Merls, Merls, Merls.
...oh, dear. If multiple posts on my f-list are any indication, there is Gwen wank. So shocked right now you guys, SO SHOCKED.
I'm used to having ships that aren't canon. Most of mine are not. I know how much it sucks and I would never mock that. I know how much this SHOW sucks sometimes, and I know people are angry. Personally Merlin has been making me angry from day one and continues to do so; compartmentalization has been the only way I have ever been able to enjoy it, EVER. At this point I tend to focus on the things about the show that do make me happy, but I get the frustration. I'm a multishipper; the show's been HARD for us in spots. That said, there's some stuff I don't get, stuff that doesn't make sense, stuff that actively annoys me, and that stuff mostly has to do with this assertion that Gwen and A/G have Ruined Everything. And I hope y'all know this isn't directed at everyone.
HERE, HAVE SOME LISTS.
Things That Are Not Gwen's Fault:
+ The oft-repetitive, regressive, yo-yo-tastic nature of Arthur and Merlin's relationship
+ The mediocre writing on the show in general
+ Morgana's transformation/metamorphosis/Smirk-lift/body-snatching/whatever one chooses to call it depending on how they interpret the situation
+ The fact that Gwen is actually consistently written
+ The fact that some characters recognize the quality of her milkshake
+ The fact that some previous incarnations of Guinevere have cheated on their husbands
+ The fact that Arthur and Merlin love her
+ Her spectacular cleavage
Things That Gwen Is Not:
+ a slut
+ a Mary Sue
+ ugly
+ taking screentime away from the boys *snort*
Things I Do Not Care About (i mean this! it's cool!):
+ other peoples' shipping preferences
+ the fact that not everyone likes/is interested in Gwen
+ the fact that A/G does not work for everyone
Things I Do Care About (srsly. not cool.):
+ using misogynistic, racist, generally problematic language when talking about Gwen
+ blaming Gwen and A/G for the show's problems, yes, ALL of them
+ acting like it's bad that Gwen is occasionally treated like a main character these days, not that she still gets to even be in every episode
+ the notion that a romantic storyline (read: Arthur's dick) has the power to remove any awesomeness that Gwen ever had (apparently Lancelot's dick does not have such power) and that the show would be much better if she'd just stay away from said dick - I mean, romantic storyline
'Kay? COOL.
+++
Now, this past episode of Merlin could not have POSSIBLY been less relevant to my interests. No Gwen, no Morgana, maximum Gaius, zzzzzZZZZzzz. That said, I usually review the episodes, and actually I do have some thinky thoughts on Arthur and Merlin and Gaius/Alice, and a few other things. This is not even a rant! *\o/* (LOL, pathstotread, I found a THERE there after all!)
+ After the ageist fail of 3x06 and the "lol ew old people love" messages therein, it was good that the Gaius/Alice relationship wasn't treated like a joke or a laughingstock, not even by Merlin when he first discovered it (pleasantly surprising given his mockage in 3x06).
+ HUGE Gaius/Alice and Merlin/Freya parallels. Similar use of both Alice and Freya as mirrors for their male counterparts' development, BLAH, but like with Freya, Alice wasn't nearly as faily as she could have been and had some small amount of agency. Freya and Alice were similar to Merlin and Gaius, and reminded them of things they deeply desired and could never have. Reminded them of the lives they could have had if they weren't bound to Arthur and Uther. And in both cases, it's not that simple: in Freya's case because she was NOT as similar to Merlin as he thought/hoped, and in Alice's case because Gaius is still too scared.
And, of course, Gaius was blind to the truth re: Alice, like Merlin was with Freya.
That said, dnw episodes that focus on their manpain whilst excluding Gwen and Morgana! Could that not be a yearly thing?
+ The Arthur/Merlin scenes actively pissed me off at first; their first scenes were HORRIBLE and free of any context or pretext or ANYTHING, just a random assortment of Arthur attacking Merlin. I was just about ready to turn the episode off at that point because I thought they were just trying to find a way to cram Arthur into the first half of the episode, and this was the only thing they could think of? Then, the third scene happened. Which started out in much the same way... but it turned out they were actually going somewhere with it in their clunky way. Arthur noticed Merlin was upset and was trying to get him to cheer up and/or open up, in his own very idiotic fashion that apparently usually works with knights: violence, physical exertion, etc. Turned out to be... not actually a bad scene?
It even works a little bit more when you consider that the last two times Arthur tried to get Merlin to open up with questions/conversation/attempts at sweetness (2x13 and 3x05), it was met with stony silence and a very shut-down Merlin. (easy to forget that yes, Arthur does know how to be nice, but Merlin and he are always attempting it at times when the other is not receptive to it - their dysfunction is not just Arthur's fault). Perhaps that's why Arthur took a different tack this time.
Ironically, THAT was the method that worked, because Merlin actually told him something this time. An incomplete something, but as much as Merlin ever tells anyone -- sort of like the incomplete somethings he's been telling Gwen since S1. Progress! (And also, it kinda shores up this side of my OT3 a little bit.)
Later, Merlin actually involved Arthur in the plot instead of working around him as usual, by telling him about Alice. It was kind of cool that Arthur had been starting to figure things out on his own before this, although since his train of thought was leading him straight for Gaius, one could argue that as being the only reason Merlin broke form.
BUT STILL. Arthur listened to him. I would have liked for Merlin to then tell Arthur that Alice was innocent herself, so that the rest of the ep could've gone somewhere interesting rather than more of Arthur being in lockstep with his dad, another missed opportunity for him to see magic differently, and leading to a really handwavy, lazy conclusion wherein Gaius happens to have broken Alice out when we weren't looking and things continue as usual.
+ Speaking of, very glad Alice wasn't killed. And, AND, unless I'm mistaken, we FINALLY had a female character who was acknowledged in the text as having great magical skill and power but who was not presented as evil or unable to control her powers. (Yes, she did fall under the thrall of the manticore, but it's still a very different situation than Freya, as it wasn't the nature of her magic that made her deadly, but a single experiment gone wrong). So yeah, I quite like Alice and I quite like what she means for the show.
I think it'd have been more interesting if some part of Alice HAD been out to get Uther without the manticore's help, considering she lost everything because of him, but apparently one can't try to kill Uther and still be good, because this show doesn't make sense a lot.
Lastly, Alice to Gaius: "It's far better to die free than to live as a slave". I feel like that has to be significant. She did everything Gaius was never brave enough to all these years, and now she's telling him this... idk.
+ Gaius lying to MERLIN, that's new.
+ The usual fuckery:
-- more plots centred on the need to keep Uther alive
-- Uther's GROSS hypocrisy in the beginning (oh now you have a problem with magical healage? fuck right off). Though I QUITE liked that Merls pointed it out, in a bit of continuity from 3x05.
-- Gaius' "you mustn't be afraid; I'm not the ~king, after all." No dude, you just bend over backwards to facilitate the king's tyranny, except when it comes to people you personally care about. You're NOT the king, but you def. have that in common.
-- ZERO Gwen and Morgeezy. I know that episode 8 and episode 10 were apparently switched but on the heels of Gwen's discovery, I hate that we didn't even SEE them this week. No excuse. NONE.
Finally, we come to the best thing about this episode: THE TRAILER FOR NEXT WEEK.
iiiiii actually have reservations but I can't for the life of me remember what they were! My point is, THIS IS GOING TO HAPPEN:
REVERSED BECAUSE peopleareshapes IS A GENIUS
Is it any surprise I did not have the brain capacity to review the ep yesterday as usual? GOOD LAWD.
crossposted like yeah |
comments
I'm used to having ships that aren't canon. Most of mine are not. I know how much it sucks and I would never mock that. I know how much this SHOW sucks sometimes, and I know people are angry. Personally Merlin has been making me angry from day one and continues to do so; compartmentalization has been the only way I have ever been able to enjoy it, EVER. At this point I tend to focus on the things about the show that do make me happy, but I get the frustration. I'm a multishipper; the show's been HARD for us in spots. That said, there's some stuff I don't get, stuff that doesn't make sense, stuff that actively annoys me, and that stuff mostly has to do with this assertion that Gwen and A/G have Ruined Everything. And I hope y'all know this isn't directed at everyone.
HERE, HAVE SOME LISTS.
Things That Are Not Gwen's Fault:
+ The oft-repetitive, regressive, yo-yo-tastic nature of Arthur and Merlin's relationship
+ The mediocre writing on the show in general
+ Morgana's transformation/metamorphosis/Smirk-lift/body-snatching/whatever one chooses to call it depending on how they interpret the situation
+ The fact that Gwen is actually consistently written
+ The fact that some characters recognize the quality of her milkshake
+ The fact that some previous incarnations of Guinevere have cheated on their husbands
+ The fact that Arthur and Merlin love her
+ Her spectacular cleavage
Things That Gwen Is Not:
+ a slut
+ a Mary Sue
+ ugly
+ taking screentime away from the boys *snort*
Things I Do Not Care About (i mean this! it's cool!):
+ other peoples' shipping preferences
+ the fact that not everyone likes/is interested in Gwen
+ the fact that A/G does not work for everyone
Things I Do Care About (srsly. not cool.):
+ using misogynistic, racist, generally problematic language when talking about Gwen
+ blaming Gwen and A/G for the show's problems, yes, ALL of them
+ acting like it's bad that Gwen is occasionally treated like a main character these days, not that she still gets to even be in every episode
+ the notion that a romantic storyline (read: Arthur's dick) has the power to remove any awesomeness that Gwen ever had (apparently Lancelot's dick does not have such power) and that the show would be much better if she'd just stay away from said dick - I mean, romantic storyline
'Kay? COOL.
+++
Now, this past episode of Merlin could not have POSSIBLY been less relevant to my interests. No Gwen, no Morgana, maximum Gaius, zzzzzZZZZzzz. That said, I usually review the episodes, and actually I do have some thinky thoughts on Arthur and Merlin and Gaius/Alice, and a few other things. This is not even a rant! *\o/* (LOL, pathstotread, I found a THERE there after all!)
+ After the ageist fail of 3x06 and the "lol ew old people love" messages therein, it was good that the Gaius/Alice relationship wasn't treated like a joke or a laughingstock, not even by Merlin when he first discovered it (pleasantly surprising given his mockage in 3x06).
+ HUGE Gaius/Alice and Merlin/Freya parallels. Similar use of both Alice and Freya as mirrors for their male counterparts' development, BLAH, but like with Freya, Alice wasn't nearly as faily as she could have been and had some small amount of agency. Freya and Alice were similar to Merlin and Gaius, and reminded them of things they deeply desired and could never have. Reminded them of the lives they could have had if they weren't bound to Arthur and Uther. And in both cases, it's not that simple: in Freya's case because she was NOT as similar to Merlin as he thought/hoped, and in Alice's case because Gaius is still too scared.
And, of course, Gaius was blind to the truth re: Alice, like Merlin was with Freya.
That said, dnw episodes that focus on their manpain whilst excluding Gwen and Morgana! Could that not be a yearly thing?
+ The Arthur/Merlin scenes actively pissed me off at first; their first scenes were HORRIBLE and free of any context or pretext or ANYTHING, just a random assortment of Arthur attacking Merlin. I was just about ready to turn the episode off at that point because I thought they were just trying to find a way to cram Arthur into the first half of the episode, and this was the only thing they could think of? Then, the third scene happened. Which started out in much the same way... but it turned out they were actually going somewhere with it in their clunky way. Arthur noticed Merlin was upset and was trying to get him to cheer up and/or open up, in his own very idiotic fashion that apparently usually works with knights: violence, physical exertion, etc. Turned out to be... not actually a bad scene?
It even works a little bit more when you consider that the last two times Arthur tried to get Merlin to open up with questions/conversation/attempts at sweetness (2x13 and 3x05), it was met with stony silence and a very shut-down Merlin. (easy to forget that yes, Arthur does know how to be nice, but Merlin and he are always attempting it at times when the other is not receptive to it - their dysfunction is not just Arthur's fault). Perhaps that's why Arthur took a different tack this time.
Ironically, THAT was the method that worked, because Merlin actually told him something this time. An incomplete something, but as much as Merlin ever tells anyone -- sort of like the incomplete somethings he's been telling Gwen since S1. Progress! (And also, it kinda shores up this side of my OT3 a little bit.)
Later, Merlin actually involved Arthur in the plot instead of working around him as usual, by telling him about Alice. It was kind of cool that Arthur had been starting to figure things out on his own before this, although since his train of thought was leading him straight for Gaius, one could argue that as being the only reason Merlin broke form.
BUT STILL. Arthur listened to him. I would have liked for Merlin to then tell Arthur that Alice was innocent herself, so that the rest of the ep could've gone somewhere interesting rather than more of Arthur being in lockstep with his dad, another missed opportunity for him to see magic differently, and leading to a really handwavy, lazy conclusion wherein Gaius happens to have broken Alice out when we weren't looking and things continue as usual.
+ Speaking of, very glad Alice wasn't killed. And, AND, unless I'm mistaken, we FINALLY had a female character who was acknowledged in the text as having great magical skill and power but who was not presented as evil or unable to control her powers. (Yes, she did fall under the thrall of the manticore, but it's still a very different situation than Freya, as it wasn't the nature of her magic that made her deadly, but a single experiment gone wrong). So yeah, I quite like Alice and I quite like what she means for the show.
I think it'd have been more interesting if some part of Alice HAD been out to get Uther without the manticore's help, considering she lost everything because of him, but apparently one can't try to kill Uther and still be good, because this show doesn't make sense a lot.
Lastly, Alice to Gaius: "It's far better to die free than to live as a slave". I feel like that has to be significant. She did everything Gaius was never brave enough to all these years, and now she's telling him this... idk.
+ Gaius lying to MERLIN, that's new.
+ The usual fuckery:
-- more plots centred on the need to keep Uther alive
-- Uther's GROSS hypocrisy in the beginning (oh now you have a problem with magical healage? fuck right off). Though I QUITE liked that Merls pointed it out, in a bit of continuity from 3x05.
-- Gaius' "you mustn't be afraid; I'm not the ~king, after all." No dude, you just bend over backwards to facilitate the king's tyranny, except when it comes to people you personally care about. You're NOT the king, but you def. have that in common.
-- ZERO Gwen and Morgeezy. I know that episode 8 and episode 10 were apparently switched but on the heels of Gwen's discovery, I hate that we didn't even SEE them this week. No excuse. NONE.
Finally, we come to the best thing about this episode: THE TRAILER FOR NEXT WEEK.
iiiiii actually have reservations but I can't for the life of me remember what they were! My point is, THIS IS GOING TO HAPPEN:
REVERSED BECAUSE peopleareshapes IS A GENIUS
Is it any surprise I did not have the brain capacity to review the ep yesterday as usual? GOOD LAWD.
crossposted like yeah |
comments