(no subject)
Dear BBC,
Who the hell has a three part season opener, and then only airs ONE of said three episodes as the season premiere? WHO DOES THAT? For the most part, I think British television does things better than their American counter-parts, but the Two Hour Special Event premiere is one thing the English could stand to lift from US programming.
Merlin 3x01: **sighs** They did the one thing I really didn't want them to do with Morgana - namely, throw her headfirst into established EVILNESS. Really, our Morgana is already a murderess? So committed a murderess that having failed to kill a man once, she goes back to make sure the job is done? Meh. I get that she wants Uther dead, and I can understand her willingness to kill *him* (hello, he drowns children!), but I am not feeling that how quickly our Morgana has become willing to kill in general. Nor am I feeling what an easy liar she's become. I know it's been a year, and clearly she's changed in that year, but...meh. I feel robbed of a lot of character development, so I'm gonna have to hold out hope that we'll find out in the next two eps that Morgana's increasingly blind emnity towards all things Camelot is traceable, at least in part, to the spell Morgause worked on her in 2x12.
~ Good job faking me out for the first few minutes there, though. I was really hoping against hope that Morgana would come back initially with no memory of the events of late last season, and that her cross over to the dark side would be more deliberate and at least follow an attempt by Merlin to save her from making the same mistakes as last year by confiding in her that she was not alone in living with magic under Uther. Oh alright, I just wanted some scenes of Merlin and Morgana practicing their magic together (and not in a shippery way, just in a I would love for Merlin to get some character development that does not revolve around Arthur way), with Merlin clearly more into his own as a magician, and someone else being the newbie.
~ Evil!Morgana may never get caught by the most oblivious court this side of the kingdom of Denmark, but the evil smiles to herself every five seconds were so over the top as to be annoying. Give us some credit, show. We honestly get that she is only pretending to be the loving ward. We don't need her allowing clear expressions of distaste across her face when she is in full view of several nobles, and we don't need her smirking to herself every time something ominous has happened. We Get It. I'm also annoyed/bothered that Morgana is returned to Camelot after what everyone thinks is a year of captivity, and she's apparently still freely able to leave her (unguarded?) chambers and wander out into the woods every night.
~ On a related note, I wanted to enjoy the Morgause/Morgana dynamic, but both actresses are playing their communion of evil without much subtlety (I am sure equal blame for this goes to the writers and director) so I was mostly bored.
~ Not a huge Morgana/Gwen person, but felt a bit robbed of any kind of reunion scene there. Gwen was on screen for all of what, 90 seconds overall?
~ I am sure legions of fangirls thank you, writers, for giving them a scene in which Arthur actually utters the phrase "sore bottom" but I could take or lose the Merlin/Arthur "teasing" scenes - is that a bad sign? I feel like the writers still haven't figured out the line between friendly ribbing and Arthur's more childish/meanspirited actions (the bucket thing was totally predictable from the outset, but seemed more like something out of season 1 or early season 2).
I mean, okay, I'll keep the teasing during the field training, if only for the "kidding!" look Arthur gives Merlin over his shoulder after mocking Merlin's aptitude in battle. But I had to throw my hands up at Merlin responding by disarming Arthur in the middle of a LIVE fight with ACTUAL WEAPONS, any of which could have easily BRAINED OUR ONCE AND FUTURE KING before anyone realized he was weaponless. It's just a childish, stupid move, and with this being the thirdd season, I am pretty over Arthur/Merlin "cute" that involves them doing childish, stupid things to one another.
~ Something positive: CGI'd scorpions aside (Am I the only one who could not figure out what the hell those were supposed to be for the longest?), the production values on the show seem improved some. The creepy drowned kid was a nice touch. Although I hope they didn't blow all their money on that and Morgana's thirty-seven costume changes this ep. (All of them lovely, though, costume department. Well done.)
Basically, I liked Morgana's outfits, liked the quiet reminder that Uther is a child-killing despot, and I hope Cendred survives the next two eps, because he's got potential to be an interesting foil to Arthur.
I know I would enjoy this show so much more if I didn't bother expecting anything much from it, but it's just frustrating to think of how much better it could be with more consistent/smarter/less lazy writing. One promising thing is that the show has shown a tendency to get better over the course of a season, so hope springs eternal.
Who the hell has a three part season opener, and then only airs ONE of said three episodes as the season premiere? WHO DOES THAT? For the most part, I think British television does things better than their American counter-parts, but the Two Hour Special Event premiere is one thing the English could stand to lift from US programming.
Merlin 3x01: **sighs** They did the one thing I really didn't want them to do with Morgana - namely, throw her headfirst into established EVILNESS. Really, our Morgana is already a murderess? So committed a murderess that having failed to kill a man once, she goes back to make sure the job is done? Meh. I get that she wants Uther dead, and I can understand her willingness to kill *him* (hello, he drowns children!), but I am not feeling that how quickly our Morgana has become willing to kill in general. Nor am I feeling what an easy liar she's become. I know it's been a year, and clearly she's changed in that year, but...meh. I feel robbed of a lot of character development, so I'm gonna have to hold out hope that we'll find out in the next two eps that Morgana's increasingly blind emnity towards all things Camelot is traceable, at least in part, to the spell Morgause worked on her in 2x12.
~ Good job faking me out for the first few minutes there, though. I was really hoping against hope that Morgana would come back initially with no memory of the events of late last season, and that her cross over to the dark side would be more deliberate and at least follow an attempt by Merlin to save her from making the same mistakes as last year by confiding in her that she was not alone in living with magic under Uther. Oh alright, I just wanted some scenes of Merlin and Morgana practicing their magic together (and not in a shippery way, just in a I would love for Merlin to get some character development that does not revolve around Arthur way), with Merlin clearly more into his own as a magician, and someone else being the newbie.
~ Evil!Morgana may never get caught by the most oblivious court this side of the kingdom of Denmark, but the evil smiles to herself every five seconds were so over the top as to be annoying. Give us some credit, show. We honestly get that she is only pretending to be the loving ward. We don't need her allowing clear expressions of distaste across her face when she is in full view of several nobles, and we don't need her smirking to herself every time something ominous has happened. We Get It. I'm also annoyed/bothered that Morgana is returned to Camelot after what everyone thinks is a year of captivity, and she's apparently still freely able to leave her (unguarded?) chambers and wander out into the woods every night.
~ On a related note, I wanted to enjoy the Morgause/Morgana dynamic, but both actresses are playing their communion of evil without much subtlety (I am sure equal blame for this goes to the writers and director) so I was mostly bored.
~ Not a huge Morgana/Gwen person, but felt a bit robbed of any kind of reunion scene there. Gwen was on screen for all of what, 90 seconds overall?
~ I am sure legions of fangirls thank you, writers, for giving them a scene in which Arthur actually utters the phrase "sore bottom" but I could take or lose the Merlin/Arthur "teasing" scenes - is that a bad sign? I feel like the writers still haven't figured out the line between friendly ribbing and Arthur's more childish/meanspirited actions (the bucket thing was totally predictable from the outset, but seemed more like something out of season 1 or early season 2).
I mean, okay, I'll keep the teasing during the field training, if only for the "kidding!" look Arthur gives Merlin over his shoulder after mocking Merlin's aptitude in battle. But I had to throw my hands up at Merlin responding by disarming Arthur in the middle of a LIVE fight with ACTUAL WEAPONS, any of which could have easily BRAINED OUR ONCE AND FUTURE KING before anyone realized he was weaponless. It's just a childish, stupid move, and with this being the thirdd season, I am pretty over Arthur/Merlin "cute" that involves them doing childish, stupid things to one another.
~ Something positive: CGI'd scorpions aside (Am I the only one who could not figure out what the hell those were supposed to be for the longest?), the production values on the show seem improved some. The creepy drowned kid was a nice touch. Although I hope they didn't blow all their money on that and Morgana's thirty-seven costume changes this ep. (All of them lovely, though, costume department. Well done.)
Basically, I liked Morgana's outfits, liked the quiet reminder that Uther is a child-killing despot, and I hope Cendred survives the next two eps, because he's got potential to be an interesting foil to Arthur.
I know I would enjoy this show so much more if I didn't bother expecting anything much from it, but it's just frustrating to think of how much better it could be with more consistent/smarter/less lazy writing. One promising thing is that the show has shown a tendency to get better over the course of a season, so hope springs eternal.