Merlin: 5:07 A Lesson In Vengeance
So, another episode down and six to go till the (bitter?) end of S5 and possibly, if rumours are to be believed, the entire show. And …where are we now?
Well, actually, we’re back in S4. Or is it S3? Deep anyway in the Merlin producers thumb-sucking comfort zone of ‘Merlin trying singlehandedly (save Gaius - the device to enable us to know his ( Read more... )
I came out of this ep with a huge 'I love Colin' too - he really was superb in it...he kind of brought Merlin back to life somehow... sewed his balls back on.
The A/G - I knooowww. It's just aimed at such a childish level its painful. We've seen how much attention Arthur pays to Gwen's 'advice' when she's ok and their relationship is normal; when she turns bad he can instantly barely manage independent movement without her say so. Its awful stuff, yet Ive actually seen some fans thrilled to see it, and taking it as a representation of their marriage. I saw one actually wanting it to be a representation of their marriage. Oh dear.
The endless soppy declarations to emphasize Arthur's betrayed trust... It was actually like watching a script produced by a novice writers workshop, doing classic dramatic tropes and cliches. As you point out of course the unspoken stuff we see that structures the plot- Arthur forgets his anniversary and has to be told by Merlin how to please Gwen; Merlin sees Gwen is behaving differently whereas her husband doesn't notice a single thing... - that tells a totally different tale about the relationship even though its probably not meant to, and is thus more powerful than the flowery declarations. Arthur and Merlins relationship takes its share of beatings from the writers but I really don't know how fans of the A/G romance aren't howling with outrage actually, because its getting more and more desperate. Hell maybe they are.
The A/M stuff oddly..., for all the unsubtlety of script, I thought was, strangely, allowed subtle moments. In fact all of it was pretty subtle, the words were unimportant - the polar opposite of A/G - and the performances of B and especially C showed us very clearly the true depth of feeling between A and M.
Otherwise it WAS juvenile writing though yes - though I thought Dragoon was only there to pander to the very small kiddies along with the confrontation with Cook. The way they brought it in was unfuriating (Merlin cant escape unless he's Dragoon even though Arthurs running out of time?) but in an odd way the heavy kids humour made me feel fuzzy inside - it reminded me of the days when the show still seemed hopeful; when viewing it could be fun. I still hate Dragoon though...
I thought Angel was pretty good at evil and I think its because what she was saying was actually almost exactly the same as she does as Saintly! Barbie. Which was clever. Of course, when she's evil and delivering the same old saintly sentiments to the same indulgent people, you can really appreciate how bland and cloying her lines usually are. And the stretchy smile - suddenly its not so sweetly, blandly meaningless- suddenly its a silent gloat. Gwen was actually very easy to hate in this episode which surprised me - I didn't expect it. I cant usually muster any feelings about her character any more, stronger than eye-rolling boredom or head on desk frustration I mean- so this was a big step up! Gwen (and Angel) works much better as a baddie than a goodie IMO.The cloyingly sweet, saintly killer has such great potential; much more so than Morgana.
Im entirely sure they don't mean this to happen but the fact she is so like ...herself.. could make her post 4.09 scenes seem pretty creepy. How can anyone - Arthur - tell if she flips back again since its so hard to tell the difference between the two versions? Hah. That would be interesting. Not that they'll examine it, but...
Reply
Leave a comment