Merlin 5x04 Belated Reaction
To sum up: Meh, same old.
For starters, this was, for the most part, an unusually well-put together episode. The music was great and I really liked some of the cinematography. At least some of the people working on the show are doing something right!
Likewise, for the most part, it was reasonably well-written - I'd say one of the tighter episodes they've done. There was some good tension and the plot was solid enough, if mostly recycled from previous episodes. (There's magic afoot and no-one will believe Merlin! Arthur is walking into a trap! Disguises! STFU Gaius!)
That said, most of it was pretty eh. The only part that really held my attention was the Morgana/Mithian scenes and the climax - Arthur and Gwen had some cute moments but they were spread too thin and the whole thing was kind of grim with very little substance. Except for the random peeing soldier at the end - nice touch of realism, but in this episode? Really?
So let's talk about the ladies in this episode because there were three of them and that is more than usual.
Like I said, I liked Arthur and Gwen's scenes. I liked the hand-holding at the end and the general cuteness, and was that Gwen in her nightgown? :3 But then they just sort of dropped the 'Gwen is worried about Arthur' thing completely till the very end. Seems to me that they're just writing her into episodes these days for the sake of giving her something to do.
Also, at the end, I couldn't help think Gwen was all 'good boy, Arthur. You did something right for a change. You did good!' xD
I had very mixed feelings re Morgana. On the one hand, she did some pretty awesome stuff in this episode - first time she's been on the same level as Nimueh in terms of connivingness, imo. Loved the raven-summoning. But on the other hand, well, she occasionally has moments when I really do wonder how she has any fans left. Like in the scenes where she was torturing Mithian. I just. Really, show? Now they both have matching wrist-scars, lovely.
But then at the end when it looked like Merlin was going to leave Morgana to die in the tomb, I was srsly pissed. Even though I can't particularly fault him on that one since she did some nasty stuff to him earlier on, I still keep expecting someone to rescue her in these situations. Seems like something Arthur would want to do.
As a side note, I loved Arthur's reaction when he realised Hilda was Morgana. Moment of pants-shitting terror followed by a sort of 'well I guess it has been that sort of day'. xD
And Mithian. Oh I have feels on this one.
We are now at four episodes in a row that have used a woman being hurt, victimised or abused as a plot point. This is very much not good. I kept hoping they'd save it at the end by letting Mithian have some agency in the climax, but no, she just sort of stood there, then dropped out of the plot so Arthur and Odin could commiserate over their man!pain together. I don't know about anyone else but I was seriously uncomfortable during the scenes where Morgana was hurting Mithian - especially the bracelet-torture scene. She was just so utterly helpless. :(
I also have mixed feelings about Mithian's characterisation. I really liked the way she was handled in her previous episode - she always felt very powerful to me, about as powerful as a woman in that society can get without going beyond the bounds of what would be acceptable. I liked that she was handling the negotiations with Arthur on her own. And then in this episode they damselised* her and boiled her whole character down to her relationship with her father.
Tangent: I don't like the emphasis this show puts on father/child relationships. I've noticed this pattern a lot in fantasy works - and in other genres, for that matter. I was really pleased back in S1 when Merlin's primary parental relationship was with his mother, but then his ftaher showed up. Morgana and Gwen's mothers haven't been mentioned, but they've both had plots revolving around their fathers. Where was Mithian's mother in this episode? Is she dead too? Why couldn't it have been her held captive or something, idk? /tangent
But on the other hand, I did really like how she dealt with the situation. I liked her resourcefulness - I especially liked that she used a comb to get away the first time, nice touch - and kudos to Janet Montgomery, that was some fantastic acting. I just wish they'd done more with her. It started out so Mithian-centric and then as soon as the quest started it was all Arthur, Arthur, Arthur.
That was longer than I expected! Final positive thought: wow, Mithian shipped with everyone in this episode, didn't she? I want Mithian/Leon and Mithian/Merlin and basically Mithian/all of Camelot.
Oh and Hilda/Dragoon. Please make it happen, fandom!
This entry was originally posted at http://kathkin.dreamwidth.org/168379.html. Comment on this entry or there using OpenID.
comments/reply.
For starters, this was, for the most part, an unusually well-put together episode. The music was great and I really liked some of the cinematography. At least some of the people working on the show are doing something right!
Likewise, for the most part, it was reasonably well-written - I'd say one of the tighter episodes they've done. There was some good tension and the plot was solid enough, if mostly recycled from previous episodes. (There's magic afoot and no-one will believe Merlin! Arthur is walking into a trap! Disguises! STFU Gaius!)
That said, most of it was pretty eh. The only part that really held my attention was the Morgana/Mithian scenes and the climax - Arthur and Gwen had some cute moments but they were spread too thin and the whole thing was kind of grim with very little substance. Except for the random peeing soldier at the end - nice touch of realism, but in this episode? Really?
So let's talk about the ladies in this episode because there were three of them and that is more than usual.
Like I said, I liked Arthur and Gwen's scenes. I liked the hand-holding at the end and the general cuteness, and was that Gwen in her nightgown? :3 But then they just sort of dropped the 'Gwen is worried about Arthur' thing completely till the very end. Seems to me that they're just writing her into episodes these days for the sake of giving her something to do.
Also, at the end, I couldn't help think Gwen was all 'good boy, Arthur. You did something right for a change. You did good!' xD
I had very mixed feelings re Morgana. On the one hand, she did some pretty awesome stuff in this episode - first time she's been on the same level as Nimueh in terms of connivingness, imo. Loved the raven-summoning. But on the other hand, well, she occasionally has moments when I really do wonder how she has any fans left. Like in the scenes where she was torturing Mithian. I just. Really, show? Now they both have matching wrist-scars, lovely.
But then at the end when it looked like Merlin was going to leave Morgana to die in the tomb, I was srsly pissed. Even though I can't particularly fault him on that one since she did some nasty stuff to him earlier on, I still keep expecting someone to rescue her in these situations. Seems like something Arthur would want to do.
As a side note, I loved Arthur's reaction when he realised Hilda was Morgana. Moment of pants-shitting terror followed by a sort of 'well I guess it has been that sort of day'. xD
And Mithian. Oh I have feels on this one.
We are now at four episodes in a row that have used a woman being hurt, victimised or abused as a plot point. This is very much not good. I kept hoping they'd save it at the end by letting Mithian have some agency in the climax, but no, she just sort of stood there, then dropped out of the plot so Arthur and Odin could commiserate over their man!pain together. I don't know about anyone else but I was seriously uncomfortable during the scenes where Morgana was hurting Mithian - especially the bracelet-torture scene. She was just so utterly helpless. :(
I also have mixed feelings about Mithian's characterisation. I really liked the way she was handled in her previous episode - she always felt very powerful to me, about as powerful as a woman in that society can get without going beyond the bounds of what would be acceptable. I liked that she was handling the negotiations with Arthur on her own. And then in this episode they damselised* her and boiled her whole character down to her relationship with her father.
Tangent: I don't like the emphasis this show puts on father/child relationships. I've noticed this pattern a lot in fantasy works - and in other genres, for that matter. I was really pleased back in S1 when Merlin's primary parental relationship was with his mother, but then his ftaher showed up. Morgana and Gwen's mothers haven't been mentioned, but they've both had plots revolving around their fathers. Where was Mithian's mother in this episode? Is she dead too? Why couldn't it have been her held captive or something, idk? /tangent
But on the other hand, I did really like how she dealt with the situation. I liked her resourcefulness - I especially liked that she used a comb to get away the first time, nice touch - and kudos to Janet Montgomery, that was some fantastic acting. I just wish they'd done more with her. It started out so Mithian-centric and then as soon as the quest started it was all Arthur, Arthur, Arthur.
That was longer than I expected! Final positive thought: wow, Mithian shipped with everyone in this episode, didn't she? I want Mithian/Leon and Mithian/Merlin and basically Mithian/all of Camelot.
Oh and Hilda/Dragoon. Please make it happen, fandom!
This entry was originally posted at http://kathkin.dreamwidth.org/168379.html. Comment on this entry or there using OpenID.
comments/reply.