TV shows

When Arthur Finds Out

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No spoilers here. Just my speculation.
Here’s a scenario I’d like to see on Merlin when Arthur finds out that Merlin has magic.

The knights of Camelot, Lancelot, Arthur, and Merlin are away from Camelot, fighting a small army or maybe magical creatures. The knights are losing and Merlin knows he can save them all if he uses magic. Similar situation to that episode about his hometown. Problem is, he’ll definitely expose himself. But Merlin can’t let everyone die so he uses magic, defeats the bad guys, and saves everyone.

Everybody saw it. Everybody is stunned.

Arthur orders two knights to grab Merlin and bring him to Arthur.

“All this time, Merlin?” Arthur says.

Merlin looks at him and nods. “Yes.”

Arthur takes a step back, rubs his hand across his face. “I thought I knew you. I trusted you.”

Merlin doesn’t say anything for a moment and then: “Arthur, look, I’m sorry. I couldn’t tell you.”

Lancelot hangs back, watches both Merlin and Arthur carefully.

“Merlin, all that time,” Arthur answers. “You were in the castle. Close to Father. Close to me. And…”

“And what?”

“I don’t know. What were you doing?”

Merlin stands up straight. “Serving you.”

“Using magic.”

Merlin sighs. “Yes, when I had to so that I could help you. To protect Camelot.”

Arthur shakes his head once and steadies his voice. “You can never return to Camelot.”

“What?” Merlin tries to step closer to Arthur but the knights hold him back.

“The king will have you executed if you do.”

“Arthur–”

“No.”

Lancelot steps in. “Arthur, Merlin just saved all of our lives.”

“With magic.”

“Yes, with magic. He’s a brave man. He knew what you’d think but he did the right thing. And you’re going to punish him for it?”

But Arthur won’t listen. He orders the knights to ride back to Camelot. He tells Merlin not to follow them.

Then Merlin is in exile for a few episodes until he hears about some attack on Camelot and he has to go back to protect the castle. After Camelot is safe, Uther orders Merlin’s execution. Uther questions Gaius to find out if he was helping Merlin keep his secret. Arthur doesn’t say anything in public.

Then it’s up to Arthur to save Merlin, to convince Uther that Merlin did nothing wrong. If Arthur can get over the way Merlin lied to him over the years.

—–

However the show deals with Arthur finding out, I want it to last a few episodes. We’ve seen the measures Uther takes to forbid magic in his kingdom. We’ve seen Arthur question Uther and evaluate the pros and cons of magic. All the while, we’ve seen a friendship between Arthur and Merlin that grows stronger. When Arthur finds out that Merlin has magic, they will have a messy problem. I don’t want to see it tidied up nice and neat in one hour.

Roswell Costumes

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Last week, io9 posted a gallery of characters in costume. They featured costumes from Buffy, E.T., The Office, Supernatural, and even Gargoyles. It’s a good list that spans decades of TV shows and movies, animated and live action, sci-fi and not, so I was surprised when I got to the end of the post and saw nothing from Roswell. Most of the main cast dressed up in the pilot episode, and a few of the costumes had a clever significance. To make up for io9’s lack of Roswell goodness, here are Alex, Liz, and Max in costume. I didn’t realize the full connections on my own (especially about Ripley)—I read about them in Crash Into Me years ago. So I have an excellent memory for this sort of stuff. That’s why I’m a media student.

This one’s easy. Alex (played by Colin Hanks) dressed up as an astronaut. It’s a nice shout-out to Apollo 13 which starred Tom Hanks (his father), Bill Paxton, and Kevin Bacon. Alex doesn’t know about the aliens at this point, so it’s fitting that his costume is space—but not alien—related.

Liz dressed like Ripley (Sigourney Weaver) from Alien: Resurrection. It’s fitting because like Ripley, Liz is brought back to life by aliens. After a fight breaks out in the Crashdown, Liz is shot in the stomach and Max heals her, saving her life. Ripley’s DNA was mixed with alien DNA and later in Roswell, we find out the Liz also changed on a biological level when Max healed her.

Max dressed to look like an MIB agent. An alien MIB agent, oh the irony. The first time I saw the pilot, I thought the best part about the costume was that Max looked completely normal at the festival when everyone around him was dressed like space creatures. The alien looks human; the humans look alien. I love the complete reversal. Max prefers the hide-in-plain-sight strategy throughout the series and his choice of costume in the pilot certainly follows that idea.

The costumes are one of the many reasons I believe Roswell has the best pilot episode of any TV series I’ve seen. Maybe some day I’ll post my other reasons.

Superman vs. Clark Kent

/ Superheroes, TV shows

I know what you’re thinking after reading the title. What do you mean Superman VS Clark Kent? Everyone knows they’re the same person unless you mean something like Bizarro or that scene in Superman III where Clark and Superman actually DID split in two…

I mean the distinction between the persona of Superman and the persona of Clark Kent. Superman is cool because he’s the first comic book hero. If it weren’t for him, we wouldn’t have many of the other superheroes in pop culture. He’s the best example of an ideal hero–a person with solid morals who helps people just because he can. Superman is arguably the most important superhero but that doesn’t mean he’s the most interesting. We know he can’t get hurt unless there’s Kryptonite around, so it’s hard to build suspense. It’s hard to care about a character who doesn’t actually sacrifice or risk anything by going into dangerous situations to save people.

Superman isn’t very interesting because he’s so powerful. Clark Kent, though, fascinates me.

No matter what, Clark Kent is an outsider. He has loving parents who consider him their own son, but his superpowers set him apart from everyone else on the planet. He has to keep his true origins a secret, and when he develops his powers, he has to hide them. Clark Kent constantly has to hold back, and he has to put up a front that he’s a normal, ordinary person (unless he’s in his Superman suit). I love watching how a person deals with that, and that’s infinitely more interesting than Superman’s track record of saving lives.

So when someone asks me who my favorite superhero is, I say Superman but I actually mean Clark Kent (and you can’t have one without the other). Maybe I should just say Spiderman from now on so I don’t have to deal with remarks like, “But Superman’s so lame because he’s so strong!” I understand that, and it’s not why I like the character…but I’m off on a tangent.

My interest in Clark Kent was the primary reason I fell in love with Smallville. I loved the series because the premise was Clark Kent in high school. (It also helped that the series was well done–good cast, smart direction, the budget for awesome visual and special effects.) Smallville was about Clark growing up, figuring out who he is, and having a normal life despite his alien origins. Superman wasn’t part of the story yet. For the first four seasons, the show focused on Clark most of the time, and it was great. We saw him make mistakes, but we also saw the inklings of a hero emerge. No television series had explored Clark Kent as a teenager, and the fact that Smallville was highest-rated series in a long time on the WB was proof that people were tuning in and enjoying it.

Somewhere along the line, the writers lost sight of what made the show incredible. For me, that point was the 100th episode when Jonathan died. Martha and Jonathan Kent were an important part of the show. They were the only people who knew Clark’s secret so they were the only ones he could go to for guidance and advice. For a while, the Kent family was the best portrayal of a TV family. That ended in the 100th episode, and Martha isn’t even on the show anymore. I stopped watching Smallville regularly after that, and I tune in every now and then (because old habits die hard), but the show’s just not the same anymore.

I’m not saying the show isn’t good anymore. Smallville got renewed for a ninth season, so it still has a strong audience. It’s just not the same show it was when it started. I know the show has gained a lot of viewers over the years, but I think they lost fans along the way too because of the changes they’ve made.

5 Things I Love About Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles

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Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles returned for a second season on FOX. The series has its ups and downs, but it has my attention. Set between the second and third Terminator movies, The Sarah Connor Chronicles explores Sarah’s task to raise her son to lead mankind against the machines in the future. The series stars Lena Headey as Sarah Connor, Thomas Dekker as John Connor, Summer Glau as Cameron (a reprogrammed terminator future John sent back to help), and Brian Austin Green as Derek Reese. Here are 5 things that keep me interested in the series. (Minor spoilers for season 2, episodes 1 and 2)


Image from FOX

5. Sarah is in charge

I know we’re in a post-Buffy era where strong female characters aren’t so rare anymore, but regardless I enjoy how much of the series is about Sarah. It would have been easy to focus on John and his destiny, to watch the hero grow up (and that might also make for a good series), but instead we see how Sarah deals with what’s going on. She can’t provide a normal life for her son and she doesn’t try to. Sarah is careful about trusting Cameron and she adjusts to working with Derek, a resistance fighter from the future. They all have different ways of doing things, but Sarah takes the lead. Sarah is one of the few fictional mothers that must put her son in harm’s way for the greater good, and she doesn’t shy away from that challenge.

4. Time travel

Time lines play a big part in the Terminator movies, and even though the writers use time travel in the show, they’re smart about it. We’re clear on who’s from the future and from when and what they’re doing in the present. Sarah, John, Derek, and Cameron are always working toward a better future, so we don’t have a mess about altering the past to affect the present or the future. Time travel can be really confusing but the series keeps it clean.

3. Flashbacks of the future

This doesn’t seem to make sense at first, but neither does “back to the future.” We see glimpses of Derek’s memories–his past, which means our future–and we also see random scenes from the future. Robot fights, resistance fighters taking out bases…They’re a direct tie to the future depicted in the original Terminator movie.

2. Cameron isn’t human

Summer Glau is so believable as a terminator. She’s socially awkward, blunt in her comments, and always takes the efficient path rather than the compassionate one. She calculates her movements and her speech sounds unnatural at times. She’s programmed to act the way she does, and it shows. The season 2 premiere showed us Cameron out of control, and as scary as that is, the insecure feeling that she could short circuit at any moment and attack John is even scarier. Glau may seem meek and unassuming, but she packs a lot of power into her role.

1. John Connor, strategist

John Connor’s characterization hasn’t been completely consistent throughout the series. Sometimes he needs his mother’s protection, and sometimes he plays the rebellious teenager. He’s been a peacekeeper but also the one to spark action. John’s brilliant at times, and I love those moments when he shines, when I believe he will lead humankind against the machines. The first season finale showed John’s intelligence through his plan to take out the AI traffic control network. We see John’s training applied to how he talks to new people and how he moves in unfamiliar places. The Connors have a code of saying the date first when they talk call each other to ensure that a terminator isn’t mimicking one of their voices over the phone. Simple things, but that’s what makes their characters. I hope as the series goes on, we see John grow into an intelligent, strong leader.

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