Jack the Giant Slayer Vlog Review

The costumes make my eyes hurt. It would be better if all the actors were just wearing street clothes. Or nothing at all ;)

White Collar S04 E11 VLog

After a couple months of hiatus White Collar is finally back! So, what happens after the big reveal and cliffhanger we saw at the end of the last episode?

Supernatural S08E10 VLog

Finally Supernatural is back! So is Castiel! Let's talk about the return of Vancouver's favorite show.

My Reactions to the Oscar Nominations

I will say this. I do not really care all that much about the Oscars. This is because I think the academy is full of old, overpaid snobs. And I firmly believe that they are paid off sometimes. I still find myself watching them every year, and, honestly, it was so worth it for the 2010 show because I got to see Zachary Levi and Mandy Moore sign my favorite song from Tangled. So, without further ado, these are my thoughts on the 2013 Oscar Nominations.

BEST PICTURE

• "Zero Dark Thirty": Oh yay, another war movie.  And it's by that chick that won an Oscar for a different war movie, set in virtually the same time and place.  Honestly, I haven't seen this movie, and The Hurt Locker was fantastic, but mostly for the acting and cinematography.  Movies like this feel like they get nominated because of a political agenda.
• "Silver Linings Playbook":  This one I'm pretty happy to see on the list as I love movies that take a different approach to talking about mental illness.
• "Lincoln": I love history, Assassin's Creed is my favorite game franchise, but this movie felt like Oscar bait from the get go.  
• "Les Miserables": Holy crap this movie made me cry.  I loved how it merged film and theatre almost seamlessly.  I really hope this one wins.
• "Life of Pi": I didn't see this one.  I kind of want to, because of its unconventional plot, but I can't stand the director.
• "Amour":  I hadn't even heard of this movie before the Oscar nominations.  Interesting plot, with the aging couple.
• "Django Unchained": This movie was awesome!  I don't know if it's worth Best Picture though, it feels very episodic.
• "Argo": Great movie, but I didn't like how the role of the Canadians was diminished in the film.
• "Beasts of the Southern Wild":  I have no idea what this movie is, and, let's be honest, most of you don't either.

Django Unchained Review

I talk about the new western action flick Django Unchained, directed by Quentin Tarantino, starring Jamie Foxx, Christoph Waltz, and Leonardo DiCaprio.

Season Finales

Here we are, at the end of the season for many a show, and we all find ourselves a little bit lost. Fear not, there are still many good shows to keep us satiated, like Game of Thrones and Legend of Korra. But right now I find myself thinking about whether these finales were worth all of the build up and if they've actually made me wanting to see the next season. Since there are quite a few that have just finished up I'll list them all out here:

Once Upon a Time:  What can I say about this show?  It first caught my attention because it's mixing the modern day with magic and another world, which is one of my favorite kind of plots.  But, to be honest, the show is very slow and very boring.  For all the time that we as an audience put into the show there just isn't enough payoff.  Granted, it is the first season, and the show is sold as a mystery, but even as a mystery it feels like nothing of note happens.  In the season finale (spoilers) we find out that August is the grown up version of Pinnochio, and he is turning back into wood because of his life as a hedonist instead of helping our heroine throughout her life, as he promised he would do.  In the episode before it he tried to trick Rumplestiltskin into thinking he was his long lost son, which I kinda wish he was.  There's this stupid line that August says where he asks if he even looks like the lost son, and to be honest, the older actor looks more like the kid who plays Rumplestiltskin's son that the kid who played Pinnochio.  Pretty much all that happens in the finale is that August reveals who he is and the lead runs away with her son.  That's it.  A whole season dedicated to her making that decision, something that could have happened in the first few episodes and only taken 15 minutes of screen time.  I was lost after they killed off the huntsman, him being clearly the coolest actor and character.  But there we are.  Will I watch the second season?  Maybe, in one go, but I won't be waiting for it.

Breakout Kings:  The season two finale was absolutely stunning.  It was chock full of everything that makes a dramatic television series good.  Good acting and characterisation, good writing, good tension, I honestly can't get enough of it.  Because I want you to watch this series I'm not going to give away any spoilers, but I will say that there were so many twists and turns that I had no idea what was going to happen next.  What I love about this series is that everyone seems like a real person, trying to run their lives on logic but having strong emotions and loyalties getting in the way.  If you haven't seen it watch it, it's definitely worth your time.   I can't wait for season 3, especially considering the big question posited at the end of the finale.

Castle:  This is a series that I'm a little bit on the fence for.  It has its good moments and its bad moments.  Because it is a syndicated series that has been around for several seasons it has a formula that it sticks to, which is some random person is murdered, the suspect is something weird or goofy, and then Castle and Becket go and catch the killer with sexual tension thrown in.  A good part of the show is about the sexual tension between Castle and Becket, and (spoiler) they finally get together at the end of the finale.  Yeah, that was nice to see, but you could see it from a mile away.  Honestly, this is really old school writing, and it would have been a much more dynamic show if they were off and on and stuff like that.  A show that does stir up this convention, and does it well, is Dexter.  In a way Castle is like a PG Dexter in a way, a show that's interesting and is a different take on the cop drama, but is safe for prime-time TV.  Now that they're together and Becket has resigned from the force the fifth season is going to be a lot different.  I'm sort of looking forward to it because I like Nathan Fillion, but I sure am not looking forward to the schlocky non main plot episodes I know are going to be there.

The Vampire Diaries:  I know this show is meant to be a high-school dramarama like all of the other stuff on the CW, but I've loved it since the beginning.  Simply because of Ian Somerhalder's portrayal of Damon.  This is going to be very spoiler heavy, you are warned.  I've sort of read the books, so I kind of knew what was going to happen, but the show goes off the book a lot, and in my opinion in a good way.  So, long story short, Klaus's body was killed, but his spirit was moved to Tyler's body.  Weird, but they can do something with that.  Elena trying to make a decision on which Salvator brother to choose was very reminiscent of Catherine's romance with both of them, but Elena was trying to be a good person and choose.  She chose Stephan right before she died, which happened very much the way that it had in the books.  And she turns into a vampire.  The difference is that in the books she was drinking the blood of both of the brothers and just so happened to drink more of Damon's so when she turns she has a sire bond to him.  In the show that one doctor who heals people with vamp blood had taken some of Damon's blood earlier in the series and had given that to Elena when she was taken to the hospital earlier.  You still with me?  So, since the sire bond was introduced with Tyler earlier in the season, and that it's in the book, Elena is for sure going to be sire bonded to Damon.  I'm looking forward to that.  I'm disappointed that Klaus and Alaric are gone, but I'm sure that Elijah, who's still around, is going to have some cool stuff to do.  I am very much looking forward to season 4, and Elena being a vampire, even though I don't much like vampires generally.

So there's still a lot of shows either on or coming out this year, and I'm both looking for stuff and dreading others.  I love how Game of Thrones is bringing the books to life, and I love how Legend of Korra is a big ball of fun, drama, comedy, and some mystery thrown in, and I have no idea what's going to happen in the next episode.  It's going to be an exciting summer.

The Avengers VLog Review

I go and see Marvel's The Avengers and talk about what I like in the movie and what else I would have liked to see. The first bit has no spoilers.

Game of Thrones "The North Remembers" Review

I finally got the review done! I can't believe how long it took to edit, but my editor kept freezing on me, so that is partially to blame. I discuss the aspects of several characters, with emphasis on Jaime Lannister. This review is done preemptively and edited with jump cuts. Take note there is some swearing.

Game of Thrones Season One Review

In gearing up for the second season of Game of Thrones, which airs its first episode this Sunday, I, like many a fan out there, rewatched the entirety of season 1.  So here’s my take of season 1, and what I’m looking forward to in season 2.  Make sure to stay tuned for weekly reviews of each episode as it airs.

When describing Game of Thrones the TV series, or A Song of Ice and Fire, the novel from which it is based, there’s no point in talking about the plot, or even the design, without having a full grasp of all the major players in our story.  And there are a ton.  There’s not much point to me listing off all of the main characters, their secondary, or all of their relationships, you can find that with a simple Wikipedia search.  Hell, even HBO has an interactive family tree online, which is pretty cool and you should check it out.  Anyways, what I’m going to do is take a look at the main characters and how their actors portray them, because, honestly, that and the production design is what makes the show worth watching on top of having already read the novels.

Also, spoiler warning!  If you haven’t seen the show or read the novels, stop reading this review and go do that!  They’re both friggin amazing and hook you right from the beginning.  Speaking of which, I’ll start with the Stark family.  The lead character of the show (I’m basing this on the main poster for season one by the way) is Ned Stark, played by Sean Bean.  He is the lord of Winterfell and Warden of the North of the island country of Westeros.  To put it in layman’s terms, think of Westeros as England and you’ll be dandy.  Ned Stark is a family man who is very loyal to his king, Robert Baratheon (played by Mark Addy).  He is married to Caitlyn (played by Michelle Fairley), and has five children with her, Rob, Sansa, Arya, Bran, and Rikkon (played by Richard Madden, Sophie Turner, Maisie Williams, Isaac Hempstead Wright, and Art Parkinson respectively). His bastard John Snow (played by Kit Harington) also resides with them and is the same age as Rob.  Now, before you get on my case for basically listing them out, ALL of Ned Stark’s children are very important to the plot, and actually give us very different viewpoints on everything that’s going on because of their young ages.  Well Rikkon isn’t really all that integral until about the end of book 5, but you catch my drift.

It would be very difficult for me to try and talk too much about the plot with this show because it’s based on a 500 page book and basically is written well enough to hit all the high points of the book within its 10 episodes.  And the production value is so high it really does look and feel like a 10 hour long movie.  I really would love to watch Game of Thrones in theatres.  Lord knows its leaps and bounds better than most of the stuff released in theatres nowadays.

So, back to Ned Stark.  Long story short, Ned becomes the Hand of the King for Robert Baratheon, prompting him to move himself and his two daughters to the capitol of King’s Landing and ends up getting himself beheaded for treason.  Just prior to leaving, however, Bran, the second youngest, witnesses the queen, Cersei Lannister (played by Lena Headey) and her twin brother Jaime (played by Nikolai Coster-Waldau) in a, well, incestuous moment.   This comes as the end to the first episode, which I was enjoying immensely, up until the incest, then I was just like, ew.  Seeing Bran, Jaime pushes him out the window, effectively paralyzing him below the waist for the rest of his life.  From this point you can see how all of our characters lives begin to unravel.

I personally enjoyed Bean’s performance as Ned.  He was both the rugged, combat veteran who could still hold his own, but also a middle aged family man who genuinely enjoyed spending time with his children.  I also love Fairley’s portrayal as Caitlyn.  She makes the character both a relatable mother who wants the best for her children, but she’s also a believable strong noblewoman because of the grace and dignity she shows on screen.  Caitlyn really does have an inner fire to her and an ability to navigate politics without pissing off those that she expects to follow her, unlike Cersei.  She does cause that whole scandal with capturing Tyrion, which prompted Jaime to kill all of Ned’s men and then spear him through the leg, but she considered them her enemies anyways.  In the first season we see how all of Ned’s children are strong, but young, and all their actors do well working in the role of growing up in the middle of severe political strife.  My favorite is Arya because she rails against the social norms and wants to learn how to fight, which, in my opinion, is what saved her from the torture that Sansa had to endure after the death of their father.  But I’ll stop there because I don’t want to spoil stuff that happens in book 2 if you haven’t read it. 

This is where I have to introduce you to the Lannisters.  Man they are a fucking piece of work.  You’ve got Cersei and Jaime Lannister, the incestuous twins, Cersei’s children Joffrey (played by Jack Gleeson) and Marcella and Tomin, who aren’t of much note in the TV series yet.  Yes these are Jaime’s offspring, not Roberts.  Cersei is a total bitch too; everything she does just makes me want to punch her.  She is easily one of the most villainous characters of the series and Lena Headey does a great job of making her sinister, but also subtle, so you don’t really notice it at first.  Then she’ll do something, like randomly ask Sansa if she’s gotten her period, and you’ll be like, what? 

Then there’s Jaime.  He’s a really tough character because even though you want to hate him, you end up liking him because his actor is so damnably charismatic.  As is his character in the book but Coster-Waldau makes him so much more than I expected, with his swagger and confidence.  I was so glad to see him captured and treated roughly after all of the evil things he did.  But damn him, I still liked him.  Well, the incest still grosses me out, but I blame that on Cersei.  Cersei is calling the shots, and always has been, even though at the beginning it seems like Jaime is the dominant one.  She even says at one point that the Targaryens married brother to sister over the 300 years since their conquest to keep the bloodline pure (super gross), but the Targaryens are shown to have magical properties about them.  Like when Daenerys withstand high levels of heat, like being able to stand right in the fire.  I just want to slap her and be like you’re not magic!   You’re lucky those children don’t have some serious defect!  Jaime is actually a good example of an anti-hero, where he was villainous, but events turn him into a hero.  I won’t say what those events are, because a good bulk of them happens in book 3, but you can see it even from this early stage. 

I guess you want to know what I think about Tyrion Lannister, aka the Imp, played by Peter Dinklage, after I talked about his older brother and sister.  There’s not much to say that hasn’t been said really.  The man won a Golden Globe and an Emmy for the role, and even though I don’t care too much about awards shows, I do respect the fact that he won.  What I like about him is, being a dwarf, he’s had to rely on his wits his whole life, and because of that, he seems like he’ll be the one to win the 'game of thrones', as it were.  My other two candidates who most likely to “win” are Peter Baelish (played by Aidan Gillen) and Daenerys Targaryen (played by newcomer Emelia Clark,).

Peter Baelish has got to be one of if not my most favorite character.  For me there’s a three-way tie between him, Tyrion Lannister, and Jora Mormont, although I do genuinely like every character in this series.  Baelish, aka Littlefinger, is the Minister of Finance.  He was a lower noble that worked his way up to the king’s council.  He is in love with Caitlyn Stark and when he was a young teen fought Ned’s older brother for the right to wed her, but lost and was given a massive scar from his navel to his collar bone.  I love how the costume designer took that knowledge and gave him costumes with high necklines that also made him look so uptight, and then we find out he owns several brothels.  The reason I like this guy is not only because Gillen is so good at being a somewhat friendly councilman, to almost flipping a switch to become a backstabber, but because everything Baelish says or does says doesn’t seem important, until it is.  If you’ve read the books, you know what I mean, and if not, go read the books. 

This is where I get to those in the Dothraki side of the story and the audience is introduced to the other major player in the game of thrones, Daenerys Targaryen.  Notable characters who are part of her storyline are her husband Kahl Drogo (played by Jason Momoa), her brother Viserys Targaryen (played by Harry Lloyd) and Jora Mormont (played by Ian Glen).  Yes, Jora is the Knight Commander of the Night’s Watch’s son, and yes both Glen and Lloyd were both in some of the better Doctor Who episodes.  Though, not the same ones unfortunately.  That would have been awesome though.  I’ll be honest, Jason Momoa impressed me so much in his role as Khal Drogo that I went and saw Conan in theatres.  That movie did not do him credit, man was it awful. 

What I like about Daenerys’ storyline is that not only does it give us the most magic and character drama, it is centred around Daenerys (of course), who is a strong, albeit young, determined female ruler.  Honestly speaking I think that the Song of Ice and Fire series portrays women very well and I’m surprised to hear that a lot of critics say it’s just for men and centered around male characters.  Yes there are a lot of nude scenes with women, but there are a lot of nude scenes with men too.  And not all of them sexual, on both sides of the gender coin.  I think it comes from the whores, but honestly, if you want a semi-accurate portrayal of medieval life, or, hell, any time before the Victorian period, there’s going to be brothels.  Then there are the strong and intelligent female leads, who don’t have to compromise their femininity.  (With the exception of Arya, who has actively said she doesn’t want to be a court lady, but I think that’s more her railing against what society expects her to be, being a noble’s daughter.)  Daenerys being the conqueror, Sansa dealing with torture, Caitlyn being a noblewoman that generals listen to,  hell, even Cersei is a strong female character, even if she is power-hungry and despicable.  In later books we are introduced to even more strong female characters.  If the sex and nudity is what bothers someone watching this show they should a) not watch it cuz they’re too squeamish and b) stop being so shallow and look under the surface a little bit.

Now, I’m sure you’re probably wondering why Jora Mormont is one of my favorite characters.  Other than the fact I like his actor, who was an excellent choice to cast in the roll of the middle aged exiled knight, his character is appreciably multilayered.  He has a colorful past that’s always present, but you can also see him change as his love for Daenerys grows, even with his advanced age compared to other characters.  I’m also a bit of hopeless romantic, because (spoiler) his love is sadly one-sided for most of the book series.

I loved the costume and set design, especially the knight’s armor and the iron throne made of swords.  The music is beautiful and I can see it becoming iconic.  This is actually one of the few shows where I genuinely enjoy the opening sequence, which, unlike True Blood or Dexter, continues to be interesting because it, being a map, changes depending on where the characters are situated in the episode.  It also has really cool animations.  So, that’s my thoughts on Season one.  Even though I’ve read all of the books to date I’m still super exited for what Season 2 will bring, with its promise of more battles, more drama, and dragons!  Half the fun of watching a series or movie based on a novel series you like is seeing what they’ve changed.  See you next week with the review of the season premiere!

Game of Thrones is owned and produced by HBO, and A Song of Ice and Fire is owned and written by George R. R. Martin.

Weekly Recap V-Log 03/12/12

In this v-log I talk about Mass Effect 3 (without spoilers) and how I don't mind admitting my newbage at certain videogames, The Lorax, Breakout Kings, and The Walking Dead.  I also show off my new knitting projects, cuz I'm a dork.

Breakout Kings Season Premiere, and Other Stuff

I'm saving my next vlog outing for the Mass Effect 3 launch tomorrow night.  But this night I watched the newest episodes of The Walking Dead, Once Upon a Time, and the season 2 premiere of Breakout Kings.  As per usual, spoiler alert, but, then again, with most big shows nowadays, you just turn the channel on an hour late and the commercials for the next episode will be a spoiler.  Also, I didn't want to film because I moved my room all around, put up posters, threw out like 3 garbage bags worth of stuff, the whole nine yards, and only now just sat down to chill out and enjoy me some Firefly.  Did I mention I'm going to be Kaylee for the next two comicons coming up soon?

Anyways, tonight I'm going to shake things up and start with Breakout Kings.  I only just started watching this show little over a week ago, but I'm in love with it.  Granted, some of these feelings are coming from my love of Prison Break, for which Breakout Kings is sort of a sequel.  What makes Breakout Kings so much better than the run of the mill detective or cop shows is its cast of characters.  Each and every person brings something important to the team, and the show wouldn't be the same without them. Shea with his street smarts, Charlie being a hardass, Erica being so kickass, Ray being the big strong brooklyn guy, and Lloyd being, well, Lloyd (if you've seen the show you know what I'm talking about, and if not, WATCH IT!).  And that's why the loss of Charlie at the end of the episode was so shocking and heart breaking.  Because he, like everyone else in the show, was compelling and empathetic, his loss really hits us, and all of the other characters, hard.  I'm very interested in seeing how this is going to affect the rest of the season, and all of the characters.  This show is very emotive, compounded by the fact that Lloyd is a behavioral psychologist and his main character focus is looking at such parts of the human psyche.  This season also introduces a main antagonist, Damien, who is a recently escaped serial killer.  Lloyd gave council at his trial so his main focus is revenge against our cute, goofy doctor.  He killed Charlie, stole his badge, and was the first con to evade arrest after they found him.  All I can say is I will be watching this season with apt interest.

Once Upon a Time wasn't on last week due to the Oscars.  Thing is with this show the most interesting parts of it are those that either involve Rumplestiltskin or Emma directly.  When they don't, it's very boring, and that's what this week's episode was like.  Regarding those characters, all we learned was that Mr. Gold (aka Rumplestiltskin) doesn't like the nuns (aka the faeries).  I'm sure that will be important in the future.  And that's all I have to say about this episode.

The Walking Dead is just getting better and better.  A lot of people were saying how it was too slow and boring, but finally we're getting the pay off.  Let me just say, even though I was not expecting Dale to die (which was half the reason it was so shocking, the other half him being such an integral character) I was glad to see him go.  If we're going by survival logic, he was the best one to go.  He was old, a shit-stirrer, and he just didn't live within reality.  I do agree that they shouldn't become savages, but the way I look at it that means they don't rape or kill for pleasure, like the other men that are encountered within the series do.  I'm basing this mostly on the comic, but it looks like that's the way the show is heading too.  Killing a guy who shot at them because he was a liability seems logical to me.  He hasn't shown any signs of capitulating to their domination and following their lead, actually he seems like a strong flight risk.  Rick should have shot him in the head when he fell on that spike, but this show just loves to play with the characters' hindsight.  What I really liked about this episode was people were FINALLY talking in a group.  I wish they had done that a lot earlier, it would have made a lot more sense.  But, now that Dale's gone, and Rick and Shane are agreeing on something (at least for the most part) the group should be gathering some more cohesion.  Daryl also had some cool scenes this episode.  In the preview for the next episode it looks like Laurie tries to reconcile with Shane, which i'm looking forward to.  Only two more episodes left!  Then we'll have to wait until Halloween for season 3.  At least we'll have the comics to tide us over.

And Game of Thrones too!  The new season looks wicked!  I'm going to do an in depth review of each episode.  Speaking of reviews, I do have the scripts written for a few, but I just have to play Mass Effect 3, so until my first play-through is done, I won't be doing much else.  At least my room is clean!

TV and Comics

Sorry for anyone watching, I'm not going to do a vlog this week because I'm too busy moving, sorta. I did watch a lot of TV and read a lot of comics though, so I'll just give my opinions on how the different series I've been watching have been progressing.

 To start off I have been watching Season 2 of The Walking Dead religiously, as many TV enthusiasts have. I will try not to give any spoilers, but I'll warn you anyways because it's a little difficult to express my opinions on the matter without revealing something. All of us who have read both the comics and watched the TV series are very well aware that the TV show is not following the comics. The basic themes of the comics are represented well in the television series, or at least will be in the future. These themes are an exploration of sexuality and community within a post-apocalyptic context, who the real antagonists are, and basic means of survival. A lot of people who are watching the show keep saying how these characters aren't doing the basic survival means because they keep letting their emotions get in the way. In particular said it's going into soap opera territory and there aren't enough zombies. While I agree there should be more zombies and conflicts, I disagree that the reaction of the characters to the situation isn't realistic. I think it is very believable and in fact gives each of the characters a large amount of depth and individuality. If you've seen the current episode you will all agree with me that the final scene of the episode is setting up one of the more interesting conflicts between the main characters. And that Rick is becoming an uber badass.

The other shows I started watching were Grimm and Once Upon a Time. Grimm is boring, has bad effects, and suffers from what I call 'Vancouver Pretty'. Take that as you will for now, I'll do a big discussion on it later. And I know parts if not all of Once Upon a Time is filmed in BC, but in every way it's better. It has amazing effects, costumes, props, sets, EVERYTHING. It's worth watching just because of the production design alone. But, like most things, what makes it very worth watching is the Robert Carlisle performance as Rumplestiltskin. I like the other characters, but I love not only how the character is basically the devil characters, making loaded deals with everyone for what the want, but always giving them giant ultimatums. Keeping track of everything that he does is a major point to the story. And how he interacts with the other antagonist, the Evil Queen. The basic plot is that all of the fairybook characters we know of from the old stories and Disney movies are all under a curse where they're stuck in the aptly named Storybrooke Maine. Which is actually BC, but as per the usual the shows can't take place in Canada, but, again, that's a discussion for another time. So, if you haven't, watch Once Upon a Time, it's a lot of fun.

I did say I was going to talk about comics as well. The three that I follow right when they're first released are Berserk, Vinland Saga, and The Walking Dead. I used to be a huge Otaku so I still check the manga sites for the more badass manga, and that's where Berserk and Vinland Saga come from. But in their defense they're based on European history and fantasy (in Berserk's case) and they're impeccably drawn. Some of the panels in Berserk are so breathtaking they could be taken straight from the graphic novel as is and work as a framed piece, without being colored. And that explains why it takes forever for the new chapters to come out. Grumble. Well, Vinland Saga takes pretty long too. The Walking Dead, on the other hand, is American and comes out every month. I am eagerly awaiting the new issue which will come out any day now. All are worth reading and are all quite long, with Vinland Saga being the shortest at 80 issues, which is not short by any means, so they definitely have staying power.

And, last but not least, I am so excited for the new season of Game of Thrones! I watched all of the pre-production videos and I am in love with it already! Well, I knew I would be, but you really can tell that HBO is putting all of its effort into it and it will continue to be a masterpiece. This and The Walking Dead are my prime examples of how television nowadays have more clout and more creativity than movies do. The Emmys should have more hype than they do, but at least there are still the Golden Globes. In either case, both are leaps and bounds better than the Oscars.

Stay tuned, written reviews will be up soon!

'Merlin' Review (May 3, 2011)

Merlin Review (first posted on my 'practice' blog May 3, 2011)

I just finished watching the third, and to date most recent, season of Merlin by the BBC. Initially I was put off by the changes that were made to the original Arthurian Legends, but after watching the show in its entirety I was pleasantly surprised. Being a television series it has more time to flesh out the minor characters and because it is done by the BBC it has access to all the costumes in the BBC vault. At the same time though, because it is a periodical television series it has episode and plot constraints that sometimes don't help it all that much.

I'll be honest, the season that I enjoyed the most, in every respect, was the third season. The first season had some serious growing pains, though the main actors were enjoyable, the second season was trying too hard to be funny and dramatic, but the third season brought it all together. Initially I was annoyed with how all the main characters were different from the original story, but then after watching the show I realized that this was a modern re-imagining of the classic story. The thing is with a classic story is that the same story has been retold a million times. What Merlin did was make changes that worked and made sense to the current generation. All the constraints made on the characters, from Merlin to Uther and everyone in between, gave good dramatic tension. Merlin having to hide his magic from everyone did cause a lot of interesting developments, but ever since the first episodes of the first season I wanted him to be revealed. That and Uther to die, but then I warmed up to his character and was pleased by Anthony Head's acting abilities by the end of the third season. But what made Merlin a joy to watch was all the minor characters, most particularly those who would become the Knights of the Round Table. Lancelot with his honor, Gwaine with his impetuosity, Leon with his loyalty, and I was even pleasantly surprised to see Percival introduced near the end, he being the knight that embodied innocence, at least from what I understand. Other tellings of the Arthurian Legends don't follow the knights nearly as much and I was pleasantly surprised to see Merlin do so. And before I forget I like that this version doesn't go into the Christian aspect of the Arthurians Legends, so much so that they change the Holy Grail into the Cup of Life in the third season.

Being English in both history, context, and even where it is produced, I found Merlin to be a fresh, but at the same time old, look at fantasy. On one side of the titular character's life you have the court intrigue of a medieval realm, and on the other the fantasy and magic of English folklore. The most interesting and fun to watch moments were those that included fairies or other magical creatures, my favorite example being from The Changeling in season three, where a princess is possessed by a fairy and proceeds to be utterly awkward. The dragon is also an interesting character, even though he is mostly used as a deus ex machina plot device. The Arthurian Legends are embedded in English cultural identity and this more modern version of them have made them interesting again.

What can I say, the costumes in Merlin are spectacular. My favorite historical period is the Medieval Period, and I am also trained as a costumer, so seeing such a high level of quality in the costumes makes me ecstatic. The most obvious costuming element present in Merlin is the armor and chain-mail. But the thing that makes it amazing is that all of the warriors are wearing REAL metal armor and chain-mail. I have utmost respect for Anthony Head and any other actor for having to wear the chain-mail and armor because it is terribly heavy, but most especially Bradley James because he wears the chain-mail and armor in every episode he appears in, which because he's Arthur is every episode of the television series. But not only was the armor perfect, but all the rest of the costumes were as well, even though they also had growing pains in the first season. I'll use Merlin, the titular character, as my example. Merlin, because he is a servant, wears simple clothing. But even though it is simple, his costume is still full of texture, probably wool, and color, which was common in the Medieval period. I particularly love Merlin's scarf.

It should be mentioned that I also found the sets and props pretty cool, but I won't review them because I didn't take a critical look at them when I was watching the show. They made a great setting for this medieval fantasy. Also, Excalibur (even though it hasn't been stated as such) was a particularly beautiful sword.

Even though I do enjoy the characters, costumes, and all of the other design concepts, I'm a little on the fence with the writing for the particular episodes. Well, my only issue is that a lot of the episodes have resolutions that pretty much have the same consequence as the end of most of the other episodes. Pretty much this is how an episode goes: the villain of the episode is defeated, Uther is still alive, Merlin's powers are still a secret, Arthur is prince and Morgana (at least in Season 3) is pissed off her plan didn't work. This doesn't denote bad writing and is common in most television series, but I grew tired of guessing how the episode was going to end. This style of episode writing does have a plus side in that it allows Merlin to find out more about magic and the minor characters and this information becomes important in the season finales, especially that of season three. Actually season three brings characters back from previous seasons so that was very interesting to those of us who watched the entire show.

Merlin, created by Julian Jones, Julian Murphy, Johnny Capps, and Jake Mitchie, produced by the BBC, is a series worth watching. The design is beautiful, the characters realistic and interesting, and the production value keeps getting better. Sometimes the writing is predictable, but the big plot twists are worth waiting for. Plus the comedy is decent and the character drama, most particularly in the finales, is quite compelling. Initially any fan, including myself, will be put off by the changes to the ages old Arthurian Legends, but this show will win them over. It certainly did so for me.

Weekly TV Recap 01/16/12 Part 2

In this second part of the episode I talk about Hell on Wheels, Walking Dead, and Vampire Diaries, among others.

Weekly TV Recap 01/16/12 Part 1

This is the first episode of my weekly v-log series, Weekly TV Recap. In this series I do just that, talk about all the shows I saw this week, and also those that are current in some way. This week I talk in detail about Castle, Hell on Wheels, The Walking Dead, and The Vampire Diaries. I also talk about other shows too. In this part I talk mostly about Castle.