Merlin: 5:08 The Hollow Queen
Right. That was 5.08. I wont get those 45 minutes back.
Much as I thought I could stick it out to the end, I’m seriously starting to wonder if I underestimated the ability of the producers of this show to annihilate every thing that was good about it before the finale. Are they actually trying to drive their audience to the point where Camlann ( Read more... )
Cogently put. I wonder too - how isnt he suicidally depressed? if hes not now, he certainly will be after Camlann since the producers seem to be angling for a 'it was all Arthur and Merlins fault' ending. We all know how they love their crunchingly unsubtle dramatic irony.
Im totally with you in this too:
"I dread each new episode. I don't think there has ever been another show/movie/anything that has ever managed this. Congrats to TPTB."
The monkeys are smashing more of the Dreaden china week on week. They seem to be deliberately destroying it more to the point.
Oh and yes my previous low points were 4.08, 4.09 and 4.11 with 4.11 - Venison gwen edging into the lead. But this - this was the nadir. Not to say they cant push things even lower. I have a horrible feeling about the episode coming up. I think we can wave goodbye to Arthur as an independent functioning adult and accept the arrival of Twu Lurve Arthur who will behave in a way that pacifies the romantic ideals of a certaIn section of the audience who believe that for men to be really in love they must lose the ability to operate in a reasonable, responsible and adult way if the object of their affection dips out of sight for a moment. Any possibility of the object of affection disappearing leads to nihilistic hopelessness, loss of ability to function and childlike pining - ie exactly like Enchanted Arthur. Loss of the object of affection means the man in Twu Lurve is finished. That is the only acceptable form of portrayed romance for some people who want their romantic heroes when it comes down it to behave like adolescent girls to show how in Twu Lurve they are. Arthur/Gwen cant be realistic normal love; it has to be emasculating love, love that strips away Arthur the hero king was supposed to be to make him a snivelling dependent wreck who doesnt give a shit about his duty of his people. The kind of love that makes a King casually betray his subjects who trusted him (eg giving away lands with his people living on them) because as one fan memorably put it in a post i saw 'Gwen wouldn't want to be loved by someone who thinks land is more important'.
How may times is Arthur - who's trained since birth to be bloody KING and supposedly the best ever - going to be required to declare that nothing else matters, that if he loses Gwen he loses everything, that he doesn't care abut his kingdom or by extension his people - like a melodramatic 13 year old girl? How could anyone with an adult brain, acquainted with the real world and how men behave, respect a king or indeed a man like that? But they keep doing it over and over - endless 'Gwen is missing/gone/hurt' plots created so they can let off the klaxons and wave flags because they clearly know so many people STILL dont believe the Twu Lurve stuff OR care. Indeed Id wager most of the audience are thinking, 'Wheres Merlin?'
But this is their last chance and they've devoted 4 episodes to their hopeless project so yeah - it really CAN get worse for Arthur and for us. By the time they've finished I suspect they're going to have moulded him into a Disney princess himself, just as many fans of the romance seem to want. Only this time he doesn't have long enough to come back from it and restore his dignity and integrity before he's making suicidal decisions and finally sealing his own fate. Poor Bradley- I bet he thought he was playing a heroic figure.
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Poor Arthur. I can't imagine worse for him, but the writers have a gift for surprising me in all the worst ways. Totally agree with all that you say - Twu Lurve forces Arthur into a selfish, irresponsible, spoiled teenager. A good king knows that each action he takes affects the lives of hundreds. Arthur SHOULD know this, and should ALWAYS act with his peoples' best interests in mind. But the validity of Arwen takes precedence, as ever, to Arthur's integrity and status as the Once and Future King. Nothing is spared with the desperate pushing of donkey on motorbike.
I'll stick with it until the end because Colin and Bradley, no matter how bad the writing, are wonderful to watch together. But I can't stop thinking about what could have been....:(
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