~ Merlin 3x02 ~
After watching this episode, I kind of felt like that I hadn't seen anything all that great. Maybe I'm just in a weird mood about the show...but it's most likely that I was spoiled for what would happen and nothing really changed by the episode's end (Uther continues to be blind to Morgana's deception and there's more fuel for the "OMG, Merlin and Morgana would totally have angry!hate sex and it would be EPIC...oh, and the epic magical battle too *nods*... I, uh, meant to say that first...yes..." *whistles*).
And next week's episode will be a comedy episode/aka filler... (though I admit I LOLed at the preview scene where Merlin's all, "That's not Gaius. He's been possessed by a [beat] goblin"... Merlin's totally thinking, "I can not BELIEVE I'm saying this in front of others. Everyone's going to think I'm crazy now. OMG.")
The Merlin/Arthur scenes were all right this week...better than last week's at least. I guess since I know the writers are all FAILY on the magic reveal (at least Merlin revealing it to Arthur), then I might as well (sadly :() resign myself to scenes where Arthur ends it off with an insult... idiot/prat may mean "I love you" in Merlin/Arthur speak...but ergh, I don't deny that I'm increasingly bothered by Arthur NOT knowing about Merlin's magic. I could take Arthur calling Merlin an idiot, whatever, if he had full knowledge of Merlin's magic, accepts it, and THEN I'll be cool with the insults...
But as I said, the writers won't have the magic reveal happen in S3 (I'd be highly surprised if it does happen), so I'll just deal with Arthur's insults and continuing to have little clue about all that Merlin does to protect him. Though in the previous episode, Arthur did look suspicious at being saved and not knowing who helped him...and then he looked in Merlin's direction... I wonder if that scene in 3x01 was meant as a hint to the audience that Arthur's finally really bothering to figure out the cause of these strange occurrences that save his life. Maybe, maybe the writers don't fail as much as I first thought. We will see...
Though Bradley James did say in that recent interview with GeekSyndicate...that Arthur *will* be knocked unconscious a lot during S3 (at least there's no shortage of those scenes) and I'm guessing a main reason for that is to prevent him seeing Merlin's magic saving the day. *sigh*
I thought at first that the candlit scene...where Merlin's motivating Arthur and telling him that he will win this and he'll be a great King... I admit I didn't think much of that scene at first. I swear I thought it was a shoddy line delivery on Colin Morgan's part...the lines just sounded forced? It didn't sound like Merlin...BUT, BUT... I did go back and rewatch the scene and I changed my opinion for the better on it. First impression fail, maybe. Upon rewatch, I am quite fond of the scene (we could cut it off before Arthur's all, "Oh, don't look so pleased. The rest of the time you're a complete idiot" at Merlin...taking that out works for me, it's not necessary *nods*). I guess you could leave it to Merlin being in "Arthur is my Destiny" mode, so he was being all solemn about it. The Dragon has totally been rubbing off on Merlin. ;)
The Arthur/Gwen scene was there...I thought Merlin's encouraging words worked much better than hers... considering the placement -- Merlin gave his speech to Arthur after Gwen's talk with Arthur...and after Merlin spoke to him, that's when Arthur decided to go out there and kick some ass. You know, the writers could have had Gwen talk to Arthur right before the battle (versus Merlin doing so), so to leave an impression that *she* spurred him to be confident in his abilities and fight well as a result.
But the writers didn't do that because on this show, slash always wins the coin toss. Well, except sometimes the writers feel a little guilty and insert an obligatory Arthur/Gwen scene or two into an episode...AND if the writers are feeling especially guilty, they make an Arthur/Gwen-focused episode (doesn't seem to happen too much though, does it?).
All joking aside, I like that the writers are making Arthur/Gwen more of a slow build now...which IT SHOULD HAVE BEEN in S2, honestly. *eye rolls* It creates some interesting tension...well, er...interesting to other people because I'm in the Lancelot/Gwen camp (I WOULD DIE FOR YOU A HUNDRED TIMES OVER...I AM WEAK, I FELL FOR IT. Gwen did too :P)... and I'm going to distract myself with the awesomeness of Lancelot/Gawain or Gwaine (however you spell it, he looked goooood, so it doesn't matter) slash. I know there's Leon...but Lancelot/Gwaine seems like a brilliant idea to me. Knight slash FTW. I'm looking forward to the Gwaine episode. :) Lancelot and Gwaine probably won't share a scene, but that won't deter me...:P Photoshop manips, anyone? ;)
I did like that "domestic" scene between Arthur and Merlin in Arthur's room... that whole conversation was hilarious. That's some loving banter there. And ARTHUR WILL HAVE MERLIN FOR BREAKFAST.
Sounds appetizing. *whistles*
Also, Arthur mentions Merlin's backside at the end of the episode (Really, Arthur, your Merlin dependency is endearing, but give him a little break, would you? ;)).
That's the SECOND mention of Merlin's backside/bottom from Arthur. Remember 3x01, "Is your little bottom sore?"
...on a silver platter, everyone. Silver platter. IDEK, anymore. Arthur, it's getting obvious that you're checking out Merlin's er...backside with greater frequency. :P I believe Merlin was checking out Arthur during the sword fighting practice scene in 3x01...so the two of them are shameless in regards to backside/bottom admiring... (potential for analysis to be done about this? A pie chart maybe :P "how many times does Merlin check out Arthur -- compare: S1/S2/S3?...and vice versa for Arthur?")
MORGANA IS EVIL, in case you didn't know already. She doesn't even care about all the women and children dying because of her actions. *sad face* I suppose that it's a smart decision NOW on Merlin's part not to tell Morgana about his magic...because she hates his guts and she would definitely go to Uther and tell him about Merlin having magic and then Merlin would be a goner. :(
Love that Merlin got a ride on the Dragon (loved his cheeky smile over how he didn't plan to walk back). It was nice to see Merlin so happy, cheerful for once after all the crap he's been through in the second half of S2. :(
And the Dragon's "She is the darkness to your light, the hatred to your love" to Merlin about Morgana... was laying it on a bit thick. But aww, Merlin is all about love (loving Arthur, that is ;)). But the Dragon had a point about Merlin's striving to see the goodness in people would be his undoing (what led to Morgana's turn). Good point there.
The Dragon can't resist a Dragonlord? Kinda sounded dirty...but I think it was supposed to be more sweet...anyway, oh look...Arthur PenDRAGON. Does the Dragon find Arthur irresistible too? *winks* What am I saying? This is the SLASH Dragon after all. :P
Also, cheers for slow-mo Leon being all awesome and kicking ass. It's nice that there's a knight in the spotlight now. :)
ETA: I can't believe I didn't mention this here...but it was er, interesting...that Gaius assumed that Merlin was with Arthur when he didn't come home the previous night. So...apparently Merlin makes a habit of spending the night with Arthur then? Well, there is that antechamber he could sleep in...and servants do sometimes sleep in their master's rooms if they are told to do so (if their services might be required during the night *cough* *cough*). But I like the slashy reason better. :P LOL.
And next week's episode will be a comedy episode/aka filler... (though I admit I LOLed at the preview scene where Merlin's all, "That's not Gaius. He's been possessed by a [beat] goblin"... Merlin's totally thinking, "I can not BELIEVE I'm saying this in front of others. Everyone's going to think I'm crazy now. OMG.")
The Merlin/Arthur scenes were all right this week...better than last week's at least. I guess since I know the writers are all FAILY on the magic reveal (at least Merlin revealing it to Arthur), then I might as well (sadly :() resign myself to scenes where Arthur ends it off with an insult... idiot/prat may mean "I love you" in Merlin/Arthur speak...but ergh, I don't deny that I'm increasingly bothered by Arthur NOT knowing about Merlin's magic. I could take Arthur calling Merlin an idiot, whatever, if he had full knowledge of Merlin's magic, accepts it, and THEN I'll be cool with the insults...
But as I said, the writers won't have the magic reveal happen in S3 (I'd be highly surprised if it does happen), so I'll just deal with Arthur's insults and continuing to have little clue about all that Merlin does to protect him. Though in the previous episode, Arthur did look suspicious at being saved and not knowing who helped him...and then he looked in Merlin's direction... I wonder if that scene in 3x01 was meant as a hint to the audience that Arthur's finally really bothering to figure out the cause of these strange occurrences that save his life. Maybe, maybe the writers don't fail as much as I first thought. We will see...
Though Bradley James did say in that recent interview with GeekSyndicate...that Arthur *will* be knocked unconscious a lot during S3 (at least there's no shortage of those scenes) and I'm guessing a main reason for that is to prevent him seeing Merlin's magic saving the day. *sigh*
I thought at first that the candlit scene...where Merlin's motivating Arthur and telling him that he will win this and he'll be a great King... I admit I didn't think much of that scene at first. I swear I thought it was a shoddy line delivery on Colin Morgan's part...the lines just sounded forced? It didn't sound like Merlin...BUT, BUT... I did go back and rewatch the scene and I changed my opinion for the better on it. First impression fail, maybe. Upon rewatch, I am quite fond of the scene (we could cut it off before Arthur's all, "Oh, don't look so pleased. The rest of the time you're a complete idiot" at Merlin...taking that out works for me, it's not necessary *nods*). I guess you could leave it to Merlin being in "Arthur is my Destiny" mode, so he was being all solemn about it. The Dragon has totally been rubbing off on Merlin. ;)
The Arthur/Gwen scene was there...I thought Merlin's encouraging words worked much better than hers... considering the placement -- Merlin gave his speech to Arthur after Gwen's talk with Arthur...and after Merlin spoke to him, that's when Arthur decided to go out there and kick some ass. You know, the writers could have had Gwen talk to Arthur right before the battle (versus Merlin doing so), so to leave an impression that *she* spurred him to be confident in his abilities and fight well as a result.
But the writers didn't do that because on this show, slash always wins the coin toss. Well, except sometimes the writers feel a little guilty and insert an obligatory Arthur/Gwen scene or two into an episode...AND if the writers are feeling especially guilty, they make an Arthur/Gwen-focused episode (doesn't seem to happen too much though, does it?).
All joking aside, I like that the writers are making Arthur/Gwen more of a slow build now...which IT SHOULD HAVE BEEN in S2, honestly. *eye rolls* It creates some interesting tension...well, er...interesting to other people because I'm in the Lancelot/Gwen camp (I WOULD DIE FOR YOU A HUNDRED TIMES OVER...I AM WEAK, I FELL FOR IT. Gwen did too :P)... and I'm going to distract myself with the awesomeness of Lancelot/Gawain or Gwaine (however you spell it, he looked goooood, so it doesn't matter) slash. I know there's Leon...but Lancelot/Gwaine seems like a brilliant idea to me. Knight slash FTW. I'm looking forward to the Gwaine episode. :) Lancelot and Gwaine probably won't share a scene, but that won't deter me...:P Photoshop manips, anyone? ;)
I did like that "domestic" scene between Arthur and Merlin in Arthur's room... that whole conversation was hilarious. That's some loving banter there. And ARTHUR WILL HAVE MERLIN FOR BREAKFAST.
Sounds appetizing. *whistles*
Also, Arthur mentions Merlin's backside at the end of the episode (Really, Arthur, your Merlin dependency is endearing, but give him a little break, would you? ;)).
That's the SECOND mention of Merlin's backside/bottom from Arthur. Remember 3x01, "Is your little bottom sore?"
...on a silver platter, everyone. Silver platter. IDEK, anymore. Arthur, it's getting obvious that you're checking out Merlin's er...backside with greater frequency. :P I believe Merlin was checking out Arthur during the sword fighting practice scene in 3x01...so the two of them are shameless in regards to backside/bottom admiring... (potential for analysis to be done about this? A pie chart maybe :P "how many times does Merlin check out Arthur -- compare: S1/S2/S3?...and vice versa for Arthur?")
MORGANA IS EVIL, in case you didn't know already. She doesn't even care about all the women and children dying because of her actions. *sad face* I suppose that it's a smart decision NOW on Merlin's part not to tell Morgana about his magic...because she hates his guts and she would definitely go to Uther and tell him about Merlin having magic and then Merlin would be a goner. :(
Love that Merlin got a ride on the Dragon (loved his cheeky smile over how he didn't plan to walk back). It was nice to see Merlin so happy, cheerful for once after all the crap he's been through in the second half of S2. :(
And the Dragon's "She is the darkness to your light, the hatred to your love" to Merlin about Morgana... was laying it on a bit thick. But aww, Merlin is all about love (loving Arthur, that is ;)). But the Dragon had a point about Merlin's striving to see the goodness in people would be his undoing (what led to Morgana's turn). Good point there.
The Dragon can't resist a Dragonlord? Kinda sounded dirty...but I think it was supposed to be more sweet...anyway, oh look...Arthur PenDRAGON. Does the Dragon find Arthur irresistible too? *winks* What am I saying? This is the SLASH Dragon after all. :P
Also, cheers for slow-mo Leon being all awesome and kicking ass. It's nice that there's a knight in the spotlight now. :)
ETA: I can't believe I didn't mention this here...but it was er, interesting...that Gaius assumed that Merlin was with Arthur when he didn't come home the previous night. So...apparently Merlin makes a habit of spending the night with Arthur then? Well, there is that antechamber he could sleep in...and servants do sometimes sleep in their master's rooms if they are told to do so (if their services might be required during the night *cough* *cough*). But I like the slashy reason better. :P LOL.