BBC generally does an outstanding job on its soundtracks for its mini-dramas (especially the Austen ones) and this one was no different. The drama itself is beautiful and charming, and I’d recommend a watch.
Download: [Mediafire]
You can listen to a sampling of the tracks here.
It looks quite epic – not all of it is about the first episode. By all accounts this new season is quite good – the premier for episode 1 was this Friday, and it’s somewhat certain that Merlin will begin airing on BBC1 on the 19th of September.
I’m keeping my fingers crossed.
It’s been confirmed that:
SPOILERS AHOY…
Oh look, Sevenses posted! (It’s been a busy/weird summer. Hope y’all didn’t miss me too much.)
ETA: GUISE I TOTALLY FORGOT TO MENTION: Merlin Season 2 airs on September 19th for those of you watching BBC, so get ready!
Excited isn’t really the word for it, I think. Gwen looks gorgeous in her upgraded wardrobe and Morgana is definitely going slowly evil. Merlin is still an adorkable dweeb (with his apparently indestructible backpack) and Arthur has gained some woobie gravitas. 
Apparently Uther is to ‘fall in love’ with somebody this season. Let’s hope it’s not Morgana.
Criminal Minds. Oh god. Possibly the best TV show out there, or at least it is trying, with the Plot Continuity, Character and Thematic Arcs, Meaningful Debates on the Nature of Good and Evil, Great Acting by Main Cast and Guest Stars, and Metatextual References Like You Would Not Believe.
Also? The cast is bloody gorgeous.
2 examples:
(Obviously I’m biased in favour of the guys, but the girls are equally stunning. Really.)
There are 4 seasons, totaling 84 episodes (and more, as there are still at least 5 more left to the fourth season, and season 5 has been confirmed).
Oh man. I have no sense of self-preservation. Seriously, someone should just lock me in a room with my textbooks or I will never learn which limb of the loop of Henle is responsible for water resorption.
With the number of episodes and the complex, layered nature of the show, I opted for a more tongue-in-cheek look at the average episode of Criminal Minds.
I come bearing good news! BBC’s hit show about, well, its titular character, has been bumped up from a winter broadcast to this summer. Barring any freakish accidents or scheduling snafus, Merlin (which I’ve blogged about rather extensively) is due to start airing on the 21st of June, at 8pm (or 7pm central time).
FINALLY!
Brb, bunny hopping around the room in joy.
Source: NBC.
Have been snowed under (both literally and academically), and thus have not had the energy nor the heart to recap away. (At anything. Seriously.)
I do have some sort of new obsession for this procedural show called Criminal Minds, and I shall leave you with some eyecandy to compensate for the fact that Phil Punxsutawney has just told us we have six more weeks of winter to go. 
DED FROM CUTE.
Criminal procedural shows are very relaxing, despite the actual content of the episodes.
Sevenses
Lesson learned from working retail: Do not leave your shopping to the last minute, pls. Seriously, guys. This may work for lesser assignments and some midterms, but shopping with a bunch of frenzied people covered in snow, also looking for the same gifts you are?
Not fun. Especially for the clerks.
If I never see another red and green decoration again, it would be too soon.
Okay, complaint over. Weather continuing its usual run of asshat behaviour (meaning lots of snow, then rain, then freeze, then a tiny bit of snow to cover up the ice so we can slip on foot or in cars) so phone people continue being unable to come fix our internet or phone. Yay for public libraries.
As usual, short synopsis above the cut, squeecap of capslocky flail after the link below. (Far, faaaaaar below.)
Merlin Episode 4: The Poisoned Chalice in 10 seconds!
Remember last episode when Nimueh got all annoyed at Merlin for interfering in her plans? Well, this woman likes her poison, because she’s at it again, only with Merlin this time, not the entire city. (Makeup team: Thank GOD.)
Her plan’s still really complicated, though. I mean, the actress is kind of one-dimensional, but her plotting skillz make me all warm and fuzzy. (In a strictly plotwhore way! Am not evil. Yet.) So Nimueh pretends to be a maid in Bayard of Mercia’s staff so she can switch one of Bayard’s original ceremonial goblets for a poisoned one.
Bayard’s the ambassador, if you will, from Mercia to Camelot, and he’s there to sign a peace treaty, which is where the goblets come in. They’re gifts. Imagine how Uther will react when he finds out that the good-will messenger tried to poison his only son and heir? Imagine how the other country will feel when Uther acts on his anger at the poisoning?
It’s such an intricate plot, in fact, that Nimueh was able to make an exact copy of the goblet, take it to her Cave of Evil, poison it with something that doesn’t react with the delicate silver of the goblet, and then hike it back as a maid in Bayard’s entourage. That is mad planning, y’all.
Anyhoodle, back at Camelot: Pretending to be all innocent, Nimueh warns Merlin at the last minute that Arthur’s goblet is poisoned. Merlin, being a hero, then bursts into the hall and tells everyone else, prompting some outrage from Bayard and brow-raising from Uther. He is told to test the goblet by drinking it, and what do you know? It’s poisoned. Merlin topples to the floor and proceeds to suffer a slow death.
Arthur throws a fit du shit about his father forcing poison onto his precious, irreplaceable manservant and rushes off on a quest for the morteus plant, buried deep somewhere in the Forest of Balor [insert eyeroll about the names here]. Apparently the poison can only be cured by using a leaf from the same plant. Uther forbids Arthur to go, but when have you known heroic types to listen to authority?
In the forest, Nimueh again pulls out her innocent baby girl act and totally fools Arthur into trusting her, which is good for her plan to kill him, but it sort of fails because we’re on episode four and the first season is 13 episodes long. So. After she traps Arthur on a narrow ledge on top of a huge chasm with giant spiders chasing after him, the feverish and unconscious Merlin sends a giant shining ball of light to help the prince along. (You don’t have to say it, I know.)
Arthur gets the flower and makes it back safely to Camelot. There hasn’t been enough drama, however, and Uther throws Arthur into the dungeon for disobedience and crushes the flower that his son worked so hard to get. (I feel the need to say that I kind of dig this hardcore Giles Uther.) Luckily for Merlin, Gwen manages to get the flower from Arthur in the dungeons.
So Merlin is cured and people are happy (well obviously with the exception of Nimueh). We are treated to the sight of Arthur barely restraining himself from glomping Merlin.
End episode
Warnings: Excessive use of capslock, way too many screencaps to be healthy, and my being an insane fangirl.
Today the last episode of season one aired, and I swear my heart was in my throat the entire time. While it was showing on a different continent, and I was unable to watch.
… Yes, guys, this show is taking over my brain. Which is bad, because I still have an entire exam before I can afford to throw my brain away. *headbook*
As usual, shortened version for those of you who can’t handle the huge picspam (which is placed below, behind the link).
Merlin Episode 3: The Mark of Nimueh in 5 seconds!
Evil sorceress Nimueh is evil, which means she tries to poison everyone in Camelot instead of calling down a rain of fire or something immediately fatal. People start dropping dead everywhere, and the corpses look like bleached marble, which is never good, and Gaius is all OHNOES MAGICK.
For a long time no one knows what the hell is going on, so lots more people die, and Merlin really wants to use his magic because it can totes cure people, but Gaius is all about the science. Because, um, rash use of magic is bad or something. Merlin is unhappy because people are dying.
Then Gwen’s dad falls ill, and Merlin decides, oh what the hell, and cures him. This puts Gwen in danger because everyone assumes the gently twinkling poultice of shiny healing came from her, and that she’s a witch. Uther spazzes some more and orders her to stop the plague, but Gwen’s like, dude, what are you on, I can’t.
In a fit of panic and pique and stubbornness, Uther decides to have Gwen publicly executed. Morgana is enraged and Arthur thinks his dad should get some Valium and common sense, plskthx. Only Gaius’ genius discovery that the water is to blame puts Merlin and co. on the right track. Turns out Nimueh put a monster in the water.
Merlin goes to the dragon for advice, because that’s what he’s here for, dontchaknow. It tells him to trust in the elements (Merlin: WTF) and flies off, cryptically laughing.
Poor Morgana is frantic because Gwen is about to be burnt on a pyre (way to score for bloodthirsty, Uther), and Merlin tells her to put together a monster-slaying expedition on the sly. Arthur agrees to come because Morgana’s got him around her little finger, and through diligent application of stealthy magic (NOT) Merlin helps Arthur flametorch the monster to death.
Gwen is released, and Morgana gets the lasting impression that Merlin is in love with Gwen.
End episode.
Anthony Head, actor for king Uther Pendragon in BBC’s 2008 drama Merlin, confirmed last night in an interview that there will indeed be a season two to the much-beloved series.
The highlight:
Q: What about Merlin? What’s going to happen this Saturday night?
ASH: Merlin is definitely coming back, it’s getting darker, the last episode is really deep, I think the dragon will surprise people, you know, there are all sorts of little tricks and treats in the last one, and not everything is what you think, and relationships have been developing.
Merlin stars Colin Morgan as the titular character while Bradley James takes on the role of Prince Arthur. The latest episode of the series, To Kill the King, gathered 5.74 million viewers on the night it broadcasted. Despite fears from fans and networks that its subtext would prove too much, this show does enjoy a large following with so-called family audience.
There may not be enough capslocking for my fangirly joy.
Sevenses
Source: Digitalspy.
ETA 09/04/2009: As of now, unofficial sources indicate the airing date to be the 19th of September on BBC.
Last recap I had Merlin saying, “I want to wear black nail polish now.” to mark his emo-ness at being forced to serve Arthur, but I didn’t realize that he’d already been there and bought the doublet, so to speak.
For those of you who’ve got delicate internet connections that have the vapours if they so much as see one picture, I proudly present (those who want the extended version – scroll down):
Merlin Episode 2: Valiant in 5 seconds!
So Camelot holds its annual tournament aka time when Arthur gets to shine as The Best Knight of Them All While Being All Grunty and Sweating (not that the fans are complaining, mind). Yay?
But there’s this new guy in town and he’s beating the crap out of everyone else, which would be totally fine because Uther likes to resolve his homoerotic tension that way but then we find out that this guy has an evil magical shield. To wit: There are poisonous snakes on the shield that attack anyone this Valiant dude tells them to. [insert your Snakes in a Plane joke here] (And who the hell names their kid Valiant anyway?)
Of course Merlin can tell because he’s speshul liek dat, and he freaks out and ohnoes at Arthur, who believes him because he’s a woobie underneath all that armour. Then their witness dies of SNAKE BITES which apparently destroys their case in Uther’s eyes. (Uther = not only stubborn, but somewhat dumb as well. Like father like son?)
Therefore Arthur has to fight Valiant in this climatic battle to the death while the girls bite their nails and Merlin headbooks until he figures out the way Valiant makes the snakes come alive.
So then the snakes come alive, everyone = HOSHIT, Arthur = DAMMIT NO SWORD, Morgana = CATCH, Arthur = I KEEL YOU NAO, Valiant = DED.
Uther = I WAS NOT WRONG. I AM NEVER WRONG. FOR I AM KING, ETC.
Everyone else = WE CAN HAS PARTAY?
The end.
[ETA: I would like to point out that Valiant, with the way he was smacking Arthur around, probably would have made it without the Crazy Shield of Death anyway, but what a shame.]
(And now readers who’ve followed me since the Hong Gil Dong days can pass out in shock at the brevity. But wait! What recap through yonder link breaks? Usual warnings – capslock, gay subtext, picspam – apply.)
Fake!Twitter: Is it just me, or is the Kim Hyun-joong as a pure white stallion metaphor particularly hilarious?
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Currently watching: Dong-yi, Dream of the Red Chamber, Hotaru no Hikari 2, Leverage, My Girlfriend is a Gumiho, Playful Kiss, Sherlock, Sungkyungkwan Scandal, White Collar.
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