Merls, I don't know where to start
2x08. THE SINS OF THE FATHER. IN OTHER WORDS:
(except not really. -__-')
THIS EPISODE, YA'LL. Do all my Merls posts start this way? I feel like they all start this way. I LOVE THIS SEASON OKAY. I have some serious problems with this episode, but still, holy hell.
+ MORGAUSE IS HOT. AND INTERESTING. AND INTERESTINGLY HOT. AND GORLOIS' KID. AND MORGANA'S HALF-SISTER. AND HOT. Emelia is brilliant, I mean, she's basically Nimueh 2.0 with bonus family connection, but she's so well-played, so subtle. Downside? Evil. Subtly evil, better at it than Nimueh, but another evil sorceress all the same. Thanks show, we were running low on those. (Don't get me wrong, I'm on her side, and in some ways she is more on Arthur's side than anyone in this episode despite possibly-selfish reasons. About that, I am confused. More on that later.)
+ Morgana! With lines and connections to the people in this episode! WHAT. She didn't make much progress in the self-actualization department but I am hopeful. She's met another sorceress, one who's nice to her, who appears to be good. And she had a good night's sleep because of a bracelet, and hopefully this will make her feel a little steadier on her feet. It was a bit strange, though; what do they think the bracelet does, release sedatives? IT'S MAGICAL. Kind of weird that Morgana didn't try to hide it from Gaius or something.
But never mind that, the important thing is that Morgana and Morgause are related to each other but have extreme chemistry, so I ship it. LIKE FEDEX. I am having very confused feelings right now. Yay for them talking to each other and passing Bechdel.
+ Know who else passed Bechdel for the first time this season? MORGANA AND GWEN, BABY. THEY TALKED! ABOUT MORGAUSE AND NOT MEN! They had a conversation, ya'll. Some evidence that the girls still talk to each other, this is huge. Huge. (Did anyone think Gwen sounded a tad jealous when Morgana talked about knowing Morgause? Just me, then? Okay.) Also, Gwen is adorable in that scene where she wakes up Morgana. She's so relieved, and fondly exasperated, and that smile, and just so much love for Angel Coulby and like, her whole face. <333
+ Quick note before I get into the plot: promo pics for this episode suggested a scene in which Arthur brushes Gwen off, presumably because he is Too Upset. I am so glad this scene was cut. The last thing I want for Gwen is for her only contribution in an episode to be visually representing Arthur's manpain for the viewer. Nice editing decision, writers, if that's what it was.
+ SPEAKING OF MANPAIN, CAN WE GET INTO SOME STUFF. ARTHUR. OH MY GOD, BABY. *hugs him hard* This episode was so heavy on the angst! Bradley, so much love for his performance. I don't even know what to say except he broke my heart in three different places. You really get a feel for how much he keeps bottled up. My own fanwank is that he's one of the most restrained characters on the show, Gwen being the secondmost. He keeps so much of his pain and insecurities inside. It's so interesting that Merlin knew nothing about when Arthur's mother died, in all this time. Arthur's never mentioned it even as he got to know Merlin's mother, and apparently takes after his father in that respect.
It was SO LOVELY to see the boys having a heartfelt conversation this week, just lovely. And for Merlin to talk about his father! We had mention of Tom last week, Merls' dad this week, Arthur's mum, Morgana's parentage - YAY. Gimme something about Gwen's and Morgana's mums and I'll send the producers flowers. But anyway yes, the boys had great, great moments this week.
He killed me when he put his head on that block. I don't think he's got a death wish or anything, but he can be rash, and he wanted answers SO BADLY that he was willing to put so much trust in Morgause.
I liked Igraine. I don't know how much of her was real, but her love for Arthur was palpable, and Arthur was standing there so gutted but so desperate to know her. Oh, sweetie. The picture of her being forced into her pregnancy by Uther is not pretty, though. Again, I don't know how much of it was real.
Arthur's fight with Uther was so intense I can't even begin. The whole scene kicked ass, and Arthur falling to his knees at the end... GAH.
+ Uther! I don't understand what's going on there. Have the writers retconned him form 1x09? Did he in fact know that Igraine would die? I can't believe that. If so, his characterization is extremely damaged. He was not at all sympathetic in the scene until the very end; when Arthur confronted him at first, I was kind of surprised that he didn't come out with the truth, instead he tried to keep lying. I guess I shouldn't have been surprised? I don't know.
See, if Uther did know Igraine would die, then they've erased the developments from 1x09 and that's pretty frustrating. It also means he forced Igraine's pregnancy, lied to her, and all manner of other horror. If he didn't know, that means Morgause is in fact evil just like all the rest of the witches, that Igraine's image was a trick of some kind, and we have no way of believing what parts of her story are true apart from Arthur being born of magic.
I think it's the latter, that Uther didn't know, but that's disappointing on a different level.
+ The secret between Gaius and Uther re: Morgause and Gorlois is interesting. I'm starting to see the parallels between Uther/Gaius and Arthur/Merlin and I hope Arthur/Merlin don't end up going down the same track.
+ Which brings me to Merlin. SIGH. So on the one hand, my heart BREAKS for him, having to throw himself and his people under the bus so that the writers would never have to address this again Arthur wouldn't have to kill his own father. And you could SEE how much it hurt Merlin to do that. ;__; On the other hand ... he had no idea whether Morgause was telling the truth or not and he purposefully lied. To Arthur's face. I understand his reasons and I KNOW he meant well (seriously, it breaks my heart) but how their relationship can come back from that, I have no idea. It makes me sad for the day when it all comes out. Oh, boys. :/
Gaius being proud of Merlin for doing it chilled my blood, btw. Also chilling; Uther's talk with Merlin, calling him an ally, and you know what, that was some accurate shit. It was a very 'Gaius' thing for Merlin to do. He really needs a different teacher, someone who doesn't think it's okay to lie to someone for their own good. It's not okay to make decisions for people like that! I'm upset for Arthur, for Morgana, just -- I LOVE YOU MERLIN BUT PLEASE TURN AND WALK IN THE OTHER DIRECTION.
What kills me, especially about that last scene with Arthur talking about magic, is that Arthur is just forever clueless, forever a pawn. All the realisations he'd made about magic users undone. I love him so much and it just upsets me. I want him to find out so badly. :/
+ More general stuff. OMG WRITERS. BACK AWAY FROM THE RESET BUTTON. I KNOW IT'S RED AND SHINY BUT YOU DON'T HAVE TO PRESS IT EVERY WEEK. This week I thought might've been the first storyline that they couldn't come back from, but oh I was wrong. And you know, it's not like Arthur could very will kill Uther this week, but maybe there was another way for the fight to've ended, some way to convince Arthur that Uther didn't know Igraine would die? Something so that Arthur doesn't have to go back to being completely ignorant of everything ever? :(
+ Arthur/Morgause showdown. That was a great fight, and I enjoyed Arthur being so convinced that Morgause should back down, then ending up getting his ass kicked. It was really cute seeing the aftermath of that; his telling himself it was because she was a woman, then because she was magical, and then when UTHER said she must have entranced him, Arthur begrudgingly disagreed. He is so adorable. <3
Man. I don't know what else to say! This post is probably long enough. XP
THOUGHTS???
Click to view(except not really. -__-')
THIS EPISODE, YA'LL. Do all my Merls posts start this way? I feel like they all start this way. I LOVE THIS SEASON OKAY. I have some serious problems with this episode, but still, holy hell.
+ MORGAUSE IS HOT. AND INTERESTING. AND INTERESTINGLY HOT. AND GORLOIS' KID. AND MORGANA'S HALF-SISTER. AND HOT. Emelia is brilliant, I mean, she's basically Nimueh 2.0 with bonus family connection, but she's so well-played, so subtle. Downside? Evil. Subtly evil, better at it than Nimueh, but another evil sorceress all the same. Thanks show, we were running low on those. (Don't get me wrong, I'm on her side, and in some ways she is more on Arthur's side than anyone in this episode despite possibly-selfish reasons. About that, I am confused. More on that later.)
+ Morgana! With lines and connections to the people in this episode! WHAT. She didn't make much progress in the self-actualization department but I am hopeful. She's met another sorceress, one who's nice to her, who appears to be good. And she had a good night's sleep because of a bracelet, and hopefully this will make her feel a little steadier on her feet. It was a bit strange, though; what do they think the bracelet does, release sedatives? IT'S MAGICAL. Kind of weird that Morgana didn't try to hide it from Gaius or something.
But never mind that, the important thing is that Morgana and Morgause are related to each other but have extreme chemistry, so I ship it. LIKE FEDEX. I am having very confused feelings right now. Yay for them talking to each other and passing Bechdel.
+ Know who else passed Bechdel for the first time this season? MORGANA AND GWEN, BABY. THEY TALKED! ABOUT MORGAUSE AND NOT MEN! They had a conversation, ya'll. Some evidence that the girls still talk to each other, this is huge. Huge. (Did anyone think Gwen sounded a tad jealous when Morgana talked about knowing Morgause? Just me, then? Okay.) Also, Gwen is adorable in that scene where she wakes up Morgana. She's so relieved, and fondly exasperated, and that smile, and just so much love for Angel Coulby and like, her whole face. <333
+ Quick note before I get into the plot: promo pics for this episode suggested a scene in which Arthur brushes Gwen off, presumably because he is Too Upset. I am so glad this scene was cut. The last thing I want for Gwen is for her only contribution in an episode to be visually representing Arthur's manpain for the viewer. Nice editing decision, writers, if that's what it was.
+ SPEAKING OF MANPAIN, CAN WE GET INTO SOME STUFF. ARTHUR. OH MY GOD, BABY. *hugs him hard* This episode was so heavy on the angst! Bradley, so much love for his performance. I don't even know what to say except he broke my heart in three different places. You really get a feel for how much he keeps bottled up. My own fanwank is that he's one of the most restrained characters on the show, Gwen being the secondmost. He keeps so much of his pain and insecurities inside. It's so interesting that Merlin knew nothing about when Arthur's mother died, in all this time. Arthur's never mentioned it even as he got to know Merlin's mother, and apparently takes after his father in that respect.
It was SO LOVELY to see the boys having a heartfelt conversation this week, just lovely. And for Merlin to talk about his father! We had mention of Tom last week, Merls' dad this week, Arthur's mum, Morgana's parentage - YAY. Gimme something about Gwen's and Morgana's mums and I'll send the producers flowers. But anyway yes, the boys had great, great moments this week.
He killed me when he put his head on that block. I don't think he's got a death wish or anything, but he can be rash, and he wanted answers SO BADLY that he was willing to put so much trust in Morgause.
I liked Igraine. I don't know how much of her was real, but her love for Arthur was palpable, and Arthur was standing there so gutted but so desperate to know her. Oh, sweetie. The picture of her being forced into her pregnancy by Uther is not pretty, though. Again, I don't know how much of it was real.
Arthur's fight with Uther was so intense I can't even begin. The whole scene kicked ass, and Arthur falling to his knees at the end... GAH.
+ Uther! I don't understand what's going on there. Have the writers retconned him form 1x09? Did he in fact know that Igraine would die? I can't believe that. If so, his characterization is extremely damaged. He was not at all sympathetic in the scene until the very end; when Arthur confronted him at first, I was kind of surprised that he didn't come out with the truth, instead he tried to keep lying. I guess I shouldn't have been surprised? I don't know.
See, if Uther did know Igraine would die, then they've erased the developments from 1x09 and that's pretty frustrating. It also means he forced Igraine's pregnancy, lied to her, and all manner of other horror. If he didn't know, that means Morgause is in fact evil just like all the rest of the witches, that Igraine's image was a trick of some kind, and we have no way of believing what parts of her story are true apart from Arthur being born of magic.
I think it's the latter, that Uther didn't know, but that's disappointing on a different level.
+ The secret between Gaius and Uther re: Morgause and Gorlois is interesting. I'm starting to see the parallels between Uther/Gaius and Arthur/Merlin and I hope Arthur/Merlin don't end up going down the same track.
+ Which brings me to Merlin. SIGH. So on the one hand, my heart BREAKS for him, having to throw himself and his people under the bus so that the writers would never have to address this again Arthur wouldn't have to kill his own father. And you could SEE how much it hurt Merlin to do that. ;__; On the other hand ... he had no idea whether Morgause was telling the truth or not and he purposefully lied. To Arthur's face. I understand his reasons and I KNOW he meant well (seriously, it breaks my heart) but how their relationship can come back from that, I have no idea. It makes me sad for the day when it all comes out. Oh, boys. :/
Gaius being proud of Merlin for doing it chilled my blood, btw. Also chilling; Uther's talk with Merlin, calling him an ally, and you know what, that was some accurate shit. It was a very 'Gaius' thing for Merlin to do. He really needs a different teacher, someone who doesn't think it's okay to lie to someone for their own good. It's not okay to make decisions for people like that! I'm upset for Arthur, for Morgana, just -- I LOVE YOU MERLIN BUT PLEASE TURN AND WALK IN THE OTHER DIRECTION.
What kills me, especially about that last scene with Arthur talking about magic, is that Arthur is just forever clueless, forever a pawn. All the realisations he'd made about magic users undone. I love him so much and it just upsets me. I want him to find out so badly. :/
+ More general stuff. OMG WRITERS. BACK AWAY FROM THE RESET BUTTON. I KNOW IT'S RED AND SHINY BUT YOU DON'T HAVE TO PRESS IT EVERY WEEK. This week I thought might've been the first storyline that they couldn't come back from, but oh I was wrong. And you know, it's not like Arthur could very will kill Uther this week, but maybe there was another way for the fight to've ended, some way to convince Arthur that Uther didn't know Igraine would die? Something so that Arthur doesn't have to go back to being completely ignorant of everything ever? :(
+ Arthur/Morgause showdown. That was a great fight, and I enjoyed Arthur being so convinced that Morgause should back down, then ending up getting his ass kicked. It was really cute seeing the aftermath of that; his telling himself it was because she was a woman, then because she was magical, and then when UTHER said she must have entranced him, Arthur begrudgingly disagreed. He is so adorable. <3
Man. I don't know what else to say! This post is probably long enough. XP
THOUGHTS???