I knnoooooowwww :( It was just a seriously weird episode all round - Gwen's motivation at the end - totally back to front; Arthur's weird behaviour (he took the news Gwen was missing in the tight-jawed, stoic, 'oh well' way Arsenal supporters take the latest results. "We ride at dawn," didnt seem that urgent somehow. And yeah - I cant work out the M/A in this episode at all. The words they said were fine I suppose - it was the weird almost detached formality of the delivery- but then the whole episode felt like that - like no one could really be arsed trying to act a plot that stupid. The promise was... what was that? Arthur accepted it without a sneer but are we k=meant to believe he set any store on it? Why would he? Maybe we were just meant to think Arthur was accepting Merlin's comfort. maybe its because they never really got much of a chance to talk about anything much- the episode wasnt about them and was all the weaker for that.
Is it partly how theyre playing it do you think? Maybe Colin's made the choice to never smile to show how serious everythings meant to be and Arthurs pretty grim most of the time too. I think its a huge mistake - lightness was part of the relationship to counter the insults they write in. Its really weird - in 4.01-4.03 things seemed fine if more po-faced than usual. Now theyre playing it as if they're in Game of Thrones
I suppose to the general audience the end might have been a shock? Maybe they cant see the huge 'Goodnight Vienna' signs hanging over Elyan from the start and maybe Gwens transformation was a shock - put it this way there wasn't any reason given Morgana had just killed her brother who she still seemed to love, so theres every reason they'd be a bit startled.
From what I've seen Gwen may be The Viper At The Bosom til 4.09 - so they have one of their top 5 favourite tropes going strong yet again, keeping them in their comfort zone. I wonder how far they WILL go with evil Gwen though - dare they make her so effective that she does things that are not easily wiped out? If they make her a serious threat it may take some doing for Arthur to trust her again - though in true Fairytale fashion they may of course reset by having Arthur Never Know because Gwen Really Suffers, thus making this arc 100% self indulgent and pointless.
Yes I wish they'd at least referred to last weeks magic reset but I knew they wouldn't, just as they never referred to Uther's return the week after. Until they pull that arc out of the drawer again we're supposed to forget it I think. Kids TV.
Interesting review - thank you! Thats the second Ive seen on those lines - Dork Adore (I think?) was similar- its great to see some people breaking ranks from the general uninformed, mindless gushing on Net sites!
It is, isn't it? I loved how this reviewer was all like: "well, no magic reveal this time either, FAIL" LOL. It's good to know there are logical people out there. BTW I think you mean 5.01-5.03 and 5.09 not 4. It's the fifth series after all :P This ep had so many pointless things in it. Queen Mab, for example. Absolutely no reason for her. Though I liked how she looked, tbh. My belief is that in this episode B and C were told to hold the bromance of, make way for the Arwen romance. That's why they looked so business-like. So formal. It's definitely the weaker episode in this season by far. Even my boyfriend, who watches the show but doesn't take it too seriously, so things like ep 5x05 don't annoy him as much as they do me, said it was a bad episode. There was almost no humour, and no Arthur/Merlin interaction, and as tptb themselves pointed out Merlin and Arthur are the core of this show. That promise scene was clearly put there for the sake of having something akin to a A/M scene, but it was so obsolete that it looked almost completely irrelevant. The bottom line of this episode for me is "Who the hell cares..." I knew Elyan was dying from the Cold Con Q&A last week and, frankly, he wasn't even one of my favorite knights. He was the least explored one, imo. And traitor!Gwen... As they said in the DorkAdore review "another smirking traitor in Camelot? Do they have no other ideas? " aka BORING.
Whoops! 4.09 has clearly carved itself on my psyche and not in a good way. :I cant edit so I MEANT 5.09. PEOPLE! :p
Thats an interesting theory actually - it was an Overcompensation episode so they held back the racehorse.
Your boyfriend was right - no humour and little A/M and we see what we get. Maybe Gwen and Morgana just cant carry an episode unless you really are an extreme fan?
Did they say Elyan was dying at Coldcon? I didnt know until he began with the guilt-trip and after that - well Queen Mab was shoved in just to make sure there weren't any actual genuine plot surprises because we don't want any of those do we? She was like... one of those people who ruin movies you've never seen before by announcing 'they all die at the end' just after the opening titles.
Yeah, she was like a spoiler-y Tinkerbell... In Cold Con when asked who's the most clumsy on set Colin answered Tomiwa and Eoin added "That's why they got rid of him, he's just taking up too much time..." I'm just happy that they added the Gwen Elyan episode in their "our poor Queen is enchanted/Stockholmed" storyline. Imagine if they did these 4 eps about Gwen and then added a fifth episode about her and Elyan? I mean, the entire series has only 13 episodes. If half of them are about Gwen, the other half about Arthur, us Merlin fans should go kill ourselves. Oh wait... Shit.
I do agree that the prospect of yet another episode going South to pacify Gwen's fans was uber depressing. It shows how misleading the 'pointers' pre-season from the show runners are though - Gwen and Elyan would have their own episode and go on a quest apparently. To lay some flowers? Hmm.. not quite.
I have very very low expectations of the Overcompensation/Its Not Her Fault arc, yet I still suspect Im going to be disappointed.
We'll see. Perhaps they'll have more Merthur moments in the next episodes. After all I really doubt they'll have romantic Arwen scenes while Gwen will be secretely plotting her husband's demise. Who knows? Did you see the plot synopsis for 5x09? It's the episode where Merlin has to turn Gwen back to the good side. I know I'm probably way off, but do you think they could do a Gwen magic reveal in that episode? On one hand I can't put anything past them, on the other I don't think the super perfect queen Gwen could keep Merlin's secret from her husband for more than half an episode, so...
Oh I suspect they'll have a go at romantic Arwen moments to give 'dramatic irony' - they're very find at trying to get that going (like having Arthur behaving in that un-Arthur way toward Mordred - they cant do anything subtly. Id like to think Im wrong but - I expect much revving from the donkey's motorbike as Gwen tries to knock Arthur off. It'll be poignant - Little Arthur shows how much he loves and depends on The Moral Compass even as she is trying to despatch him.
A reveal to Gwen? I dont know. Once Id have hated the idea - now Id take it as a sign something is going to happen with Arthur. Biut from the shots of people being hanged by Gwen - Im not so sure. I think they may even go for hardline Gwen with the excuse of her experience with Morgana? She was certainly ready to hang the girl who was trying to fool Gwaine in the last eps.I guess it would be a character advancement of sorts?
tsk tsk tsk... while last ep's was being actively avoided, this one was just effortlessly DOA. Bummer for 3-more weeks of Angel-powerhouse acting extravaganza, then the Mordred-showcase will kick back in again. So where would that leave Merlin - nada :(. Even a couple of episodes of would-be patronizing recognition won't negate the fact that Merlin is basically a thankless servant for most of the other 63 episodes.
I guess its too late now though. The episodes are in the bag - all we can do is snipe as the bodies are carried past one by one.
Im at the point I just want a reveal. And both of them to survive. But most of all not to leave Colin/Merlin as an old man at Arthur's side, while he never knows who he is or what young Merlin did. That would be the cruellest two fingers up to the fans of all.
hmmm... TPTB's Arthur doesn't deserved Merlin. For all that cliche'd destiny, Merlin can just enchant Excalibur and struck it back into a stone mounted at Camelot's courtyard which would act as a beacon that inhibits any magic inside Camelot and entrap Arthur inside as well. Then Merlin will be able to have some fun magic times outside of Camelot and then get himself a new boyfriend... haha. :D
Sadly though, an old!Merlin by Arthur's side would actually be the most plausible brilliant nod of the writers to the actual legend. They're awesome you know.
Oh totally awesome. The fact they've trampled all of the rest of legend into the ground - only to possibly decide to 'meet' an utterly unimportant part of it at the bitter end by screwing the most popular character...definitely awesome. I think that would probably be one of the most hated show ends ever - but maybe thats what they're going to go for.
Is it partly how theyre playing it do you think? Maybe Colin's made the choice to never smile to show how serious everythings meant to be and Arthurs pretty grim most of the time too. I think its a huge mistake - lightness was part of the relationship to counter the insults they write in. Its really weird - in 4.01-4.03 things seemed fine if more po-faced than usual. Now theyre playing it as if they're in Game of Thrones
I suppose to the general audience the end might have been a shock? Maybe they cant see the huge 'Goodnight Vienna' signs hanging over Elyan from the start and maybe Gwens transformation was a shock - put it this way there wasn't any reason given Morgana had just killed her brother who she still seemed to love, so theres every reason they'd be a bit startled.
From what I've seen Gwen may be The Viper At The Bosom til 4.09 - so they have one of their top 5 favourite tropes going strong yet again, keeping them in their comfort zone. I wonder how far they WILL go with evil Gwen though - dare they make her so effective that she does things that are not easily wiped out? If they make her a serious threat it may take some doing for Arthur to trust her again - though in true Fairytale fashion they may of course reset by having Arthur Never Know because Gwen Really Suffers, thus making this arc 100% self indulgent and pointless.
Yes I wish they'd at least referred to last weeks magic reset but I knew they wouldn't, just as they never referred to Uther's return the week after. Until they pull that arc out of the drawer again we're supposed to forget it I think. Kids TV.
Interesting review - thank you! Thats the second Ive seen on those lines - Dork Adore (I think?) was similar- its great to see some people breaking ranks from the general uninformed, mindless gushing on Net sites!
Reply
BTW I think you mean 5.01-5.03 and 5.09 not 4. It's the fifth series after all :P
This ep had so many pointless things in it. Queen Mab, for example. Absolutely no reason for her. Though I liked how she looked, tbh.
My belief is that in this episode B and C were told to hold the bromance of, make way for the Arwen romance. That's why they looked so business-like. So formal.
It's definitely the weaker episode in this season by far. Even my boyfriend, who watches the show but doesn't take it too seriously, so things like ep 5x05 don't annoy him as much as they do me, said it was a bad episode. There was almost no humour, and no Arthur/Merlin interaction, and as tptb themselves pointed out Merlin and Arthur are the core of this show.
That promise scene was clearly put there for the sake of having something akin to a A/M scene, but it was so obsolete that it looked almost completely irrelevant.
The bottom line of this episode for me is "Who the hell cares..."
I knew Elyan was dying from the Cold Con Q&A last week and, frankly, he wasn't even one of my favorite knights. He was the least explored one, imo. And traitor!Gwen... As they said in the DorkAdore review "another smirking traitor in Camelot? Do they have no other ideas? " aka BORING.
Reply
Thats an interesting theory actually - it was an Overcompensation episode so they held back the racehorse.
Your boyfriend was right - no humour and little A/M and we see what we get. Maybe Gwen and Morgana just cant carry an episode unless you really are an extreme fan?
Did they say Elyan was dying at Coldcon? I didnt know until he began with the guilt-trip and after that - well Queen Mab was shoved in just to make sure there weren't any actual genuine plot surprises because we don't want any of those do we? She was like... one of those people who ruin movies you've never seen before by announcing 'they all die at the end' just after the opening titles.
Reply
In Cold Con when asked who's the most clumsy on set Colin answered Tomiwa and Eoin added "That's why they got rid of him, he's just taking up too much time..."
I'm just happy that they added the Gwen Elyan episode in their "our poor Queen is enchanted/Stockholmed" storyline. Imagine if they did these 4 eps about Gwen and then added a fifth episode about her and Elyan? I mean, the entire series has only 13 episodes. If half of them are about Gwen, the other half about Arthur, us Merlin fans should go kill ourselves. Oh wait...
Shit.
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I do agree that the prospect of yet another episode going South to pacify Gwen's fans was uber depressing. It shows how misleading the 'pointers' pre-season from the show runners are though - Gwen and Elyan would have their own episode and go on a quest apparently. To lay some flowers? Hmm.. not quite.
I have very very low expectations of the Overcompensation/Its Not Her Fault arc, yet I still suspect Im going to be disappointed.
Reply
Did you see the plot synopsis for 5x09? It's the episode where Merlin has to turn Gwen back to the good side.
I know I'm probably way off, but do you think they could do a Gwen magic reveal in that episode?
On one hand I can't put anything past them, on the other I don't think the super perfect queen Gwen could keep Merlin's secret from her husband for more than half an episode, so...
Reply
A reveal to Gwen? I dont know. Once Id have hated the idea - now Id take it as a sign something is going to happen with Arthur. Biut from the shots of people being hanged by Gwen - Im not so sure. I think they may even go for hardline Gwen with the excuse of her experience with Morgana? She was certainly ready to hang the girl who was trying to fool Gwaine in the last eps.I guess it would be a character advancement of sorts?
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Another reviewer (http://danowen.blogspot.de/2012/11/merlin-5x6-dark-tower.html) had this very apt closing phrase:
"If Merlin wants to be treated with greater respect the writing needs to get a lot smarter."
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I guess its too late now though. The episodes are in the bag - all we can do is snipe as the bodies are carried past one by one.
Im at the point I just want a reveal. And both of them to survive. But most of all not to leave Colin/Merlin as an old man at Arthur's side, while he never knows who he is or what young Merlin did. That would be the cruellest two fingers up to the fans of all.
Reply
Sadly though, an old!Merlin by Arthur's side would actually be the most plausible brilliant nod of the writers to the actual legend. They're awesome you know.
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