On the day before...

[selenak]

Since I have a few new people on my flist, let me repeat last year's pimping of In the Bleak Midwinter as one of my favourite Christmas movies. Directed and written by Kenneth Branagh but not starring him, about a Christmas production of Hamlet in the provinces, featuring the usual Branagh suspects as the ensemble, witty and despite stern

Comments

[heather]

Well-said re: Gwen. The S1!Gwen nostalgia is probably the most deeply annoying thing in Merlin fandom for me. I wish this f!s were the first time I'd read it but it isn't and whenever someone mentions a wish to return to S1!Gwen, all I can hear is that they want to go back to when she was near-invisible, meek, and liked the boy who didn't like her back. Needless to say I have zero patience for that.

[selenak]

Same here. And the hypocrisy is so galling. "She wasn't all about a man then." You know, because having an unrequited crush on Merlin is so much stronger than having a requited romance with Arthur and a friendship on equal terms with Merlin, and having more fleshed out family background.

oh, and this gem: Morgana's "I forgot that you etc." quote is seen as the show admitting they completely forgot about Tom's death, too, because clearly the various references this season pre finale and the time Gwen brought it up in "The Witchfinder" don't count. Rather than being a crucial part of Morgana's characterisation.

[zahrawithaz]

Just jumping in to say ARGH. I too have seen weird denial about Morgana's forgetting comment and it just drives me mad. What show are these people watching? (I know, I know, the one in their heads where Morgana is the idealized champion of the downtrodden and nothing like the complicated, flawed, and fascinating character we see on screen.)

I love that line, too. So very, very Morgana. And the fact that she had forgotten Gwen's good reason(s) to hold a grudge against Uther makes the whole question of why she wanted Gwen to pledge allegiance to her in 3x12 all the more fascinating.

[selenak]

As I said in my review of the finale, that line is probably the best character moment for Morgana-as-a-villain in the entire season, because it comes without malice (let alone smirks (tm)) - and yet it entirely shows what in her character made her actions possible.

[zahrawithaz]

whenever someone mentions a wish to return to S1!Gwen, all I can hear is that they want to go back to when she was near-invisible, meek, and liked the boy who didn't like her back

In other words, they liked the black girl fine as long as she was doing the white girl's laundry. But when she gets actual power, agency, and fuller characterization, suddenly she's a threat.

it's like a segment of fandom had Morgana's same nightmare from 3x10, and the same reaction to it. Gah.