Merlin 4.02

[corilannam]

Aside from a few moments of dissatisfaction, I absolutely fucking loved this episode. That's two in a row! What's up with that, show?

Once again, the cinematography was incredible. They've obviously committed some money and effort to finally making the show look and feel truly epic, and I think it's paying off. It doesn't look like a kiddie show anymore, which helps me take the story more seriously. I wonder if the STARZ Camelot lit a fire under the BBC's ass last season?

In any case, loved the sweeping shots, the knights thundering past, the gorgeous contrast of cloaks and fire against the blue-grey gloom. I want a million screenshots.

I'll take the main threads one at a time:

Arthur and the Knights -- I just adore the brotherhood of the knights. I love their relationships with each other, the teasing, the battlefield humor, the loyalty to each other and their leader. You can really see how much they love Arthur and how they're bound by their loyalty to him. But they also talk frankly to him and do their best to take care of him. I love that Leon's whole job is pretty much Arthur Nanny now. Their conversations were wonderful, though I loved Arthur's moments with Elyan even more. They apparently haven't forgotten that these two are going to be brothers-in-law someday soon, even if Elyan isn't allowed to talk to his actual sister anymore. The whole sequence in the wildren tunnels was just fantastic. Arthur is a magnificent leader.

My dissatisfaction: Gwaine. I loved him as comic relief, but I would also like to see him have at least a few serious lines/moments, too. I don't even care with whom he does it. But the Gwaine/Percival moment was total fanservice, and I approve. But I want to start seeing Gwaine getting to be heroic and someone else fucking up, too.

Merlin and Lancelot -- Man, I just love everything about these two together. They have always understood each other in a way that no one else really does. Merlin's line "See, I'm not entirely useless" just about broke me. It still hurts him that Arthur can't know everything Merlin's done, and Lancelot is the only person he can show that to.

Their conversation about Arthur and Gwen was heartbreaking. "Arthur loves her, and she's happy." So sad, especially because there is absolutely nothing about Gwen that's happy right now. My head canon for a couple of seasons now has been that Lancelot loves Gwen and Merlin loves Arthur and they both just have to watch and step back and try to let them be happy no matter how much it hurts, and that conversation played into that like crazy. *sob* The bit about how there has to be something you care about more than anything -- for Lancelot, that's obviously Gwen, and for Merlin, without question it's Arthur. Their love rhombus makes my head and heart ache.

Though if his sacred mission was to carry out Gwen's command and make sure Arthur returns, it doesn't make a whole lot of sense that he volunteered to take Merlin back to Camelot so Arthur could carry on the quest, does it? That takes him away from Arthur's side, and it was a missed opportunity to just send Arthur back with Merlin and carry on with the quest himself. I like to imagine that a tiny part of him was happy to be relieved of his obligation to Gwen by what he saw as a greater obligation to Merlin (and Arthur).

Lancelot is really stepping into his legend, isn't he? I loved that the water spirits (veela?) knew him, and I adored the acknowledgment from the dragon (although I think the dragon could not have been more obviously trying to manipulate the outcome of this episode -- "GEE, MERLIN, IT WOULD BE SO SAD IF YOU SACRIFICED YOURSELF WHEN YOU HAVE SUCH A GREAT DESTINY STILL AHEAD OF YOU. THE WORLD WOULD BE SO EMPTY WITHOUT YOU. SUCH A SHAME THERE'S NO ONE ELSE WITHIN EARSHOT WHO MAYBE FEELS LIKE THEY HAVE NOTHING LEFT TO LIVE FOR RIGHT NOW. BUMMER, RIGHT?")

But I love that Merlin and Kilgarrah are buddies now, with a lot of mutual respect and even some affection.

Meanwhile, back at the castle -- The Camelot plot line was such a mixture of "awesome!" and "ugh!" for me. I completely loved Gwen standing up to Agravaine and the entire council and forcing them to back down with her bad-ass logic skills. YEAH GIRL. I especially loved that she looked completely terrified, but she did it anyway, because unlike Morgana, she does actually care about the people.

I also loved her little scene with Uther, before Agravaine came in. I'm not even sure I can articulate why it was so powerful, but wow, I loved it.

My dissatisfaction: Agravaine. I dunno, you guys, I am just not feeling Agravaine. Every time I look at him, I feel like a middle-aged fanboy cosplaying Snape has sneaked onto the set and photobombed (videobombed?) the episode. He's creepy, but not in a good way. If he invited me to his private chambers, I would make every effort to be elsewhere. I do not get why he is with Morgana, other than their mutual hatred of Uther. But Agravaine doesn't need Morgana. He just has to get rid of Uther and Arthur (not really that hard, if evil would just put some fucking effort into their schemes) and he can be king in his own right. Arthur practically shoved the crown onto his head before he left. If he's Ygraine's brother, why the hell is he so cozy with the bastard daughter of the woman Uther was cheating on Ygraine with? I DO NOT GET IT.

Also, Morgana's hatred for Gwen based on that one vision is so irrational. KILLING GWEN IS NOT GOING TO MAKE YOU QUEEN. GWEN IS ONLY GOING TO BE QUEEN IF SHE MARRIES ARTHUR. You want to keep Gwen off the throne? KILL ARTHUR.

Sorry for shouting, but geez, that drives me nuts. I guess it's somewhat realistic, though -- it seems like women often develop irrational resentment toward other women, when it's not actually the woman who's the problem.

I do appreciate that they at least tried to give an explanation for why they just knocked Gwen out and left her there instead of, you know, actually killing her. Evil is still pretty ineffectual, but better a dumb explanation than the usual no explanation, I guess. They just can't seem to write Morgana in a way that works for me, though, which makes me really sad. I'm just so tired of her just sitting around and waiting for someone else to either tell her what to do or do it for her.

The beginning and the ending, aka IT'S MERLIN/ARTHUR TIME NOW -- Oh, my heart. My heart. Merlin's desperation to stay with Arthur even though he can barely lift his head. Arthur's actual indecision about whether he can carry on with the quest, to the point where he has to be talked into it by the knights because all he wants is to grab Merlin and race back to Camelot with him so that Gaius can fix him, dammit.

And then Arthur's quiet anguish over Merlin never ends. I just. I mean. *flail* It's just killing him not to be the one to go with Merlin, not to be able to save him, to know that he'll probably never see Merlin again and will never know if Merlin made it or not. OMG. I am actually tearing up just typing this. He's got it all bottled up because he has to be able to do his duty, but it's leaking out all over the place, to the point where Leon has to have a Special Talk with him about it.

And when Lancelot comes back, and is all like, "bad news, bro," I swear Arthur looks like he's about to pass out. Then even more so when Merlin appears, all healthy and looking awesome. He wanted to hug Merlin SO BADLY it almost hurt to watch -- and then the hair touching! And the arm around his shoulders! Oh man, that one moment was better than all of last series combined.

Their fireside chat was a thing of deliberately obtuse beauty. I think neither of them minds dying as long as they can be together until the end.

The Rift is apparently just moonlighting on various Cardiff-based shows now -- For once, the process of rendering everyone who can't know about Merlin's magic either absent or unconscious actually made sense. Though I have to admit, when Gwaine came along with Arthur, Merlin, and Lancelot, I had a totally wild (and obviously fruitless) hope that he was going to find out about Merlin's magic and could take Lancelot's place as Merlin's knightly confidante.

"Do you give yourself to the spirits to save your prince?" Yeah, even the mystical crone who obviously doesn't get out much knows the score on that one.

As a sidenote: I am still loving how the supernatural world is acknowledging Merlin as Emrys. I adored the water spirits telling Lancelot that Merlin had great power, and a future that has been written since the dawn of time. Oooh, shivers. And now the Cailleach -- "Your time among men is not yet over, even if you want it to be." So what is Emrys? I'm not sure I want the show to really try to answer that in any further detail or not.

Though -- did Colin have a cold while filming, or is this just his new "Emrys voice"? I'm not complaining, but it's kind of weird to hear him so gravely.

Now, Lancelot's sacrifice was pretty obvious last week, and I can't imagine anyone (except Merlin) was actually surprised by the time it happened. But when he walked into the rift, I was still pounding my fists on the couch and yelling "Damn! Oh God! LANCELOOOOOOOOOT!"

I loved that his sacrifice was so quiet and noble, just like him. No grandstanding, no great declarations, just a simple look of affection and resignation, and then he does what he has to do. Oh man, now I'm crying again. Even though I'm pretty sure he'll be back.

I liked the end, but it was a shame that it was so rushed. I wanted a bit more mourning for poor Lancelot. I wanted to see Arthur find out, I wanted to see Gwen find out. Even a slo-mo montage of that would have been fine.

But I did love Gwen's confession to Arthur at the end (although Angel's crying face is... kind of unfortunate). It confirms she knew damn well what she was doing when she lay that mission on Lancelot. She was the one who determined the sacrifice -- Lancelot's life for Arthur's, and despite her grief and guilt, she would make that choice again and again. Camelot needs Arthur more than Gwen needs Lancelot. I liked that Arthur didn't try to comfort her with more than a touch. He understands better than anyone what it's like to ask someone to die for you and to have to live with that afterward.

Next week looks promising.