fandomsecrets | [ SECRET POST #794 ]

⌈ Secret Post #794 ⌋

Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.

101.

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[Margene/Ben-Sarah/Ben;Big Love]

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[Futurama]

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[Meet the Robinsons]

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[Arsenic and Old Lace]

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[Oblivion]

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[Angel]

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[Merlin]

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[FMA]

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[Road to El Dorado]

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[Jon & Kate Plus Eight]

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Notes:

Anyone want a 1-sentence porn meme? (:

Secrets Left to Post: 12 pages, 290 secrets from Secret Submission Post #114.
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Current Secret Submissions Post: here.
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Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

116. What you said, pretty much. With all the obstacles Arthur/Gwen would have, I'd have a hard time buying them not falling in love, even as much as fandom seems to be dreading it. NOT that I want them to rush it. Just watching them get to know each other is more than enough for me at the moment and yet I can be reasonably sure the writers will rush it, and more people will dislike Gwen than already do. I want the foursome to stay happy and together for as long as possible, because their future? is BLEAK.

Also, NIMUEH. I'm still kind-of hoping they'll find a way to bring her back. She should never have been killed, and I don't buy that Merlin would've been able to do it at that point.

Some of my favorite moments in the series have been Gwen and Arthur kind of... noticing each other. Not necessarily in a shippy way, either. Gwen is probably the truest example in the cast of one of Arthur's 'subjects'. Merlin is from elsewhere, and Morgana is closer to being a peer. Gwen's approval of him carries more weight for me because of this, and their interactions seem to be a closer examination of what kind of king Arthur would be.

In other news, I'm also skeptical with "Gwen is Merthur's Beard!" scenario because I'm pretty sure Morgana would be ripping out thyroid cartilage with her eyeteeth. Gwen actually seems to be a bit of a romantic as well, so why she would agree to a loveless marriage is beyond me.

I was totally unconvinced by Nimueh's death as well (not to mention I... was kinda rooting for her? A little?) But Merlin has been shown killing people earlier in the series with little remorse. Who knows; maybe she's really just banished a little? It's not like they can bring in Mordred as a Big Bad.

...I think we might actually share certain sections of our brains.

So, I actually think, not even in a shippy sense, that Arthur and Gwen's dynamic is one of the best written relationships on the show. When they have scenes together, they're at their best as characters -- Arthur is never more of a future king, and it's when we see Gwen at her most passionate and assertive, and it's wonderful. And Gwen NEEDED that scene with him in 1x13 -- not because she's falling for him; I really don't think she is at this point. But she needed to express that after having lost so much, Arthur makes her believe life can someday be better than this. Especially since she didn't get much of a chance to react to Tom's death in the last episode.

And yeah ... no way Gwen would want to be Arthur's beard. Not much of a step up from a life of servitude, and she's definitely more of a romantic. It's not good enough; she has her dignity (Also, WORD on Morgana. Like she'd let that happen. I think IF Arthur and Merlin have a epic gay destiny, then so do Gwen and Morgana. None of this beard madness.

...and I was kind of pulling for Nimueh, too. I've been wanting to do some meta on this, actually. Not that I think Merlin deserved to lose, but I don't see why Gaius deserved to live MORE than Nimueh. The writers do a bit of a crappy job at convincing us who we're supposed to root for. Because Nimueh's actions are no less redeemable than Gaius' in my eyes. And I know that Merlin wouldn't feel BAD killing her (he's no stranger to blasting women to bits), but I don't feel like he should've been skilled enough by this point. I mean, a couple episodes back he was skipping boots across the floor, and now he's bringing heaven and earth down and bending the ~old magic~ to his will.

Amusingly, Gwen and Arthur probably have the least amount of interactions in the entire show (an inside joke, perhaps, but also they wouldn't have had the opportunity to become buddy-buddy). I totally agree that we see Arthur and Gwen at their best when interacting with each other. Arthur can't really do the childish play-fighting he can indulge with Morgana and Merlin. The fact that he's aware of this and refrains in the case of Gwen does give him bonus points.

I think it says great things about both their characters that Gwen has the courage to say things to Arthur that are humbling, and Arthur can also listen. Gwen is probably the most significant judge Arthur has, first because she represents his people more than any other character, and second because Gwen also has a habit of hitting what's right and wrong on the button. Which is tougher than it seems in Merlin's grey world (yes, I think the goofy kid's show with the Slash Dragon has a morally grey reality).

As much as I loved 1x12 (that was the episode number, right?) with Morgana and Merlin's dilemma, I was rather disturbed that it was made from the death of Gwen's father, while Gwen was shouldered out of the picture.

To reiterate, it doesn't make sense that Arthur would try to keep out of trouble by marrying Gwen, as that would promptly get them all in trouble (and not just from Uther. Morgana can be even more terrifying!) While Gwen is probably devoted to Arthur as King in her own way (not because of rank, but because she believes he is a good king), I don't see her living a lie, or being so ambitious as to marry for a title.

And, finally, I just don't see her having the time to worry about Arthur and Merlin's hijinxes! Her lady is this close to regicide and rebellion every other episode, half the time someone she loves is in a dungeon, and people are always sending her off to fetch water so they can talk behind her back.

Oh, I would love for you to do meta on this. I wonder if the writers intentionally wanted to keep Nimueh morally ambiguous, or if it was just a case of values dissonance? Of course, Nimueh is targeting the wrong people for her revenge, but are people who live in relative security through the expense of innocent lives really off-limits? (Ignoring the fact that this isn't actually true since there's a griffin attack or a plague or famine every week, usually because Uther was being a dick). How much has to be paid for the Big Picture of Arthur emerging, ready to be king?

Maybe it's supposed to be morally ambiguous, but with the way Nimueh shuffled off the moral coil, I suspect that they didn't expect us to have such sympathy for a woman targeting the protagonists.

I think you've got Arthur and Gwen's dynamic, and why it's so important to the show, a hundred percent right. I'm just really hoping that it keeps going in the same way -- I love how quietly and subtly it's developing.

I don't see her living a lie, or being so ambitious as to marry for a title. Yep. Goes back to that right-wrong compass she's got. And based on the way she is around Arthur up till now, her loving and respecting him as her sovereign still wouldn't allow her to do something she thinks is messed-up. In that respect, she's seemed more willing to bend for Morgana.

I just don't see her having the time to worry about Arthur and Merlin's hijinxes! Her lady is this close to regicide and rebellion every other episode, half the time someone she loves is in a dungeon, and people are always sending her off to fetch water so they can talk behind her back.

Haha! That's the truth. I so wish the show would get into Gwen's head a bit more. I think Angel does a great job getting Gwen's emotions across without speaking (which is a good thing seeing as she has so few lines), and you can't help but wonder how she keeps her head on straight with everything that's happening around her. I loved watching her reactions as Morgana started going off the deep end in 1x08.

Man, this fandom could use more meta, amirite? I wonder if I just missed most of it, not having got into it until after the series had ended, but there just doesn't seem to be much. Anyway -- I don't know if the moral ambiguity when it comes to Nimueh is intentional on the writers' part; it might be, and I hope it is. But I get the feeling that good and evil on the show are based on who we're supposed to like, and not whether they've actually done anything to deserve the title. Nimueh targets the heroes for her revenge, and that's bad, but does she really deserve to die more than Gaius, who stood by and let a genocide happen, possibly even helping facilitate it? To his own people?

It seems like Merlin and Gaius, and even Uther, get away with being grey characters while Nimueh, and Morgana to some extent, don't. And there are skeevy gender dynamics at work there, too.

[ SECRET POST #794 ]

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