Comments | tanous: Merlin: 5.13 Commentary

tanous

Merlin: 5.13 Commentary

Jan 28, 2013 13:34

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... )

Comments 168

Part 2 gatepromise January 28 2013, 23:52:39 UTC

Yet instead, right to the end, with Katie’s rather shocked assistance, he stuck with his message. ALL the way through. This wasn’t, in his words, an episode about the friendship between 2 men; he said very clearly that it was a love story between 2 men. That is a very deliberate and challenging phrase to choose. Julian knows what many people, think of Merlin/Arthur and yet…he chose that exact, incendiary to some, phrase. He didn't call it platonic - and actually Ive been amused to see the confused use of the term 'a platonic love story' while admitting the relationship of Merlin and Arthur was hugely romantic, when what they probably mean is a love story between people who they believe haven't had sex. Romance isn't actually platonic. (Discuss :P) 'The man he loves is dying'. Is that how you normally talk about a friend?Oh, this. THISTHISTHIS. "Pure" seems to be a lifeline now--yeah, they loved each other, Arthur & Merlin did, but they weren't having sex! It was romantic, but without sex. Arthur was married ( ... )

Re: Part 2 tanous February 6 2013, 05:45:35 UTC

Yeah - Ive had a go before at the wild use of pejorative labels to silence people in the fandom - 'you dont like Gwen, you're racist', 'you think Morgana is a waste of screen time, you're sexist', but the reaction to any suggestion that Merlin and Arthur could have been romantically in love HAS been blatantly homophobic in some places Ive seen. To label anyone disgusting for seeing romantic love between two men is grossly homophobic IMO. But that IS one prejudice/ bigotry thats alive and shockingly well in parts of the fandom - hopefully very small if very loud parts ( ... )

arwyn_t January 29 2013, 09:26:15 UTC

I will be brief ( ... )

tanous February 6 2013, 06:11:29 UTC

Of course you have every right to hate it? I dont think anyone is going to challenge your right to say what you feel about it here Id hope? I'd say lots of people hate it. Arwen fans hate it, Morgana fans hate it, Mordred fans hate it some Arthur fans hate it, some Merlin fans hate it... I can see you're still very angry. And you know I agree with you, but I also dont agree. You know from my past reviews how I felt about the massive waste of the show and the decision to end it on Camlann rather than setting up for the unification of Albion and the freeing of magic as openly promised. You know Ive been howling for a reveal for 2 seasons. But well before 5.13 we knew that almost all of that wasn't going to happen, as the producers calcified in their comfort zone till they ran out of time ( ... )

OK, not brief after all... arwyn_t January 29 2013, 10:09:14 UTC

*** Merlin said in the episode by himself: "Camelot is nothing with you, Arthur". "There will no one like you". "I have magic and I use it only for you, Arthur". Let's be honest, Merlin is Arthur's and other things just doesn't matter to him ( ... )

Re: OK, not brief after all... tanous February 6 2013, 06:24:09 UTC

I cant argue that the Merlin we saw in S5 was very different from the one who went before though Merlin had a habit of sacrificing himself for Arthur - remember when he lied to Arthur about his mother to save Uther, and turning Arthur further against magic, just to stop him killing his father? he has form for putting Arthur before magic ( ... )

Re: OK, not brief after all... undead_begonia February 10 2013, 17:26:09 UTC

I agree with every single word you've said here,Arwyn

Re: OK, not brief after all... arwyn_t February 10 2013, 17:47:16 UTC

Glad I'm not alone, UB. ;)

undead_begonia February 10 2013, 17:08:14 UTC

I voted for Colin, and I didn't vote for the show. There was no doubt whatsoever in my mind that Colin deserved that award, and I'm sure I disturbed the neighbours when he was announced. But even given what they did in 5.13 I was damned if I was going to vote for that show, especially in competition with all of those other shows that each in their own way deserved to win, when I strongly felt that it shouldn't win ( ... )

arwyn_t February 10 2013, 18:31:25 UTC

I agree with you too, UB ( ... )

zerda_vulpes February 10 2013, 23:54:10 UTC

I don’t think I feel as strongly as you both seem to do about the show (maybe because I’ve not been a fan for as long) but,

On relationships:

I agree Merlin and Arthur’s was a completely dysfunctional one (the amount of lies on Merlin’s part, never showing him (until the end) an important part of his true self, abuse on Arthur’s part, who, when it suited him treated Merlin like a worthless servant, the matter of how Merlin can still love a guy he honestly believes would chop his head off etc).

I agree that Merlin’s feelings for Arthur were obsessive (especially since S5) and that what they had wasn’t “true love” but what is true love, does it really exist?… Look at the other romantic relationships in the show ( ... )

tanous February 12 2013, 04:53:02 UTC

Thats a fascinating reply actually. I agree too that A and M were dysfunctional on both sides - a product of the opportunistic writing of course which made Merlin lie when he didnt need to (Arthur would chop his head off??? Come on!) and Arthur mysteriously forget all of Merlins aid and wisdom to treat him like the laziest and most useless servant on the planet. In the end though Arthur trusted Merlin more than anyone, relied on him, needed him around him ALL the time and yes - loved him. I think, as Bradley said, only Merlin and Gwen would have been guaranteed a good hearing if they'd confessed long time sorcery to Arthur ( ... )

Thread 27

mingaumatador February 12 2013, 03:30:39 UTC

I'm going to be honest, Julian Murphy's commentary pissed me off. I felt it was seriously fucking hypocritical of him to stroll in after the curtains were down and the dust settled and only then make cheeky remarks about Merlin and Arthur's relationship ( ... )

gatepromise February 12 2013, 03:36:19 UTC

I was more pissed off with Katie and her stupid jokes about it all then I was with Murphy. I expected him to be stupid about it, but not her. I know very well that the producers of the show never had a plan, they just made shit up as they went along, but Murphy finally admitting that yes, they were aware of the Merthur and wrote for it was kind of like a moment of "Well, finally!"

This is after Murphy and Capps spent 5 years acting totally shocked and bewildered numerous times when this subject was brought up in the past. Maybe the reason why so many were elated by his owning up to it is that it just silenced those homophobes who pointed to those reactions and called us delusional.

mingaumatador February 12 2013, 03:45:30 UTC

Yes, I realize that the reason it pissed me off is also the one that made a lot of people feel validated, which is why I learned to accept it for what it is. At least we can now have some 'official proof' (whatever that is worth) that, no, we were not seeing what we wanted to see, it was there.

So yeah, I can be only half bitter about it, definitely.

I didn't think Katie was offensive, that's a first. Maybe I should listen to it more carefully.

(anyway, wow, I say 'actually' a lot)

gatepromise February 12 2013, 04:24:17 UTC

I didn't think Katie was offensive, that's a first. Maybe I should listen to it more carefully.

Tbh, everything about Katie McGrath is like nails on a chalkboard to me, so...

(anyway, wow, I say 'actually' a lot)

PMSL! So do I, actually! : P

Thread 32