clo_again

Oh Gwaine. The sad-hopeful-worried face you made when Merlin walked in and then wasn't happy to see you broke my heart. You were such BFFs last series and suddenly Merlin's making bitterly pointed remarks about 'ale in your ears' in last week's ep (as Dragoon but Colin Morgan delivered that line as heartfelt honesty rather than a distraction-technique tease), after snapping at Gwaine in the hallway over Arthur's food (okay, he was under the influence of a ~~Goa-uld~~ magic-mind-controlling-snake-creature and okay, the food was sprinkled with fatal poison but Gwaine didn't know that, looked completely poleaxed at Merlin's sharpness in fact, and we never saw Merlin apologise and from Merlin's reaction to Gwaine's unexpected appearance this week, I'll hazard a guess that's because there was no apology rather than because they had no time for one in the ep and hoped it'd be assumed.

So what happened?! Did I miss the scene where they had a fight? (No honestly did I like, fall asleep for five minutes at some point and the internet just decided I didn't need to know about major character-friendship squabbles?) Yes, Gwaine joined in the knights' slightly assholeish teasing of Merlin a few episodes back but Arthur is a prat to Merlin most of the time (play the "Shut up Merlin!" drinking game; you'll need a new liver by episode four. Of any of the series) and Merlin mostly takes it (though ahahahaha, the bedroom scene of this week's episode was glorious; I hope Merlin gets his own back like that a lot more than we actually see) without a blink but maybe it's different because Gwaine's supposed to be a friend and not his prince/king. I don't think it's clear enough in the episodes, but I definitely feel like perhaps there was a subplot back at script/filming phase where Merlin and Gwaine argued - quite epically, if the multi-episode lingering bitterness is anything to judge by - and it got cut for time, so all we're left with is fragmented lines that don't seem characteristic without context.

I mean, Gwaine's only in Camelot for Merlin; he might believe a little more in the whole King-Arthur-shiny-ultimate-awesome by now but he's spelled it out in whichever-episode that he's not doing any of it for Arthur, he's doing it for Merlin. Because Merlin was his BFF, at a time when Gwaine didn't have anyone. And I really wish I knew what screwed that up, because Merlin's reaction to Gwaine in tonight's episode was, frankly, harsh and it just feels like there was some wider plotline we missed where tonight was the beginning of the reconciliation.

I thought Gwaine was going to discover Agravaine's secret and tell Merlin to complete the back-to-conspiring-BFFs theme but instead we got that sweet but vaguely awkward scene where Gaius talks for about five minutes and Bradley James tries to look thoughtful instead of constipated (you did very well Bradley, considering. It was a very long speech). It felt like we were actually going to get some plot-progression with either Gwaine and Gwen joining the Agravaine-is-teh-Big-Bad-Evil-ohnoes! camp but we just ended up back at the beginning, albeit with Arthur getting a wordy smack around the head from Gaius for being a prejudiced twatwaffle.

Also, I was utterly convinced for a second in the mine that Gwaine was going to find out about Merlin's magic - and I'm not entirely convinced that we didn't get a sneaky confirmation that Gwaine knows, already knew, and doesn't care because it was fairly bloody obvious the inexplicably-almost-naked man didn't just fall over his feet to hover six inches above the floor, but it wasn't treated like a revelation. Though, did Gwaine say 'Thanks' afterward? Maybe I should rewatch.

In conclusion: I really did love tonight's episode but I think each Merlin ep really needs to be an hour long now because they're obviously failing to fit everything in that could, and should, be there. I'm actually looking forward to seeing the deleted scenes on the S4 DVDs in the hope that they might explain some of the things that seem to be getting lost in the edits.

Also ffs Arthur, stop being a twatwaffle and just recognise the glaringly obvious fact that your dressed-in-dark-evilish-colours-and-accusing-your-lifelong-loyal-advisors-of-being-traitors-once-a-week-Uncle is evil. Really. For the greatest King that ever lived, you're looking pretty stupid right now and it's getting old.

eta: Colin Morgan looked so beautiful in the scene in the council chamber after Gaius was kidnapped, and the one after where he was sitting on the floor surrounded by books. Kudos to the costume people for chosing not to have him in the red for that scene; the muted blues worked wonderfully with the sombre tone of the scene and the red is a very Camelot-associative colour. Having him in blue at a time where his feelings had to be less than kind towards Arthur (and therefore Camelot) was a lovely touch. I must screencap that scene for an icon.

edit the second Also, ALSO, Merlin actually SAYS LEON'S NAME in the trailor for next week's episode. This means Leon MIGHT GET MORE THAN ONE LINE NEXT WEEK. \o/ (caveat: I hope this extra!Leon is not at the expense of continued Gwaine-reconciliation after the not-important-enough-to-show Gwaine/Merlin fight, Merlin writers.)

~

Just so this entry wasn't oh-god-she's-rambling-about-that-bloody-wizard-show-again, I did this meme what I stole from

kindoftrouble and

mayakitten:

You can learn a lot about someone by the music they listen to. Hit shuffle on your iPod or mp3 player and write down the first 20 songs. No cheating or skipping songs that are shameful. That is the fun!

1. Someone Like You - Adele (Radio 1 live version)
2. Center of the Universe - Built to Spill
3. About Today - The National
4. For the Reunion - Nobuo Uematsu (instrumental)
5. In The Aeroplane Over the Sea - Neutral Milk Hotel
6. Lovina - Maria Kalaniemi & Aldargaz (instrumental)
7. Letters From the Sky - Civil Twilight
8. Heard It Through The Grapevine - DAAS (live)
9. Secretariat - Jeffrey Foucault
10. Saturday - Chris Garneau
11. Something's Gotta Give - Kane
12. Bleed American - Jimmy Eat World
13. New Song - Terra Naomi
14. Dancing in the Moonlight - Toploader
15. Starlight - Muse
16. Africa - Toto
17. Honey - The Hush Sound
18. Pop Music of the Future - Say Hi To Your Mom
19. All the Umbrellas in London - The Magnetic Fields
20. If I Wrote You - Dar Williams

Considering I have all my random Halloween music on my iPod shuffle, that could've gone a lot worse.

One day I will actually make a proper RL post again. Hhmm.