such_heights | Merlin 3x12

*flails indecisively* I DO NOT KNOW HOW I FEEL ABOUT THIS.

So, all right. If I can compartmentalise sufficiently, I do enjoy the wacky adventures of Arthur and Merlin and Gwaine. And Arthur and Merlin's relationship felt back to how it should be this episode, which was pleasing. I was also v pleased to see Elyan again, hi Elyan!

But but, needed more Gwen AGAIN and why are Morgana and Morgause so moustache-twirlingly evil and seriously what is even their plan, kill everyone then have a zombie army then ...? I wanted a revolution I could at least vaguely root for, dammit. And the scene between Gwen and Morgana would have been 10x more awesome if their relationship had had any kind of consistent development this season instead of introducing all this new male recurring characters. :/ (I do like Gwaine a lot, but y'know. And I do not understand the appeal of Leon other than as occasional Knightly Plot Device.)

The one moment I seriously enjoyed? MORGANA BEING CROWNED IN FRONT OF UTHER ON HIS KNEES. God that's been a long time coming, and it was satisfying as fuck. \o/

I am looking forward to next week just to see what happens, and all the epic stuff from the trailer, but I dunno, man! Is my love for Gwen enough to sustain me through another series of this?!

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Is my love for Gwen enough to sustain me through another series of this?! Yeah, I think a lot of people are asking themselves that. I've just started treating Merlin Season 1 & the subsequent seasons as different shows - Season 1 is why I'm in fandom, and that's what any remaining Merlin fics I write will be based on, but the other seasons can go hang because all the stuff I liked about the show seems to be absent from them.

Yeah, absolutely - and there have been all these *moments* recently that I've enjoyed, like Arthur and Gwen's relationship, and Gwaine, but this doesn't feel like my show any more overall. I am glad that I feel quite a disconnect between fandom and canon, though, I think I can stick around even if I'm not watching regularly.

MORGANA BEING CROWNED IN FRONT OF UTHER ON HIS KNEES.

*searches youtube*

*watches*

!!!!!

I DON'T THINK YOU'LL BE NEEDING THIS ANY MORE!!!!!

omg the way M/M smile at each other!!!!!!!!

*draws evil lesbian hearts EVERYWHERE*

I CROWN THEE MORGANA PENDRAGON fdjkadl;a;ghv;ra;v

*ahem*

Thank you for mentioning that scene. I quite appreciate it.

Hahaha, that was also my reaction! You are VERY WELCOME.

I'm keeping my fingers crossed for a Gwen-heavy season next year. If they continue the story the way they're going, they'll have to show things happening for her, right? *probably way too optimistic*

Is it weird that I'm more concerned for Morgana next season? I'm afraid they'll kill her or push her in the background now that this storyline's paid off, and I really don't want that to happen. Particularly as I find her one of the most sympathetic characters on the show, even with her shoddy characterization this season. Sigh.

Oh goodness, I would be over the moon if that were the case! But I'm not getting my hopes up.

Yes, I'm worried about Morgana too - I don't think they really can kill her, that's a step too far in terms of messing with the legends, but I can easily see her getting very sidelined. Is it so hard to have multiple lead female characters who are in the show every week? Apparently so. D:

the scene between Gwen and Morgana would have been 10x more awesome if their relationship had had any kind of consistent development this season

Can I ask for your further thoughts here? I've seen other people say this and I don't entirely understand. I personally wish that the Gwen/Morgana relationship had gotten VASTLY more screen time--I would be happy watching a show based just on them--but I don't see what's inconsistent about it.

Obviously Morgana returns to Camelot having changed her feelings for her former friends (on which point I share your frustration), but then she goes from seeing Gwen as an inconvenient witness to her plots that she can easily distract, to a useful pawn she can manipulate cruelly to get to Arthur, to a potential threat to her own title as queen. Now that it seems she's won, she has a different attitude (one you can interpret in different ways).

Whereas Gwen began with her all her old devotion and loyalty to Morgana but slowly developed more distance from and suspicions of her over many episodes, until we end up in that last fake embrace. It's not a happy-making arc--and I personally think there are loads of missing scenes in this arc that I would have loved to have seen (Gwen realizing she can't tell anyone else about Morgana's magic! Morgana conferring with Morgause in the wake of Merlin's Dragun disguise!) that I hope fic writers will supply--but it feels like a progression to me.

I do not understand the appeal of Leon other than as occasional Knightly Plot Device

I am completely with you here. Utterly mystified and a bit depressed by the love for Leon, because he exemplifies all the traits fandom loathes in female characters (flatness and lack of development; bitchiness to others; a tendency to take screen time away from the ostensible leads). What's his appeal? Oh yeah—a beard and a penis. Sigh.

The one moment I seriously enjoyed? MORGANA BEING CROWNED IN FRONT OF UTHER ON HIS KNEES

Yes, this was COMPLETELY AWESOME, and I'm not even on Team Evil! It was so satisfying and cathartic to have Morgana express her rage and take revenge and see Uther and Arthur clue in. I do wish we could have had an entire series with the sisters in control and the others running a resistance, though I imagine the budget cuts at the BBC ruled that out.

Is my love for Gwen enough to sustain me through another series of this?!

Well, I'm selfishly hoping you'll stick around, because I will miss your fic and vids like crazy if you leave! But you should make whatever decision is right for you--fandom should be fun, after all.

Re. development - for me, Gwen's changing attitude to Morgana makes a lot of sense. She senses something's up from the get-go and then it's a gradual progression from there to where we are now.

Morgana's feelings towards Gwen, however, confuse me. I mean, it frustrates me a lot that she's willing to deliberately set Gwen up for execution with no acknowledgement of how close they used to be etc, but even aside from that I don't think we've seen why Morgana has her change of heart in this episode. I can come up with lots of explanations for it, but given 3x10 I'm not sure why Morgana is now seemingly actively invested in having Gwen on side. I don't think we've seen a reason as to why Morgana would take the trouble to offer Gwen assurances that she'll be fine if she cooperates etc. I could have bought a colder 'if you don't resist you won't be hurt' line, but I'm not sure the writers have put in the work to explain why Morgana seems actively happy when Gwen professes loyalty. I can think of many reasons! But they're not on screen.

I do wish we could have had an entire series with the sisters in control and the others running a resistance

Oh goodness, yes, I would be HUGELY on board with that. I suppose that if the end of this series leaves the game genuinely changed I may be more interested in sticking around, but if it goes back to roughly the same setup: Uther king, Arthur his loyal son, Merlin keeping secrets, etc, I'm not sure that'll really sustain my interest.

However, I am happy on this occasion that I don't think my waning interest in the show is going along with a waning interest in the fandom. I still want to read fic and watch vids and have things of my own I'm working on, so I won't be going anywhere for a while. I'm quite relieved it'll be hiatus soon, really, so I can get on with that in peace. *g*

And I do not understand the appeal of Leon other than as occasional Knightly Plot Device

HAHAHA in my mind, he's Uther's boytoy (See recent post)

i was actually surprised to see gwen in this episode, not b/c i didn't want her there or think she had a hell of a lot to do (i did and she DOES!) but i thought they just forgot about her :(

Hahaha, so Leon as Uther's boytoy makes him approx. 100% more interesting to me! I enjoy that theory.

And yeah, it is depressing when the appearance of one of the lead characters is surprising! Woe. I do think we'll see her a little more this weekend, though. *crosses fingers*

i hope so! i hope she does something AWESOMELY HEROIC to save arthur when morgana finally captures him :)

Still processing. Have decided to call the show Guinevere in my head.

Merlin 3x12

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