I hadn’t quite intended on commenting on Julian Murphy’s eye-popping commentary on 5:13 because…well I thought it pretty much spoke eloquently for itself. But I reckoned of course without the formidable powers of denial and provocation within the Merlin fandom.  And the nagging powers of gatepromise :P So here I am again, dander up once more

Frankly, some of ( Read more... )

I can honestly say that the last position I thought Id find myself in after 5.13 would be feeling defensive of it. Yet weirdly as I read forums and reviews pointing out its many flaws, or Arwen fans sniping that there was no goodbye with violins with specially imported backlit window and no kiss  cough I find myself almost bristling. Which is ( Read more... )

And here we are… the beginning of the end. I don’t know what I was expecting but… it wasn’t what we got. I think I expected something special, all the stops pulled out and the boats pushed out; all the sophistication and maturity they couldn’t be bothered to bring to the rest of S5. What we got was…one of the best eps in S5 but is that saying much ( Read more... )

Well… I guess we didn’t need to see 5.11 to know that the only interest the producers of the show have had in this season, has been reaching the end of it.  It really is the case that, six (to be generous) of the episodes in Season 5 may as well not have happened; they were there to fill the space Shine promised the BBC to fill, but the producers ( Read more... )

There may come a point after 5.13 when we look back on this episode and say -“Ah, that was what 5.10 was about! What clever little pandas those Merlin producers truly were!”  That point may come. It may. Uh huh.

But right now, looking at the episode in the context of FOUR FROM THE END, PEOPLE!!!  (And… Breathe…) I am lost. Totally fucking lost. What ( Read more... )

Merlin... the show that teaches its fans what Stockholm Syndrome is all about. This week my expectations were so low that I expected literally nothing, other than more slaps in the face to the fans who give a shit about Arthur and/or Merlin. I expected another ordeal of grandiose tries at fairytale moments, flowery gestures and gruesomely soppy ( Read more... )

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... )

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... )

Hmmm.

Can I leave it at that? :P

( Read more... )

Oh boy.

All I can see around in reaction to this episode is shell-shock.  And I concur. I'm shellshocked too. I dont know that anyone expected it to be quite that bad. And by that I mean badly written and plotted and thought out - if anyone in production even bothered to think any of it through beyond the next line.  Last month, I said to a friend ( Read more... )