Thursday 27 December 2012

Second Merlin Rant

Please Note: Anyone who has not yet seen the MERLIN series finale, this rant/review is full of major spoilers.

As previously mentioned, what had drawn me to the show in the first place was it's magical charm. It followed the adventures of King Arthur and his friend/servant/wizard Merlin. There were a few episodes here and there that I didn't enjoy, but it was overall enjoyable. In the end, it was the series finale that took the prize in being the worse episode ever.

The scene that shocked me the most in the entire series was when Mordred had betrayed Merlin and revealed to Morgana that Merlin was Emrys. As soon as he (Mordred) said, "It is Merlin!" I let out a loud gasp, put my hand over my mouth and began anxiously waiting for the epic battle in the finale. I don't know why it surprised me when I already know how the legend of King Arthur ends. Arthur is destined to be betrayed and killed by the hands of his noble knight, Mordred. And of course, Morgana would have had to find out about Emrys one way or another.


With everything going the way it was, there were a few things I wanted to know: How will Arthur find out about Merlin's secret? Will Mordred and/or Morgana die? Was Arthur actually going to die, or would they change the end on a high note? Considering that they changed so much of the legend already, there was a shred of hope in me for a happy ending.

So the episode starts off with old Merlin striking his staff, and instantaneously killing Morgana's evil army. Within ten minutes into the episode, the "epic battle" has come to an end. I was expecting Merlin to use his Dragonlord magic and bring in his Great Dragon friend to join in the fun, but Kilgharrah doesn't show up until the end. (I'll get to that in a bit.)

After most of the army has died, Mordred comes up from behind and stabs Arthur in the back (very artistically, I may add.) Arthur then turns around and stabs and kills Mordred. Old Merlin finds Arthur and begins his mission to save his friend.

Of course, everyone was waiting for the big reveal to see how Arthur finds out about Merlin's secret. In my head, I thought it would be Merlin getting caught using his magic. But instead, it ends up being a very sad Merlin crying and saying "I am a sorcerer. I have magic." Which then leads to Merthur (Merlin/Arthur) going through the whole episode fighting like a married couple. Arthur is able to witness a few of Merlin's magic tricks, but it's very rushed and gives him little time to react to the big secret he just discovered.

Meanwhile, Sir Gwaine and Sir Percival are on a mission to find Morgana, and in the process, she succeeds in killing Gwaine. As if Sir Lancelot and Sir Elyan just wasn't enough of Camelot's knights being killed by Morgana, they just had to kill Gwaine.

Finally, Morgana meets Merlin and Arthur in the woods, which leads to her death. She gets stabbed in the chest by Merlin. Morgana is unable to die from any mortal blade, but Merlin's sword (like Morgana's) is forged in a dragon's breath. After all the wrath Morgana released on Camelot, I thought she got a very quick and easy death.

Merlin is still persistent on his mission to take Arthur to the lake of Avalon, where he hopes to restore his battle wound and prevent him from dying. Merlin and Arthur's horses get scared away, so he finally summons Kilgharrah for some assistance to fly them to Avalon. When they finally reach the lake, The Great Dragon reveals to Merlin there is no way Arthur can be saved, he is dying and even the most powerful wizard can do nothing to change that. The Great Dragon tells Merlin that Arthur will arise once again.

Arthur's death scene was the only thing I liked. It was emotional and it really showed how much Merlin always meant to Arthur, even thought he'd often tease him and give him a hard time. Merlin and Arthur both end up fulfilling their destinies, and the scene goes back to Camelot where Lady Gweneviere is the successor to the kingdom of Camelot. I don't understand how exactly they knew Arthur died? Merlin had Arthur's funeral all by himself at Avalon, and there was no way of him sending word back to Camelot. I thought Kilgharra and Merlin would have took Arthur's body back to Camelot, so Gwen could have seen her husband one last time. As if that wasn't bad enough, you suddenly see a truck driving by and a modern day old Merlin (looking like a hobo) walking down the street, peering out to the lake of Avalon, the end. I didn't understand the last scene at first, but after doing a bit of research, I found out it indicated Merlin has been waiting all those years for his friend Arthur to arise, so he can serve him once again.

It was a terrible way to end the series. The whole charm of the show was that it was set in medieval times, and the fact that they ended the series in modern day just ruined everything. I couldn't believe that is what it was all leading up to.

Whether it is a book, movie or TV show I find it really unsatisfying when the story is amazing through out and then they rob you of a good ending. I don't know what the writers were trying to pull, but that was an epic fail.

Tuesday 25 December 2012

Merlin

There are just a handful of TV shows I watch, BBC's Merlin being amongst the few. The series has been on for five years, and I can't express how much I love this show and here's why. Those who follow my other blog know how much I love wizards and magic, and that's what Merlin brought to the table. The story of Merlin and Arthur is set in the medieval days when magic is outlawed in the city of Camelot. Merlin becomes Arthur's head servant, forcing himself to hide his magic powers from his King/friend all these years. I have a soft spot for stories set in the medieval times. I just find something fantastical about castles, sword fights, knights and magic. I also found the series was relatively family oriented. The story lines were clean, and the overall message of the show was to believe in yourself and stand up for what you believe in. The legend of King Arthur has been retold many times, in many different versions, and this was no exception. 
Last night, the show all came to an end with it's series finale. The ending was rather unsatisfying. I don't want to give too much away (in case someone is watching, or wishes to watch.) However, I will say this: It was all leading up to a great battle with King Arthur and his knights fighting the evil Lady Morgana. I expected a whole lot more to happen during the battle and I thought everything was very rushed. As previously mentioned, one of the reasons I watched the show was because of it's magical charm. The very last scene of the episode took all of that away for me. I was expecting to get a bit teary eyed because it's all over, but instead I was scratching my head and asking myself, "Um... what just happened?"

The writer's did such a fantastic job of keeping the story line interesting through out the entire series, but it almost felt like there was no thought whatsoever put into the end. It's a shame Merlin is not real and can't cast a spell to make me forget that awful end to such a great story.

Wednesday 12 December 2012

Diary of 2 Cats: Kitten Edition (part 6)

I think I'll have to rename my upcoming posts, considering Tiger is not a kitten anymore! I thought I recorded his vet updates but it turns out I didn't. The last time we took him to the (second) vet office, there was a different vet on duty. This was roughly about two months ago. I was kind of frustrated that we weren't seeing the same vet again but it actually worked out in my favour in the end. So this would be the third vet whose examining Tiger.

This third vet we saw ended up being the most helpful compared to the previous two. He did a thorough test of Tiger by putting a green dye in both his eyes. When the dye leaked out through his right nostril but not his left, the doctor declared there is a blockage between the left nose and eye canal. He explained to us this is a chronic condition which can possibly be fixed by steroids (which we bought and used. But it did no good.) He then said if the steroids don't work, there is a small procedure you can get done which will implant an opening into his tear duct. However, he very clearly stated there's still no guarantee this condition will clear and it'll cost us an arm and a leg.

It turns out as long as he's eating, drinking, playing and is not showing any pain or discomfort towards his eye infection, it's nothing to worry about. It'll certainly be annoying to constantly have to clean the leakage from his eye on a regular basis but the vet said it will annoy us more then it'll annoy him and I think my little Tiger is worth the extra mile =).

On a side note: I noticed Pepper's behaviour is much naughtier then Tiger's, which I find pretty ironic! Pepper is the one constantly attempting to open all my kitchen cabinets and scratch up the furniture while Tiger runs away with a single spray of water. My theory is since we got Tiger as a kitten, he was easier to train. We missed Pepper's kittenhood so perhaps he was already set in his naughty ways!