Merlin 307: The Castle of Fyrien
OH NOES! GWEN! Seriously, my sadface at Morgana’s betrayals of her, it is enormously sad. Like Gareth David-Lloyd just saw a three-legged puppy.
LOL MORGANA’S EVIL SMIRK.
Oh Uther you’re so hilarious. “If your maid can no longer be relied upon we can easily replace her”, said with a complacently nasty expression, while all three of the other people in the room make BUT MY HEART BLEEDS expressions. And he just doesn’t notice :D
One of very few ways to make me love Gwen more: give her a complicated sibling relationship!
Is it wrong that I find Cenrid menacing Gwen totally hot? It is, isn’t it?
This is seriously why I love Merlin: in the middle of kidnapping and angst, there’s comedy Bradley-James-falling-over.
OMG ANGEL COULBY. YOU’RE SO GOOD AT THE ANGST. *sniffles* Her breaking down in the corridor...
At this point I am going to have a little rant about Arthur/Gwen.
Now I know the relationships on this programme often have little emotional continuity (see: Arthur/Merlin, Arthur/Morgana.) But it is really getting to me that we’ve seen nothing between Arthur and Gwen but longing looks and restrained flirtation for about a series now. I actually liked their beginnings. Gwen obviously had a crush on Merlin, they kissed, and then she got a crush on Arthur; I wasn’t crazy about how the kiss disappeared into the ether and was never referred to again but I liked that she was given a bit of romantic history pre-Arthur and Lancelot. Besides which, that is how it goes in RL! People like more than one person! And they kiss their friends when they’ve been having intimate talks with their friends who they fancy. The Once and Future Queen was very cute, for my money, and not implausible.
But I didn’t realise that was going to be the basis for a series of sighs. It was a cute we-fancy-each-other-and-get-on episode, it was not True Love. And there’s just been no communication since. No talking, no nothing; the sense of them being able to connect has just disappeared. And the fact that nothing has changed is even more risible with the passing of time between S2 and S3. Morgana went totally evil in that time! And apparently Arthur and Gwen have just spent two years pouting soulfully whenever they’re in the same room! It would have been irritating for them to handwave the growing of a real relationship between the two of them, but they were okay with handwaving the better part of Morgana’s corruption - and you’d expect some growth in a YEAR.
Wow, sorry. That was long. But it’s just so annoying; I find the two of them cute together, I really do, and in S1 they seemed to get on pretty well. It’s grating, at this point, to have them just repeating the same stuff, particularly since Gwen and Merlin get so little time together. I like Arthur/Gwen because I see it as adorable crushing on a friend, but it becomes increasingly clear that the writers think This Is It. Gwen was about to watch the man she loved marry another, not the man she rather liked marry another, and they needn’t do any more work establishing the pair’s feelings for each other. I grow Embittered.
Also, Gwen’s stuff about she belieeeeeves in Arthur? Getting weird and Victorian. Gwen stays in the castle and Believes in her man and gives him the strength to do important, manly things! Pfft. In S1 she had far more to do. And again, her belief would have more weight if she knew Arthur better.
Okay, back to the episode...
ARTHUR: I owe two silk dresses.
UTHER: What kind of wager was this?
LOL. I loved the super-suspicious tone. OH FATHER, THAT WAS JUST ONE TIME, YOU’RE SO UNTRUSTING.
Morgana in the corset-armour: still totally hot!
ARTHUR: *gallantly* I’ll protect you, Gwen!
MERLIN: *adorable Amused Best Mate grin*
GWEN: *adorable Amused By Alpha grin*
ARTHUR: *blushes*
Okay, so it’s still a tiny bit charming...
AHAHAHA THE BOYS. So cute. THE WOLVES! THEY MIGHT BE HERE! THEY DO FIND GOOSEBERRIES DELICIOUS!
OMG ACTUAL ARTHUR/GWEN CONVERSATION! A little bit oh-so-intense for my taste but they spoke!
The Merlin/Morgana tension is ftw.
LOL CENRID IS SO MORGAUSE’S BITCH. GIVE US A KICK IF YOU PLEASE YOUR MAJESTY.
ARTHUR: Oh, well, if you’ve got an instinct we’ll ignore my lifetime of military experience.
It might have been a short lifetime but I LOVED this line. Yes, Arthur! Ignore the fantasy-historical party line harder!
OH NOES! AMBUSH!
AHAHAHA. Not gonna lie, Morgana’s acting skillz and Cenrid’s twirly bow made me grin madly. Also enjoying Arthur being all valiant and on his knees:D
I love how the pronunciation of Elian’s name varies from scene to scene. Yay for sibling bonding and Elian being hilariously big-bro about Arthur. Also, the Arthur/Merlin inna-cell scene was awesome.
Ninja!Arthur = totally hot. Also LOL, MERLIN, you just SMACKED THE SOLDIER with the sword and he fell over.
Oh whaaaat. Seriously, Gwen’s leaving Arthur and Morgana? Not to mention Merlin? GWEN, WE HARDLY KNEW YE >:
W00t! Merlin is a BAMF :D
As is Elian! Their not leaving would’ve been better if they weren’t hanging out outside, but I guess they would’ve gone in to get the others if need be. Oh Gwen, I’m so glad the love interest role hasn’t entirely eviscerated your awesome :D
Yay, Arthur said it! I mean, we’ve not seen very much... at all... of why he loves her, but they talked and progress was made this episode, so I’m calling it a 1-0 sort of win.
LOL MORGANA’S EVIL SMIRK.
Oh Uther you’re so hilarious. “If your maid can no longer be relied upon we can easily replace her”, said with a complacently nasty expression, while all three of the other people in the room make BUT MY HEART BLEEDS expressions. And he just doesn’t notice :D
One of very few ways to make me love Gwen more: give her a complicated sibling relationship!
Is it wrong that I find Cenrid menacing Gwen totally hot? It is, isn’t it?
This is seriously why I love Merlin: in the middle of kidnapping and angst, there’s comedy Bradley-James-falling-over.
OMG ANGEL COULBY. YOU’RE SO GOOD AT THE ANGST. *sniffles* Her breaking down in the corridor...
At this point I am going to have a little rant about Arthur/Gwen.
Now I know the relationships on this programme often have little emotional continuity (see: Arthur/Merlin, Arthur/Morgana.) But it is really getting to me that we’ve seen nothing between Arthur and Gwen but longing looks and restrained flirtation for about a series now. I actually liked their beginnings. Gwen obviously had a crush on Merlin, they kissed, and then she got a crush on Arthur; I wasn’t crazy about how the kiss disappeared into the ether and was never referred to again but I liked that she was given a bit of romantic history pre-Arthur and Lancelot. Besides which, that is how it goes in RL! People like more than one person! And they kiss their friends when they’ve been having intimate talks with their friends who they fancy. The Once and Future Queen was very cute, for my money, and not implausible.
But I didn’t realise that was going to be the basis for a series of sighs. It was a cute we-fancy-each-other-and-get-on episode, it was not True Love. And there’s just been no communication since. No talking, no nothing; the sense of them being able to connect has just disappeared. And the fact that nothing has changed is even more risible with the passing of time between S2 and S3. Morgana went totally evil in that time! And apparently Arthur and Gwen have just spent two years pouting soulfully whenever they’re in the same room! It would have been irritating for them to handwave the growing of a real relationship between the two of them, but they were okay with handwaving the better part of Morgana’s corruption - and you’d expect some growth in a YEAR.
Wow, sorry. That was long. But it’s just so annoying; I find the two of them cute together, I really do, and in S1 they seemed to get on pretty well. It’s grating, at this point, to have them just repeating the same stuff, particularly since Gwen and Merlin get so little time together. I like Arthur/Gwen because I see it as adorable crushing on a friend, but it becomes increasingly clear that the writers think This Is It. Gwen was about to watch the man she loved marry another, not the man she rather liked marry another, and they needn’t do any more work establishing the pair’s feelings for each other. I grow Embittered.
Also, Gwen’s stuff about she belieeeeeves in Arthur? Getting weird and Victorian. Gwen stays in the castle and Believes in her man and gives him the strength to do important, manly things! Pfft. In S1 she had far more to do. And again, her belief would have more weight if she knew Arthur better.
Okay, back to the episode...
ARTHUR: I owe two silk dresses.
UTHER: What kind of wager was this?
LOL. I loved the super-suspicious tone. OH FATHER, THAT WAS JUST ONE TIME, YOU’RE SO UNTRUSTING.
Morgana in the corset-armour: still totally hot!
ARTHUR: *gallantly* I’ll protect you, Gwen!
MERLIN: *adorable Amused Best Mate grin*
GWEN: *adorable Amused By Alpha grin*
ARTHUR: *blushes*
Okay, so it’s still a tiny bit charming...
AHAHAHA THE BOYS. So cute. THE WOLVES! THEY MIGHT BE HERE! THEY DO FIND GOOSEBERRIES DELICIOUS!
OMG ACTUAL ARTHUR/GWEN CONVERSATION! A little bit oh-so-intense for my taste but they spoke!
The Merlin/Morgana tension is ftw.
LOL CENRID IS SO MORGAUSE’S BITCH. GIVE US A KICK IF YOU PLEASE YOUR MAJESTY.
ARTHUR: Oh, well, if you’ve got an instinct we’ll ignore my lifetime of military experience.
It might have been a short lifetime but I LOVED this line. Yes, Arthur! Ignore the fantasy-historical party line harder!
OH NOES! AMBUSH!
AHAHAHA. Not gonna lie, Morgana’s acting skillz and Cenrid’s twirly bow made me grin madly. Also enjoying Arthur being all valiant and on his knees:D
I love how the pronunciation of Elian’s name varies from scene to scene. Yay for sibling bonding and Elian being hilariously big-bro about Arthur. Also, the Arthur/Merlin inna-cell scene was awesome.
Ninja!Arthur = totally hot. Also LOL, MERLIN, you just SMACKED THE SOLDIER with the sword and he fell over.
Oh whaaaat. Seriously, Gwen’s leaving Arthur and Morgana? Not to mention Merlin? GWEN, WE HARDLY KNEW YE >:
W00t! Merlin is a BAMF :D
As is Elian! Their not leaving would’ve been better if they weren’t hanging out outside, but I guess they would’ve gone in to get the others if need be. Oh Gwen, I’m so glad the love interest role hasn’t entirely eviscerated your awesome :D
Yay, Arthur said it! I mean, we’ve not seen very much... at all... of why he loves her, but they talked and progress was made this episode, so I’m calling it a 1-0 sort of win.