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~ Merlin 4x13 ~ The Sword in the Stone Part 2
Initial reaction upon finishing watching the episode:
WTH??!! AITHUSA CHARACTER ASSASSINATION! NOOOO. WTH. *epic sad face* WTHHHHHH.
~ * ~
Warning: Forget LJ, AO3 is a bit of a dangerous place to go when you haven't seen the latest episode. It's my fault, I know -- I shouldn't have checked out what was in the Merlin fic section... idle surfing! fail. :p But honestly, the summary sort of left me in disbelief. It was like, "wow, what kind of crazy AU! episode did this person see? This can't have happened. That's just batshit crazy. *nods*"
The summary was: Why did Aithusa heal Morgana? (Little Dragon of Mine: http://archiveofourown.org/works/302690 ... because can't not just mention the fic and not add a link to it... I read the story after I watched the episode and it was a good little fix-it fic. If you have a spare few minutes, it's worth reading)
... so you see for someone who hadn't seen 4x13, that wouldn't make any sense. So I pretended I didn't see that because it was just so ridiculous and I couldn't believe that actually would happen.
~ * ~
BUT IT DID HAPPEN. AITHUSA HEALED MORGANA BUT HE STILL LOOKED UNBEARABLY CUTE WHILE DOING IT. SOMETHING FISHY IS GOING ON HERE.
Anyway, back to other things that happened in this episode (Haha, wth does it matter what else happened? I'm still sad about the Aithusa character assassination. *grrrr*).
There were some lovely Merlin/Arthur interactions in this episode. I enjoyed them. I'm glad that it was Merlin -- as it should be -- who inspired Arthur that he was the rightful king and encouraged him to pull the sword out of the stone.
I was still partially disappointed as I knew I would be that Arthur didn't know about Merlin's magic prior to the sword pulling out. So the whole scene felt a bit hollow to me as a result. That's just me though -- I've hoped that Arthur would only gain Excalibur after knowing about Merlin's magical nature. That's one wish that wasn't granted. Blech. There's always AU fic! That thought helps.
Also, what cheapened the sword pulling out scene for me is Arthur really didn't pull the sword out on his own. Merlin magicked it out for him at a moment that Merlin decided would be best. So the whole inspiring Arthur that he was the rightful king and he could pull the sword out was a ruse... and it was more symbolic than anything as Merlin magicked it out from him anyway. So Arthur didn't do it completely on his own. So yeah, that cheapened the whole moment. I don't know -- compare this to Disney's The Sword in the Stone when Arthur pulled the sword out of the stone and there was a glowing light, but we didn't see Merlin behind Arthur "sneakily" using magic to get the sword out of the stone. Who knows, maybe Merlin was the one who conjured the glowing light and aided Arthur with pulling out the sword...but at least in the Disney movie, we didn't see that it was Merlin's doing so we could happily pretend Arthur did it on his own...and it made the moment epic.
So am I the only one who felt cheapened by the moment in 4x13? As a whole, yes, it was lovely scene with Arthur's knights and people witnessing the scene while Merlin quietly inspired him to pull the sword out. I was very grateful that it wasn't Dragoon, but Merlin who was there supporting Arthur and that it wasn't Gwen who encouraged Arthur. Thank goodness for small miracles! But I couldn't help but groan when I saw Merlin using his magic and surprise! Arthur got the sword out of the stone...er...yay?
Also, a bit lolsy that Merlin was facing all those people while his eyes glowed to perform magic... how did anyone not see that?? (nevermind everyone in Camelot being unfortunately blind to Merlin's magical antics :p). You could assume that everyone was so intent on watching Arthur pull the sword out that no one paid any mind to whatever Merlin was doing. I still think that reasoning is a bit weak, but whatever...it'll have to do.
YAY for BAMF!Merlin during the scene where he killed Agravaine. Wow. Colin Morgan was awesome in that scene with how quietly dangerous he was and then he killed Agravaine. Ha! I knew it -- Agravaine finding out about Merlin's magic would lead to his death. Surprise, surprise.
I'm so glad I wasn't spoiled on what Dragoon did to make Morgana impotent. At first I thought it was something similar to what Morgana did to Uther in S3 with making him insane... after all, Dragoon put the charm under the bed as Morgana had done. But then we find out that he left Morgana incapable of using her magic and I was, "Wow. That's pretty damn awesome, Dragoon. I'm impressed."
I was also glad to have (FINALLY) an interaction between Arthur and Morgana. It's a shame that Arthur didn't get to have that post-betrayal with Agravaine since Merlin killed him and all...but oh, I so wanted some type of interaction -- no matter how brief -- between Arthur & Morgana. Finally in the finale, I got it. I like how Arthur still expressed his sadness and puzzlement that Morgana hated him so much...it's just so very Arthur. I'm glad he didn't write her off as an evil sorceress -- he at least still remembered that he was friends with her once, that she was like a sister to him. Unfortunately it was too little too late for Morgana to see the light. :(
And then Dragoon's magic impotence spell kicked in when Morgana attempted to use magic to harm Arthur... and she realized she was incapable of using her magic, I thought Arthur's, "Not so powerful now, My Lady" was kind of hot. *fans self* Yeah, I'm a bit of a closet Arthur/Morgana shipper -- I can't help it. There's just so much interesting potential between the two (yeah, they won't ever get together romantically on the show, but the dark tension and history for Arthur/Morgana is more interesting to me than Arthur/Gwen). I loved Arthur getting the upper hand when he didn't have to fear Morgana using magic against him. Arthur - 1. Morgana - 0.
Re: Tristan & Isolde. I read a reaction post last week where the reviewer mentioned that Tristan looked more like Isolde's father than her romantic partner. I was kind of feeling the same way and it certainly made watching scenes between the two rather awkward and cringe-worthy.
Tristan and Isolde were a plot device, as most suspected, for Arthur and Gwen getting back together. I wasn't expecting Isolde to die -- that was very unfortunate. :( But apparently that event was enough for Arthur to reconcile with Gwen and marry her in the same episode. It all seemed very rushed to me. *sigh* But maybe with Arthur and Gwen now married, we can focus on other things like finally Arthur finding out about Merlin's magic. It's a bit lame that not even Morgana found out about Merlin's magic...she still sees Emrys as her enemy, but doesn't realize it's really Merlin in disguise.
~ It was great to see Kilgharrah back and helping out Merlin against the enemy. Though I wish there at least had been a line about whether or not Hunith was okay. I figure she was okay, but I felt jipped without any voiced assurance of that. :( At least the worries that Hunith would die in this episode were unfounded. Merlin's mother lives to be awesome another day! :D
~ * ~
Back to the Aithusa cliffhanger. Aww, Aithusa has grown. *pets him* Glad they showed the passage of time. Though I had wished Aithusa's return appearance would involve a scene with Merlin. :(
When a wounded Morgana had escaped, I was thinking, "uh oh, please don't tell me Aithusa's going to come help her now"...and then the dragon did come and heal her and I was, "OH SHIT. WTH." I was in denial until the last moment. :p
So that fix-it fic I mentioned earlier gave me hope. After all, if TPTB wanted to make Aithusa evil, why did they make him so cute and adorable in this appearance? He looked the antithesis of evil, seriously. Not to mention he's not a black (=evil) dragon, but a white one...and white is supposed to mean goodness and all that. Going off the fix-it fic, I just know Merlin had a hand in this... it just wasn't clarified since they wanted to end S4 on a cliffhanger. Merlin is presumably the only one who can command Aithusa... so he had to be the one to tell the dragon to go heal Aithusa.
Remember, this is the same Merlin whose actions lead Morgana into a coma and impending death in S3. Even though he knew she had turned against Camelot, Merlin didn't want to kill her (and Arthur and Uther's sadness at losing Morgana convinced him as well) and he decided to heal Morgana. So it's conceivable that Merlin commanded Aithusa to heal Morgana's wound so she wouldn't die. Looks like Merlin's still harboring some guilt for poisoning her and causing her to turn to the dark side (we have cookies! :p). IDK. It makes sense to me. Not to mention maybe Aithusa only healed her physical wound...Merlin/Dragoon's enchantment to leave Morgana magically impotent is still in place. So there's that to consider.
I can't bear to have Aithusa be the evil dragon. :( He's supposed to be the white dragon of hope after all for Arthur & Merlin uniting the land of Albion. To repeat, something fishy is going on here and Merlin has to be involved in it somehow.
~ * ~
So another season without a magic reveal. BOO. But at least we got Aithusa (who is not evil...I won't believe it :\) and a lovely first half of the season full of memorable, touching Arthur/Merlin moments. And then there were the Merlin/Lancelot moments in the first two episodes. ♥ I miss Lancelot and I wish he hadn't come back as, well, evil!Lancelot...yet it's a pity Morgana didn't keep him as her evil minion. He was much better-looking than Agravaine, can't deny that. Oh well.
...and Arthur & Gwen lived happily ever after. Merlin got a new outfit (which I liked, I approve!) for the occasion, but he still appears to be pretty much a servant/sometimes advisor. Merlin could use a status upgrade, stat!
Here's to hoping next year's "Merlin" will *finally* have that magic reveal. Or should I just not hope for it anymore because it's pointless? If S5 will be the last season, then I think that reveal will finally happen. But that could just be because it's Christmas and I can't help but feel hopeful. :p
WTH??!! AITHUSA CHARACTER ASSASSINATION! NOOOO. WTH. *epic sad face* WTHHHHHH.
~ * ~
Warning: Forget LJ, AO3 is a bit of a dangerous place to go when you haven't seen the latest episode. It's my fault, I know -- I shouldn't have checked out what was in the Merlin fic section... idle surfing! fail. :p But honestly, the summary sort of left me in disbelief. It was like, "wow, what kind of crazy AU! episode did this person see? This can't have happened. That's just batshit crazy. *nods*"
The summary was: Why did Aithusa heal Morgana? (Little Dragon of Mine: http://archiveofourown.org/works/302690 ... because can't not just mention the fic and not add a link to it... I read the story after I watched the episode and it was a good little fix-it fic. If you have a spare few minutes, it's worth reading)
... so you see for someone who hadn't seen 4x13, that wouldn't make any sense. So I pretended I didn't see that because it was just so ridiculous and I couldn't believe that actually would happen.
~ * ~
BUT IT DID HAPPEN. AITHUSA HEALED MORGANA BUT HE STILL LOOKED UNBEARABLY CUTE WHILE DOING IT. SOMETHING FISHY IS GOING ON HERE.
Anyway, back to other things that happened in this episode (Haha, wth does it matter what else happened? I'm still sad about the Aithusa character assassination. *grrrr*).
There were some lovely Merlin/Arthur interactions in this episode. I enjoyed them. I'm glad that it was Merlin -- as it should be -- who inspired Arthur that he was the rightful king and encouraged him to pull the sword out of the stone.
I was still partially disappointed as I knew I would be that Arthur didn't know about Merlin's magic prior to the sword pulling out. So the whole scene felt a bit hollow to me as a result. That's just me though -- I've hoped that Arthur would only gain Excalibur after knowing about Merlin's magical nature. That's one wish that wasn't granted. Blech. There's always AU fic! That thought helps.
Also, what cheapened the sword pulling out scene for me is Arthur really didn't pull the sword out on his own. Merlin magicked it out for him at a moment that Merlin decided would be best. So the whole inspiring Arthur that he was the rightful king and he could pull the sword out was a ruse... and it was more symbolic than anything as Merlin magicked it out from him anyway. So Arthur didn't do it completely on his own. So yeah, that cheapened the whole moment. I don't know -- compare this to Disney's The Sword in the Stone when Arthur pulled the sword out of the stone and there was a glowing light, but we didn't see Merlin behind Arthur "sneakily" using magic to get the sword out of the stone. Who knows, maybe Merlin was the one who conjured the glowing light and aided Arthur with pulling out the sword...but at least in the Disney movie, we didn't see that it was Merlin's doing so we could happily pretend Arthur did it on his own...and it made the moment epic.
So am I the only one who felt cheapened by the moment in 4x13? As a whole, yes, it was lovely scene with Arthur's knights and people witnessing the scene while Merlin quietly inspired him to pull the sword out. I was very grateful that it wasn't Dragoon, but Merlin who was there supporting Arthur and that it wasn't Gwen who encouraged Arthur. Thank goodness for small miracles! But I couldn't help but groan when I saw Merlin using his magic and surprise! Arthur got the sword out of the stone...er...yay?
Also, a bit lolsy that Merlin was facing all those people while his eyes glowed to perform magic... how did anyone not see that?? (nevermind everyone in Camelot being unfortunately blind to Merlin's magical antics :p). You could assume that everyone was so intent on watching Arthur pull the sword out that no one paid any mind to whatever Merlin was doing. I still think that reasoning is a bit weak, but whatever...it'll have to do.
YAY for BAMF!Merlin during the scene where he killed Agravaine. Wow. Colin Morgan was awesome in that scene with how quietly dangerous he was and then he killed Agravaine. Ha! I knew it -- Agravaine finding out about Merlin's magic would lead to his death. Surprise, surprise.
I'm so glad I wasn't spoiled on what Dragoon did to make Morgana impotent. At first I thought it was something similar to what Morgana did to Uther in S3 with making him insane... after all, Dragoon put the charm under the bed as Morgana had done. But then we find out that he left Morgana incapable of using her magic and I was, "Wow. That's pretty damn awesome, Dragoon. I'm impressed."
I was also glad to have (FINALLY) an interaction between Arthur and Morgana. It's a shame that Arthur didn't get to have that post-betrayal with Agravaine since Merlin killed him and all...but oh, I so wanted some type of interaction -- no matter how brief -- between Arthur & Morgana. Finally in the finale, I got it. I like how Arthur still expressed his sadness and puzzlement that Morgana hated him so much...it's just so very Arthur. I'm glad he didn't write her off as an evil sorceress -- he at least still remembered that he was friends with her once, that she was like a sister to him. Unfortunately it was too little too late for Morgana to see the light. :(
And then Dragoon's magic impotence spell kicked in when Morgana attempted to use magic to harm Arthur... and she realized she was incapable of using her magic, I thought Arthur's, "Not so powerful now, My Lady" was kind of hot. *fans self* Yeah, I'm a bit of a closet Arthur/Morgana shipper -- I can't help it. There's just so much interesting potential between the two (yeah, they won't ever get together romantically on the show, but the dark tension and history for Arthur/Morgana is more interesting to me than Arthur/Gwen). I loved Arthur getting the upper hand when he didn't have to fear Morgana using magic against him. Arthur - 1. Morgana - 0.
Re: Tristan & Isolde. I read a reaction post last week where the reviewer mentioned that Tristan looked more like Isolde's father than her romantic partner. I was kind of feeling the same way and it certainly made watching scenes between the two rather awkward and cringe-worthy.
Tristan and Isolde were a plot device, as most suspected, for Arthur and Gwen getting back together. I wasn't expecting Isolde to die -- that was very unfortunate. :( But apparently that event was enough for Arthur to reconcile with Gwen and marry her in the same episode. It all seemed very rushed to me. *sigh* But maybe with Arthur and Gwen now married, we can focus on other things like finally Arthur finding out about Merlin's magic. It's a bit lame that not even Morgana found out about Merlin's magic...she still sees Emrys as her enemy, but doesn't realize it's really Merlin in disguise.
~ It was great to see Kilgharrah back and helping out Merlin against the enemy. Though I wish there at least had been a line about whether or not Hunith was okay. I figure she was okay, but I felt jipped without any voiced assurance of that. :( At least the worries that Hunith would die in this episode were unfounded. Merlin's mother lives to be awesome another day! :D
~ * ~
Back to the Aithusa cliffhanger. Aww, Aithusa has grown. *pets him* Glad they showed the passage of time. Though I had wished Aithusa's return appearance would involve a scene with Merlin. :(
When a wounded Morgana had escaped, I was thinking, "uh oh, please don't tell me Aithusa's going to come help her now"...and then the dragon did come and heal her and I was, "OH SHIT. WTH." I was in denial until the last moment. :p
So that fix-it fic I mentioned earlier gave me hope. After all, if TPTB wanted to make Aithusa evil, why did they make him so cute and adorable in this appearance? He looked the antithesis of evil, seriously. Not to mention he's not a black (=evil) dragon, but a white one...and white is supposed to mean goodness and all that. Going off the fix-it fic, I just know Merlin had a hand in this... it just wasn't clarified since they wanted to end S4 on a cliffhanger. Merlin is presumably the only one who can command Aithusa... so he had to be the one to tell the dragon to go heal Aithusa.
Remember, this is the same Merlin whose actions lead Morgana into a coma and impending death in S3. Even though he knew she had turned against Camelot, Merlin didn't want to kill her (and Arthur and Uther's sadness at losing Morgana convinced him as well) and he decided to heal Morgana. So it's conceivable that Merlin commanded Aithusa to heal Morgana's wound so she wouldn't die. Looks like Merlin's still harboring some guilt for poisoning her and causing her to turn to the dark side (we have cookies! :p). IDK. It makes sense to me. Not to mention maybe Aithusa only healed her physical wound...Merlin/Dragoon's enchantment to leave Morgana magically impotent is still in place. So there's that to consider.
I can't bear to have Aithusa be the evil dragon. :( He's supposed to be the white dragon of hope after all for Arthur & Merlin uniting the land of Albion. To repeat, something fishy is going on here and Merlin has to be involved in it somehow.
~ * ~
So another season without a magic reveal. BOO. But at least we got Aithusa (who is not evil...I won't believe it :\) and a lovely first half of the season full of memorable, touching Arthur/Merlin moments. And then there were the Merlin/Lancelot moments in the first two episodes. ♥ I miss Lancelot and I wish he hadn't come back as, well, evil!Lancelot...yet it's a pity Morgana didn't keep him as her evil minion. He was much better-looking than Agravaine, can't deny that. Oh well.
...and Arthur & Gwen lived happily ever after. Merlin got a new outfit (which I liked, I approve!) for the occasion, but he still appears to be pretty much a servant/sometimes advisor. Merlin could use a status upgrade, stat!
Here's to hoping next year's "Merlin" will *finally* have that magic reveal. Or should I just not hope for it anymore because it's pointless? If S5 will be the last season, then I think that reveal will finally happen. But that could just be because it's Christmas and I can't help but feel hopeful. :p
no subject
The first half of the series was wonderful. I just wish the second half had lived up to it.
no subject
I wonder how Arthur would react to finally see Merlin as he really is.
Me too! Oh that scene will definitely be epic. I look forward to seeing it. :)
Yes, I agree completely. I thoroughly enjoyed the first half of S4. And yes, it's a shame that the second half wasn't as good. Like TPTB just had to get in an Arthur/Gwen storyline in the latter half at the expense of Merlin/Arthur development. It's a pity too that we didn't have the real!Lancelot return in the last half of S4. :( Well, except for those few moments when Merlin brought him back to life briefly. Maybe Lancelot is now spending some quality time with Freya in the lake. :p So he sort of has his happy ending.
no subject
what cheapened the sword pulling out scene for me is Arthur really didn't pull the sword out on his own You know, I was initially really bummed about that too, but then I reconsidered it, and--I honestly don't know if this is just headcannon or not-- it seemed that it required both of them trying together. That Arthur couldn't have pulled it out on his own, but also that Merlin couldn't have magicked it out without Arthur's hands on the hilt. It would certainly work well with the whole 'entwined destinies' theme. I CHOOSE TO BELIEVE. Although lol, yeah, Merlin doing his glowing-eyes routine while facing pretty much all of Camelot was pretty brazen. Ah well, as I remember there was a lot of sunlight in that scene (sooo prettily shot, omg.)
Powerful!Merlin is just, wow. So very hot. I really can't wait until the moment Arthur gets to see him in all his glory, and I barely even mean that in a dirty way. :D
I wish Tristan and Isolde hadn't been quite so much of a plot device, because I though they were pretty awesome. And I rather liked that there seemed to be an age difference between them--it seems more authentic to the time period, and bolsters the whole 'love against all odds' that I've always thought was kind of the point of Tristan and Isolde. :) But yeah, seriously unimpressed that Isolde had to die to get Arthur and Gwen back together. :/
Ok, seriously though? Arthur and Gwen getting married was totally worth it if only to get to see Merlin in his wedding suit. SO HOT.