Quick Reaction: Merlin 5x04

[hells_half_acre]

I kind of want to talk about Merlin on here, but I don't - because I feel like all you guys just care about Supernatural and you kindly put up with my Sherlock posts and asking you to put up with Merlin too would be TOO MUCH.

But then I realized that this is my LJ, and I can do what I want!

So, MERLIN! (behind a cut, because of spoilers for 5x04)



I went in wanting more Merthur and now I find myself wanting Merlin and Mithian to fall in love and live happily ever after. What is wrong with me? I usually hate het-ships! The gayest show I know has given me a het-ship. Black is white, up is down...

I loved all kicked puppy expressions on the knights faces when Merlin was brought in bleeding and unconscious. It was LITERALLY like someone had kicked their puppy...because they had. Merlin is so beloved.

Also, we got a bit of Merlin/Gwaine action - with Gwaine being all nervous and worried about poor hurt Merlin. I'm a huge fan of the Merlin/Gwaine friendship, because Gwaine loves Merlin so FIERCELY and QUIETLY. He's like a coiled snake of love...lol

But really...I want Mithian and Merlin to fall in love. I mean, Mithian was all like "Merlin I am trying to tell you things with my eyes!" and Merlin was all like "Everyone! Mithian is trying to tell me things with her eyes! And I don't know what those things are, but I'm very concerned!" Basically, I'm saying that there was a lot of eye-sex going on.

Though, that being said, at the very beginning of the episode, when Leon was all fussing over Mithian - I was like, "hmm, Leon/Mithian...I guess that could be a thing!" So, maybe I was just in the het-ship type of mood...but seriously...once Merlin/Mithian hit the screen, I was like "Leon who?"

I'm happy to see that Percival is being used a lot too. I like him...though they are constantly putting him into situations where I think he's going to get killed and it makes me nervous.

Who thinks that Morgana saw Merlin cast that spell at the very end that slammed her into the wall? It's getting harder and harder for Merlin to hide his magic...it's only a matter of time now. They're definitely building up to it, because we have Arthur relying on Merlin as an adviser AND we actually had Arthur telling Gwen that Merlin deserves credit for it. Which means that they're moving Merlin into a position where Arthur won't reject him once he finds out about the magic.

I'm really hoping that this season (if it is indeed the last, like it's supposed to be) doesn't end with Arthur's death. I want it to end on a high note (unlike the legends) where it seems like destiny has been thwarted and everyone can just be happy in the Camelot of my brain forever. They aren't likely to do that though.



Anyway, do any of you watch Merlin? If so, what were your thoughts? 

(I'm not going to do this every week. I just felt like actually talking about Merlin today - and I didn't want to do it on tumblr, because I suck at using tumblr.)

Comments

[jennytork.livejournal.com]

I don't watch, but I do know the characters (and the legend) and faces used to portray them -- and I love reading about the plots.

[hells-half-acre.livejournal.com]

That's how I knew it before I started watching. :)

Merlin doesn't really follow the legend closely at all. I like to refer to it as a High School/college AU of Arthurian legend. ;)

It's a silly goofy show...that has gotten remarkably less silly and goofy this season...but it's still my "fun" show.

[nerthus.livejournal.com]

I love Merlin! Admittedly it's cheesy as hell and does NOT stick to canon legend, but I'm quite fond of the BBC version and of the chemistry between the actors playing Merlin and Arthur. The knights are great, all brawn and heart and kinda goofy at the same time, and I love the dragon. I haven't seen tonight's ep as I don't get BBC America on my stupid cable and have to look up a vid of the episode online later; but I'm looking forward to watching it before the weekend is out. I'm getting a bit impatient for Merlin's magic to somehow be revealed to Arthur and to see the fallout from that; it's becoming tedious to me, how Arthur can remain so willfully oblivious when there have been numerous times that I've yelled at my tv: "HOW DID YOU MISS THAT, ARE YOU BLIND?!!!" Ha.

I also love Sherlock and Supernatural, so any time you mention ANY of those shows, I'm loving it, ha! (If you happened to like "Fringe" and "Grimm" as well, then I'd be in fandom heaven here!)

[hells-half-acre.livejournal.com]

Yay! :)

I like it because it's cheesy as hell. I have a soft spot in my heart for really cheesy shows - I don't know why.

I think they're definitely gearing up for the reveal this season - I just hope that it's a little bit before the finale, so that we have time to see the fall-out a bit. I don't want it to be like *"You have magic!! Oh well, I guess that's alright." SERIES END CREDITS* :P

I don't have any plans to watch Grimm or Fringe...though Grimm is more likely than Fringe. I don't have a TV, so everything has to be downloaded...and I also just don't WATCH that much TV. So, it takes me forever to get through something. Right now I'm trying to work my way through Leverage, but I'm not even done the first season yet and it's been sitting on my harddrive for months.

But, I will put Grimm and Fringe on the list of possibilities! :)

[nerthus.livejournal.com]

I think "Fringe" is like a secret gem and very underrated; if you liked X Files at all, then Fringe won't be too tough a stretch for you. Sad that it's wrapping up already but so grateful the network at least gave them a half season more to tie up all the loose ends. Grimm is okay, not my fave but I do enjoy it. I only see bits and pieces of 'Leverage,' I tried but for some reason I just can't get into it. Same with "White Collar", all my flist LOVES it but I haven't seen a single episode; and "Person of Interest" is another flist fave that I've yet to watch. It's like you say, there's just too much out there now, and I DO have tv but geez; between the shows I do watch on tv and then all the Netflix Watch Instantly things I have queued up (loving the Granada Sherlock Holmes series on Netflix, watch a lot of animes and foreign films and older tv series on Netflix), I can't keep up with all of it. I read fanfics, too, plus my Nook and my Kindle for pc and about 600 actual paper books in my house, and I have two jobs and take care of my handicapped adult daughter, so I feel guilty for even watching the excessive amount of shows I already watch! I guess they're my way of unwinding and trying to shut out the stresses of my rl, ha.

[hells-half-acre.livejournal.com]

Exactly! It's so hard to watch everything AND work for a living. I don't even have children, but I DO have a sleeping problem (in that I sleep too much), so that eats away a lot of my time...although it's time well spent!

Someone told me to watch White Collar because I like threesome relationships and triads...and I downloaded the pilot episode a year ago but I still haven't watched it! It's like I'm already disinterested without giving it a chance :P

I actually...um...didn't really like the x-files. Though, to clarify, I really don't like things that have to do with aliens. I'm so picky. I've seen a couple of episodes of Fringe and I like some aspects of it, but not others...I don't know, I guess at the moment I just want to watch fun shows and not super serious ones. But hey, I may change my mind one of these days and give Fringe or Grimm a go.

I also have a ton of actual BOOKS that I should be reading, but instead I spend my nights reading fanfic. On top of that, I've been trying to write my own book to varying degrees of success...and yeah, time just escapes me at the end of the day.

[nerthus.livejournal.com]

Ha, you're like my daughter; she's 23 now and has always hated aliens! I was an X File maniac the first 4 seasons of that show, and my daughter was only 4 or 5 when it first came on and was scared to death just of the opening music and credits, ha. She's always hated movies or shows with aliens; somehow she ended up watching "Signs" with me on cable, and when that alien suddenly walked across the alley in that home video those kids took at a birthday party, my daughter jumped so hard and made this low, visceral sound and buried her face in my neck while digging a trench in my arm with her nails, ha. I TOLD her it was about aliens, but she wanted to see if she'd conquered any of her phobia by then. Nope, not conquered! She had nightmares about aliens for a week after that, poor girl.

[hells-half-acre.livejournal.com]

Oh man! Your poor daughter. My phobia isn't QUITE that bad, but mind you, I stay the hell away from alien films, so what do I know. :P

[ashkiryn.livejournal.com]

I would love to comment on Merlin with you...but unfortunately I'm behind, and haven't seen anything of season 5 yet....so, hopefully soonish? Once I watch the million other shows that I want to watch? XD

But, uh, yeah, Merlin's awesome. If you did rewatches on the other seasons, I definitely wouldn't say no to them!

[hells-half-acre.livejournal.com]

I did a huge meta (just in case you missed it). I don't plan to do rewatches though. I might do a big post about S5 once it's completed, just to add to the S1-S4 meta that I already wrote.

But yay! I'm glad you like Merlin! It's a fun show. I hope you like the new season when it does start. I think everyone is doing a great job - Bradley especially has been impressing me.

[ashkiryn.livejournal.com]

I did miss that, but now I'll go hunting for it. And I'll be happy to hear anything about Merlin! And that possible crossover with Supernatural that I think you mentioned once. :)

Yes, I really do like it so much! It's currently my third favorite show, after Supernatural and My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic. And I watched Merlin before I watched Supernatural, and it's got a soft spot in my heart, because it hooked me in a way that TV shows hadn't done in years (prepping me, I suppose, for the way that Supernatural's completely eaten my brain and heart). It's, like....kind of campy, but awesome. And I'm hoping I will too! Even if they pull another stunt like what they did with my Lancelot, lol.

Anyway! Off I go to find your meta! :)

[hells-half-acre.livejournal.com]

Oh man, what they did with Lancelot was a damn shame! Sigh.

The Merlin/Supernatural crossover is stalled at the moment - but I really do want to figure out how to write it and have it be good, so I'm not abandoning it! I just need to figure out who the story is about and what the conclusion will be...so, yeah...you know, just the important bits. :P

I think I'm only watching 3 shows at the moment. Supernatural, Merlin, and Community... and Community isn't back on until 2013 now. (Sherlock doesn't count as a show, because it is an event.) I got into Merlin because one of the people I follow on tumblr kept posting pictures from it, and it just got to this point where I was like "I want to know why this guy is crying here, and what he's laughing about there." So yeah, I watched the show - and it was campy and hilarious and perfect. :)

The meta should be in the meta tag.

[ashkiryn.livejournal.com]

Seriously. I grudgingly accept it (like the Bobby as a ghost storyline), but just....I still wish they had done it differently? Or better? I don't know.

No, totally take your time! That's what I want from you, and why I trust you to do this kind of thing justice when I hardly trust anyone---because liked with your HP/SPN crossover, I know you'll take your time and have an actual story to tell and balance everything between the canons and do right by both sets of characters. So, there is completely no rush from this corner. :)

I'm only watching SPN in real time at the moment...I want to do a rewatch of Merlin before I catch up, and now that Once Upon a Time's on Netflix, I want to check that out...currently I'm (supposed to be) watching Fullmetal Alchemist: Brotherhood because my friend asked me to (but I keep getting distracted by SPN...it doesn't help that FMA's Elric brothers remind me FAR too much of the Winchesters XD), and I've got tons of other shows on my list that my friends want me to check out.

Hahahaha. Yeah...Merlin was just one of the things that I'd seen popping up on various corners of the internet that people were talking about (along with SPN and MLP:FiM), and that I was intrigued enough to check out. And I'm so glad that I did (on all three accounts :P).

Yep, I found it. Totally awesome job. I also agree with you about how the show is basically a metaphor for being gay.

[hells-half-acre.livejournal.com]

I know you'll take your time and have an actual story to tell and balance everything between the canons and do right by both sets of characters. So, there is completely no rush from this corner. :)

But no pressure, right? Hahaha ...this is the problem, I haven't been able to figure out how to balance it well between the two canons, and have it be just as much about Sam and Dean as it is about the Merlin crew. But hopefully inspiration will strike, or I'll think of some solution soon. I'm planning to concentrate on FanFic in November, once I'm done with the Supernatural rewatch (which takes up a lot of my time.)

Because of all the writing I do, I find that it's pretty hard to find time to watch shows - which is ironic, because a lot of the writing I do is fanfiction. :P Hopefully though, I'll be able to get back in the habit soon and pick up a few other TV shows... or at least get through Leverage. :P

[ashkiryn.livejournal.com]

Fuck, I just glanced at the first line...and MITHIAN'S BACK???????

OMG, YES YES YES YES I LOVED HER SO FUCKING MUCH, AND SHE'S BAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAACCCCCCCCCCCCKKKKKKKKKKKKKK????????

Damn. Spoiling myself for the rest of this now. And fuck, am I a horrible person for wanting an Arthur/Gwen/Merlin/Mithian foursome, sex be damned? I just....I wanted the storyline they'd introduced with Mithian to go so much farther than it did, and I loved everything about her interactions with everyone in that one episode she'd appeared in, and....and....WIN. MITHIAN WINS EVERYTHING EVER.

[ashkiryn.livejournal.com]

And WOO GWAINE/MERLIN GOODNESS, I LOVE IT DEARLY.

But MITHIAN MITHIAN MITHIAN......!!!!!!!!!!!

I'd better rein in my other comments, but basically I ship everyone with everyone. Arthur/Merlin/Gwen/Mithian/Gwaine/Lancelot/Percival/Elyan/leon/good!Morgana....JUST LET THIS BE A LAND OF SUNSHINE AND RAINBOWS AND LOOOOOOOOVVVVVVVVVVVVEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE.

Ahem. I tend to take the 'moresomes are the solution to everything' perhaps just a bit too far. ;P

[hells-half-acre.livejournal.com]

Hahaha, I'm going to respond to both your squeeing comments in this one...

I don't know if Mithian's back for more than just the one episode, but I hope she is!! (Probably not, this is Merlin after all...but a girl can dream.) In my mind she and Merlin totally hook up and have adorable magic babies...while Merlin and Arthur are each other's consorts. ;)

Threesomes and moresomes solve everything! It's just facts!

And YES more Gwaine/Merlin!! The first three episodes (especially the second one) was a bit of a let down in this area, but they fixed it with this one! Now they just have to give me MOAR. ALWAYS MOAR!

Gwaine can also be a consort. ;)

[et-tu-lj.livejournal.com]

I'm not caught up, but I've gotten far enough to see how awesome Gwaine is. <3 <3 <3 Their friendship is even more awesome to me than the main one, because it's so unexpected and honest. I love that they started out Gwaine's storyline through being Merlin's friend rather than Arthur's. I just watched the episode with the Fisher King, and OMG their quiet little campfire scene just floored me. Plus, the relief and the hug when they're reunited after Merlin was cut off from them in the middle of the castle/battle/stuff.

I need to get to the rest of the knights. >.>

[hells-half-acre.livejournal.com]

Yay for Gwaine!!! I love him, and I totally agree about their friendship. I really do think that when it comes down to it, Gwaine is loyal to Merlin first, Arthur/Camelot second. If the magic reveal ever went south in terms of Merlin and Arthur's relationship - I think Gwaine would have Merlin's back and not Arthur's.

[et-tu-lj.livejournal.com]

Oh god, I'd love to see it play out that way. I'm glad they introduced Gwaine when they did. Morgana's deliciously conflicted motivations were a lot of my early interest in the show, and having her go instantly uber-evil in the offstage season break killed me. I need someone new/pretty to keep me engaged if they're going to do that to me, so adding in Gwaine helps a lot.