I feel stupid, and contagious

Merliiiiiin

emotionalinertia@yahoo.com — Sat, 28 Nov 2009 23:10:41 GMT

2x10: "Sweet Dreams". You know by the title you are in for some crack. AND YOU ARE. PURE. UNCUT. SHAKESPEAREAN. CRACK.

+ So the next three eps promise to be pretty heavy. I guess that's why they wanted to go for the lulz in this episode. For the most part, it was a cute, funny romp, and the back end was pretty freaking awesome. Let's see if I can focus my thoughts even somewhat.

+ Georgia Moffett cracked me up. Her character could have come across FAR more annoyingly than she did, but as it was I really enjoyed her. I kind of love that she wasn't interested in Arthur AT ALL, without the enchantment. She's also PRETTY. I didn't like that she was left enchanted at the end of the episode. There was no real way to fix that without inserting a gaping plot hole because her true love wasn't around, but it just seemed really harsh and inconsiderate to leave her like that and then have Arthur do this "looool okay loser" wave at her at the end. :/ You just can't avoid the genderfail, can you, Show? WE'VE TALKED ABOUT THIS, DAMN IT.

+ King Olaf! I liked him a lot, actually. Funny, boorishly sweet, doting father. Nice to see one of Uther's contemporaries/friends. The other king was a bit ham and cheese for my tastes, not as many layers.

+ And this is the second villain of the series who got coded as ~gay~ for the lols. The jester, what was his name? Tickler? Trickler? WTF-ever, I was not a fan of him either.

+ Also, was Uther drunk? Why didn't he arrest the jester immediately for doing magic at the banquet? *handwaves*

+ Uther was kingly! Teaching Arthur the ways of peace talks. In such a campy episode it was nice to see a little but of the politicking (even though those were the quickest peace talks I've ever seen). It's also a little bittersweet because Arthur and Uther's relationship is just as great as ever, as it would naturally be post 2x08. :/

+ Enchanted!Arthur in love with Vivian was too funny. I love Bradley James and his facial expression and his breathtaking smile and his perfect comic timing. He and Vivian were actually really cute and funny, more props to Georgia.

Also, even enchanted, Arthur associates chicken with love. I SEE WHAT YOU DID THAR, SHOW. ♥ I'm sure he didn't cook it himself this time, either.

+ GWEN. I love Angel Coulby, okay? I really freaking hate that Gwen's never given her own things to do, that neither girl gets to do ANYTHING that doesn't have something to do with a male character's plot/development. This episode was NO DIFFERENT, but I like that this season they've at least given Angel more material and made use of her great comic timing. Her facial expressions are ace, as usual. I especially loved her tense little moment with Arthur outside Vivian's chambers, and her expression just as he walked away. Gwen really doesn't like letting her feelings get away from her.

I was not a fan of this episode from the time she got that note and thought it was for her, because I hate when Gwen gets put through it. Girl gets more angst than she bargains for every time, keeps getting thrown into romance plots and hurt by them. First she has to work for Vivian, then she has to go a whole episode thinking the wrong thing. I felt so bad for her when she told Merlin about having hope in something she'd thought was impossible. THEN she gets stood up - talk about hard to watch. Gwen's a girl who sublimates a lot of her feelings (out of necessity), and after Arthur nipped it in the bud she probably tucked away whatever she was starting to feel, set it aside, and moved on with her life.

But when she actually makes a gesture, like she did with Lancelot, she gets her heart broken -- again.

She also admitted to enchanted!Arthur that it's hard for her to express her feelings, so that's something else to chew on. You know, it's nice seeing Gwen showing emotion on her own behalf for once. Nice seeing how things affect her even if it's a ~~boy~ thing.

AS A GWEN FAN I WILL CLING TO WHATEVER I CAN GET.

+ Merlin/Arthur cuteness.

"Feelings.

Feelings.

Girls.

Girls."

They were so cute. I love when Merlin teases Arthur. They do a lot of talking at cross-purposes this season, though. Even though it's played for the lulz, they've got some communication issues.

But Arthur asking Merls for dating advice (deferring to his expertise in anything, really) should've been a dead giveaway considering Arthur was the one dishing out the ~girl advice~ to Merlin back in 2x03, thinking he knew everything. It's clear that Arthur trusts Merlin to handle things, but he rarely says so.

+ Merlin, what is with you and closets?

+ ARTHUR/GWEN. Having a MOMENT. Loved seeing them laugh together in the beginning of the ep. Since 2x02 they've become more like friends or allies, coming together around their shared ideals, so seeing them on friendly terms with the bonus eyesex made perfect sense to me. And the kiss was GREAT. MY HEART SKIPPED A BEAT. I loved how Gwen just went for it, and how you could tell exactly when Arthur came back to himself, and totally grabbed her.

IT'S ~~TRUE LOVE'S KISS~, PEOPLE. THIS SHOW HAS TOKENS AND TRUE LOVE'S KISS. I CAN ONLY GET SO MAD AT IT.

(Also, Gwen pushed him up against a tent pole. Just shoved up up against it and... Oh, my heart.)

"You're in a fight. To the death. You're losing." HOW SO ADORABLE, GWEN. The "live for me" bit, alluding to Lancelot, was interesting. Need to think about that a bit.

Their last scene was good, and well-played. Arthur going to Gwen to make things right says a lot about him -- and this time Gwen's the one who holds their class difference between them (or points it out, really), and cuts things off. Saying "until they do" and curtseying made it clear she isn't interested in floating through the clouds any longer than she already had -- or in sneaking around with him. No matter how you shake it, given their positions, there's too much risk to her, and not very much for him. Her realism is true to character but it's heartbreaking how accepting she is of the things she can't have, will never have. Also, she doesn't say that she loves him -- so she's still a little reserved, which I think makes sense given what always happens whenever she puts herself out there.

Lastly, the significance of Gwen making an actual decision for herself in this matter, albeit a heartbreaking one, can't be overstated.

+ Merlin and Gwen's friendship! ♥ I love when they do comedy together, but this season shows they're also good at being there for each other without the awkward crushing. Their affection and familiarity with each other shines. Gwen trusted Merlin and even confided in him a bit, and it's nice that she was able to tell someone about the whole Arthur thing. And Merlin just wants them both to be happy.

(Also interesting how she said "more Rats, Merlin?" Almost like she knew he was lying when he said it earlier. I always get the feeling she knows more about Merlin than she lets on, or at least suspects that something's up with him.)

+ I'm less happy with Morgana/Gwen's scene. :( I had so much hope for them at the beginning of the season, but it feels like there's so much distance between them now, what happened to their friendship? *cries* Last season, Morgana would've picked up on how Gwen was feeling, no question. And every episode just highlights more stuff that they aren't telling each other. It makes me sad and I can't help but lose hope that TPTB care enough about this relationship to explore how it's affected when Morgana goes evil. *SIGH* I just want my girls to be married again.

My only recourse is to subscribe to the drunk!Morgana theory. Drinking that early in the morning, not seeming altogether concerned about Arthur fighting to the death, not reading Gwen's glaring signals. I don't BLAME her, she's probably just bored to tears with lack of material this season.

Whatevs, it was five o'clock somewhere.

+ I think that's all I've got to say about this one. Oh, and the Dragon LOL'ed again! GOOD TIMES.

Preview for next week looks like 1x08 and 1x12 had a love child. WE'LL SEE.

snort

emotionalinertia@yahoo.com — Wed, 25 Nov 2009 18:25:23 GMT

Good news: We get to leave work 3 hours early. *\o/*

Bad news: It wasn't announced until I had started my experiment. I'll be lucky to leave an hour early.

Things could be worse, though.

Hope all of you who are traveling have a safe trip! I'm going down for dinner with the fam. My only contribution will be wine, and probably helping to finish with the cooking. If I don't get to post tomorrow, Happy Thanksgiving. ♥

____

emotionalinertia@yahoo.com — Sun, 22 Nov 2009 03:37:18 GMT

Oh, sorry; that ... that was all I had.

Merls 2x09, The Lady of the Lake

emotionalinertia@yahoo.com — Sat, 21 Nov 2009 20:41:00 GMT

I barely feel like rehashing this one, but it did have some lovely moments, and I would feel weird not doing a reax post. SO. MY THOUGHTS ARE THESE (um, upon reading them over, they may or may not make sense):

+ Colin Morgan emotes more beautifully than anyone. He's such a lovely actor you guys, it's hard not to feel what he feels. And he is adorable. It was so cute seeing him in love, as random as it was.

+ Random useless Arthurian episode titles, yay. Is this series going to have an actual Lady of the Lake? Niumeh's out, this girl's more like the Lady Who Died On The Lake, so I guess third time's the charm? :P

+ Julian Jones wrote this one, as he did 2x01, and I notice he likes writing Arthur EGREGIOUSLY PRATLY. Arthur's first interactions with Merlin felt like the Sigan ep, for serious. They were funny, though, and don't feel malicious or anything. And to a point Merls gives as good as he gets, as per usual.

+ Also, peopleareshapes pointed out to me that they like making Arthur gratuitously shirtless in episodes where he has less to do. LOL SO TRUE. Not complaining (unf), but. I would keep watching even if you didn't do that, show, it's all right. If the girls didn't show up, then we would have a problem.

+ SPEAKING OF WHICH. Morgana didn't even get a CAMEO? NOT EVEN A BACKGROUND REACTION SHOT? UN. ACCEPTABLE. UNACCEPTABLE. I understand that the show is deliberately placing Morgana at a distance from Merlin; that's been clear since the end 2x03. So when Merlin has episodes centred on him she isn't going to feature as heavily; rather the people closer to him will. But she's a regular cast member, she should at least appear. It also makes me sad for other reasons that I will get to in a minute.

+ LOL Gaius randomly caring about innocent lives again.

+ Merlin putting Arthur on a diet was hilarious. Arthur being EXTREMELY OFFENDED AT THE INSINUATION was even more hilarious. Oh, boys. I love your faces. I don't care if it would've been easier for Merlin to just get the food from the kitchens.

+ GWEN APPEARED. This is significant (to me, shuddup), because the rumours had it that she would not. (turns out that was Morgeezy, heh. UNCOOL). Her one scene was glorious, though. GLORIOUS. Walking in on Merlin with the dress, not buying his lie for a second, being adorably hilarious about it all. Gwennn, I love your face too. That was all she got to do, though.

+ Most of the Contractually Obligated Minimum Girltiem-Per-Episode Quota was filled by Freya this week. (Which I had totally been pronouncing wrong, by the way.) I was ... not happy, with ANYTHING involving the main plot this week. I love to root for the girls, you all know this, but this one I was so hard pressed to even care about. What did Merlin see in her apart from being able to project his own loneliness and feelings of isolation onto her? She was devoid of personality and her main role was to sit there shaking like a leaf, being victimized and emo. I expected this, but I'm just tired of the genderfail. It's getting old. Because of course, she is magical and since she can't be evil, she must be weak and helpless/powerless and evil-despite-herself. Please spare me, Show. Another girl with powers who can't have agency and be good at the same time, who needs to be saved by Merlin.

Next time Merlin falls in love, let HIM be the one who's half naked inna cage, needing to be saved by some spunky, strong young woman, and then they can embark on their Angsty Tortured Romance.

And of course, Merlin must destroy her, because she's some kind of were-hippogryff thing. I knew the ~beast~ would be her. Anyone have SPN flashbacks? Yes, ~~Madison~~ Freya must be stopped for the good of society. She can't help it! She can't control herself and must be put out of her misery! But then once she saw Merlin in the courtyard, she COULD control herself, somehow! Because. Because she loves him! And isn't that romantic! *facepalm*

I'm glad they didn't actually have Merlin be the one to kill her, though; that's what I was expecting.

+ But let's be real, the episode wasn't really about the girl or the romance, it was about Merlin and how trapped he feels being different and not being able to talk to anyone. I feel for him, I really do, but at this point, his not being able to talk to anyone is a choice. he has options, he has friends who care about him. His scene with Gwen was adorable but strange -- in what universe would she not have helped him if he'd told her even half of the truth? I seem to remember her doing anything to help him in the past; I seem to remember something very similar with Mordred, actually. He wouldn't have had to tell her everything, as nice as that would be. But she's his friend, last I checked. Arthur, too - though after last week, I can see how it's even harder to open up to him. It just makes me sad that his lies are getting worse, and all the more jarring because he turned right around and opened up to Freya.

Anyone else feel like they were watching Bizarro!Merlin in his scenes with her? All the bonding, the telling the truth, the being more forthright than I've ever seen him with anyone? I'm sorry; why couldn't he have been having that same conversation with Morgana again? Because I forget. That was surreal. I get that Morgana's going bad, but they have to do a little more show and a little less tell, because Merlin trusting Freya and not trusting Morgana made no sense. WE know what will happen, but he doesn't, and even if he's taken the Dragon's warning to heart, it makes NO SENSE for him to trust Freya more at that point.

Which is why I think it's projection more than anything, for Merlin. It's more personal and less about her - and I don't blame him for that. It's a theme that they've been touching on here and there for his character all season. He's been feeling isolated and frustrated and sick of it all, and here she is, presenting an escape. But he was going to run away with her. WHAT. I'm just as weirded out as I was when Morgana wanted to stay with the Druids. What about the people you care about, ya'll. It really kind of made it clear where Merlin's priorities are - the freedom to be himself means more to him than staying with Arthur and helping Camelot. The way he sees it (and frankly the way he's made the situation), he can't have both at once. At least right now, it's mostly duty that's keeping Merlin there. I'm not saying this is bad or that he doesn't still care about Arthur/Gwen/etc (obviously he does), but it's kind of huge, characterization-wise and it means the situation he's in now with regards to his secret is untenable.

I mean, Merlin nearly dropped a boulder on Arthur. O_o Obviously he wouldn't WANT to hurt Arthur and Arthur wasn't hit, but Merlin put Arthur in danger to save Freya. And it seemed unnecessary to the scene - Freya didn't need to run past the knights, she needed to fly up and away. She could've done that at any point. It seemed like a pretty deliberate way of showing Merls' priorities.

IDK, IDK. This is probably one of those eps I'm not meant to think so much about.

+ The scene between Merlin and Arthur at the end was SO lovely. Better interaction than they've had for a while even though the lies are just sort of overlaying everything these days.

Obvs I had a lot to say about this one. :/

On a happy note, SEASON THREE CONFIRMED! *\o/*

SPN 5x10

emotionalinertia@yahoo.com — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 04:31:08 GMT

FUCK.

Both of them? BOTH of them, really show? Fuck's sake. By that point I could understand Jo, but Ellen too?

And you know goddamn well they weren't going to kill Lucifer in episode 10 of 22, so what the hell was the point? Making sure you don't leave any chicks standing before the show ends?

(Did they honestly think the colt would kill him? Did they think WE thought the colt would kill him? He's an angel, not a demon. And they looked so surprised when he got up. Two of the best women the show ever had, gone for nothing.)

That was an exercise in fucking bleakness and pointlessness. I don't even know why I'm surprised.

I'm just over it.

i am a costumed superhero.

emotionalinertia@yahoo.com — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 21:35:48 GMT

walkingshadow has produced the most perfect post for my current mood so I am pointing to it so that all may enjoy:

How To Tell If Your Pain is ~Manpain~

(in a tv/fannish context, obvs)

+ Also, yesterday out of curiosity and the fact I am firmly in procrastination-mode, I watched Misfits, that new ~Skins-meets-Heroes~ crossover thing on E4? (I was warned, and yet.) OMG WHOSE IDEA WAS THAT. WHO GREENLIGHTED THAT. WHO ACTUALLY THOUGHT THAT WOULD BE A GOOD IDEA. OH MY GOD. It may qualify as the single most offensive television program I have ever seen. I'm warning you now, don't touch it. Heed this warning as I failed to heed it. Others have described why better than I can.

Guess who wrote and created it, I notice? Howard Overman. The same Howard Overman who occasionally writes for Merlin. He's written good episodes of Merlin, I would add. idek.

+ Did I mention I'm in procrastination mode? Smutty Claus in a week, Camelot Solstice the week after that. Someone please, kick me in the ass. No, seriously.

+ I hope you're all having a great day. ♥

obligatory holiday card post pointage. I'll probably get on that this weekend. If I've missed your post, lemme know.

Merls, I don't know where to start

emotionalinertia@yahoo.com — Sat, 14 Nov 2009 22:38:52 GMT

2x08. THE SINS OF THE FATHER. IN OTHER WORDS:

(except not really. -__-')

THIS EPISODE, YA'LL. Do all my Merls posts start this way? I feel like they all start this way. I LOVE THIS SEASON OKAY. I have some serious problems with this episode, but still, holy hell.

+ MORGAUSE IS HOT. AND INTERESTING. AND INTERESTINGLY HOT. AND GORLOIS' KID. AND MORGANA'S HALF-SISTER. AND HOT. Emelia is brilliant, I mean, she's basically Nimueh 2.0 with bonus family connection, but she's so well-played, so subtle. Downside? Evil. Subtly evil, better at it than Nimueh, but another evil sorceress all the same. Thanks show, we were running low on those. (Don't get me wrong, I'm on her side, and in some ways she is more on Arthur's side than anyone in this episode despite possibly-selfish reasons. About that, I am confused. More on that later.)

+ Morgana! With lines and connections to the people in this episode! WHAT. She didn't make much progress in the self-actualization department but I am hopeful. She's met another sorceress, one who's nice to her, who appears to be good. And she had a good night's sleep because of a bracelet, and hopefully this will make her feel a little steadier on her feet. It was a bit strange, though; what do they think the bracelet does, release sedatives? IT'S MAGICAL. Kind of weird that Morgana didn't try to hide it from Gaius or something.

But never mind that, the important thing is that Morgana and Morgause are related to each other but have extreme chemistry, so I ship it. LIKE FEDEX. I am having very confused feelings right now. Yay for them talking to each other and passing Bechdel.

+ Know who else passed Bechdel for the first time this season? MORGANA AND GWEN, BABY. THEY TALKED! ABOUT MORGAUSE AND NOT MEN! They had a conversation, ya'll. Some evidence that the girls still talk to each other, this is huge. Huge. (Did anyone think Gwen sounded a tad jealous when Morgana talked about knowing Morgause? Just me, then? Okay.) Also, Gwen is adorable in that scene where she wakes up Morgana. She's so relieved, and fondly exasperated, and that smile, and just so much love for Angel Coulby and like, her whole face. <333

+ Quick note before I get into the plot: promo pics for this episode suggested a scene in which Arthur brushes Gwen off, presumably because he is Too Upset. I am so glad this scene was cut. The last thing I want for Gwen is for her only contribution in an episode to be visually representing Arthur's manpain for the viewer. Nice editing decision, writers, if that's what it was.

+ SPEAKING OF MANPAIN, CAN WE GET INTO SOME STUFF. ARTHUR. OH MY GOD, BABY. *hugs him hard* This episode was so heavy on the angst! Bradley, so much love for his performance. I don't even know what to say except he broke my heart in three different places. You really get a feel for how much he keeps bottled up. My own fanwank is that he's one of the most restrained characters on the show, Gwen being the secondmost. He keeps so much of his pain and insecurities inside. It's so interesting that Merlin knew nothing about when Arthur's mother died, in all this time. Arthur's never mentioned it even as he got to know Merlin's mother, and apparently takes after his father in that respect.

It was SO LOVELY to see the boys having a heartfelt conversation this week, just lovely. And for Merlin to talk about his father! We had mention of Tom last week, Merls' dad this week, Arthur's mum, Morgana's parentage - YAY. Gimme something about Gwen's and Morgana's mums and I'll send the producers flowers. But anyway yes, the boys had great, great moments this week.

He killed me when he put his head on that block. I don't think he's got a death wish or anything, but he can be rash, and he wanted answers SO BADLY that he was willing to put so much trust in Morgause.

I liked Igraine. I don't know how much of her was real, but her love for Arthur was palpable, and Arthur was standing there so gutted but so desperate to know her. Oh, sweetie. The picture of her being forced into her pregnancy by Uther is not pretty, though. Again, I don't know how much of it was real.

Arthur's fight with Uther was so intense I can't even begin. The whole scene kicked ass, and Arthur falling to his knees at the end... GAH.

+ Uther! I don't understand what's going on there. Have the writers retconned him form 1x09? Did he in fact know that Igraine would die? I can't believe that. If so, his characterization is extremely damaged. He was not at all sympathetic in the scene until the very end; when Arthur confronted him at first, I was kind of surprised that he didn't come out with the truth, instead he tried to keep lying. I guess I shouldn't have been surprised? I don't know.

See, if Uther did know Igraine would die, then they've erased the developments from 1x09 and that's pretty frustrating. It also means he forced Igraine's pregnancy, lied to her, and all manner of other horror. If he didn't know, that means Morgause is in fact evil just like all the rest of the witches, that Igraine's image was a trick of some kind, and we have no way of believing what parts of her story are true apart from Arthur being born of magic.

I think it's the latter, that Uther didn't know, but that's disappointing on a different level.

+ The secret between Gaius and Uther re: Morgause and Gorlois is interesting. I'm starting to see the parallels between Uther/Gaius and Arthur/Merlin and I hope Arthur/Merlin don't end up going down the same track.

+ Which brings me to Merlin. SIGH. So on the one hand, my heart BREAKS for him, having to throw himself and his people under the bus so that ~~the writers would never have to address this again~~ Arthur wouldn't have to kill his own father. And you could SEE how much it hurt Merlin to do that. ;__; On the other hand ... he had no idea whether Morgause was telling the truth or not and he purposefully lied. To Arthur's face. I understand his reasons and I KNOW he meant well (seriously, it breaks my heart) but how their relationship can come back from that, I have no idea. It makes me sad for the day when it all comes out. Oh, boys. :/

Gaius being proud of Merlin for doing it chilled my blood, btw. Also chilling; Uther's talk with Merlin, calling him an ally, and you know what, that was some accurate shit. It was a very 'Gaius' thing for Merlin to do. He really needs a different teacher, someone who doesn't think it's okay to lie to someone for their own good. It's not okay to make decisions for people like that! I'm upset for Arthur, for Morgana, just -- I LOVE YOU MERLIN BUT PLEASE TURN AND WALK IN THE OTHER DIRECTION.

What kills me, especially about that last scene with Arthur talking about magic, is that Arthur is just forever clueless, forever a pawn. All the realisations he'd made about magic users undone. I love him so much and it just upsets me. I want him to find out so badly. :/

+ More general stuff. OMG WRITERS. BACK AWAY FROM THE RESET BUTTON. I KNOW IT'S RED AND SHINY BUT YOU DON'T HAVE TO PRESS IT EVERY WEEK. This week I thought might've been the first storyline that they couldn't come back from, but oh I was wrong. And you know, it's not like Arthur could very will kill Uther this week, but maybe there was another way for the fight to've ended, some way to convince Arthur that Uther didn't know Igraine would die? Something so that Arthur doesn't have to go back to being completely ignorant of everything ever? :(

+ Arthur/Morgause showdown. That was a great fight, and I enjoyed Arthur being so convinced that Morgause should back down, then ending up getting his ass kicked. It was really cute seeing the aftermath of that; his telling himself it was because she was a woman, then because she was magical, and then when UTHER said she must have entranced him, Arthur begrudgingly disagreed. He is so adorable. <3

Man. I don't know what else to say! This post is probably long enough. XP

THOUGHTS???

glee 1x09, squee and some impressions

emotionalinertia@yahoo.com — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 15:28:27 GMT

I loved last night's episode of Glee ('Wheels').

But once again I find myself a little out of sync with some of the fan reactions, particularly about Artie (who I now love even more), so before I launch into the squee, I want to give my impressions.

I'm not speaking from any place of authority when it comes to disability and able-bodied privilege so if I commit any fail in what I'm about to say, or if I'm not making sense, please do call me on it.

I don't think Artie is a jerk, not even a little bit of a jerk, for being angry with Tina.

The way I saw it, he wasn't angry with Tina because she turned out to be "normal"/no longer shared a disability in common with him. He was angry (more hurt than angry) because Tina lied about it in the first place. She faked something that he can't fake, if that makes sense.

Tina faked a disability to make her life more convenient for herself at the time. Artie could not do that even if he wanted to -- not that he would, because like he said, his chair does a good enough job of keeping people at a distance. It's not a convenience for him.

People without disabilities enjoy a privilege over those who do have them. Tina, it turns out, doesn't have to live with her stutter for the rest of her life the way Artie has to live with his paralysis. He can't ever get out of his chair the way she dropped her stutter. Artie felt a kinship with Tina because she seemed to know something about what he's going through, when in reality, she was only pretending to. But more hurtful than that was how she presented it to him, like it was a good thing. She tried having a disability for a while, but now it's more trouble than it's worth; now she no longer wants to push people away.

And isn't it nice that because she found glee club, she can choose not to do that anymore?

I know that Tina didn't mean any harm or offense, and things may work out for them (I hope they do). But it was very privileged of her, it was insensitive, and the way I see it Artie's hurt was justified. It was a big deal for both Artie and Tina wrt character development and I hope it doesn't get dropped because it was handled with a surprising amount of nuance, I thought. The show treats Artie's and Kurt's storylines a lot better than that one time it made a total mess of handling race issues.

I could talk about how deeply it irritates me that Glee has given us yet ANOTHER woman who's wronged a guy, ANOTHER guy wronged by a woman. Seriously, it's getting damn old (I used to joke about how Tina and Mercedes were the only women not portrayed negatively because they never get anything to do, but I guess the joke's on me, dammit). I really like Tina. But for me it's not really a question that she was wrong.

(ETA from the comments: While Tina was wrong I'm not outright condemning her either; I hope I haven't come across that way. I've always liked Tina even when she was being ignored by the writers, so I'm actually really happy that we've got something real to chew on with regards to her character. Clearly she has some deep-seated issues, some that I can even identify with re: social anxiety. I was just explaining my interpretation of Artie's feelings, but I don't wish to rag on Tina or say that I don't find her sympathetic as well.)

Now, on with the squee, because I really did love this episode.

+ I did mention how much I love Artie? His performance of Dancing With Myself is one of my favorites on the show so far. I love his voice, I love that he got a chance to shine for once, I love him period.

+ THE HUMMELS WIN AT EVERYTHING EVER. Kurt's always been one of my favorites, and his relationship with his dad, since the kicker episode, has been a big part of why. They could not be more awesome. Kurt's dad, oh I could kiss him. <3 And Kurt! Throwing his own performance and the chance to something he really wanted to do to protect his father from some of the crap he goes through on a daily basis. Oh, these two broke my heart this week.

+ I continue to feel for Quinn. Part of this is my own refusal to buy into the show's portrayal of her as manipulative and unsympathetic because it ticks me off and I am SO DONE WITH BOTH OF THESE PREGNANCY PLOTS, but seriously, I see a scared girl who's in over her head and not handling it the way she should. I don't think she knows how to get out of the hole she's in, and she's too scared to tell the truth, but she keeps digging. For sure she's dead wrong, and lashing out at all the wrong people when she's probably mad at herself. And I hope things work out for her.

+ Finn really is a bit of an idiot; he doesn't deserve to be called names for it, but still. I love the way the actor plays him - he really just doesn't understand things, much as he tries. He recognises the responsibility he has to "his" kid and really wants to step up, but he doesn't want said responsibility or feel the emotional connection or motivation quite the same way Puck does, and Cory plays that balance really well.

+ Puck is adorable and has better chemistry with both Rachel AND Quinn than Finn does with either of them. I also like that Quinn called him out for getting the money for her in the wrong way, taking it away from the fund for Artie. They're all good peoples. <3

+ I wouldn't mind Puck/Quinn/Finn OT3 now.

+ What Rachel did this week was in-character for her given her very eye-of-the-tiger, whatever-it-takes frame of mind, but wrong wrong wrong, getting Finn to fake being in a wheelchair to get a job. Rachel has grown on me completely since I first started watching this show and I like her a lot, but still.

+ I like how Will was mostly a douche this week and in some cases was called on it. I'm getting tired of him keeping everyone but Rachel and Finn in the background most of the time and his "yeahno" attitude whenever he's asked to do otherwise. And I freaking LOVE Sue for calling him on his ableist attitude while he tried to call her on the same. And she was right - she treated that girl the same way she would anyone. I like how this was handled because in a way, Will was speaking for the audience this week, so sure that Sue had some angle she was working, but they slowly revealed how much more there was to it.

+ SPEAKING OF SUE. OH MY GOD I LOVE HER. I did not expect her to be the one to make me cry, but from the moment she took out that book, I was done.

+ Holiday card post is still open btw, comments screened, if you want a card from me. <3

Er.

emotionalinertia@yahoo.com — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 22:47:17 GMT

+ Is nine months too old for a puppy to start trying hump legs? Ew Ew Ewwwww. I feel like I just got him last week!

BINGLEY YOU CAN'T DO THAT

YOU ARE NOT A DOG

YOU ARE A PUPPY

My Twitter feed tells me I'm lucky he waited so long. Apparently he's a late bloomer.

*pats him* Poor woob isn't even likely to meet any potential girlfriends or boyfriends with his current social schedule.

Is that too much information? That was probably too much information.

+ In other news, Dollhouse is canceled and I am disappointed but ... not? It was REALLY getting too squicky for me.

+ In other other news, Jensen Ackles and Danneel Harris are engaged. I think they are adorable together and am very amused at SPN fandom right now. Also, Danneel is awesome.

+ IDK this post is pointless, but at least I didn't mention Merlin?

Oh wait.

forged in the heat of battle

emotionalinertia@yahoo.com — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 04:39:19 GMT

+ Mad Men is the best show on television.

+ UNRELATEDLY, I am watching Xena at the moment. I couldn't say why, you'd have to ask fiiishy; she's the one who put visions of Gwen and Morgana: WARRIOR PRINCESSES in my head.

Anyway, I haven't seen this show in years, and it is even slashier than I remembered. Not surprising considering that I was v. v. young and without slash goggles at the time, and I STILL SAW IT. It's the first episode and Xena and Gabrielle are already in love. Gabrielle doesn't want to stay with dull boring betrothed!guy, she wants to go with Xena and she doesn't even care where! ♥

(Also, this guy appearing in the first episode is Chase from Legend of the Seeker. His name in this is Draco, and he was hot.)

+ In other news, screw the US House of Representatives for buying historic health care legislation at the price of reproductive rights. WAY TO THROW US UNDER THE BUS, ASSHOLES.

most random post ever, y/y?

in which 'witch' is still a perjorative and 'warlock' is not

emotionalinertia@yahoo.com — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 22:11:23 GMT

Merls 2x07, The Witchfinder. THIS EPISODE.

+ This is one of the darker episodes we've had, really intense and well-played by everyone. Colin was brilliant especially. He does a good job with intense stuff, it reminded me of his performance in the Mordred ep last season.

+ Charles Dance was awesome - creepy, definitely, but played with a certain amount of camp as well, like you'd expect from this show. I couldn't help but snort around the third time he popped out from around a corner. The interrogations were great; I would've like to've seen more of them.

+ Really, all women just want to look pretty? Really, show? Never change.

No seriously, change.

+ Can we talk about the fact that I kind of like the Dragon lately? WTF. I think his laughing last week endeared him to me or something, but it was nice that he showed some compassion while still not really giving a crap about Gaius. It just really fit, idk. And I like how he was unimpressed by Gaius being persecuted, like "uh, hi, allow me to introduce you to EVERYONE OF MY KIND." That reaction was perfect.

+ Merlin was so lovely and in-character and heartbreaking. I loved that first scene; you have to feel for the guy. He just wants to have some fun with his powers, and have some fun period, and all this happens. I still don't like the message it sends and the overall pattern on this show when it comes to people using magic that's not in direct assistance to the kingdom.

Though it's a bit lulzy that the thing that sends the kingdom into a tailspin was cloud ponies. And he loves Gaius so much, aw. HE IS SO PRESH. ♥

+ Gaius ... I always feel so conflicted about him. Not impressed with what he did in the past, but he clearly loves Merlin and this is the second time he's tried to sacrifice himself to make up for what he did. I'm not down with how he treats Morgana or how he justifies things to himself, but he's not evil. His speech to Uther was great -- though he doesn't have a lot of moral capital, what with being okay with Uther's actions until it happened to him? But on the face of things, he was right. And Uther looked so chagrined. It was a poignant moment for them.

+ Arthur is still growing up! I'm constantly impressed with his ability to stand up to Uther effectively. He was also so adorable with Merlin. There's such a real bond between them. All protective and trying to stop Merlin from doing things to get him in MORE trouble, at the same time wanting to help him. Oh, boys. ♥ I loved Merlin trying to punch Arthur, too.

+ MERLIN AND GWEN ARE BACK. It's like the TPTB could sense how starved I have been for their BFFery and then decided to rain this episode down on my head. LOOK AT THEM. SOLVING MYSTERIES. PUTTING THEIR HEADS TOGETHER. I have missed detective!Gwen from season one! Oh show, let her find out about his powers! They would be unstoppable! How does she not know already? Seriously, I love their interplay. The combined urgency Merlin feels to ACT, with her urging him to slow down and think. DREAM TEAM. They saved the day TOGETHER. <33333

+ GWEN. Guinevere. So much character stuff to chew on this week. Did ya'll see her? Swinging her agency all over the place? Getting shit done? Taking action in her own way? I AM SO PROUD OF HER. It just got better and better. I love that the writers took advantage of Gwen's connection with the other commoners. Another tiny glimpse into her life! She knew just where to go, she knows the people in the lower town. Also, she knew Merlin would need more proof, that Uther would never listen, and it saved him from an outcome like what happened in 1x03. She understands how things work because she sees it every day, and seeing her bring that to the table was so damn awesome.

+ Gwen/Arthur. Okay I'm sorry, that was awesome. Last week we got to see that she's feeling more comfortable approaching him, relating to him as a fellow idealist, speaking up without taking it back. And he listens to her, he has ALWAYS listened to her, and this is the first time she was like "holy shit he'd listen to me!" So she went and appealed to him, and for the first time it wasn't just because she couldn't hold herself back -- it was because she realised there was something she could do, at least try to do, and she did it. She didn't TRY to hold herself back, because Gaius was about to die, and oh Gwen. <3333

And SOMEONE ON THE WRITING TEAM REMEMBERED TOM. This is a huge fucking deal to me. Because it wasn't Arthur's fault, but he DID stand by at the time, and Gwen might like him, but she still carries that pain, pretty damn close to the surface too, and she channeled that into trying not to let it happen again. It was the first time the writers sort of quasi-addressed one of the things that stand between them as a couple, namely the amount of pain the Pendragon men have put her through. She called him out, dudes, and it was glorious. She might've given him the push he needed, but for me it wasn't about Gwen making Arthur better; it was about Gwen. She spoke her piece, in a way, and took action. And you know what, the two times she has ever sort-of voiced her pain about her father in a roundabout way, it was around Arthur. So, more of that please. Let's keep going in that direction. They will be the most kickass monarchs in all the land.

+ Something I am getting increasingly frustrated with: WRITERS, WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT MORGEEZY. What are ya'll trying to do to my girl? Now that she knows about her powers she's not allowed to be fierce? I get that she's afraid and I would be too, but it's starting to be a problem for me, and I don't blame Morgana - I just have trouble with the writers' decisions here and why they seem bent on making a damsel out of her. It doesn't make sense, she should be getting more powerful. HOW COME SHE COULDN'T KILL CHARLES DANCE? She would totally have killed Charles Dance. Maybe it just bugs me seeing her so afraid and alone. *hugs her* I can't wait for her to get her feet back under her and start kicking some ass. She's survived so much already.

+ I did appreciate seeing the connection b/t Morgana and Gwen. The scene where they were at the window, and later when Gwen was worried about her.

+ Overall, this season is still kicking ass and I loved this episode. And next week?? OH MY GOD. :D :D :D

and time stopped moving

emotionalinertia@yahoo.com — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 14:33:37 GMT

+ Thanks to everyone who left me birthday wishes yesterday! Tweets, PMs, emails, v-gifts, facebook wall thingies, LJ posts and comments - I really rather love you guys. ♥♥♥♥ And I had a great day, btw. :D

+ miakun wrote me happy Merls fic what has Gwen/Morgana and OT4 at the same time! Go looky!

+ Yuletide signups! I'm excited but a little freaked out by them. I have the fandoms I nominated, but there are so many more to choose from and I don't know where to start! I'm going to think on it a bit more before I sign up for reals.

+ That's all for today. I have to give a presentation tomorrow at work, but I only have half a day to work on it because we all have to go to this award ceremony/holiday party/contract renewal celebration thing. Free food and the possibility of heading home early, always good.

Merls 2x06

emotionalinertia@yahoo.com — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 15:27:33 GMT

Or, Beauty and the Beast, part deux.

Last week was the beast, this week was the beauty, y/y? (also omg I rambled a lot.)

+Ben Vanstone is still my favorite writer on Merlin. He knows how to use the whole cast to greatest effect and he understands what they all bring to the show. There were some misses, but mostly, this ep was awesome.

+ I LOVE ASH. Uther was hilarious, even funnier than last week. His googly eyes and goofy smile! And gettin' his mack on with Lady Cat! All "Hey, baby, I got u flowers". And all that talk about how firm and hard he is? I LOL'ed. Clearly ASH and Sarah Parish were having a BLAST with their scenes.

+ Sarah Parish is still awesome. It's so clear she was enjoying herself and really getting into it, and she was hilarious too.

+ Merlin was so great! I loved the action, it wasn't near as slapstick as I was expecting, at least not in a bad way, and he was charming throughout. I loved that for the most part he relied on actual effective plotting and planning rather than rashly using magic and messing stuff up.

+ Arthur was LOVE. Love, love, love. This was a side of him we haven't seen much this season, the prince who loves his people and wants so badly to do right by them. And standing up to Uther! He's learning different ways to defy him. There's less storming and yelling than last season. In 2x04 he was quiet to Uther's face but snuck out to rescue Gwen, and in this episode, he was more subdued and reasoned, but still firm about not doing what Uther wanted him to do. I like to think it would've been more effective than his usual methods if Uther hadn't been enchanted. He's maturing. ♥

+ Gwen, oh Gwen. :D Thanks for giving her a few LINES, Ben Vanstone. I really appreciated the scene in which she frets over Merlin with Gaius. A very short moment, but it felt so much like season one. Remember when she used to fret over Merlin and interact with Gaius? \o/ To me it signified a possible return to her being in on things the way she often used to be. And she and Merlin are still BFFs even though things have changed with Arthur and everything. Ah, it's wonderful. A hint of things balancing out a little. Also, I liked her look at Gaius when he told her not to worry. ("not worry; are you high?")

+ ETA: Gaius remains disgusting, by the way. Given last season, there was absolutely no reason for him to lie to Gwen, wtf is with his need to keep shit from womenfolk?

+ Gwen/Arthur Once and Future Awesomeness: EEEEEEE. None of you will be surprised at my flailing. They're going to be such an amazing King and Queen you guys. I mean, I still wish the writers would actually reference things from past episodes rather than drop plots when they aren't thinking about them, like Morgana's stuff in 2x03 and the triangular angst of 2x04. And I wish they would stop neglecting to focus on Gwen's feelings at all. It's jarring, but it didn't stop Arthur and Gwen from being LOVELY in this episode. Because Gwen may have been gutted and confused by the Lance and Arthur situation, but this episode made it clear that she still cares very much for Arthur and admires him, which is nothing new. It's like they had this unexpected and impossible Thing happen between them in 2x02 that neither of them knows what to do with, then in 2x04 they took some HUGE steps back, and now they're reconnecting again on a different level. Almost like friends. So the slow burn thing kind of progresses from here. *\o/*

Because what's always drawn me to Gwen and Arthur is how much they have in common under the surface. Both are constrained by duty (albeit in vastly different ways) but they're both such idealists at heart. It's been a common theme for each of them that's been visited consistently since series 1. So seeing them be idealists together, and talk about what they want Camelot to be, has such an epic feel. I'm so excited to see how it goes.

(also, Gwen's face after Arthur gives the people their money back in the village. Haha, she gets so hot and bothered when people are all noble around her, I freaking love it.)

+ Merlin/Arthur! BOYS. Every one of their interactions was GOLDEN in this episode. Arthur being worried about Merlin and sending him away! Finding him under the bed later and being freaked that Merlin had been under there listening to him wank! The scene with Gaius about the poison, some of the best comedic writing the show has seen! Squeezing the antidote out of his own scarf! The NOT-HUG! So well-played, boys. Still bringing the subtext and I love it. And I'm with shantirosa, if Merlin had gone in for a hug-and-run, I would've died of glee.

+ Back to Arthur, and Uther. I like when the show visits Arthur's daddy issues and his inner conflict between how much he clearly loves his father and how deeply he wishes not to be LIKE his father. And underneath the lulz, there was a lot of angst there when Arthur felt Uther couldn't stand the sight of him. Oh, poor woob. <3 At the same time, the scene at the end where they were at the table was hilarious and VERY father-son, wherein Arthur did Not Want To Know The Details, but still couldn't resist having a laugh at Uther's expense.

+ Speaking of which, hahahahahahaha UTHER MAY NEVER EAT OR DRINK ANYTHING EVER AGAIN EEEEEEWWWWWW. Hahahahahaha. Hahaha. Haha. Ha. That was the one time I've ever felt solidarity with the Dragon. Who was HILARIOUS, by the way. He could not stop laughing, oh the schadenfreude. That was seriously one of my favorite scenes. And Merlin's reactions were priceless, indulgent and long-suffering. Brilliant. What I loved about this episode was that the comedy was actually FUNNY, in relation to most of last week's stuff.

+ More funny: Arthur/Morgana siblingness! It wasn't enough for my taste, but what was there in that troll reveal scene was priceless. Their interaction was sorely missing from last week's episode. They should always have scenes and snark, writers, come on now. Also funny was Sir Leon. I LOVE LEON. "More like ... more like tusks." EL OH EL.

+ Not so funny: the toilet humour. I couldn't even look for most of that, I'll be honest. I think there were probably a lot of kids who laughing though, so it's all good.

+ Also Not Funny: I miss Morgeezy! I think the writers don't know what to do with her when they aren't progressing the magic plot, or possibly, involving her in plots to save the day goes against their attempts to paint her as untrustworthy (don't get me started on that)? But she should've at least been around to rage when Arthur was disinherited, or freak out when he died, or possibly LOL in the dinner scene at the end, or SOMETHING. Good lord. Katie rocked the reaction shots in the coronation sequence, but didn't get to do much otherwise. I'm not as worried overall because from all I've heard, she's getting some meaty stuff to do later on, but still, come on.

+ I'm probably forgetting things but overall -- and maybe my expectations were low -- I loved this episode. It had a lot of the things I have always loved about this show.

And there was that one time the Dragon nearly died of LULZ:

(gif by letsey_x)

many stories matter

emotionalinertia@yahoo.com — Wed, 28 Oct 2009 18:43:09 GMT

+ Has anyone tried the Write or Die desktop app? Worth the ten bucks? I like the regular version.

+ I want to share this vid, most recently picked up at deepad's journal.

Nigerian author Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie giving a talk about 'The Danger of a Single Story'

On reading, writing, and how the stories we're exposed to can shape our perspectives. It's eighteen minutes long, but more than worth a listen.

The problem with the single story is this: it robs people of dignity. It makes our recognition of our equal humanity difficult. It emphasizes how we are different, rather than how we are similar.

Word. I would quote the whole talk back at you if I could.

it kicks like a sleep twitch

emotionalinertia@yahoo.com — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 19:45:15 GMT

+ Back at work today, feeling fine. It's wet and icky outside, though.

+ zahrawithaz reviews Beauty and the Beast (Merls 2x05). Or rather, the characters of Merlin do. Better than the episode in some ways. *g* I love Merlin to extremes, I seriously do, but this reminds me how many people I know on my own f-list who could write a better show than we actually have.

It's kind of weird/funny that the shows and source material that need the most help are always the ones with the big fandoms. As much as I'd love to be able to roll around in Being Human fic all day for example, I have to admit that it's just a better show, it doesn't need holes filled in with fic and such, so people don't flock to it.

+ Glee fic continues to be better than the actual show. Giving Quinn and Kurt and Sue etc. much better treatment. I do wonder if there's any fic about Tina or Mercedes, though.

+ randomneses alerted me to this bullshit yesterday: Howard University's Hilltop mag has a staff editorial that details the ways students can prevent getting into dangerous situations at night. Money quote:

As well as making themselves look like easy targets by distractions or lack of awareness, female students are often guilty of another serious offense-strutting through the streets of Washington, D.C. in badly chosen attire (...) If walking through the streets in seductive club attire isn’t a blatant call for sexual harassment, then nothing is.

Do I even need to rant about the ways in which that passage is infuriating? Because yeah, you really want to send a message to college kids of all sexes that girls who dress however the hell they want to are asking for whatever happens to them. Fuck that.

+ That's all for today, must finish coursework for class later, and oh yeah also, am at work. :P

Monday sundries

emotionalinertia@yahoo.com — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 17:07:29 GMT

+ I am home from work today. Know how on Friday I was wondering if I was coming down with something? I WAS. :D Starting to feel better now though; I think it's just a cold and not the flu or anything.

+ If any of you remember Geocities, check xkcd's page today. Serious lulz, and memories. Oh god, the stars and scroll text and comic sans. COMIC SANS. I remember when almost all the fanfic I used to read was at Geocities or Angelfire. ~~Animorphs slash? What Animorphs slash?~~

+ Two things I am newly watching: Emma (which is now over) and Parks and Recreation. I like this adaptation of Emma better than any I've seen; it's gorgeous and delightful and actually pretty hilarious. I wasn't sure I'd like Jonny Lee Miller as Knightly, but I was wrongggg, he is wonderful in it. And Parks and Recreation is just endless lols. And my crush on Rashida Jones is epic. Reminds me to do that massive picspam of my favorite female characters.

+ Mad Men seriously made me teary last night. Did anyone else wibble like a complete fool? Because I did. Don and Betty, Don and Betty. GAH. ALSO GO JOAN. But also aww, Joan. I want so much more for you. And Peggy had one line the whole episode, but if you're only going to get one line, it should definitely be "I can't turn it off; it's actually happening!" <333

+ Congratulations to everyone doing NaNoWriMo next month! I'll be cheering you on whilst NOT DOING IT. But! I did join wrisomifu (short for Write Something You Miserable Fuck), which sophinisba and briar_pipe pointed me to yesterday. You basically commit to writing anything for ten minutes of every day in the month of November. Literally anything; in my case, fanfic. And usually, if I can strap down and focus for ten minutes on something, it stretches out much longer than that. If anyone else wants to join me there, just comment here for an invite.

Merls 2x05

emotionalinertia@yahoo.com — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 20:51:46 GMT

Must finish meme responses and get back to the fleet party, but first, Beauty and the Beast.

Hahahahaha.

What can I actually say?

WELL. THAT HAPPENED. Here, I'll say some nice things.

+ It was nice to see Merlin getting an episode.

+ Uther's goofy grin is hilarious.

+ Woobie!Uther still hurting over Ygraine was nice to see.

+ Arthur called Merlin a true friend! ♥

+ Sarah Parrish is awesome! She's a fantastic actress and made me laugh a lot.

+ Merlin doing magic is always hot.

+ Arthur is always hot. And LOL at him thinking Merlin was stalking Catrina. Also, also, oblique references to Gwen! "It doesn't matter whether ~~Uther would want me marrying a servant~~ I like Catrina. What matters is that she makes me him happy!" Oh, you.

+ I'm sure the kiddies loved it. XP

THAT BEING SAID:

WHERE MY LADIES AT.

NONPLUSSED MORGANA AND GWEN ARE NONPLUSSED:

BONUS NONPLUSSED (and weirded-out) ARTHUR:

peopleareshapes brings the best GIFS, as always. <3

Seriously. I'm not even going to lie, I care so much less when they aren't around it's ridiculous. Some lines would've been good. No, "I should go to bed" doesn't count, Morgana. I like this show best when it uses everyone. Also, a scene in which Arthur and Morgana talked about Uther's new lurve and shared tips on how not to vomit in public would've been aces. A line from Gwen would also have been aces. And was anyone except Gaius wondering why Merlin wasn't at the wedding? I wanted the OT4 to at least share some concerned looks between them, if not go looking for him.

Arthur and Morgana were both weirdly supportive, despite Arthur's wonderful faces. Actually, everyone was just weirdly not-bothered by anything that happened, except Merlin. XP It was strange how Catrina was all "YOU CAN'T LET THE HATERS GET YOU DOWN" to Uther, but there weren't actually any haters. Everyone was all "Oh, really? Huh. Well, okay!" Must be nice to be king.

Anyone else get a leeetle bit annoyed with the repeated "LULZ SHE'S A TROLL" lines? Just a teeensy bit. "Body like a tree trunk, hahaha". "His wife's a fruit-munching monster, LOOOL". IDK, IDK, it got a bit stale - or maybe I'm a bit meh about the fact that these awful women keep coming to Camelot to prey on the hapless Pendragon boys and wile them with their beauty when they're really disgusting enchantresses. The more literal disgustingness was less funny because of that, I guess.

Well. It's a kids' show.

Next week looks slightly more promising, maybe? A little more Arthur, at least? And hopefully more of the girls. I hear Ben Vanstone wrote it. That's promising. But why is this episode the two-parter? Jeez, Merlin, just thunk her over the head, shove something up her nose, and be done with it. Harry and Ron are smug right now.

With that, I'll leave you to contemplate Morgana's and Gwen's pretty dresses:

Dollhouse 2x04

emotionalinertia@yahoo.com — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 14:20:21 GMT

Gah, this episode. I don't even know.

Spoilers under the cut. Also, one day I'll manage to write episode reviews that are coherent. I'm not sure today is that day. :P

PRIYA CAN THIS SHOW JUST BE ABOUT YOU. OH SWEETIE. In some ways, this is easily my favorite episode because it's about her and she's always been my favorite and Dichen Lachman can act circles around everyone else. I'm crazy about Sierra/Priya/whoever she is each week. Plus, there was no Paul.

But this this episode was also painful and wrong, wrong, wrong. :/

I get that the moral greyness is the point of everything ever on this show, but this took it to EXTREMES. I officially want someone to blow up the Dollhouse, I don't care who. Boyd, Echo, Senator Wesley. Literally, blow it up. It is so fucked up I can't even deal.

I do like that Topher's developing Issues with what he's doing. I also like that Boyd's cynical about it, like oh, NOW it's a problem. This bit:

Topher: "That's funny, that I have a hunch?"

Boyd: "It's funny that it's bothering you." LMAO. I love love love Boyd. I wonder if Joss will care enough to show us why HE'S doing this. He's a cypher at the moment. And he knows how to dispose of bodies and disappear people. Please tell me there's a backstory episode coming up for him.

Victor is so, so sweet. And Echo's always been mother hen about Sierra. It's probably wrong to feel so OT3 about them considering their current mental states. Sigh. When the Dollhouse blows up I want them to be together. :P

How are Victor and Sierra now allowed to sleep together?

I liked Echo in this episode. I really like her more when the episodes aren't all about her and her imprints. I'm now far more interested in her growing awareness of things and I love that Boyd's helping her now. I've missed their interactions.

Adelle. Damn, girl. Though, her moral lines remain weird; she's all "you have made me an accomplice to something vile".

UM. Do you mean something else that's vile? Alrighty then. Strange sort of cognitive dissonance going on here. Human trafficking, prostitution, mind-wipes, all fine, BUT KIDNAPPING AND RAPE ARE VILE. And really, Topher? Priya suddenly doesn't belong in the dollhouse because she was drugged? Okay, I'm with you, but you do realise that she never signed a contract in the first place, right? I like how when she seemed to be paranoid schizophrenic with no family and no ability to choose, it was okay to take her and do whatever you wanted with her and erase her entire personality. That was 'curing' her. But now that you know she wasn't in fact mentally ill, IT WAS TOTALLY WRONG TO DO THAT.

LOOOL OKAY.

I enjoyed Adelle's scenes with both Topher and Lundy-from-Dexter. Both really chilling in their own way. But I'm losing sight of the point. Basically, "we all suck as human beings, deal with it"? Yeah, I get that, great. Can someone please blow up the Dollhouse now? Because this is starting to feel less edgy and more self-indulgent.

And why did Priya go back? Why... why would she want to go back? She kills the guy who terrorized her and sent her into slavery and who was hitting her and actively attempting to rape her, but she still has no choices and no power and can think of nothing except to go back to the dollhouse? She gets a major assist from Topher and takes her life back from Nolan, then she gives it away again. That just undermines everything, any sense of personal power or self-worth that she might have gained. I'm deeply sad for her.

Also, now she's the black spot on the painting? (I see what you did there.) Why is she the black spot for killing Nolan? That was the least morally grey thing that happened in the entire episode, as far as I'm concerned.

I'm just ... I can't parse my feelings on this episode. Halp.

Glee, and some signal boosting

emotionalinertia@yahoo.com — Thu, 22 Oct 2009 15:54:48 GMT

Working on two hours of sleep, so this post is likely to make little sense.

+ Signal Boost: zahrawithaz has an October Manifesto for Domestic Violence Awareness Month, about some of the realities of domestic violence that don't get talked about.

+ Moar signal boostage: glockgal has a post on the upcoming holiday that I very much appreciated. Because Halloween is almost here, and know what's not funny or cool? Dressing up as sexed-up caricatures or parodies of other races and cultures. Native Americans, black people, sexy!geishas/china dolls, etc; none of that shit is cute. Mocking peoples' cultures is not okay on any day; it's insulting and stereotyping and hurts people. Which is not to say that you guys would, but if you see it this Halloween (you probably will), call it out! Karma will smile on you.

***

Now for some Glee. I continue to find it equal parts DELIGHTFUL and irritating. But I'm with it as long as the music doesn't stop. Also, less racefail this week, that was good.

And slushies.

+ I LOVE SUE. I don't love her crushing Quinn like she did, but seeing her in love was hilarious and that zoot suit or whatever it was? EL. OH. EL.

+ Not enough Quinn/Rachel interaction. Sadface. Quinn continues to be my favorite. I really liked Rachel in this ep, though; she grows on me more and more.

+ Finn... eh. I kind of love the guy who plays him, he does a fantastic job, but I can't say I'm very interested in the character at the moment.

+ Puck/Rachel! Mutual pining was adorable, but I actually thought they were even MORE adorable together, so I'm a little sad it isn't going to keep happening. Shame because it's the first good girl/bad boy cliche scenario that I actually found charming. And that slushy cleanup scene was hot.

+ PUCK. I've done a complete 180 on Puck, I'm in love with him now. Sweet Caroline. ♥

+ Poor Kurt. My heart broke for him during Bust A Move Het-o-rama; his face, his face. And his obvious crush on Finn. Kid took a slushy to the face for the guy. GAH. I hope the show lets him move on from that and find someone who likes him back rather than pine for the straight guy forever. I am not a fan of that trope. His friendship with Mercedes continues to be one of my favorite parts of the show.

+ I can't like Will, he gets worse every week for me. I am out of sync with most fans on this, I know, but I can't root for the guy. He is presented as the good guy and is not a good guy. I've been saying this on various journals but I'm saying it again, idk. :P

Even his singing is starting to grate on me. :/ This week especially, it was just ALL about him. All the dancing and hamming it up and being all sweet when he is actually a total creeper... I can't even explain. Three numbers were about him this week, and only one wasn't. Unacceptable. Also, I fast-forwarded the wedding dress song with Emma. I had already been through the thong song, there is only so much I can take. I am not watching for the stupid love triangle, idk.

+ What was awesome though, was Ken calling Will out on his bullshit for encouraging Emma. I didn't love what he did to the kids, but Ken kind of broke my heart this week, knowing she's settling and loving her too much to care. Sigh. I don't understand Emma or sympathize with her pining. Probably because she likes Will and I don't really get that.

+ What is with me and shipping pairings that will never happen? Arthur/Gwen being the major exception (wheeee), I clearly have some kind of mental block.

Three pairings clearly going to happen on Glee:

Will/Emma
Finn/Rachel
Quinn/Puck

What I would rather see:

Quinn/Rachel
Finn/can join Quinn and Rachel sometimes
Puck/Rachel
Will/A Dumpster
Emma/IDC

Anyway, that was Glee. And stuff. Hope everyone's good. ♥

madness to magnet keeps attracting me, me

emotionalinertia@yahoo.com — Wed, 21 Oct 2009 14:11:34 GMT

+ I may have created a Katie/Angel/Morgana/Gwen tumblr, for picspamming and general sharing of prettified pics, quotes, videos, gifs, and whatever else concerning the girls. If you're on tumblr, follow it! With Flowers. :D

+ Fest season is in high gear and I am sitting on my hands. I definitely don't need to be signing up for Valensmut, Wizard Love, 3 Ships (man, 3 Ships is tempting) etc. when I have yet to finish Smutty_Claus or camelotsolstice and am definitely doing Yuletide. Also, the art that's being used in the banners for hp_nextgen_fest makes me want to sign up for it, it's so pretty. *cuddles Rose and Albus and Lily and Scorpius* But that is a ridiculous reason to sign up for an exchange if ever there was one, so I'm not, you know, going to. But you all should, if you're inclined, they look like much fun even if I don't think the stress would be good for me.

+ merlin_femslash. Need I say more? Also, merlin_cliche. Because magic unicorns made them do it, and it was good.

+ Art rec: Arthur/Gwen/Merlin film-noir THEY ARE SO HOT I CAN'T TAKE IT. And it's completely safe for work. The accompanying kinkmeme ficlet? Definitely not for the kids.

+ Fic rec: I've been reading a lot of lovely things lately, which reminds me how much I fail at my recs-listing, but here's one real quick: Please (NC-17) by blackmamba_esq. Kinky Arthur/Gwen. Dom!Gwen hits buttons I didn't even know I had.

+ I've been reading Glee fic. Kurt/Puck and Quinn/Rachel. Oh yeah. (Thanks, Inell.)

+ Apparently Christian Bale had TOM CRUISE in mind when getting into Patrick Bateman's character for American Psycho. brb loling forever.

+ I am having a good day at work. Stuff is working. :D Hope everyone is doing well - hugs to everyone who needs them. ♥

i know you've got a lot of strength left

emotionalinertia@yahoo.com — Tue, 20 Oct 2009 01:13:39 GMT

+ I'm in love with this photo essay of female farmers from all over the world, from the Shakesville blog. Love. ♥ (link stolen from ye old f-list, therefore you may have seen it already. But if you haven't, do run. :D)

+ Oerr, that's all for today. I should get some coursework done.

this post is of no great import

emotionalinertia@yahoo.com — Fri, 16 Oct 2009 17:19:23 GMT

...but it's Friday, and at least I'm not nattering/rambling/squeeing/spamming about Merlin again ~~for now~~?

Hat tip to sellthelie:

Tassels. ♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥♥

There. Don't we all feel better?

and I take what I find

emotionalinertia@yahoo.com — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 13:45:29 GMT

+ Yuletide nominations! It's my first year participating, I'm pretty excited. The fandoms I nominated are nothing revolutionary or even particularly obscure as far as obscure fandoms go, BUT:

Jacqueline Carey - The Kushiels Legacy series
Mad Men
RPF - Merlin
Sons of Anarchy
Southland
The Wire

What, ya'll know I had to sneak some Merlin in there. *g* You can nominate here if you're thinking of participating. Any fandom that is tiny, old/inactive, or had its first season/book/premiere date in the past year. Except for Leverage apparently. *sadface*

+ That Merlin character meme was much fun. And my thread - I've been overwhelmingly dubbed Guinevere (yay!), with a dash of Morgana and a smidgen of Merlin to taste. And flowers. Which makes me GLEEFACE. You guys are the best in all the land. ♥♥♥

+ Welcome to new friends! I'm on Twitter too if for some reason you'd want more of my random babble. ;-)

in a telescope lens and when all you want is friends [meme]

emotionalinertia@yahoo.com — Tue, 13 Oct 2009 13:26:19 GMT

What Merlin character am I most like?
MY THREAD

Do eeeet. And link me to yours! ♥

OH. TEE. FIVE.

emotionalinertia@yahoo.com — Sat, 10 Oct 2009 21:25:21 GMT

OH GOD YA'LL. MY HEART.

MY HEART.

AWESOME. SO MUCH OT4 WITH AN OPTION FOR FIVE.

LEMME 'SPLAIN.

I would like to preface this post with a note to fandom.

Dear fandom (not all of you, just those of you who know who you are),

GO BANG YOUR HEADS AGAINST A WALL. GWEN IS NOT A SLUT. SHE IS NOT LEADING ANYONE ON OR STRINGING ANYONE ALONG. ARTHUR CAN'T HAPPEN RIGHT NOW AND LANCELOT IS A VERY NICE BOY WHAT WITH THE DYING MULTIPLE TIMES AND ALL THE POETRY.

IF HE LIKED IT THEN HE SHOULD'VE PUT A RING ON IT.

NO LOVE,

ME.

/rant

**

'Kay, on with the review:

+ OH MY GOD. OH MY GOD GWEN. OH SWEETIE. YOU KNOW HOW I LIKE IT WHEN YOU MOUTH OFF TO PEOPLE. Oh god, she was so afraid, but every time she looked Hengist in the face she like steeled herself up and looked as UTTERLY BADASS as she could even though when she was alone she was so hopeless and scared. YOUR FUTURE QUEEN LADIES AND GENTLEMEN. <3333 You can SEE the queen-in-the-making, for serious. Another excellent performance from Angel. (And holy god how beautiful. Holy hell, I can't even deal. I think my favorite bits were when she was running down the hall in those boots with her dress swirling around them - THOSE BOOTS.) Also, she definitely took out one of those barbarians when the camera cut away, his howl of pain echoed for like three seconds. THAT'S MY GIRL.

She could not have been more awesome. When she cried over Lancelot I really felt for her even though I don't feel as strongly about the guy as she does. I don't think she was really thinking about Lancelot when he was gone - that was a nice non-answer from her by the way, when he asked if she had. But clearly he'd made an impression and those feelings came back. But more on that later.

+ MORGANAAAA. I HAVE MISSED YOUR BADASSERY. I loved her so much, it's like the old Morgana was back. She was half-dressed, too, that was nice. BUT DUDE, YELLING AT UTHER. STORMING IN TO YELL AT ARTHUR WITHOUT NOTICING HE WAS PACKING. Swinging that sword like a swinging thing. Her obvious and abiding love for Gwen. Which brings me to

+ GWEN/MORGANA. OH GIRLS I'VE MISSED YOU TOO. The mutual self-sacrificing! The compound prettiness of the two of you on my TV screen for more than a few seconds at a time! Morgana's "she's more than just my maid!" How scared Morgana looked staring out the window at the end! And before today I had not even realised how much I'd been wanting a legit, non-nightmare induced, daytime hug. They way they leapt at each other! AND REALLY COULD YOU HAVE CLUNG TO EACH OTHER FOR A LITTLE LONGER I DON'T THINK YOU MADE IT QUITE CLEAR HOW MUCH YOU ARE MAKING OUT AS SOON AS YOU GET SOME PRIVACY. Oh god, I felt a little Gwen/Morgana/Arthurness at the beginning and the end. "Bring her home." OH KIDS. OH. Which brings me to

+ ARTHUR/GWEN. My HEARRRRRRT. Oh you silly kids. Arthur loves her, you guys. At least, he thinks he doesn't know if he might, which is A BIG DEAL. And his woobie face, gah. The looks between them throughout this episode. THE LOOKS. Angel and Bradley own me again. So clearly Gwen returns his feelings or she wouldn't have nearly thrown her neck out looking back at him on that horse, but it is impossible and they know that but can't stop looking at each other and that shit just kills me. And Arthur is so emotionally congested. You could see him start to shut down when he saw her with Lancelot and start acting like a jerk.

Gwen looked a little exasperated when Arthur lied about why he came to rescue her. It WAS kind of mean to say though; "ordinarily I'd have let her die, but Morgana begged me"? So I do get it, but she must know why he lied. And there were all those significant looks between them whenever he mentioned that he'd set off after her with Merlin against Uther's orders. Gah, fine, just be stupid around each other from now on. And poor Arthur. I feel so bad for him, for Gwen, for Lance, for everyone. Basically I think this is all we'll see of them for a while. The angst! Doesn't matter, we all know where it's heading, no matter who else happens along the way. Which brings us to

+ GWEN/LANCELOT. I should say first, I like Lancelot and he and Gwen were SO PRETTY and I can't fault him for falling for Gwen because hey, I'd fall for Gwen too! BUT LOOOL ANYWAY. THIS GLIB MOTHERFUCKER. His every word was poetry. I do prefer Arthur's awkwardness and intense looks to Lance's AND LO, THIS BEAUTY MINE EYES BEHOLD SURPASSES THE MOON AND STARS. GO, THAT I MIGHT THINK ON YOUR FACE AND DIE SMILING INTO THE SUN. (Paraphrasing.) Clearly he'd been thinking about her a lot. And probably has built it up in his mind quite a lot over all this time. But seriously, how can you not love Lance anyway? He loves Gwen so much! He talked to her through the prison bars and kept her hopes up when things seemed so bleak. And he is so brave and noble and stood down Hengist's men, fully prepared to die. And then come back to life and die again, up to 99 more times!

I totally get why Gwen went all melty. Emotions were high, they were scared, they had a connection before. A guy tells you you're his reason for living and then sends you down the hall to save yourself while he goes to DIE FOR YOU? I would've kissed him, too! I didn't really buy her declarations as much as I did Lance's because I really DON'T think she'd been thinking about him that much until now, but I'll handwave it. Plus it must be nice to meet a guy who can admit his feelings for you with pride. It's so much easier for those two to be together, really, and that's got to be tempting. But that's enough about them, seriously.

+ LANCELOT AND ARTHUR SIDE-BY-SIDE, SWORDS DRAWN. Nice foreshadowing of the epic age of gallantry that lies ahead. And you know Arthur was happy to see his BFF again. Sort of. At first.

+ It was nice to have Lancelot/Merlin interaction too, as Lance knows about Merlin's powers.

+ Arthur/Merlin! Why are people so worried about them!? They were great in this ep, the stupid, silly boys. ♥ They brought the funny and the bffery and TALKED ABOUT FEELINGS LIKE FRIENDS DO. That was a big deal for Arthur! And Merlin, so adorable. I loved his scene with Gaius and "don't even THINK about trying to stop me". He had so many one-liners as well. Loved him in the camping scene, too, witnessing the triangular shenanigans. "I'll just ... sit here, then (Idiots, all of you)."

+ CREEPY MOLE-RAT LOOKING THINGS!

+ So it was a little fast, everything. I can fanwank it into Lancelot being more in love with the idea of Gwen that he's built up in his mind all this time, and Gwen just being really emotional and scared, but it's not necessary to fanwank it, because the A/G was fast too, and I really enjoyed it anyway.

+ EVERYONE LOVES EVERYONE, AND EVERYONE GOES TO GET GWEN. <3333 I assume Morgana was being watched extra carefully after the kidnapping-that-wasn't, which was the ONLY reason she wasn't there in fashionable rescue gear raising hell.

This is ep is getting so many rewatches, I can't even. I'll leave you with this thing of indescribable beauty: