency to make a single decision on her own?
And now she's gone, even just for one episode (because I cannot for a moment believe they'd send her away for longer than a few episodes, this is the show that took forever to make even the tiniest things stick back in the first few seasons...)? What, did they suddenly realize that they still had one female character who was sort of actually a character and a consistent presence in the show, and we can't possibly have that!
Other things:
Gawain: What happened to him? I remember when he was a character, with a personality, and plot lines, and dialogue lines... and now he's wall candy. Very pretty wall candy, but I can't help noticing he was actually in fewer scenes in this episode than Percival, He Who Continually Fails To Be Tahmoh Penikett And Has No Other Discernible Personality Traits, and had absolutely no lines, and had nearly as few last week, and... why? Why are you taking away my squishy, Merlin? Is there some kind of unwritten rule that I must hate the middle of every single season of this show, and that every character I like (except Arthur) will end up being under-served?
Percival: ...Keep right on being Helo without being Tahmoh Penikett, buddy. That's all I can really say.
Merlin: ......Is an idiot? With the inevitable "Morgana did it!" track that runs through every single episode of this show lately, how does it not occur to him "Hey, Gwen's got a new piece of jewelry and she's acting kind of weird with this whole snogging-Lance-the-night-before-her-wedding-to-Arthur thing. Maybe I should put on my spell-vision and see if maybe that bracelet's enchanted!"
Also, how the hell did he and Gaius think Lance wasn't going to notice the big swirly "spell-casty design of discerning the undead" drawn on the floor? OH WAIT, HE DIDN'T. HE WALKED RIGHT OVER IT WITHOUT BLINKING. Dude, I hope being raised from the dead as a shade has the side effect of making a person really fucking stupid, because otherwise Lance is the least perceptive person (even dead person) in the history of ever.
Arthur: Is, as has been the case from the beginning, one of the most redeeming features of the whole show. Even when I want to bang my head on things and I'm sitting there darkly muttering that Gwen doesn't even have the personal agency to kiss Lancelot of her own free will... I love Arthur. He's so cute, damn it! So cute and so noble and so damned obnoxiously handsome and regal-looking, gnar.
...Oh, except they VERY OBVIOUSLY traded out his horse in the middle of the penultimate jousting scene with him and Lance. In the first scene, the horse is chestnut brown. Then it is much darker (and much more mussed up). Then it is chestnut again at the end. Stunt horse, I get it, but... dude. Chestnut to dark bay is kind of a huge difference. Also, I thiiiiiiiink that Lancelot's might've gone from grey to dapple grey, but I'm not 100% on that. Not actually the fault of the writing or the characters or anything, just an egregious continuity error that I couldn't resist pointing out.
Also not technically the fault of anybody except lazy writers is the fact that nobody in this universe understands that all the "who's that?!" problems of viewers during various tourneys throughout this story could easily be solved (without having people removing their damned helmets every two seconds) by coats of arms and baldrics and proper medieval things like that. Yes, I get that it looks nifty to have all the knights of Camelot wearing the same colors and all, but in a tourney it would be so much easier if we followed history and literature and actually used those damned coats of arms we sometimes see being moved around on leader-boards at the tourneys. That's what they're for. And if you really want a mystery, you can have someone come in with unfamiliar arms, or, for a wonder, you could just have someone come in without arms as they're doing now! But it would be weird! And strange, and mysterious! Like it already is to me!
In related news, I still cringe every time Gwen wears t-shirt length sleeves on her dresses and tunics. It's not quite as bad as when Morgana used to go to dinner alone in the great hall with herfoster father wearing the medieval equivalent of underwear, but it's close. You're about to become queen, sweetheart. Get some under-tunics that cover your arms, and damned well wear them. She does sometimes, but that just makes me headdesk harder when she doesn't.
Lastly... Please tell me the yellow flowers on Lance's bier were lilies? Please? I know we're unlikely to get a proper Elaine at this point, given the whole "dead for the second time" thing, but... lilies! Lilies would make me happy, and they did sort of look like they might have been lilies. I'm not very up on my botany, though, so I could be wrong.
The question of "Can next week be better?" got a pretty clear answer of "NO!!!" from the trailer for next week. In which the whole world is reminded that Elian is apparently the world's shittiest and least loyal brother, and we have what looks like the most boring mid-season-filler-episode ever. Where is Gawain, people? If Elian is getting his own "Look at me, I don't care if my sister is exiled all by herself!" episode, I at least want Gawain to get an episode, too. If I'm going to be bored and miserable about this stupid show (again), I at least want my favorite pretties to be the center of attention, damn it.
Lancelot du Lac, hereby forever known in my house as The One In Which Gwenevere Doesn't Even Have Enough Agency To Commit Adultery On Her Own.
Seriously, I... what? I refer back to the very first episode with Lancelot, in which I praised Merlin as a show for setting up an Arthur/Gwen/Lancelot triangle in which it makes a lot of sense for Gwen to be so drawn to Lance - she was close with him before Arthur ever paid her more than the vaguest mind, and she and Lance had a hell of a lot more in common than she and Arthur did at the time. Back when Lancelot walked away into the fissure between the worlds, I told The Boy, "Ah, this is perfect! Now everyone is upset because he's dead and Gwen feels she caused it by telling him to protect Arthur with his life, and nobody will expect when he makes a miraculous, magical return from the world of the dead just after their wedding!"
Oh, how foolish and short-sighted I was.
Because, you see, what really happens... is the utter removal of every aspect of human agency from the story of the love triangle. Let's see. Lance loses all his memories, so there's no fretful agony of which to chose or which to betray, the woman he loves or the king he considers his brother. Lance is completely under the control of Morgana, who is, of course, the show's remorseless cardboard cut-out villainess of late (am I the only person who lost track of when, exactly, she decided that Gwen was the worst person in the world and she hated her more than anybody? Did I just forget about that, or was it just so poorly written that I erased it from my memory?), so he doesn't have any doubts or feelings or thoughts about this at all. Not at all.
And Gwen! Loyal, clever, pragmatic Gwen, who I had envisioned being torn between her first love and her later love, and perhaps caught up in the idea that the kingdom might not be so happy about a common-born king and that her status might hinder Arthur somewhat, or maybe something happens to Arthur and she's stuck in Camelot with Merlin and a handful of the knights, trying to rule without him when Lancelot returns and everything gets out of control in their grief for his loss (which, of course, is quickly discovered to be not a loss at all)... or, better, perhaps she might just plain be allowed to be Human for five seconds and be overwhelmed with joy at seeing Lancelot alive again. No, instead, Morgana gives evil!Lance an enchanted bracelet that works as a love charm and brings back all of Gwen's long-ago-never-again love for Arthur and takes away all her will to stop herself from snogging him, no matter how hard she tries.
Is it just me, or did one of the most classic love stories in the Western canon just get completely gutted of all its humanity?
I recognize that this is the tea-time child-friendly version of the legends, and believe me, I approve of stepping away from the traditional "Guinevere is a terrible shameless harlot like all women and therefore cannot keep her skirt down when there's a handsome knight around, and is the source of all evil and the fall of Camelot because women are why we can't have nice things" telling of the story, but... oh, wait, this is still pretty much the same story, because the whole thing is Morgana's fault! The only difference is that Gwen gets to stay perfect and unsullied, while everything bad ever in the whole universe gets laid on Morgana's door. Because she's unredeemably evil, don't forget! I'm surprised they haven't shown her drowning puppies yet.
I don't mean to be bitter. I do get aspects of what happened to change Morgana's character. But... on the other hand, I keep remembering the girl she was in the first season, the one who loved Gwen and Merlin a hell of a lot more than Arthur did at the time, and was a lot more moral, and a lot less arrogant and nasty, and... damn. I still don't totally buy it all, I guess that's all I can really say. I really do feel she's been taken down to one dimension, and that Gwen's got the same treatment, and now Gwen doesn't even have the personal agency to make a single decision on her own?
And now she's gone, even just for one episode (because I cannot for a moment believe they'd send her away for longer than a few episodes, this is the show that took forever to make even the tiniest things stick back in the first few seasons...)? What, did they suddenly realize that they still had one female character who was sort of actually a character and a consistent presence in the show, and we can't possibly have that!
Other things:
Gawain: What happened to him? I remember when he was a character, with a personality, and plot lines, and dialogue lines... and now he's wall candy. Very pretty wall candy, but I can't help noticing he was actually in fewer scenes in this episode than Percival, He Who Continually Fails To Be Tahmoh Penikett And Has No Other Discernible Personality Traits, and had absolutely no lines, and had nearly as few last week, and... why? Why are you taking away my squishy, Merlin? Is there some kind of unwritten rule that I must hate the middle of every single season of this show, and that every character I like (except Arthur) will end up being under-served?
Percival: ...Keep right on being Helo without being Tahmoh Penikett, buddy. That's all I can really say.
Merlin: ......Is an idiot? With the inevitable "Morgana did it!" track that runs through every single episode of this show lately, how does it not occur to him "Hey, Gwen's got a new piece of jewelry and she's acting kind of weird with this whole snogging-Lance-the-night-before-her-wedding-to-Arthur thing. Maybe I should put on my spell-vision and see if maybe that bracelet's enchanted!"
Also, how the hell did he and Gaius think Lance wasn't going to notice the big swirly "spell-casty design of discerning the undead" drawn on the floor? OH WAIT, HE DIDN'T. HE WALKED RIGHT OVER IT WITHOUT BLINKING. Dude, I hope being raised from the dead as a shade has the side effect of making a person really fucking stupid, because otherwise Lance is the least perceptive person (even dead person) in the history of ever.
Arthur: Is, as has been the case from the beginning, one of the most redeeming features of the whole show. Even when I want to bang my head on things and I'm sitting there darkly muttering that Gwen doesn't even have the personal agency to kiss Lancelot of her own free will... I love Arthur. He's so cute, damn it! So cute and so noble and so damned obnoxiously handsome and regal-looking, gnar.
...Oh, except they VERY OBVIOUSLY traded out his horse in the middle of the penultimate jousting scene with him and Lance. In the first scene, the horse is chestnut brown. Then it is much darker (and much more mussed up). Then it is chestnut again at the end. Stunt horse, I get it, but... dude. Chestnut to dark bay is kind of a huge difference. Also, I thiiiiiiiink that Lancelot's might've gone from grey to dapple grey, but I'm not 100% on that. Not actually the fault of the writing or the characters or anything, just an egregious continuity error that I couldn't resist pointing out.
Also not technically the fault of anybody except lazy writers is the fact that nobody in this universe understands that all the "who's that?!" problems of viewers during various tourneys throughout this story could easily be solved (without having people removing their damned helmets every two seconds) by coats of arms and baldrics and proper medieval things like that. Yes, I get that it looks nifty to have all the knights of Camelot wearing the same colors and all, but in a tourney it would be so much easier if we followed history and literature and actually used those damned coats of arms we sometimes see being moved around on leader-boards at the tourneys. That's what they're for. And if you really want a mystery, you can have someone come in with unfamiliar arms, or, for a wonder, you could just have someone come in without arms as they're doing now! But it would be weird! And strange, and mysterious! Like it already is to me!
In related news, I still cringe every time Gwen wears t-shirt length sleeves on her dresses and tunics. It's not quite as bad as when Morgana used to go to dinner alone in the great hall with her
Lastly... Please tell me the yellow flowers on Lance's bier were lilies? Please? I know we're unlikely to get a proper Elaine at this point, given the whole "dead for the second time" thing, but... lilies! Lilies would make me happy, and they did sort of look like they might have been lilies. I'm not very up on my botany, though, so I could be wrong.
The question of "Can next week be better?" got a pretty clear answer of "NO!!!" from the trailer for next week. In which the whole world is reminded that Elian is apparently the world's shittiest and least loyal brother, and we have what looks like the most boring mid-season-filler-episode ever. Where is Gawain, people? If Elian is getting his own "Look at me, I don't care if my sister is exiled all by herself!" episode, I at least want Gawain to get an episode, too. If I'm going to be bored and miserable about this stupid show (again), I at least want my favorite pretties to be the center of attention, damn it.
