Merlin - Lamia
Nov. 23rd, 2011 02:44 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
daibhidcAnd that's me caught up!
The story begins with a woman from Gwen's old village asking for help. One of the weird things about Merlin is that the main characters talk in modern, fairly colloquial English ("Merlin can't find his own backside most of the time."), and the minor characters talk in traditional BBC Ye Olden Talke ("Our village, it is blighted by a sickness. Three strong men it has taken, sire."), as seen in schools history programmes, 1980s period dramas, and old episodes of Doctor Who. Secondary characters like Gaius and the knights generally split the difference. If you want to know how important a character in Merlin is, ask yourself how readily you can imagine them using the word "yonder" in casual conversation.
Aanyway, Gaius is dealing with a sickness in Camelot, so he sends Merlin, Gwen and a bunch of knights. Merlin can't cure the sickness, but on the way to get Gaius, they rescue a woman called Lamia, and the knights immediately start acting oddly.
Yep, it's Sinister Sorcerous Mind Control time, again. This time Merlin's on the receiving end, because Lamia's magic can't affect him. Meanwhile Arthur, Gaius and some more knights set off to find out what's keeping everyone.
Poor Agrivaine finds himself in a story that doesn't involve a plot by Morgana, and is reduced to giving unhelpful advice and covering up the knights' tracks. Yes, okay, Morgana would be very happy if Gwen and Merlin were never seen again, but it still comes across as just being vaguely evil for the sake of it.
The knights were nicely played, with some elements of their personalities disappearing while others remained; Gwaine maintains his laughing attitude even while threatening Merlin, and there's a beautiful scene where Sir Leon clearly realises that he was about to strike an unarmed servant boy ... but decides that this is Merlin's fault. (And if two of the knights were going to start a fight, then obviously it would be the serious-minded leader and the irreverend anti-authoritarian.)
Gwen wonders why Merlin isn't affected by magical beasties! This could get interesting!
I was disappointed that Lamia took out all the knights (and in turn was taken out by Merlin) before Arthur got there. I realise it was necessary that the title character should stop the monster, and that none of the knights be around to see it, but it would have been interesting to see how the knights reacted if it wasn't Merlin telling them Lamia was evil, but their king.
Also, isn't there a required coda to this sort of story? The bit where the knights apologise to Merlin, and he assures them he knows they didn't mean it? That didn't happen, which was odd.
Mythwatch: The lamia, obviously. In Greek mythology, Queen Lamia was a child-eating monster with a huge gullet and a serpent's tail. Later traditions made the lamia a species, and had them as demonic seductresses who drain male vitality. They still had the serpent's tail, sometimes. (Early 20th century romantic artists seem to have protrayed lamias as looking perfectly human, but wearing a snakeskin in some manner.)
The story begins with a woman from Gwen's old village asking for help. One of the weird things about Merlin is that the main characters talk in modern, fairly colloquial English ("Merlin can't find his own backside most of the time."), and the minor characters talk in traditional BBC Ye Olden Talke ("Our village, it is blighted by a sickness. Three strong men it has taken, sire."), as seen in schools history programmes, 1980s period dramas, and old episodes of Doctor Who. Secondary characters like Gaius and the knights generally split the difference. If you want to know how important a character in Merlin is, ask yourself how readily you can imagine them using the word "yonder" in casual conversation.
Aanyway, Gaius is dealing with a sickness in Camelot, so he sends Merlin, Gwen and a bunch of knights. Merlin can't cure the sickness, but on the way to get Gaius, they rescue a woman called Lamia, and the knights immediately start acting oddly.
Yep, it's Sinister Sorcerous Mind Control time, again. This time Merlin's on the receiving end, because Lamia's magic can't affect him. Meanwhile Arthur, Gaius and some more knights set off to find out what's keeping everyone.
Poor Agrivaine finds himself in a story that doesn't involve a plot by Morgana, and is reduced to giving unhelpful advice and covering up the knights' tracks. Yes, okay, Morgana would be very happy if Gwen and Merlin were never seen again, but it still comes across as just being vaguely evil for the sake of it.
The knights were nicely played, with some elements of their personalities disappearing while others remained; Gwaine maintains his laughing attitude even while threatening Merlin, and there's a beautiful scene where Sir Leon clearly realises that he was about to strike an unarmed servant boy ... but decides that this is Merlin's fault. (And if two of the knights were going to start a fight, then obviously it would be the serious-minded leader and the irreverend anti-authoritarian.)
Gwen wonders why Merlin isn't affected by magical beasties! This could get interesting!
I was disappointed that Lamia took out all the knights (and in turn was taken out by Merlin) before Arthur got there. I realise it was necessary that the title character should stop the monster, and that none of the knights be around to see it, but it would have been interesting to see how the knights reacted if it wasn't Merlin telling them Lamia was evil, but their king.
Also, isn't there a required coda to this sort of story? The bit where the knights apologise to Merlin, and he assures them he knows they didn't mean it? That didn't happen, which was odd.
Mythwatch: The lamia, obviously. In Greek mythology, Queen Lamia was a child-eating monster with a huge gullet and a serpent's tail. Later traditions made the lamia a species, and had them as demonic seductresses who drain male vitality. They still had the serpent's tail, sometimes. (Early 20th century romantic artists seem to have protrayed lamias as looking perfectly human, but wearing a snakeskin in some manner.)
