(no subject)
Merlin got sidelined last night in favor of dancing from 5pm to 2am. Crazy but happymaking. Now I'm all catched up and thinking.
I loved many things about this episode:
Gwen and Morgana - plotting and fighting their way from the bandits. How obviously they care for one another, on screen. "She's more than just my maid." The fantastic neverending hug at the end.
Lancelot. I think of him as an embodyment of knightly values and morals (and how they mess you up), and I really like what they did with him in this episode. He is so the type to Believe feverishly in something and fall into apathy/despair when it doesn't work out, like he's clearly been doing since he left Camelot. And of course he loves in verse.
Gwen Gwen Gwen. She was fantastic in this ep - brave and scared and loving/being loved in tangled ways. I see her feelings as very ambiguous which is the kind of stories about love I like the best, so. There were these little moments - the looks between her and Arthur feels more slightly unsettled and confused by this thing whatever it is, than as angsty love-longing, from her side. Her commenting on not meeting any decent men points in the same direction, as well as the "I never thought I'd see you again" in reply to Lancelot's wondering if she'd thought of him. And I can accept that she gets swept up in intense feelings for Lancelot in a situation where she thinks she's about to die.
Genre less squeeful:
I'm getting more bothered about gender and power dynamics. It's a common pattern, that the only power women are shown as using is the power of persuasion - behind every great man stands a woman, and all that. I'm afraid the show is going more and more this way, with Gwen and Morgana both. Morgana seemed to have a great grasp of court life in the first season, and a good deal of influence on Uther. And it bothers me that her attempts to use her power are beginning to look more and more emotional and unsensible. She's been shown as delirious with nightmares and now she's lucid - but still totally incapable of influencing Uther.
It also bothers me that this episode relied so much on the idea that the girls can handle things themselves - when there are no boys around to save them. Why shouldn't Morgana go after Gwen when Arthur goes? Why shouldn't Gwen fight when there are boys with swords? Please show, turn off the damsel in distress-default setting.
Arthur is emo, Merlin light-hearted, and I'm mostly indifferent to the both of them.
I loved many things about this episode:
Gwen and Morgana - plotting and fighting their way from the bandits. How obviously they care for one another, on screen. "She's more than just my maid." The fantastic neverending hug at the end.
Lancelot. I think of him as an embodyment of knightly values and morals (and how they mess you up), and I really like what they did with him in this episode. He is so the type to Believe feverishly in something and fall into apathy/despair when it doesn't work out, like he's clearly been doing since he left Camelot. And of course he loves in verse.
Gwen Gwen Gwen. She was fantastic in this ep - brave and scared and loving/being loved in tangled ways. I see her feelings as very ambiguous which is the kind of stories about love I like the best, so. There were these little moments - the looks between her and Arthur feels more slightly unsettled and confused by this thing whatever it is, than as angsty love-longing, from her side. Her commenting on not meeting any decent men points in the same direction, as well as the "I never thought I'd see you again" in reply to Lancelot's wondering if she'd thought of him. And I can accept that she gets swept up in intense feelings for Lancelot in a situation where she thinks she's about to die.
Genre less squeeful:
I'm getting more bothered about gender and power dynamics. It's a common pattern, that the only power women are shown as using is the power of persuasion - behind every great man stands a woman, and all that. I'm afraid the show is going more and more this way, with Gwen and Morgana both. Morgana seemed to have a great grasp of court life in the first season, and a good deal of influence on Uther. And it bothers me that her attempts to use her power are beginning to look more and more emotional and unsensible. She's been shown as delirious with nightmares and now she's lucid - but still totally incapable of influencing Uther.
It also bothers me that this episode relied so much on the idea that the girls can handle things themselves - when there are no boys around to save them. Why shouldn't Morgana go after Gwen when Arthur goes? Why shouldn't Gwen fight when there are boys with swords? Please show, turn off the damsel in distress-default setting.
Arthur is emo, Merlin light-hearted, and I'm mostly indifferent to the both of them.