trude

Have watched until episode 11 (the one with the genie)

( no spoilers beyond that, though I've spoiled myself a bit )

Have half a dozen things that I've been meaning to write about, but since this is the quickest:

My rather brief wish-list for Merlin, series 5:

1. Gilli 2.0. Either bring back Gilli himself (because he was an interesting character, and Harry Melling is a good actor, and "Dudley Dursley, wizard" never gets old) or a new character, but a non-evil magic user who is at least a bit critical of Merlin's way of dealing with his destiny would be most welcome.

2. Give Gwen something to do as a queen. Let there be some part of the ruling of Camelot that she a) does regularly and b)does better than Arthur (and Uther) would. She doesn't have to be successful all the time, it doesn't have to be central to the plot all the time, but please let her being queen mean more than a wardrobe upgrade.

3. Find that damn bracelet. Yeah, I know it isn't important plot-wise (Arthur and Gwen are already reconciled, everyone knows Morgana is eeeevil, Gwen's reputation among the straw-people of upper and lower Camelot will only be an issue if the showrunners decide that it is and restoring Lancelot's posthumous reputation isn't much of a story, even if someone should remember that he existed) but do it for the sake of Gwen's peace of mind. Or at least mine.

4. Give Morgana a game plan that a)doesn't involve taking over Camelot and b)involves making alliances with other magic users.

5. Let Arthur make a couple of decisions that are based on actual knowledge of how things stand in the matter at hand. And let him carry out said decisions by himself a couple of times.

This series, while technically well-made, has made it obvious to me that the stories the show-runners want to tell about those characters are not really the stories I want to see. That doesn't necessarily mean they always tell bad stories (and I'm not three years old and they are not a kindly relative trying to fit a story exactly to my liking) but...bullet points will be rather negative.

( spoilers )

Maybe it's because I have an annoying case of sinusitis and watched the episode between 2 am and 2 am (bye, daylight savings time!), but DAMN that was good.

( Spoilers for episode )

Something completely different:
Abigail Nussbaum on Northanger Abbey, The Mysteries of Udolpho, novels and "sisterhood". I found her observations at the end interesting (though I suspect I enjoy Northanger Abbey much more than she does).

Colin Morgan, I’ve missed your acting. And your ears. But mostly your acting.

( spoilers for the episode )