RL: Fleet Week / My Escape: Merlin
Hi, I had the day off on Friday and it was such an amazing day off. And then this last ep of Merlin, stole my heart.
On my day off I went with some friends to San Francisco as it's Fleet week. For those who aren't sure what that means, it's when the Navy comes into the bay and basically it's a week off for them. There are a whole bunch of festivities too celebrating our amazing heroic brave military. There's a fleet of ships, meet and greets, and a big air show. Now today and yesterday the official shows were on etc. But I love to go the day before. Even though it's crowded, it's not as packed as it is during the weekend. So on Friday I went with friends and we had a blast. The best thing for me is watching the Blue Angels. They're the elite Navy flying team. They fly with such precision and in such close proximity they take your breath away literally. And they love to sneak up on you. So often they come from behind where everyone's sitting (we were sitting closer to the water which is my favorite place to sit when I visit SF, even on non show days it's just so beautiful there) and roar right over your head. And these jets are so loud and so fast that when they do that it's such a thrill. I swear. I'm actually afraid of fireworks sometimes, the big sounds sometimes, but I love the roar of jets and I love when they fly so low over your head. As much as you feel a tinge of fear, you feel more adrenaline and it's just amazing. So it was just the best way to have a day off.
Now, onto the new ep of Merlin. Now two episodes in, I'm reminded strongly why I love this show and why it inspires me so much. It's the heart. Every character, even when they're sometimes lacking, has such heart on this show. It's like every actor, guest actors included, put so much depth into what they do as their characters. I go on this emotional ride with them all and while I laugh and nearly cry and get angry and cheer along, I just feel so much and it makes this show special I think. So onto a few things about it in particular.
The scenery: It thrills me to see the mountains and the forests and red cloaked knights riding through it on their gorgeous horses. I just love that image. And along with the beautiful music it's just so vivid, so powerful.
Merlin: Colin stole this episode for me. He was brilliant. The range of what Collin can play often astounds me. He makes you feel Merlin so deeply with and without words. The way he was on the horse when Arthur talked to him, oh my gosh. His expressions that whole part, oh my gosh they made me emotional. And then later how he's going from beaming with happiness to so much responsibility to keep Arthur safe, he's just such an expressive actor. In lesser hands this role would be about magic. But Colin turns it to strong human emotion.
Lancelot: Santiago always seems to do it. He makes me like and care about Lancelot. I didn't actually feel that bad about when he went into the gate, to death?, because he seemed so brave and okay with it. I think it was very meaningful that Lancelot was the one to see Merlin healed and to feel the protection of the spirits because you saw his wonder at the magic they created. I think that's partly why he didn't seem afraid to die. You could see him mesmerized in that scene before. Yes I think Lancelot was being honorable, making a sacrifice, etc, but it seemed it wasn't totally that for him. There was a part of him that wanted to go. And I loved Lancelot's reaction to the dragon. I think that's why I like Santiago so much. Lancelot could be so one dimensional easily, but he makes him much more with how he acts.
Guinevere: I love that she's getting her own scenes. I'm not that comfortable what's going on with Agravaine and her. He's frightening. Kind of sleazy almost. And I hope she's careful with him. I had issues with when she said that Arthur made her see that every citizen of Camelot is important because uh...no...she taught him that. He's always cared, but it's really taken her and Merlin to get him to look beyond his father's ways sometimes. But maybe that was just Guinevere being selfless. The way Angel played it out she made it convincing. I did love how in that scene though Gwen became her true climb to queen. That's a queen talking. And she's definitely getting there. The scene later where she felt guilty for Lancelot's death, I don't know. I was okay with it. I understood why Arthur left her alone, but I also wanted more a scene of them. I just don't know where that scene would have gone. Maybe that's why he walked away. It was the only place to take that scene. She needed to be alone with...Lancelot.
Arthur: Oddly I don't have a lot to say about Bradley in this show. He was great definitely. It's just his scenes kind of went with the others I talked about above. Anyway, I loved when he grasped Guinevere's hand and I loved when he showed his strong concern for Merlin.
Morgana: I liked her better last ep. My biggest issue with this still is the total destruction of her friendship with Guinevere. It's like it was never there. And we never got a true purposeful reason why she has no problem, no emotional conflict with hurting her. I understand she wants to be queen. I know she felt she was alone with her magic. But are we to believe their friendship was just some sham? It erases the depth of two whole seasons of this show. I think it would serve the show much more to have her want the crown so badly and yet be conflicted about what these people used to mean to her. That to me would show a complicated villain. One you could care about and one who would have dimension.
So I love this show. If I complain about some things it's because I do love it. Not everything about it please me, but enough does to make me want to watch it each time.
Comments are adored. Hope you've all had a great weekend. The episode inspired me to write: I'll be posting one or more short pieces soon and the final update to Queen of Hearts.
Hugs around!
On my day off I went with some friends to San Francisco as it's Fleet week. For those who aren't sure what that means, it's when the Navy comes into the bay and basically it's a week off for them. There are a whole bunch of festivities too celebrating our amazing heroic brave military. There's a fleet of ships, meet and greets, and a big air show. Now today and yesterday the official shows were on etc. But I love to go the day before. Even though it's crowded, it's not as packed as it is during the weekend. So on Friday I went with friends and we had a blast. The best thing for me is watching the Blue Angels. They're the elite Navy flying team. They fly with such precision and in such close proximity they take your breath away literally. And they love to sneak up on you. So often they come from behind where everyone's sitting (we were sitting closer to the water which is my favorite place to sit when I visit SF, even on non show days it's just so beautiful there) and roar right over your head. And these jets are so loud and so fast that when they do that it's such a thrill. I swear. I'm actually afraid of fireworks sometimes, the big sounds sometimes, but I love the roar of jets and I love when they fly so low over your head. As much as you feel a tinge of fear, you feel more adrenaline and it's just amazing. So it was just the best way to have a day off.
Now, onto the new ep of Merlin. Now two episodes in, I'm reminded strongly why I love this show and why it inspires me so much. It's the heart. Every character, even when they're sometimes lacking, has such heart on this show. It's like every actor, guest actors included, put so much depth into what they do as their characters. I go on this emotional ride with them all and while I laugh and nearly cry and get angry and cheer along, I just feel so much and it makes this show special I think. So onto a few things about it in particular.
The scenery: It thrills me to see the mountains and the forests and red cloaked knights riding through it on their gorgeous horses. I just love that image. And along with the beautiful music it's just so vivid, so powerful.
Merlin: Colin stole this episode for me. He was brilliant. The range of what Collin can play often astounds me. He makes you feel Merlin so deeply with and without words. The way he was on the horse when Arthur talked to him, oh my gosh. His expressions that whole part, oh my gosh they made me emotional. And then later how he's going from beaming with happiness to so much responsibility to keep Arthur safe, he's just such an expressive actor. In lesser hands this role would be about magic. But Colin turns it to strong human emotion.
Lancelot: Santiago always seems to do it. He makes me like and care about Lancelot. I didn't actually feel that bad about when he went into the gate, to death?, because he seemed so brave and okay with it. I think it was very meaningful that Lancelot was the one to see Merlin healed and to feel the protection of the spirits because you saw his wonder at the magic they created. I think that's partly why he didn't seem afraid to die. You could see him mesmerized in that scene before. Yes I think Lancelot was being honorable, making a sacrifice, etc, but it seemed it wasn't totally that for him. There was a part of him that wanted to go. And I loved Lancelot's reaction to the dragon. I think that's why I like Santiago so much. Lancelot could be so one dimensional easily, but he makes him much more with how he acts.
Guinevere: I love that she's getting her own scenes. I'm not that comfortable what's going on with Agravaine and her. He's frightening. Kind of sleazy almost. And I hope she's careful with him. I had issues with when she said that Arthur made her see that every citizen of Camelot is important because uh...no...she taught him that. He's always cared, but it's really taken her and Merlin to get him to look beyond his father's ways sometimes. But maybe that was just Guinevere being selfless. The way Angel played it out she made it convincing. I did love how in that scene though Gwen became her true climb to queen. That's a queen talking. And she's definitely getting there. The scene later where she felt guilty for Lancelot's death, I don't know. I was okay with it. I understood why Arthur left her alone, but I also wanted more a scene of them. I just don't know where that scene would have gone. Maybe that's why he walked away. It was the only place to take that scene. She needed to be alone with...Lancelot.
Arthur: Oddly I don't have a lot to say about Bradley in this show. He was great definitely. It's just his scenes kind of went with the others I talked about above. Anyway, I loved when he grasped Guinevere's hand and I loved when he showed his strong concern for Merlin.
Morgana: I liked her better last ep. My biggest issue with this still is the total destruction of her friendship with Guinevere. It's like it was never there. And we never got a true purposeful reason why she has no problem, no emotional conflict with hurting her. I understand she wants to be queen. I know she felt she was alone with her magic. But are we to believe their friendship was just some sham? It erases the depth of two whole seasons of this show. I think it would serve the show much more to have her want the crown so badly and yet be conflicted about what these people used to mean to her. That to me would show a complicated villain. One you could care about and one who would have dimension.
So I love this show. If I complain about some things it's because I do love it. Not everything about it please me, but enough does to make me want to watch it each time.
Comments are adored. Hope you've all had a great weekend. The episode inspired me to write: I'll be posting one or more short pieces soon and the final update to Queen of Hearts.
Hugs around!