Analysis of Merlin 209: The Lady of the Lake

Okay, so, I only have a quick review, today, mostly in response to all the issues people have been raising over the episode. It all boils down to one key factor:

This episode was NOT about Merlin and Freya - it was about Merlin.

( Get Over It )

Bonus Trailer Dissection Here

Trailer Dissection of Merlin 210: Sweet Dreams

Okay, so, I actually don't have much to say about this trailer. Arthur's going to get enchanted over this Vivienne chick and nearly start a war over her. In the show, Gwen's jealous, and in fanon, Merlin's probably going to be jealous (though considering we can all universally accept he had some kind of love for Freya and was genuinely heartbroken over her, it should be interesting to see how this'll play out).

And many of us are, of course, excited to see Arthur stick a rose in his mouth and scale the freakin' wall to get to her window. He seems to keep doing that for the women he loves... :D

There are actually two things that strike me as interesting as Vivienne.

1.) Merlin's going to perform magic on her...and that means in front of her, in this case. She knows, and as a royal/high noble, she could get away with accusing Merlin of magic, and not suffer consequences of her own use as Merlin, a servant, can't really stand in a good position to accuse her of magic. Something's going to have to be done about this. But, she's a princess - if she mysteriously dies, there are going to be major repercussions, including a possible war with Camelot. This is going to get interesting...

2.) Her damn name. Seriously, Vivienne is normally Merlin's love interest - and the Lady of the fucking Lake. I'm sensing a severe disconnect here on the part of the writers, now.

Let's just wait and see, and hope the writers don't fuck it up royally (though I admit, from the trailer, I'm not holding out much hope, for once).

Black Friday

Title: Black Friday

Rating: PG

Summary: Only Americans would have a holiday dedicated to shopping. They weren't even Yanks, and yet somehow Merlin still got dragged along for this. They were so going to pay for this...

Pairing: Arthur/Merlin, Gwen/Morgana

Warnings: None

Beta: None

Notes: Oh, come on, Americans - you know you wanted to. ;)

For Brits And Other Non-Yanks Who Don't Know What I'm Talking About: the day after Thanksgiving in America has always marked the start of Christmas shopping, and a time when revenue was almost guaranteed to be highly profitable for retailers. They nicknamed this Black Friday - for the color profits used to be labeled in, as opposed to the red of lost margins - and the consumer population caught onto this, and thought it was funny, and started shopping on this day more and more for lack of anything better to do. The stores caught onto this, and started making more deals on this day, which the people latched onto more, which made the companies more interested, and well...all this bouncing off each other has resulted in a holiday dedicated to shopping. It's one step away from getting government recognition, and if it helps give a little boost to the economy that many people are hoping for, then it probably will get government recognition.

Only in America will you get a holiday dedicated to consumerism on the day after a holiday created to celebrate the nation's original anti-materialists.

*eyeroll*

( Black Friday )