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Merlin 3.01 The Tears of Uther Pendragon
Rambling review of ramblingness
The opening was nicely atmospheric with the corpse-strewn battlefield - which was immediately followed by Merlin and Arthur exchanging insults about each others arses... little bit of a jarring tonal shift there, I thought, much as it amused me. It was interesting as well that this is so the norm for them that it carries on in front of all the Camelot soldiers/knights with nobody even batting an eyelid at Merlin (servant) calling Arthur (crown prince) fat and stupid. Even Arthur barely reacts and I seem to remember him being a little more insulted over the clotpole thing last year. I'm not sure quite what it says (I was going to say 'what it is supposed to say' but I think that is giving the writers credit for more than they really intend) - that Merlin is in his own special little niche for Arthur enough that everyone else just accepts it too? Though I doubt it would go like that in front of Uther.
I wasn't expecting it to be a year since the end of S2. That's a bit of a gift for speculation. What on earth has been happening in Camelot for all that time?
One thing that remains irritating is the juvenility of the humour. I saw the clip of Arthur mocking Merlin's fighting and then Merlin magically dropping him on the One Show and was in despair at the thought this was the best they could do. And ditto on the scrubbing thing. Someone needs to point out to the writers that it is perfectly possible to appeal to children in the audience without making the adult's eyes roll so hard they hurt. And it would be really nice if (after that extra year in the show's chronology as well) they would let Arthur and Merlin's relationship be a little more mature. And I don't even mean that particularly in the sense it should be more grown-up, I just want to feel that it has moved on and got deeper. More verbal sparring, less physical bullying.
Ooh, another nice thing would be if they could find a way to fill an episode without making the characters seem a bit dim. Hmm, Morgana could do magic and was highly pissed off at Uther and has spent a year with... Morgause, who loves her enough to give up revenge to save Morgana's life, and who also does magic... and hey, look at that! Uther starts going potty as soon as Morgana returns! But I'm sure it is completely unconnected. I mean, Gaius and Merlin know all this stuff too and they don't seem to think anything is going on... *hits them violently with clue bus* Good grief. And FFS, who leaves the only person who has seen the traitor totally alone and unguarded in an unlocked room while blithely announcing his importance to all and sundry? Gaius should maybe give up the court physician role and swap it for a fool's motley because he clearly no longer feels the need to engage his brain.
I am slightly worried that I recognised the mandrake root as mandrake root as soon as Morgause produced it, even though I've never seen one. The cauldron made me want chocolate pudding though.
And pretty much all through the evil plotting bits, all I could see was Arthur going 'hello? what am I, chopped liver?' whenever they talked about Camelot being defenceless without Uther. Villains do tend to forget he exists for this type of thing - or just try to kill him to get to Uther. Arthur probably longs for the day when someone tries to assassinate him for his own sake, the poor boy. No wonder he doesn't feel ready to take over just yet.
I probably wasn't meant to be amused by Morgause interrogating Merlin, but that was about the lamest interrogation I've ever seen. She kept seeming so surprised that he might be lying and wasn't just telling her his life story - well, duh. He thinks you are evil.
Still, the hallucinations were pretty creepy and rather dark considering the dead child, Arthur got his shirt off which was clearly a dramatic necessity and King Cendred is rather young and foxy. And I love evil Morgana - she is clearly having a ball and it is about damn time she got more of a role. I hope it continues for the rest of the series. Oh, and the dragon to the rescue was an ending I didn't see coming. So all in all, I am looking forward to the next part.
The opening was nicely atmospheric with the corpse-strewn battlefield - which was immediately followed by Merlin and Arthur exchanging insults about each others arses... little bit of a jarring tonal shift there, I thought, much as it amused me. It was interesting as well that this is so the norm for them that it carries on in front of all the Camelot soldiers/knights with nobody even batting an eyelid at Merlin (servant) calling Arthur (crown prince) fat and stupid. Even Arthur barely reacts and I seem to remember him being a little more insulted over the clotpole thing last year. I'm not sure quite what it says (I was going to say 'what it is supposed to say' but I think that is giving the writers credit for more than they really intend) - that Merlin is in his own special little niche for Arthur enough that everyone else just accepts it too? Though I doubt it would go like that in front of Uther.
I wasn't expecting it to be a year since the end of S2. That's a bit of a gift for speculation. What on earth has been happening in Camelot for all that time?
One thing that remains irritating is the juvenility of the humour. I saw the clip of Arthur mocking Merlin's fighting and then Merlin magically dropping him on the One Show and was in despair at the thought this was the best they could do. And ditto on the scrubbing thing. Someone needs to point out to the writers that it is perfectly possible to appeal to children in the audience without making the adult's eyes roll so hard they hurt. And it would be really nice if (after that extra year in the show's chronology as well) they would let Arthur and Merlin's relationship be a little more mature. And I don't even mean that particularly in the sense it should be more grown-up, I just want to feel that it has moved on and got deeper. More verbal sparring, less physical bullying.
Ooh, another nice thing would be if they could find a way to fill an episode without making the characters seem a bit dim. Hmm, Morgana could do magic and was highly pissed off at Uther and has spent a year with... Morgause, who loves her enough to give up revenge to save Morgana's life, and who also does magic... and hey, look at that! Uther starts going potty as soon as Morgana returns! But I'm sure it is completely unconnected. I mean, Gaius and Merlin know all this stuff too and they don't seem to think anything is going on... *hits them violently with clue bus* Good grief. And FFS, who leaves the only person who has seen the traitor totally alone and unguarded in an unlocked room while blithely announcing his importance to all and sundry? Gaius should maybe give up the court physician role and swap it for a fool's motley because he clearly no longer feels the need to engage his brain.
I am slightly worried that I recognised the mandrake root as mandrake root as soon as Morgause produced it, even though I've never seen one. The cauldron made me want chocolate pudding though.
And pretty much all through the evil plotting bits, all I could see was Arthur going 'hello? what am I, chopped liver?' whenever they talked about Camelot being defenceless without Uther. Villains do tend to forget he exists for this type of thing - or just try to kill him to get to Uther. Arthur probably longs for the day when someone tries to assassinate him for his own sake, the poor boy. No wonder he doesn't feel ready to take over just yet.
I probably wasn't meant to be amused by Morgause interrogating Merlin, but that was about the lamest interrogation I've ever seen. She kept seeming so surprised that he might be lying and wasn't just telling her his life story - well, duh. He thinks you are evil.
Still, the hallucinations were pretty creepy and rather dark considering the dead child, Arthur got his shirt off which was clearly a dramatic necessity and King Cendred is rather young and foxy. And I love evil Morgana - she is clearly having a ball and it is about damn time she got more of a role. I hope it continues for the rest of the series. Oh, and the dragon to the rescue was an ending I didn't see coming. So all in all, I am looking forward to the next part.
no subject
I knew what the writers were going to make Arthur do with that floor-cloth. *sigh*
I recognised the mandrake root as mandrake root as soon as Morgause produced it
Does it make you feel any better that I did too? And I've never seen one either!
The cauldron made me want chocolate pudding though.
Hee.
no subject
Oh yeah. And it isn't cute or funny anymore like it is meant to be, it's just... stale. We've seen it too many times before. It is symptomatic to me of the split in tones. The rest of the episode is ominous and interesting but every so often the writers seem to feel they have to regress the writing into pantomime farce, presumably to keep the kids watching. It happened a lot with the episode wrap-ups between Gaius and Merlin last series too, and I wish they would just get over it. Doctor Who manages the balancing act so much better.
I do feel a bit better that you recognised the mandrake root too! It was just one of those moments - I went 'oh look, she's got a mandrake root... ha! I knew it was a mandrake root... wait, why do I know it's a mandrake root?'
no subject
Recognising a mandrake root is clearly the sign of an educated person. I may have seen one before, in one of the Harry Potter films, though IIRC they were cgi'd to look like actual babies being ripped from the soil during a repotting session with Professor Sprout. And didn't everyone have to wear fluffy pink earmuffs so they couldn't hear the mandrakes' cries?
no subject
Hmm, my opinion is divided on this. I think I like him equally well shirted and shirtless!
I can't comment on the Harry Potter film version of mandrakes because I only watched up to Order of the Phoenix and I found them all almost entirely unmemorable aside from Ralph Fiennes' first appearance as Voldemort which was strangely sexy, I'm weird, I know.
no subject
Whatever will you confess to next? *g* I'm quite a RF fan, and I'm now thinking I should rewatch his Voldemort scenes to see what I missed.
I'm pretty sure the mandrake root scene was in one of the earlier HP films, so I think you must have seen it, even if you don't remember it. Or maybe you spend your nights practising potions and curses in a dank cave, mandrake roots at ready hand...
PS I unfortunately don't have an Arthur icon, so another pretty blond will have to do.
no subject
It is entirely possible I have seen the mandrake scene, but at this point I'm not even sure which of the films I definitely watched. I think it was all of them up to OotP, but since I can't visually remember anything in particular from them, I'm not sure if I actually did see them or not!
Or maybe you spend your nights practising potions and curses in a dank cave, mandrake roots at ready hand...
Who, me? *coughs* *kicks cauldron behind sofa*