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Nov. 8th, 2009 03:11 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
solitary_summerI don't even want to know what it says about my life and my priorities that I actually had a moment this morning, sitting back, thinking, oh, good, free Sunday, as in, won't be writing and editing insanely!epic!TW post. *facepalm*
I guess it was my way of getting closure, and I must have needed that, but... crazy. Completely, utterly crazy. Note to self, next time get angry, rant a bit & then get over it, like everyone else does. Stupid brain.
What with all that & niece's birthday last weekend, cake making, Russian class, belly-dancing class and yet another of those all but obligatory seminars about avoiding stress and how positive thinking will boost sales (Woman loves books like The Secret, and apparently positive thinking also heals cancer etc., unless you aren't thinking positive enough, but then it's better if you die anyway, and did you know that antipsychotics kill more people than... Gah. Two hours of my life that I'm not getting back, and didn't get anything for except a squishy yellow stress relief ball. But apparently we're all too negative...), I never got around to posting about last week's Merlin, which was the first episode this season that I really did like all the way. Genuinely funny, especially the scenes with Uther and troll!Catrina, but also with some lovely serious moments for Arthur, who's always at his best when he's defining himself in opposition to his father. BJ manages to project a quiet dignity in these scenes that gives a very good impression of the king Arthur will be. (Also, Arthur trusting Merlin with his life without a second thought. Awww.)
And this week's episode was really good, although I think it was even better before it took a turn towards the fixable and funny, but, well, family show.
Even the beginning was quite lovely; not that it wasn't a completely careless and stupid thing to do, but you could see what a strain it is on Merlin always having to hide such an important part of himself, something that made him happy like that.
And it was a very interesting episode for Gaius; he's done some questionable things over time, but with this episode his absolute paranoia when it comes to magic and the necessity of hiding it became so much more understandable, considering what he lived through and how precarious his own situation was. Until the witchfinder arrives and Gaius actually gets arrested one could see that Merlin still was treating the situation much too lightly, whereas for Gaius, who is speaking from traumatic experience, it was already deadly serious. Loved the confrontation between Gaius and Uther in the end, and the whole tangle of loyalties in this episode. Uther's unexpected humanity in the face of someone who manages to make him look almost moderate, even if in the end it doesn't sway him enough. He can't watch Gaius burn, but he can't bring himself to pardon him, either. There were things damaged in that search that aren't replaceable, and I wonder where Gaius' loyalties will be from now on.
Arthur is, I think, actually trying to put himself in a position where he can help people, attempting to put himself between the witchfinder and his potential victims, although especially after last episode he's clearly unwilling to expose himself too much by standing up to his father. And his reaction when the witchfinder accused Merlin—either Arthur will be very surprised, or he's one hell of a good actor. Still undecided which it's going to be.
What did bother me a bit in this as well as the last episode is that so much of Arthur's character development is now hung up on trying to please and impress Gwen, and her having to shove him in the right direction so much. I wonder what this is saying about their relationship ...
And the preview for the next episode looks quite promising, too.
Also watched Girl No. 9 yesterday, which was gruesome and depressing, and personally I'd have changed the ending, because the bit where he talks about the other police officer's wife IMO actually lessenned the impact of the story; it's such a trope, really. Also, and I'm appropriately ashamed about that, right now I'm having a hard time seeing GDL in something else and taking him very seriously.
It's not just him, though; I watched the first two episodes of Emma yesterday, and I never quite got over the oh, it's Dumbledore! factor either. Not that I even liked the HP movies all that much. Rather enjoyed Emma otherwise, even if it's all a bit squeaky-clean and over-picturesque (but at the same time a bit modern?), but then I haven't read the book literally in ages and barely remembered the plot at all...
I guess it was my way of getting closure, and I must have needed that, but... crazy. Completely, utterly crazy. Note to self, next time get angry, rant a bit & then get over it, like everyone else does. Stupid brain.
What with all that & niece's birthday last weekend, cake making, Russian class, belly-dancing class and yet another of those all but obligatory seminars about avoiding stress and how positive thinking will boost sales (Woman loves books like The Secret, and apparently positive thinking also heals cancer etc., unless you aren't thinking positive enough, but then it's better if you die anyway, and did you know that antipsychotics kill more people than... Gah. Two hours of my life that I'm not getting back, and didn't get anything for except a squishy yellow stress relief ball. But apparently we're all too negative...), I never got around to posting about last week's Merlin, which was the first episode this season that I really did like all the way. Genuinely funny, especially the scenes with Uther and troll!Catrina, but also with some lovely serious moments for Arthur, who's always at his best when he's defining himself in opposition to his father. BJ manages to project a quiet dignity in these scenes that gives a very good impression of the king Arthur will be. (Also, Arthur trusting Merlin with his life without a second thought. Awww.)
And this week's episode was really good, although I think it was even better before it took a turn towards the fixable and funny, but, well, family show.
Even the beginning was quite lovely; not that it wasn't a completely careless and stupid thing to do, but you could see what a strain it is on Merlin always having to hide such an important part of himself, something that made him happy like that.
And it was a very interesting episode for Gaius; he's done some questionable things over time, but with this episode his absolute paranoia when it comes to magic and the necessity of hiding it became so much more understandable, considering what he lived through and how precarious his own situation was. Until the witchfinder arrives and Gaius actually gets arrested one could see that Merlin still was treating the situation much too lightly, whereas for Gaius, who is speaking from traumatic experience, it was already deadly serious. Loved the confrontation between Gaius and Uther in the end, and the whole tangle of loyalties in this episode. Uther's unexpected humanity in the face of someone who manages to make him look almost moderate, even if in the end it doesn't sway him enough. He can't watch Gaius burn, but he can't bring himself to pardon him, either. There were things damaged in that search that aren't replaceable, and I wonder where Gaius' loyalties will be from now on.
Arthur is, I think, actually trying to put himself in a position where he can help people, attempting to put himself between the witchfinder and his potential victims, although especially after last episode he's clearly unwilling to expose himself too much by standing up to his father. And his reaction when the witchfinder accused Merlin—either Arthur will be very surprised, or he's one hell of a good actor. Still undecided which it's going to be.
What did bother me a bit in this as well as the last episode is that so much of Arthur's character development is now hung up on trying to please and impress Gwen, and her having to shove him in the right direction so much. I wonder what this is saying about their relationship ...
And the preview for the next episode looks quite promising, too.
Also watched Girl No. 9 yesterday, which was gruesome and depressing, and personally I'd have changed the ending, because the bit where he talks about the other police officer's wife IMO actually lessenned the impact of the story; it's such a trope, really. Also, and I'm appropriately ashamed about that, right now I'm having a hard time seeing GDL in something else and taking him very seriously.
It's not just him, though; I watched the first two episodes of Emma yesterday, and I never quite got over the oh, it's Dumbledore! factor either. Not that I even liked the HP movies all that much. Rather enjoyed Emma otherwise, even if it's all a bit squeaky-clean and over-picturesque (but at the same time a bit modern?), but then I haven't read the book literally in ages and barely remembered the plot at all...
