![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
astri13Merlin 2.12
So, they finally did something they can't reset back to normal. Well, they could but it would be ridiculous even for them.
And, in a way, you knew it was coming. Morgana going evil. Though, it really depends on what "source material" of the legend you study. But the thing is, Morgana has been such a background character for so much of Season 2, the "turn" feels odd and incomplete. I stumbled upon "Labyrinth of Gedref" today on German TV and you have Morgana and Gwen smuggling out food for the starving people. I remember her coming to help out Merlin's village. Arguing for the people a few times. I also remember Morgana being worried sick for Arthur after having prophetic dreams about him on a couple occassions. I remember her having a change of heart and saving Uther in "To kill a king". Even this Season, I remember her passionately arguing to go and save Gwen. Smiling benevolently at Uther in love (before everybody could see she was a farty troll).
Why did all that change so much? When did it change so much? Or even, DID it all change so much?
I know there was this thing with the druids where she found out she had magic. And then there was this thing with the Witchfinder where her fear was played to new heights. And last week she fell for that Alvarr guy a bit but still, she didn't really chose evil. Apparently she hates Uther now and told Morgause she'd throw in her lot with her but Morgause used her. She didn't let Morgana in on the plan and said "that's what I plan, are you in?"
Morgause obviously cares for Morgana, she wouldn't have called off the spell otherwise, but she doesn't respect her enough to allow her to make an INFORMED choice.
Neither did Merlin for that matter. I didn't understand Gaius - and nice how you declared Morgana evil there at the end, dude, since you had a lot to do with making her life with magic harder - not mentoring her the way he does Merlin but especially in this episode, I expected Merlin to tell Morgana the truth - about himself as well - and attempt to reach her. If she then had slapped his hand away, so be it. But he didn't even try.
It was very clear that her whole suffering arises from the very same reason Merlin suffers, see the Freya episode: he feels lonely with his magic and wants to belong, wants to practice it without fear. That is ALL she ever wanted, too. But at least he does have Gaius. She has noone because noone, not Gaius nor Merlin, ever trusted her enough to give her one lousy chance.
That is not to excuse whatever she may do in the future. If she knowingly hurts people under Morgause's tutelage, that will be her choice and her responsibility but I could totally see and understand her bitterness towards Merlin. Now, she is still somewhat of a victim. Not completely an innocent but a victim nonetheless.
Ironically, Arthur may be the one person she could still feel some kinship with because people are lying to him till they are blue in the face as well. His father, Merlin, Gaius. We will see how their interactions play out in the future.
Hopefully, in Season 3 Morgana won't pull a Nimueh and just mostly cackle evilly over her magic water basin. I want her to interact with the people of Camelot. At the very least she should still care about Gwen. They used to be close friends but lately acted pretty much like lady-servant.
In other, non-Morgana related news, this episode had some funny bits. Them carrying Uther around was hilarious for some reason. Also, did Merlin imply Uther's ass is too fat? :-p
And Arthur-Merlin, yes, that's the way I want to see them. Protecting each other, teasing each other in a manner but where you can see the underlying friendship and respect nonetheless.
The way Arthur looked almost proud that Baby Merlin had aquired his first "battle wound". How he ripped off his own clothing to bandage it. How he told him to run. When Merlin slapped Arthur awake and they both laughed about the servant joke. THAT is when I see them as friends. Not that "I wanna gouge my eyes out at the character assassination" Season Premiere. Thank you very much.
And, could the slash dragon have looked any MORE evil when Merlin freed him? Oh boy.
So, yeah, good episode but one that left me sad. The core four, the "kids of Camelot" are no more and things can only get worse from here. Merlin knows he just sold a few pieces of his soul, Morgana is a pawn whose unwise choices probably doomed her, the only reason Arthur is not imploding is because he doesn't yet know the truth and Gwen is...hm, apart from the ill-paced Arthur/Gwen romance, the character hasn't much of a plotline now.
Next week, Season Finale. Also, gee, let me guess to which main cast character next week's important, title-given guest character might be related and in what fashion. *cough*
My verdict on Season 2? It started off HORRIBLY and I did prefer the focus being firmly on the Arthur/Merlin relationship the way it was in Season 1 but the second half of the Season has some brought some good stuff. And the plot has even moved along a bit.
As for this Season's plotlines as a whole:
1. Morgana's "quickening" - could have had more Morgana in it. I realize this is a family show and not some dark drama on HBO, neither "Mists of Avalon" but it seriously could have played out better. With Morgana having more of an agenda in it instead of being pushed around and just go with the flow more or less. Nonetheless, she is now the character whose status has changed the nost. I give it a C- B.
2. Merlin's magic and growth. A lot of throughline missing from the Season 1 Finale. Especially when we went into Merlin = goofy comic relief for the first x episodes. The character is being more explored now and growing darker, sadder and maturing. Another C- B.
3. Arthur growing up to be THE Arthur, legendary king. Again, terrible reset in the beginning but the first Morgause episode propelled him into new directions. Sadly, they reset that again but I imagine it will be saved for Season 3 and that will be Arthur's "quickening", much like Morgana had hers now. Other than that I feel he is a good leader, he is caring and he likely would be a good king. Inexperienced, yes, but frankly, that won't change until he actually becomes king and gathers that experience. Do I believe in some ways Uther is a better fit right now? Yes. But RIGHT NOW there are also ways where Arthur would already be superior. So, this is mostly a question of theory vs. practice. It's nice and all if Arthur gets some more time to learn but basically, he can swim and if he practices it some more on dry land doesn't really matter. The true test comes in the water.
4. Arthur/Gwen. Oh geez. Out of the blue Arthur is so deeply in love, that nobody knew it in Season 1, not even himself. Gwen is...maybe interested...until Lancelot, her soulmate comes along. Then there are episodes where you see nothing of A/G. Then Gwen has been suffering from quiet heartbreak because she can't be with...a) Lancelot or b) Arthur. If you guessed B, you are correct. Even though it made no sense whatsoever. Gwen is a nice girl but they didn't properly build up the romance, they didn't properly display it when they went there and I'm guessing they will continue to not properly do anything with it in Season 3. Grumpf.
5. Arthur/Merlin and the friendship of legend. Well, it got better but we didn't get one, not ONE lousy episode that was directly about them. Last Season we got TWO. Maybe even three. This Season we got three Arthur/Gwen eps and not one for the main pairing. I'm sorry but BOOO.
So, they finally did something they can't reset back to normal. Well, they could but it would be ridiculous even for them.
And, in a way, you knew it was coming. Morgana going evil. Though, it really depends on what "source material" of the legend you study. But the thing is, Morgana has been such a background character for so much of Season 2, the "turn" feels odd and incomplete. I stumbled upon "Labyrinth of Gedref" today on German TV and you have Morgana and Gwen smuggling out food for the starving people. I remember her coming to help out Merlin's village. Arguing for the people a few times. I also remember Morgana being worried sick for Arthur after having prophetic dreams about him on a couple occassions. I remember her having a change of heart and saving Uther in "To kill a king". Even this Season, I remember her passionately arguing to go and save Gwen. Smiling benevolently at Uther in love (before everybody could see she was a farty troll).
Why did all that change so much? When did it change so much? Or even, DID it all change so much?
I know there was this thing with the druids where she found out she had magic. And then there was this thing with the Witchfinder where her fear was played to new heights. And last week she fell for that Alvarr guy a bit but still, she didn't really chose evil. Apparently she hates Uther now and told Morgause she'd throw in her lot with her but Morgause used her. She didn't let Morgana in on the plan and said "that's what I plan, are you in?"
Morgause obviously cares for Morgana, she wouldn't have called off the spell otherwise, but she doesn't respect her enough to allow her to make an INFORMED choice.
Neither did Merlin for that matter. I didn't understand Gaius - and nice how you declared Morgana evil there at the end, dude, since you had a lot to do with making her life with magic harder - not mentoring her the way he does Merlin but especially in this episode, I expected Merlin to tell Morgana the truth - about himself as well - and attempt to reach her. If she then had slapped his hand away, so be it. But he didn't even try.
It was very clear that her whole suffering arises from the very same reason Merlin suffers, see the Freya episode: he feels lonely with his magic and wants to belong, wants to practice it without fear. That is ALL she ever wanted, too. But at least he does have Gaius. She has noone because noone, not Gaius nor Merlin, ever trusted her enough to give her one lousy chance.
That is not to excuse whatever she may do in the future. If she knowingly hurts people under Morgause's tutelage, that will be her choice and her responsibility but I could totally see and understand her bitterness towards Merlin. Now, she is still somewhat of a victim. Not completely an innocent but a victim nonetheless.
Ironically, Arthur may be the one person she could still feel some kinship with because people are lying to him till they are blue in the face as well. His father, Merlin, Gaius. We will see how their interactions play out in the future.
Hopefully, in Season 3 Morgana won't pull a Nimueh and just mostly cackle evilly over her magic water basin. I want her to interact with the people of Camelot. At the very least she should still care about Gwen. They used to be close friends but lately acted pretty much like lady-servant.
In other, non-Morgana related news, this episode had some funny bits. Them carrying Uther around was hilarious for some reason. Also, did Merlin imply Uther's ass is too fat? :-p
And Arthur-Merlin, yes, that's the way I want to see them. Protecting each other, teasing each other in a manner but where you can see the underlying friendship and respect nonetheless.
The way Arthur looked almost proud that Baby Merlin had aquired his first "battle wound". How he ripped off his own clothing to bandage it. How he told him to run. When Merlin slapped Arthur awake and they both laughed about the servant joke. THAT is when I see them as friends. Not that "I wanna gouge my eyes out at the character assassination" Season Premiere. Thank you very much.
And, could the slash dragon have looked any MORE evil when Merlin freed him? Oh boy.
So, yeah, good episode but one that left me sad. The core four, the "kids of Camelot" are no more and things can only get worse from here. Merlin knows he just sold a few pieces of his soul, Morgana is a pawn whose unwise choices probably doomed her, the only reason Arthur is not imploding is because he doesn't yet know the truth and Gwen is...hm, apart from the ill-paced Arthur/Gwen romance, the character hasn't much of a plotline now.
Next week, Season Finale. Also, gee, let me guess to which main cast character next week's important, title-given guest character might be related and in what fashion. *cough*
My verdict on Season 2? It started off HORRIBLY and I did prefer the focus being firmly on the Arthur/Merlin relationship the way it was in Season 1 but the second half of the Season has some brought some good stuff. And the plot has even moved along a bit.
As for this Season's plotlines as a whole:
1. Morgana's "quickening" - could have had more Morgana in it. I realize this is a family show and not some dark drama on HBO, neither "Mists of Avalon" but it seriously could have played out better. With Morgana having more of an agenda in it instead of being pushed around and just go with the flow more or less. Nonetheless, she is now the character whose status has changed the nost. I give it a C- B.
2. Merlin's magic and growth. A lot of throughline missing from the Season 1 Finale. Especially when we went into Merlin = goofy comic relief for the first x episodes. The character is being more explored now and growing darker, sadder and maturing. Another C- B.
3. Arthur growing up to be THE Arthur, legendary king. Again, terrible reset in the beginning but the first Morgause episode propelled him into new directions. Sadly, they reset that again but I imagine it will be saved for Season 3 and that will be Arthur's "quickening", much like Morgana had hers now. Other than that I feel he is a good leader, he is caring and he likely would be a good king. Inexperienced, yes, but frankly, that won't change until he actually becomes king and gathers that experience. Do I believe in some ways Uther is a better fit right now? Yes. But RIGHT NOW there are also ways where Arthur would already be superior. So, this is mostly a question of theory vs. practice. It's nice and all if Arthur gets some more time to learn but basically, he can swim and if he practices it some more on dry land doesn't really matter. The true test comes in the water.
4. Arthur/Gwen. Oh geez. Out of the blue Arthur is so deeply in love, that nobody knew it in Season 1, not even himself. Gwen is...maybe interested...until Lancelot, her soulmate comes along. Then there are episodes where you see nothing of A/G. Then Gwen has been suffering from quiet heartbreak because she can't be with...a) Lancelot or b) Arthur. If you guessed B, you are correct. Even though it made no sense whatsoever. Gwen is a nice girl but they didn't properly build up the romance, they didn't properly display it when they went there and I'm guessing they will continue to not properly do anything with it in Season 3. Grumpf.
5. Arthur/Merlin and the friendship of legend. Well, it got better but we didn't get one, not ONE lousy episode that was directly about them. Last Season we got TWO. Maybe even three. This Season we got three Arthur/Gwen eps and not one for the main pairing. I'm sorry but BOOO.
