Thoughts on "The Castle of Fyrien"

[lily_handmaiden]

I don't usually do reaction posts, at least not so quickly, but I probably won't be able to talk to Bethany about the latest Merlin episode until tomorrow, and I wanted to get my thoughts down while they were fresh so I wouldn't forget, and then I was like, hey, this could be a post. I will break it down into sections.

Quick Thoughts:

I feel like I’d need to watch again to get the intricacies of Albion-politics discussed in this episode. Is Carlion a part of Camelot’s territory now? Did the same thing happen to Mercia, and that’s why Bayard is just a Lord?

Also, it’s just occurred to me: how did Cenred expect Gwen to bring Arthur back if she didn’t know where the castle was? Did he just assume Arthur would figure it out? (Nobody likes a cleverclogs, Erin.)

I’d have liked to hear more of the circumstances under which Elyan left Camelot. Presumably he just struck out on his own to be his own blacksmith, but what were relations between him and his father like that he didn’t come back when Tom died?

The road trip stuff was great. In more ways than I’m sure I’ve even processed yet, it was a dark “Moment of Truth.” That was all about loyalty to your friends, this was all about betrayal.

I liked Gwen’s reminder that she’s a blacksmith’s daughter and Elyan’s skill with a sword.

Arthur and Gwen are so cute. He said he looooved you, Gwen! Feel free to go skipping around the castle now. :)

The Arthur/Morgana stuff in this episode was great, at least from Arthur’s end. His complete devotion to his sister, wrapped up in that banter they do so well. “Trust me, I don’t like this any more than you do.” (Bradley's been doing a lot of carrying Katie around this season, which for some reason I find endlessly amusing. Commentary on this episode plz.) I’ve been rewatching season 1 while grading, and I kept having to stop to yell, “ARTHUR! SISTER! STOP IT!” I felt some of that urge during this episode as well. Clearly, he sees Morgana as his sister, but just as clearly he has no idea that she is actually his sister, if that makes sense.

Morgana and Merlin's scenes in this episode were fantastic. I love that Merlin finally confronts her directly for everything she's done. (Because for some reason, going after Gwen is THE WORST THING. Seriously. Morgana's murdered innocent guards and tried to kill her own father, but last week Bethany said, "If she hurts Gwen, I will never forgive her." It's awful that she's going after Arthur, too, but Gwen is the kindest person on this show, its hope and its heart, and doing anything to her, that is crossing a line.) And I love that they're still at such a wonderful stalemate. If they can't be working together, I like Merlin/Morgana scenes of antagonism and sniping. I enjoy the foe yay. And I still find it interesting that neither of them seems willing to fully commit to killing the other. Come on, Merlin, even that snake was a half-assed attempt. 
 

 Not-So-Quick Thoughts, In Two Parts:

Part the first, Morgana.
 

MORGANAAAA! *fist shake* It was the, “Why don’t you kill him now?” that was really upsetting, I think. I’m pretending in my head that she was willing to use Gwen, but not to actually hurt her (and I don’t think she considers emotional torture to be “actual hurting”), and I kind of wonder if she wanted to have Arthur killed immediately rather than have him be tortured. Get it over with as quickly as possible, because one thing that’s emerging about Evil Morgana is that she does not like to be confronted with the reality of what she’s become. I think on some level she wants to just kind of go in the corner and cover her eyes while Morgause and Cenred do the dirty work, and then she can be all, “Is it over yet? Am I queen now?” But her willingness to have Arthur dead… oh, Morgana what happened to you? I’ve been watching season 1, and I miss Good Morgana. And I’m willing to believe that Evil Morgana is not totally cut off from Good Morgana, but the show has to show us that.

This was an episode where they did that in bits and pieces. Morgana tries very hard to avoid having to face the reality of what she’s doing, and I’m not sure if it’s more because she doesn’t want to remember who she used to be or because she doesn’t want to have to stop and really think about what she’s doing now. I loved the reminders of the poisoning. I gave a Morgana-sympathetic, “HA!” to her refusal of drink from Merlin at the beginning. And it was played very well in the scene between Morgana and Merlin in the forest. Something like, “You don’t betray your friends.” “No, you just poison them.” I strongly believe that Merlin did kill a part of Morgana in “The Fires of Idirsholas.” She doesn’t trust people now. She doesn’t love people now. She doesn’t believe in friendship now, except with Morgause, the only person who’s seemed to consistently care about her (and I’ll come back to her). She’s so bitter and hurt now that she’s just flinging that hurt at anybody who comes near her, to make them share her pain. And it’s only getting worse, because now she knows the extent to which Uther is the worst person ever on the planet. (Seriously, he is, I have a flowchart proving that everything is his fault.)

It’s that self-fulfilling prophecy thing this show loves doing again—Merlin did kind of condemn Morgana to be evil by deciding that she was evil. And when Morgana shouts, “You can never understand!” I feel like there may be more behind what she’s doing. I’ve felt it a couple of times this season. But Morgana, okay, maybe Merlin can Never Understand, but could you just explain it anyway? Because I MIGHT UNDERSTAND. Dammit, show, I want to understand! Give me the opportunity! You have to actually tell us, at least one time, out loud, with words! THAT IS HOW THIS WORKS!

I initially liked the idea of the one-year jump ahead in time, because it does account for such a huge change in Morgana to some extent. But now I’m really wishing that they’d just shown that year and had a whole separate Morgana-and-Morgause-Sisterly-Fun-Times side plot to show exactly what Morgana has been through, even if it meant Katie couldn’t come to Pierrefonds with everybody else. It’s alienating, this complete lack of knowledge of what happened. Even if it it so happens that it wasn’t enough to justify what she’s doing now, when you have a character fall like this it helps to see the moment of the fall, and we never saw that for Morgana, not really.

 

Part the second, Morgause, Cenred, and their political machinations (complete with outline).

So, finally I LOVE MORGAUSE and I LOVE CENRED UNTO ETERNITY and I DO NOT TRUST EITHER OF THEM FARTHER THAN I COULD THROW THEM. What’s more, I love them together. Their dialogue is so sexual that, even though it’s indirect, I would feel uncomfortable if I had kids watching this show. I like that they like each other, and that they do it semi-grudgingly. You really get the sense of a history between them in their scenes together; I love that, and I think it’s all down to Emilia and Tom Ellis being pros. His theatrical bow to her after his confrontation with the prisoners! Aww!

I also get the sense that Morgause is reluctantly starting to trust Cenred, and while it’s nice I do not know if it is a good idea. Because Cenred wants Camelot—According to Arthur, he has always wanted Camelot, and it stands to reason that this is why he got involved in Morgause’s plots against it in the first place. But now Morguase is trying to put Morgana on the throne of Camelot. And they both can’t have it at the same time.

Team Evil was put into a triangle, at least politically, the minute Morgana found out she was Uther’s daughter. They’re on the same side for now, but once they get Camelot, that will no longer be the case. So it’s only a matter of time before shit hits the fan. Provided the show doesn’t ignore this completely, there are a number of ways things could go down from here:

I.                   The sisters unite against Cenred and throw him to the curb. Ahahahaha! Girl power!
 

II.                Cenred tries to take the throne from Morgana…
 

A.    By turning against Morgause. He could do this either…
 

1.      by forming a political alliance with Morgana (although this could be done with Morgause’s blessing) or
 

2.      by forming a “political alliance” with Morgana, if you know what I mean. (I mean a marriage. Or possibly something less decorous.)
 

a.       It would be very interesting if he and Morgana betrayed Morgause, especially since that would be a whole new level of low for Morgana. I liked how prickly Morgana and Cenred’s relationship is in this episode. He clearly doesn’t trust her, which makes sense because she’s a traitor already and also can’t seem to complete any task successfully. (When Morgause asked if Morgana had ever let them down yet, I was like, “Uh, yeah! With the invasion and the skeleton army and the getting knocked unconscious? Do you not remember this?”) He also likes rubbing her noble status in her face. She’s always, “The Lady Morgana,” in tones of disdain. And Morgana, for her part, doesn’t seem to like Cenred much, either. Which also makes sense, because he’s clearly using her without much concern for her welfare, not even for Morgause’s sake. He didn’t tell his men to go easy on her down in the labyrinth; he might not even have told them to spare her, if it had come to that. But now, of the two sisters, she’s the more politically valuable, and he could be valuable to her, too.
 

b.      There is also the possibility that he would form this alliance by force. He does have a mighty big army, and Morgana’s reign would be tenuous. But in this case, I imagine things would revert back to option I above.
 

B.     By uniting with Morgause against Morgana. Now, don’t get me wrong, I do think Morgause cares about Morgana, in her way. But we’ve also seen that she is more than willing to use her sister for her own ends. Sometimes I wonder if Morgana is much more to Morgause than a means to an end. And then I wonder what precisely Morgause did to Morgana over the space of that year they were together, and what she continues to do to her now. The endgame of all this could be Cenred on the throne, those might have been his terms for allying with her. And then Morgause could be queen, instead. It would be very interesting to see how Morgana would react to being betrayed again by the one person she thought she could still trust, the one person she thought loved her. Provided something is finally allowed to go well for Morgana (not likely), it is possible we would then get option III.
 

III.             Morgana ejects both Cenred and Morgause. Booyah! There is only one person Morgana can trust, and it is herself!

Overall, I felt this was a really good, strong episode. I might not have liked everything that happened in it, but it definitely kept me entertained. And I'm really looking forward to seeing where the rest of the season is going.

Comments

[inafadinglight.livejournal.com]

Thank you! for so thoroughly articulating my thoughts so I don't have to, haha. I agree with every single thing - the A/G, the Gwen stuff, Morgana's motivations, Team Evil. I was totally holding out hope that Gwen would be Morgana's weakness, that she wouldn't be able to sacrifice her friend, but, sadly, that hope has now been crushed. I'm at the point where I can't even justify hoping for any depth to Morgana's character this season, because the writers haven't shown that they're willing to do that. I guess being evil because you haven't been given any better options is as good a reason as any, right?

But what really bothers me is the gap year. I loved the idea of it, but they seemed to completely forget about it once they got to "Goblin's Gold." Like, I thought the point of her being away for a year was so she could learn magic and such, and maybe be fed lies about Camelot by Morgause, which could explain her sudden shift in personality. But nope, it was just a plot device to jumpstart the whole Uther-Morgana-"I am your father" thing. She's barely shown any more magical ability than she had last year, which is a shame because it'd be awesome if she and Merlin could have a magical showdown to parallel their swordfight in 3.01.

I was not a fan of this episode, mainly because it was just illogical. I didn't like that we don't find out Gwen's got a brother until - uh oh! - he's in trouble and needs to be rescued. The tunnel thing? Those tunnels were HUGE. How could the guy who's living in the castle not know about them? And how does Morgana placing the ring at the *outside* entrance help Cenred's men to find the *inside* entrance? And, and, how do ceilings keep falling on people and no one seems to be substantially hurt? Maybe I've read too much fantasy, but I expect more from a magical confrontation than ceilings falling on people.

*sigh* Sorry! There really were things I liked about this episode, namely Cenred. He's like Gisbourne's long-lost brother, except he's got a sense of humor and some style. I loved his flourishy bow to Morgause! I don't know how the whole Cenred-Morgana-Camelot's throne is going to work out though. I choose to believe that Morgause wouldn't turn against either of them (Morgana because they're blood, and Morgause is the only one who seems to care for her nowadays; Cenred because for the exact reason you said - there's a sense of history about them, like Beatrice and Benedick at the beginning of Much Ado, although . . . evil-er). However, I also feel like the show would back away from portraying any sort of loyalty among 'evil' characters.

Er, this is getting super long. And rambly. Sorry! Thanks again for writing up your thoughts. It makes me feel that maybe all my gripes about this show aren't completely off-base. :)

[lily-handmaiden.livejournal.com]

Thanks for commenting! It's good to hear your thoughts, too!

I understand why you didn't like the episode. The thing with me is that I tend to default to liking things, even when I'm critical of them. (Friends have suggested I write a "Guide to Liking Everything.") And I'm the kind of person who doesn't mind filling in the gaps and coming up with explanations and character motivations myself, but at this point in the season, I shouldn't *have* to do that. I adore this show to pieces, but there's some lazy writing going on. Like, I don't think they *forgot* about the gap year at "Goblin's Gold," but they consider it to be, in and of itself, an explanation for everything, and it's just *not.* "Oh, it's because she was gone for a year" doesn't account for things the way even a tiny explanation of what happened in that year would, and they don't seem to realize that.

I LOVE your comparison of Morgause and Cenred to an evil Beatrice and Benedick-- that is so dead-on.

[inafadinglight.livejournal.com]

I totally understand. I mean, at the beginning of the season I was very ready to overlook things. Now, I think my frustration is just mounting because Morgana as a character had so much potential in season one, and I feel like they're doing the bare minimum with her in order to focus on Arthur and Merlin. However, that being said, I'm really trying to wait until the end of the season to make a decision about these episodes, and there will never be a time when I don't love this show. With all its faults, it's still pretty awesome. :)

Haha, honestly, I would watch a show that was all about Morgause and Cenred. Can we petition for a spin-off?

[lily-handmaiden.livejournal.com]

That spinoff should *so* happen. ...It would probably have to air much later in the evening.