Merlin 2x02

[aeroport_art]

PROBLEMATIC ON SO MANY LEVELS, I CAN'T EVEN

Comments

[staraflur.livejournal.com]

I DON'T UNDERSTAND WHY NO ONE ELSE SAW THIS IN THE FIRST EPISODE

[aeroport_art.livejournal.com]

BC I THOUGHT IT WAS GONNA BE A FLUKE. like, starting off the characterization at a really low point so they have something to build on and progress.

I DIDN'T THINK THEY WERE GONNA SPRINT IN THE OTHER (HORRIBLE) DIRECTION

OH GOD, IT WAS SO BAD RYAN. SO, SO BAD. I FEEL DIRTY. and not even just the arthur/gwen (though that's icky enough on its own), it was HOW they did it. it could've been anybody--hell, even merlin in gwen's shoes--and it would've left me with this nauseous feeling.

[staraflur.livejournal.com]

I DIDN'T THINK THIS. I'M WORRIED THAT I STILL WON'T THINK IT.

And the honest to god, thought it before reason is because I THINK THEY ARE DOING IT ON PURPOSE. I think they jumped this up and messed around with everything to be a little UM THIS SHOW IS NOT GAY GO AWAY INTERNET WEIRDOS.

And that is why it makes me so unhappy, and that's why it made me so unhappy last week.

HOWEVER. I will try to hold Bradley to his word when he said that this season is (somehow?) going to end up with Merlin and Arthur being, on some level, friends.

I don't even want to use a pretty icon. I'M NOT FEELING LIKE THE SHOW DESERVES IT RIGHT NOW.


ALSO HAHAHA I JUST WATCHED THE LAST 1.5 EPISODES OF LAST SEASON WITH MY BROTHER AND HE, I SHIT YOU NOT, FAST FORWARDED THROUGH THE ARTHUR/GWEN SCENES IN LA MORT. HAHAHAHAHAHA

ALSO HE SAID HE WOULD RATHER MERLIN DIE THAN GAIUS HAHAHAHAHAA

[aeroport_art.livejournal.com]

hahahha i'm glad SOMEONE loves richard wilson. he kind of puts me to sleep, personaly D:

ugh ugh ugh ugh babe. i like. i don't know what to do with myself. i'm so, so grossed out atm and pretty annoyed with general!fandom-reaction (where is this positivity COMING FROM) i like. ugh. i was gonna do my rec list now but i seirously need to just catch up on f-list and then go far, far away. (aka do some graphics work :P)

[staraflur.livejournal.com]

I've actually on my f-list got a more general negative reaction than positive, definitely much more even that last week which was like me and one other person going IDK ABOUT THIS MAAANNNN.

BUT I AM POSTING MY YOU KNOW WHAT LATER. SO DON'T GO TOO FAR.

[aeroport_art.livejournal.com]

i won't. i will be there to snuffle and cry on your post as well.

[staraflur.livejournal.com]

IT IS UP. FOR WHEN YOU WANT TO TAKE A BREAK.

[aeroport_art.livejournal.com]

OMGOMGOMGMGOMGO

i will save it for when i get home. i is in harlem right now, have quite the trip ahead of me

[betsyli.livejournal.com]

I KNOWWWW. THE RUSHED GWEN/ARTHUR, THE IMPLAUSIBILITY OF THE PLOT, MERLIN BEING COMPLETELY MISTREATED AND UNDERAPPRECIATED....

...but still, the G/A was really really realllllyyyyyy cute. *hits self on head*

[aeroport_art.livejournal.com]

it just made me really uncomfortable.

ugh

[virginhuntress.livejournal.com]

God, I know. I'm mostly trying to decipher why they feel the need to cram so much shit into each episode SO EARLY in the season, too! We all know the Arthur/Gwen thing was going to happen, but has anyone remembered that it's best to let UST develop, let a slow burn simmer? I would much rather see him fall for her slowly and more subtly, though overall I can't be too angry with the writing this ep. It was less crap than last time.

The Arthur/Merlin relationship, however, is something that I see them building up to. Either Merlin is going to flip out on him, like Gaius, or they're going to do the big magic reveal.

Unlike Torchwood, I'm not pissed off. It could be so much worse, and we still have 11 eps or so this season to keep sorting things out. Who knows? Maybe it'll be fine in the end.

::holds you through your rage::

[aeroport_art.livejournal.com]

::holds you through your rage::

;_; thanks babe. i'm sure i'm being whiny and whatnot, but i'm just so, SO squicked by the reasons for gwen's attraction to arthur and the general grounds for their attraction to each other. i just feel like her feelings towards him are feeding his personality of entitlement and worse yet, giving him a false sense of humility or wtv.

anyway i'm going to stop there, i'm totally not in the right place to meta.

so yes. hold me ;_;

[virginhuntress.livejournal.com]

I totally understand about not feeling up to doing a meta. I have three unfinished posts on the same subject. ::sigh::

It's not whiny at all, it's disappointing when shows completely change tack and go in a direction that's really uncomfortable.

::uses a sexy icon to get you through::

[ipodgirly.livejournal.com]

I really want to like the Gwen/Arthur but I really really really (x100) don't. I had to block the view with my eyes. The way he was looking at her, erggghhh. I jut kept thinking, how can they be all "oh, we can't be together" after a few days. Oh and my poor Merlin. I will stop my rant now before it goes on and on.
:

[aeroport_art.livejournal.com]

yeah. no, i feel ya.

:( :( :( :( :(

[timetraveled.livejournal.com]

What ipodgirly said :( I REALLY want to like Arthur/Gwen but I just can't. I CAN'T DO IT. Everyone is saying they're cute but I must be missing something. Gwen deserves better to be honest (LOL NO OFFENCE ARTHUR) and should be with Lancelot :P

[aeroport_art.livejournal.com]

yeah. gwen does deserve better. i'll check out ipodgirly's post.

[timetraveled.livejournal.com]

Oh, I meant I agree with the commenter above me (about wanting to like A/G but really not :/). I can't wait for Lancelot to show up and stir up some trouble to be honest.

That "choke" art you posted is gorgeous by the way! ♥

[aeroport_art.livejournal.com]

Ohhh i knew that. d'oh.

thank you!

[lilithilien.livejournal.com]

Word. I'm embarrassed to admit I cried a little when it ended. It was character butchery all around. I don't mind Gwen getting all self-confident and confrontational, in fact I'd love to see her be strong like that, but I want to see *how* that happened. It's like this writer hadn't watched any of S1 at all. And Arthur... *shudders*

Show's got one more chance next week because I do love me some Morgana. But it had better shape up fast. And no more of those ridiculously forced long camera looks with the romantic music swelling. DO NOT WANT.

[aeroport_art.livejournal.com]

totally. i'd LOVE to see gwen be more confident. her impersonation of a walking, talking doormat is downright annoying. has everyone forgotten that arthur's father (and by extension, arthur) had her innocent father MURDERED less than a year ago? even in that one episode, i was annoyed at how she rolled over within days and started thanking arthur, her "sire", for his kindness in not rubbing it in her face that his family just killed her dad.

argh argh argh wtf. gwen's character is getting more ridiculous by the episode. arthur's swiftly becoming an irredeemable asshole, and as for merlin, where he hell has his backbone gone??

i want morgie. she needs to come in and open a can of whoop-ass on the other characters in the show :P

p.s. sorry i happened to choose your comment to rant at D: i just got home from uptown and this is my first stab at reevaluating the episode after my former state of shell-shock. apparently, it's just morphed into slightly more coherent rage DDD:

[aeroport_art.livejournal.com]

your younger siblings totally got it right. it's like "what? i thought gwen like merlin i thought arthur and morgana liked each other. i thought merlin liked morgana? i thought lancelot liked gwen and gwen liked him back? who what when where huh?"

*headdesk*

[aeroport_art.livejournal.com]

hahahahahah oh man, you know something is wrong when merlin viewers turn to gossip girl when they're tired of the convoluted love triangles.

speaking of which, my friends are all watching gg two rooms over...i don't like the show though, so instead i'm here whining about merlin D:

[anna-zee.livejournal.com]

I am so glad I decided not to watch. I won't let them ruin Arthur/Merlin for me by so OBVIOUSLY trying to distance the show from the slash. HELL NO.

Fail. Just...fail.

[aeroport_art.livejournal.com]

FAIL is definitely the word for it. The only thing really worth watching was one interaction between Arthur and Merlin wherein Merlin started giggling, and another where Merlin got fed up and started yelling at Gaius :/ Otherwise, AVOID AT ALL COSTS. The episode was a hot mess.

[letmypidgeonsgo.livejournal.com]

I have no problem whatsoever with non-M/A stuffs, but this feels soooo forced to me, and that episode was crap. Yeah, I said it.

*hides*

[aeroport_art.livejournal.com]

why the hiding? like you said, this was just a really bad episode. i'm not gonna be embarrassed about being squicked by it--i can defend my reasoning for thinking as such. the only reason i'm not explaining it in a post is that there's so MUCH wrong with it, i'm not even going to bother :P it would take me hours and i just don't have that kind of time right now.

*sigh* they really need to get this next one right. i've got one foot out the door as is.

[letmypidgeonsgo.livejournal.com]

I dunno, some on my flist take issue with objections to non-M/A ships, cos the fandom is so saturated with M/A love and they feel isolated in their love of other ships and/or vilified for not liking *the* ship...or something. Whatever, I haven't paid much attention to it...I just don't want anyone to think I have an objection to anything that's not ZOMG OTP 4EVAH! cos that's not the issue I have.

And christ, talk about a Sophomore slump...*is sad*

[adelagia.livejournal.com]

I think maybe sometime between S1 ended and S2 began, some Very Important Things happened that the writers all know about but didn't feel like telling us. Like the reason why Arthur's forgotten that he actually kind of cares about Merlin enough to drink poison for him and why Merlin's lost so much of his spark. And also apparently a big chunk of Arthur/Gwen interaction that would believably lead to the things in 2x02. It's not even that I mind the A/G ship (I don't ship it, but I'm not actively against it either), it's just that.. there are so many better ways to go about it. Why the massive hurry?

Also, WHERE IS MORGANA?

On a happier note, Merlin's gigglesnort after Arthur's "face of a bear" was the best thing ever. COLIN MORGAN, MY HEART.

[aeroport_art.livejournal.com]

Ah yes, Colin's gigglesnort to Arthur's remark. Probably my favorite bit in the episode <3

As for the whole A/G thing, that's more a symptom than the cause of my absolute disappointment in the show so far. Basically, it feels like the writers got swapped out for a set of high school teenagers in their first Creative Writing class. Uneven pacing, high emotions with not enough backstory, bad/cliched dialogue, etc etc BAD WRITING.

And the dynamic between A/G just skeeves me out. I don't like Gwen rolling over and taking Arthur's very real abuse (manipulative lies, lack of genuine remorse, repeated offences) with what's basically amounted to affectionate consternation. "Oh, Arthur. He means well. I can totally forgive all his offensive actions." I hate that Arthur's basically using his good looks and political power to seduce everyone around him, Gwen (and Merlin) included, then turns around and feels like he's being such a great guy for crushing on a pretty servant who "stands up to him" (when she TOTALLY DOESN'T).

In short: I'm pissed at the bad writing and creepy dynamics between A/G and A/M. Because Merlin is totally rolling over and taking it up the arse as well, and NOT IN THE WAY WE LIKE

[epictimesthree.livejournal.com]

Oh, woman, I hear you. I spent a lot of my time watching this episode just angry angry. Wait, why is Arthur still such a giant ass to Merlin? Why does Arthur suddenly feel compelled to open his soul to Gwen? How come everyone's talking about due courtesy to servants without mentioning MERLIN? Why did Merlin reach a critical emotional breaking point and then FORGET ABOUT IT? The only A/G scene I KIND OF liked was the very last one and that was only because of how lovely Arthur looked (and because it was ending, probably).

I agree with staraflur. This pretty much felt like a harsh schooling of anyone inclined to ship M/A to any degree.

The only reason I haven't abandoned ship is this:


This:


And this:

[aeroport_art.livejournal.com]

GIFS FTW

This pretty much felt like a harsh schooling of anyone inclined to ship M/A to any degree.
Don't they teach ANYTHING about fan bases in film school?? Okay, so they probably don't. But c'mon, it's simple: Do not alienate. We are prickly and fickle but so, so awesome when you treat us right. It's not like we're asking for a make-out session between the two male leads. Just some decent characterization that answers to no one but the show's own integrity :P