Merlin 512 : initial reaction post....:-(((((((
OK, I should be packing cos I'm on a plane in 6 1/2hrs...but What The HELLLLLLLL!!!!!!! Click the link to read...
[Click to Open Spoilers / angry venting...]Magic-sucking slug - oh yeah, another DEM cos they couldn't find a more realistic way to handicap Merlin. Really!?! Though I actually like Morgana in this scene...for some reason. And hey, Mordreds chainmail is suddenly black? Who knew being a turn coat also turned the colour of one's chainmail.
Tavern scene - nice but...come on! You mean no-one saw the glowy golden eyes?!??! Tho' it's nice to see Merlin actually AT the Tavern, for real.
BAMF!Gaius with an iron...cooooool!
Why would they kill all the magic-sucking slugs in the Purge? Surely, that's a useful tool for Uther and the like?
Kinda like seeing Mordred & Morgana doing magics together.
Gwaine saving Eira - come on...everyone knows that's a total set up. And we know Morgana has a grudge against Gwaine, but waaay weak plot device.
Liked the Gwaine / Merlin interactions on the whole. A nice throwback to the old Gwaine / Merlin friendship, which TPTB seemed to have totally forgotten recently.
Roundtable planning - poor old Merlin relegated to truly an observer. Gwen pontificating about not being able to save everyone - WTF? Has she totally lost her compassion? And everything she saw in Arthur. No, just plain no.
Aithusa & the sword - why? Why does Morgana think she needs to provide this for Mordred? Arthur is mortal - any old blade would kill him. Pointless.
The map - anyone got a good screen cap of that? We might finally be able to work the Albion geography.
'I know him better than he knows himself' Merlin re Arthur. Really??? Bollocks. If he did, we wouldnt be in this predicament, and Merlin would have fessed up to Arthur a long damn time ago.
Gwaine is a total blabber mouth. Loose lips sink ships (WWII posters).
Arthur to Merlin re not going with him to Camlann - For this, for Arthur inferring directly to Merlin that he's a coward, J4 should be hung, drawn & quartered. I have totally lost my capacity to comment on this - it makes me so FURIOUS!!!!
Gwen going with Arthur - no way, no how, not ever! One last ditch effort from J4 to screw the Arwen firmly to the sticking post. But the enlightened amongst us know that this is total FAIL!
How come Morgana knows nothing about the Crystal Cave, and it takes Mordred to tell her about it? She's supposed to be a High Priestess of the Old Religion, but she doesn't know about this??? I call Bollocks again (Yeah, I'll be repeating this word ad nauseam for the rest of the reaction post. So sue me!!!)
Merlin / Gwaine at the Crystal Cave - I liked this scene. Nice to see them being the friends they used to be. And Gwaine knows.....he just totally knows it's all down to Merlin. I liked the way he stood up and almost saluted Merlin at the end. We should have more of this...
Morgana / Merlin in the Cave - suddenly she can flit about and apparate at will????? Where did she suddenly get this level of power? And if she's that powerful, why didn't she lay waste to Camelot / Arthur / Merlin a hell of a lot earlier. I call Bollocks. But yay, Merlin whacked her with the sword! Not totally useless with sharp, pointy things then! :-)
Merlin at the rockfall - Oh Colin!!! Nice acting, feel your pain lad, but even you can't save this dire storyline...
Gaius / Arthur / Gwen in the forest - OK, seriously pissed with Arthur now. He's lost total faith in Merlin in such a short time. Why? How? Frankly, he doesn't deserve Merlin's devotion if this is his reaction. And Gwen suddenly found a brain cell? WTF???
The Field Of Camlann - no...not a quarry in South Wales. It's supposed to be a f'king plain...a field!!! As shown in the previous 'visions' in the crystals / Morgana's vision.
Balinor - yay! Though I'm not overwhelmed with the Yoda'esque appearance, John Lynch is good to see. But considering Balinor had pretty much 2 days to realise Merlin was his son & reconcile himself to that (The Last Dragonlord), he's awfully fast in his devotion to the son he never realised he had in the first place. And hate hate HATE the portending re 'that you have always been, and will always will be' i.e. eternal immortal Emrys. Right now, I'm soooo pissed with J4 for turning Merlin into Old!Merlin to get him out of the CC, that I'm losing the capacity to type.... gah! [EDIT : on reflection, see comment below.]
Arthur / Gwen pre-battle pep talk. Gah! More Arwenisation. It's puke making. Arthur can only find his hope and way forward because Gwen says she believes in him. And that bridal carry....should have been in a much earlier ep, where it was credible. They've been married for almost 4 years....no, not still newlyweds.
Morgana sends her 100 best warriors - 'cos of course someone might send their 100 least effective warriors otherwise.
Merlin in the CC - suddenly gets his magic back...because while he was unconscious, he remembered 'hope'. yeah...whatever you say J4. Oh, and he's suddenly found the capacity to scry through the crystals without being overwhelmed per previous visit. However I might carry a little hope from this, because there seemed to be a vision of young!Merlin, which might possibly imply that old!Merlin isn't the only sight we seem of him next ep. Then again, it could just be flashbacks to previous visions and episodes and J4 continue to fuck with us.
Love the fact that Arthur actually 'hears' Merlin in his dream and wakes up with Merlin's name on his lips, whilst clasped to Gwen's (fully clothed) bosom. LOL. Merthur for ever!! And he actually acts on the advice.
Bradley's 'Henry V' audition piece - go BJ, and I look forward to seeing him in a Shakespeare play sometime soon. And that whole 'future of the United Kingdom's' reference - you know that's J4 telling us this is going to end up in modern UK. Sigh. Can it get any worse? That's a rhetorical question, of course...
Balinor to Merlin - 'Your journey has only just begun...' Uh oh. So we're going to get some form of Emrys in modern times. Cos this Dark Ages!Merlin is just the beginning of his looooooong journey. 'Only in the heart of the Crystal Cave will your true self be revealed.' You've asked us (and the casual viewer) to invest time in watching Merlin as a boy and a young man grow into a caricature with stunted, blocked, emasculated potential but his 'true self', and the only way he can come fully into his powers, is to become be an 80 year old man, and you want us to just accept that... J4, I SO hate you right now. [EDIT : on reflection, I can live with this, as a way for Merlin to get himself out of this sticky situation....just. But only if he's chosen old!Merlin as a disguise for his adventures on the battlefield. If it's the only way he can tap into his 'true' power, then I'm still pissssssed.]
'I will always be, as you will always be' - yet another moment for Balinor J4 to remind us that Emrys is immortal and undying...and going to turn up in modern times. Shiiiiit.
Slo-mo sword fighing...is good in short doses, people. And whilst Bradley does look truly heroic in these scenes, you need a lighter touch on this, folks.
Uh oh...old!Merlin is pisssssssed!! Much like me.
And I'm sure everyone noticed that the 'I'm a sorcerer. I have magic' quote had NO visual, so that J4 can keep us guessing for 48 more painful hours as to how Merlin reveals this and whether he's old or young, and precisely who it's to... Whilst it seems to me that the voice was a young!Merlin, I would rather they hadn't included that voiceover in the trailer frankly.
So J4, fcuk you very much for this episode. It lived up down to my worst expectations. And I'm just counting the hours till I can call it quits with all this bollocks and return to the happy land of fanfic.
[Click to Open Spoilers / angry venting...]Magic-sucking slug - oh yeah, another DEM cos they couldn't find a more realistic way to handicap Merlin. Really!?! Though I actually like Morgana in this scene...for some reason. And hey, Mordreds chainmail is suddenly black? Who knew being a turn coat also turned the colour of one's chainmail.
Tavern scene - nice but...come on! You mean no-one saw the glowy golden eyes?!??! Tho' it's nice to see Merlin actually AT the Tavern, for real.
BAMF!Gaius with an iron...cooooool!
Why would they kill all the magic-sucking slugs in the Purge? Surely, that's a useful tool for Uther and the like?
Kinda like seeing Mordred & Morgana doing magics together.
Gwaine saving Eira - come on...everyone knows that's a total set up. And we know Morgana has a grudge against Gwaine, but waaay weak plot device.
Liked the Gwaine / Merlin interactions on the whole. A nice throwback to the old Gwaine / Merlin friendship, which TPTB seemed to have totally forgotten recently.
Roundtable planning - poor old Merlin relegated to truly an observer. Gwen pontificating about not being able to save everyone - WTF? Has she totally lost her compassion? And everything she saw in Arthur. No, just plain no.
Aithusa & the sword - why? Why does Morgana think she needs to provide this for Mordred? Arthur is mortal - any old blade would kill him. Pointless.
The map - anyone got a good screen cap of that? We might finally be able to work the Albion geography.
'I know him better than he knows himself' Merlin re Arthur. Really??? Bollocks. If he did, we wouldnt be in this predicament, and Merlin would have fessed up to Arthur a long damn time ago.
Gwaine is a total blabber mouth. Loose lips sink ships (WWII posters).
Arthur to Merlin re not going with him to Camlann - For this, for Arthur inferring directly to Merlin that he's a coward, J4 should be hung, drawn & quartered. I have totally lost my capacity to comment on this - it makes me so FURIOUS!!!!
Gwen going with Arthur - no way, no how, not ever! One last ditch effort from J4 to screw the Arwen firmly to the sticking post. But the enlightened amongst us know that this is total FAIL!
How come Morgana knows nothing about the Crystal Cave, and it takes Mordred to tell her about it? She's supposed to be a High Priestess of the Old Religion, but she doesn't know about this??? I call Bollocks again (Yeah, I'll be repeating this word ad nauseam for the rest of the reaction post. So sue me!!!)
Merlin / Gwaine at the Crystal Cave - I liked this scene. Nice to see them being the friends they used to be. And Gwaine knows.....he just totally knows it's all down to Merlin. I liked the way he stood up and almost saluted Merlin at the end. We should have more of this...
Morgana / Merlin in the Cave - suddenly she can flit about and apparate at will????? Where did she suddenly get this level of power? And if she's that powerful, why didn't she lay waste to Camelot / Arthur / Merlin a hell of a lot earlier. I call Bollocks. But yay, Merlin whacked her with the sword! Not totally useless with sharp, pointy things then! :-)
Merlin at the rockfall - Oh Colin!!! Nice acting, feel your pain lad, but even you can't save this dire storyline...
Gaius / Arthur / Gwen in the forest - OK, seriously pissed with Arthur now. He's lost total faith in Merlin in such a short time. Why? How? Frankly, he doesn't deserve Merlin's devotion if this is his reaction. And Gwen suddenly found a brain cell? WTF???
The Field Of Camlann - no...not a quarry in South Wales. It's supposed to be a f'king plain...a field!!! As shown in the previous 'visions' in the crystals / Morgana's vision.
Balinor - yay! Though I'm not overwhelmed with the Yoda'esque appearance, John Lynch is good to see. But considering Balinor had pretty much 2 days to realise Merlin was his son & reconcile himself to that (The Last Dragonlord), he's awfully fast in his devotion to the son he never realised he had in the first place. And hate hate HATE the portending re 'that you have always been, and will always will be' i.e. eternal immortal Emrys. Right now, I'm soooo pissed with J4 for turning Merlin into Old!Merlin to get him out of the CC, that I'm losing the capacity to type.... gah! [EDIT : on reflection, see comment below.]
Arthur / Gwen pre-battle pep talk. Gah! More Arwenisation. It's puke making. Arthur can only find his hope and way forward because Gwen says she believes in him. And that bridal carry....should have been in a much earlier ep, where it was credible. They've been married for almost 4 years....no, not still newlyweds.
Morgana sends her 100 best warriors - 'cos of course someone might send their 100 least effective warriors otherwise.
Merlin in the CC - suddenly gets his magic back...because while he was unconscious, he remembered 'hope'. yeah...whatever you say J4. Oh, and he's suddenly found the capacity to scry through the crystals without being overwhelmed per previous visit. However I might carry a little hope from this, because there seemed to be a vision of young!Merlin, which might possibly imply that old!Merlin isn't the only sight we seem of him next ep. Then again, it could just be flashbacks to previous visions and episodes and J4 continue to fuck with us.
Love the fact that Arthur actually 'hears' Merlin in his dream and wakes up with Merlin's name on his lips, whilst clasped to Gwen's (fully clothed) bosom. LOL. Merthur for ever!! And he actually acts on the advice.
Bradley's 'Henry V' audition piece - go BJ, and I look forward to seeing him in a Shakespeare play sometime soon. And that whole 'future of the United Kingdom's' reference - you know that's J4 telling us this is going to end up in modern UK. Sigh. Can it get any worse? That's a rhetorical question, of course...
Balinor to Merlin - 'Your journey has only just begun...' Uh oh. So we're going to get some form of Emrys in modern times. Cos this Dark Ages!Merlin is just the beginning of his looooooong journey. 'Only in the heart of the Crystal Cave will your true self be revealed.' You've asked us (and the casual viewer) to invest time in watching Merlin as a boy and a young man grow into a caricature with stunted, blocked, emasculated potential but his 'true self', and the only way he can come fully into his powers, is to become be an 80 year old man, and you want us to just accept that... J4, I SO hate you right now. [EDIT : on reflection, I can live with this, as a way for Merlin to get himself out of this sticky situation....just. But only if he's chosen old!Merlin as a disguise for his adventures on the battlefield. If it's the only way he can tap into his 'true' power, then I'm still pissssssed.]
'I will always be, as you will always be' - yet another moment for Balinor J4 to remind us that Emrys is immortal and undying...and going to turn up in modern times. Shiiiiit.
Slo-mo sword fighing...is good in short doses, people. And whilst Bradley does look truly heroic in these scenes, you need a lighter touch on this, folks.
Uh oh...old!Merlin is pisssssssed!! Much like me.
And I'm sure everyone noticed that the 'I'm a sorcerer. I have magic' quote had NO visual, so that J4 can keep us guessing for 48 more painful hours as to how Merlin reveals this and whether he's old or young, and precisely who it's to... Whilst it seems to me that the voice was a young!Merlin, I would rather they hadn't included that voiceover in the trailer frankly.
So J4, fcuk you very much for this episode. It lived up down to my worst expectations. And I'm just counting the hours till I can call it quits with all this bollocks and return to the happy land of fanfic.