wiseheart: (Merlin focused)
[personal profile] wiseheart
I got the second part of Season 4 from the most gracious [livejournal.com profile] the_wild_iris
*hugs gracious friend* and watched all six episodes in one go yesterday. Or would that be yesternight? Anyway, here are my comments.

The things I didn't like:


- I'm not really happy with the direction the show is taking. I mean, Arthur is supposed to grow and learn, right? Now, being the clueless idiot and getting deceived by just about everyone, especially by people to whom he is related to, is getting old. And boring.

- I still find no logic in the fact that Agravaine is supporting Morgana against Arthur. I mean, okay, Igraine died to give birth to Arthur, but shouldn't Agravaine hate Morgana, who is living proof that Uther was not so devoted to his wife, after all? Bleh.

- The knights are still without any personality. They are completely exchangeable, and give how different their personal backgrounds (supposedly) are, that's just lazy writing, ladies and gents and all possible beings in-between. (Yeah, I was reading Torchwood fic, too, so what?) Especially the neutering of Gwaine is painful to watch.

- Dear scriptwriters, would you kindly take the effort to harmonize the imaginary geography of Albion? Last time I checked, Ealdor was in Cenred's realm. Now it is in Lot's, apparently. Now, I can imagine that with Cenred having died without an heir, King Lot might have conquered his lands in the last two years, but in that case, a short piece of information would have been nice.

- And when I thought Guinevere couldn't get more annoyingly stupid, she surprised me once again. Go figure.

- The necromancy thingy they did with Lancelot. Even though I enjoyed wet, nekkid Santiago emerging from the water, like a gender-bent Venus. But what they did with the character was disgusting. Even though Santiago played very well the not-quite-true Lancelot. Of course, we knew he was a fake, but even so, you could feel that something wasn't quite right.

- Tristan and Isolde. 'Nuff said.



The things I liked very much:


- Merlin. Or rather Colin Morgan. Period. That young man is fantastic... even though he had shamefully little to do in these episodes. Hello, wasn't he supposed to be the most important character in the series?

- Gaius. Seriously, I like the old guy more with every passing episode.

- Princess Mithian. She was the first female character with truly royal presence. Well, aside from Sarah Parrish, but unfortunately, her character turned out to be a troll. A shame. And Arthur gave up that for a stupid cow like Gwen? Bleh.

- The warrior priest. He was cool, and so was his half-naked bodyguard. No, not because of all that exposed manflesh, honestly. The guy was cool, with his tattoos and everything. And I loved the fact that Morgana's supposed ally turned against him this once time, for a change.

- And yay, Hunith was back! Do I need to say more?



Despite everything, I enjoyed watching the episodes very much, because, well, because it was Merlin. I hope, though, that I get the chance to watch Camelot eventually, just to compare the two series. Their Arthur looks like the result of a mistaken genetic experiment, but at least their Guinevere is really beautiful, and you can actually believe that the guys would fall in love with her at first sight. And they have Clive Standen as Gawain, which alone would be a reason to watch it.

(no subject)

Date: 2012-02-06 10:42 am (UTC)
From: [identity profile] lindahoyland.livejournal.com
Merlin is way better than Camelot for all its faults. The Camelot Arthur and Merlin gave me the creeps!

(no subject)

Date: 2012-02-06 08:33 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] wiseheart.livejournal.com
I readily believe you that. Nonetheless, I would like to watch it, if for nothing else than for Sir Kay and the two leading ladies.

(no subject)

Date: 2012-02-07 03:46 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] jenn-calaelen.livejournal.com
Seems like a good summary - I think I agree with all your good and bad points - although by the end of the season I was really quite bored of it... hopefully if they make more it will be better. :)
I really should finish watching Camelot....

(no subject)

Date: 2012-02-07 05:17 pm (UTC)
From: [identity profile] wiseheart.livejournal.com
What I really missed from this season were more "monster of the week" or "guest villain of the week" episodes. After a while, I simply couldn't watch the repeat footage of Morgana sulking in her hut and Agravaine running to her with the newest gossip. Bleh.

Of course, the fact that we knew from the first moment on that Agravaine was the bad guy, and that our heroes were simply too stupid to realize it didn't help things. Neither did the fact that we never heard about him in the first three seasons.
Edited Date: 2012-02-07 05:17 pm (UTC)
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