#S5E11

[splitterregen]

Spike switching from practicing an apology, to rambling at the Buffy mannequin, and then progressing to an argument with the mannequin he manages to lose is just very hard and funny to watch

[lq-skz]

[orion-kenobi]

john saying 'no promises' after woolsey tells him not to blow up the city and then part of the city blowing up is incredibly funny to me. like if that happened to me i would never joke about anything ever again.

[dream-in-a-jar]

So as I was writing my live-blog of S5E11 "The Drawing of The Dark", I was thinking more deeply about Merlins relationship with the druids and how the different experiences of Merlin and Mordred living as sorcerers in the kingdom of Camelot are evident in that episode

I'm wondering how would have growing up with the druids shaped Merlin? I feel like, despite Mordred telling him "she[Kara]'s one of us", that Merlin feels disconnected from the druids. They possess magic like him, but he doesn't really know their traditions and history and knowledge, he hasn't grown up with it or experienced it. And he doesn't have a feeling of community with them, he seems more apprehensive whenever he meets a druid ㅡ at least when they're free people, he is more open and friendly to the captured ones and tries to help them escape.

Maybe if Merlin grew up with the druids, he wouldn't believe in Arthur as much either or maybe it would have taken him longer to recognize Arthurs good traits. Because in a way, despite being in so much danger every day and having seen so many executions, the cruelty of Camelots anti-magic laws was kind of removed from him I feel. The druids on the other hand had to experience countless raids on their own homes and communities, had to run away and make a new camp in the hopes of being undetected, had to lose so many people, even children, in the gruesomest ways. I think probably every druid personally knows at least half a dozen people who have been executed by Camelot, friends or even family members who they were very close with.

Merlin on the other hand barely knew the people he's seen executed for longer than a week maybe. Perhaps he knew Gwens dad the most or at least longest out of everyone (except if I'm forgetting someone, which I feel like I am). But I think because of that, he can't quite empathize or relate to the druids the way their own community members do.

It's interesting to look at the scene of Mordred talking with Kara in S5E11 "The Drawing of the Dark". Mordred tells Kara that he believes in Arthur, that Arthur is a good man who will change things someday ㅡ the way Merlin often does when he meets people who dislike or doubt Arthur ㅡ and confirms her question on whether they are friends. But when she asks him if Arthur knows who he is, he stays silent. It kind of seems like he put all the trauma he experienced because of Camelot behind him, like being a knight of Camelot made a clear cut between his past as a hunted and almost executed druid boy and his present existence as a noble and trusted knight of the king.

[Adding this after I finished the episode: Seeing (or hearing or feeling) Kara being hanged probably brought all that trauma and the painful memories of Mordreds life with the druids back and ignited the same hatred for Camelot, its rulers (Arthur) and people (Merlin, the knights and soldiers), that Kara felt. So he does what everyone who wants to get back at Arthur and see him dead does – he goes to Morgana.]

[i-used-to-be-a-spy]

Burn Notice Week 2025 Prompt: Favorite Episode

[jurassic-cunt]

"Irene Adler. Christmas, 2001. Sarcoid symptoms, but she didn't respond to methotrexate. I've never seen him so obsessed. He saved her with a last minute Wegner's diagnosis, but the hours he put in- I thought it would kill him. And then...well, he fell for her. But it was too soon after Stacy and- it sounds silly, but Irene was the one who got away."

at least she wasn't a real love interest

[lifewithaview]

Gillian Anderson and Kristin Lehman in The X-Files (1993) Kill Switch

S5E11

Mulder and Scully's investigation into a mass shooting in a coffee shop leads them to believe that the targets were not the low level drug dealers and wholesalers who were killed but rather Donald Geldman who had been sitting at a table working on his laptop computer. The Lone Gunmen tell Mulder and Scully that Geldman was one of the original computer geniuses who disappeared years before. His laptop leads the agents to a hacker, Esther Nairn, who goes by the name Invisigoth. She tells them of a vast government conspiracy involving artificial intelligence that allows them to see everything and take action against all enemies.

*Gillian Anderson's fight scene with the nurses is one of the actress' favorite scenes in the series.

[winchesticles67]

dana scully's attitude in kill switch is my roman empire. the eye rolls, the pulling off the road and storming out of the car, the everything. i love her. also i love how tlg are like "whys she acting so mean" because they don't understand scully's jealousy. it's so funny. AND THAT PISSY PHONE CALL??? i loved it. live laugh loving dana scully when she's irritated.

[klainegifs]

Anon requested: Blaine and Tina in "More Than a Feeling"

[anti-dazai-blog]

my actual opinions on today’s episode (under the cut because spoilers)

As I said in my last post, I actually really liked Fukuchi’s development in this episode, and I think this was a really satisfying way to conclude his story.

everything else though? Tbh I’m not the biggest fan. I’m gonna hope that all of the things that are out of character for BSD as a story to do are anime only, and the manga will have a better resolution to this arc.

Fyodor dies without any ability reveal— what does that mean for the series? If Asagiri’s on board with this, does this mean that his ability will be revealed and explained after his death, or is this a way to get out of revealing and explaining his ability at all?

Fyodor alludes to a different opponent he fought who was nearly a match for him. Is this a way to shoehorn in another person for Dazai to have his quasi-super genius quarrels with? Is this a way of saying “Fyodor may be gone, but Dazai still has someone out there he can play the numbers guessing game with”?

The episode pulled one of those “Dazai knew everything all along” moves, which really makes the entire Meursault subplot meaningless. There was no conflict. There was no back and forth strategizing. Dazai knew everything from the start and everything went exactly according to his plan. Dazai’s injuries also don’t matter, since he’s up and about immediately after sustaining them.

What was the point of Dazai choosing Sigma. Was there a point? He left him behind at the end. Sigma didn’t do much of anything to help him or harm Fyodor (nothing that affects the plot at least).

Dazai being all-knowing also adds to his accountability in everything. Which I mention fairly often, but I hate that this final episode is proving me right. There’s this issue now of at what point did he contact Chuuya and arrange this plan. If it would be too far in advance, you’d have the question of how and why he’d know about vampires and that Fyodor and the decay of angels is planning on using them. You have the question of why he wouldn’t warn Ango, the one person he’s contacting who’s conveniently in the Actual Japanese Government, about a potential World War 3.

If Chuuya wasn’t a vampire this whole time, that means he brutalized all of the Meursault guards on purpose. It also doesn’t explain the panel where he’s struggling and breathing heavily, dragging two dismembered corpses of guards. What does that panel mean in the context of Chuuya be conscious? The struggling could be an act, but what was Chuuya’s conscious reason for picking up two corpses he brutalized and dragging them around with him?

And that epilogue. It looks like a cliche shonen boss fight. There better be a solid explanation to why we’re reverting to beam attacks after having such a long series presenting us with some of the most unique abilities found in anime/manga.

[todaysleap]

Today is December 22 and today's leap is:

Promised Land (S5, E11) December 22, 1971

[lq-skz]

[dream-in-a-jar]

BBC Merlin ㅡ S5E11 "The Drawing of The Dark" live blog(-ish)

After avoiding it for weeks now, I'm finally here and getting one episode closer to the finale 🥲

Trying not to live-blog too much bc it takes a lot of time ngl clearly I ended up live-blogging anyways lol so enjoy the long-winded ride

[adding this later bc the start is a bit too sudden: that went from funny to suspenseful very quickly, dead soldiers and a suspicious fleeing person hmm]

Omg Mordred knows her 👀🤔 and he's telling her to go 🧐🧐 and Merlin saw that...

So much for trusting Mordred, Gaius

Those entry guards at Camelot are useless lol

Ooooh she's a druid too that makes sense

Hang on Arthur, you need to remind me real quick, who are we at war with? Or does he mean Morgana?

I love Gwen, so glad she's back

I'm sure Kara will be very safe in the middle of the forest without any means to defend herself from hungry animals and such-like lol

They're sweet but I'm worried she'll turn Mordred against Arthur 😭😭

I wonder what would happen if Merlin told Mordred about the prophecies...

Unrelated but Mordred has a very deep voice

"Your secret is safe with me" sounded extremely forced

Something else I'm wondering about is how would have growing up with the druids shaped Merlin? I drafted out a more detailed post on that bc it got out of hand here lol

Couldn't see the title anywhere so far so I googled it and got a spoiler 🥲 Great 🥲

"I'm like a swan" is perhaps the least expected answer I ever heard for the question "What are you doing?"

I can't with them why are they like this lmfao 😭 Arthur must like head lice then, if he keeps Merlin around for so long 🤔

I love it when shows have a close-up of an animal that very very much does not look like it has been filmed for this show ㅡ and it probably hasn't, I mean idk this could be from National Geographic or smth

I love nonsensical scene follow-ups, how long were they walking for the weather (and maybe time of day) to have changed this drastically? Why didn't the other knights go with them to follow an obviously suspicious trail? 😭 (realistically ik the weather and light changes are bc of filming but its funnier to ignore that)

I'm pretty sure it wasn't raining when Mordred went to Kara?? But I'll suspend my disbelief for you, Arthur 😌

Uh-oh they found the hideout, thats not good

Y'know, Merlin could "accidentally" make a really loud noise, calling Arthur or smth to alert Kara of their presence... but of course he won't

Karaaaaa you had a good chance of getting away with your life if you didn't try that 😭😭😭 also ngl I don't think that dagger would've gone through the chainmail but unfortunately it's the thought that counts ㅡ and the unfortunate follow-up line "I'm only sorry that I failed [to kill you]" 🥲

Mordred ngl you can only blame Kara on being a prisoner bc I'm pretty sure if she didn't try stabbing Arthur she would have been taken in as a guest ... or at least treated less harshly

Ooooof Mordred went fully antagonistic to Merlin but ngl the way Merlin has been so hostile to him from the beginning it's no surprise 😬

I don't think I ever realized how much taller Sir Leon is than Sir Gwaine

The different sides in these situations are always so interesting because Kara is right that her people have been mercilessly hunted and killed just for existing and that Camelot has a lot of innocent blood on their hands, and Arthur is obviously the legacy and son of these actions. But on the other hand, Arthur himself rarely persecuted and/or prosecuted sorcerers if they didn't harm him or the people of Camelot first. So there's this conflict here of the druids being angered and hardened and obviously wanting to break the rule of Camelot to gain their freedom, but by doing violent things they in turn harden Arthurs stance against people who possess magic. The wheel keeps turning.

Kara plz stop digging yourself into this more than you already are 😭😭

See Mordred, it was your fault she got found bc of the magic rain that poured invisibly and made your footprints trackable 😤

Smart of Modred to pretend(?) the king has a message for her about her loyalty to the person whom she didn't betray 😌 Meanwhile the guard of the cell probaly: 👂🏻👂🏻👂🏻

The king won't show mercy to a murderer who has promised to kill again until he is dead and his enemy sister has taken the throne? How surprising lol

If Kara does indeed turn Mordred against Camelot then at least I'm glad she's someone he's known for a long time and been very close with, rather than someone he just met a day ago or so ago like I thought when I watched the trailer

Oh I did not expect him to confess treating her leg

Idk who Mordreds actor is but damn he's good

Oh this is heartbreaking 😭😭

~ Interlude: playing Stardew Valley with friends ~ (can you tell I don't wanna finish this show lol)

I'm gonna be so fr but I think if Kara hadn't a) tried to stab Arthur when he sheathed his sword and then said that she wished she had succeeded and b) doubled and even tripled down in court that she killed the soldiers, wanted to kill Arthur and would proudly kill again and again until Camelot has fallen, Mordred would have been more successful in asking for her freedom

Well Morgana is a Pendragon too and Kara seems to be rooting for her lol (arguably she is also a tyrant though so fair point) (also love me some double standards benefitting women for once lol)

I feel like theyre both kinda glossing over the fact of what Arthur mentioned, she's not being executed for being a sorceress but for being a murderer who has announced in front of like a dozen or two dozen witnesses that she'll kill again like 😭

Lowkey reminds me of that scene in series 10 of Doctor Who with Ashildr, who challenges their attacker after he would've let her village go unscathed and then because of what she said he changed his mind and declared war on them and you could see her go "Oh fuck, shitshitshit, no I didn't want that!" and actively being burdened by this. For me, this acknowledge of Kara realizing that she fucked up is lowkey missing for me so far

Ooooh the parallels to Morgana coming back and "repenting for her mistakes" when she was in fact plotting to kill the king, I think Merlin noticed too

Oh okay, he's planning to leave

In all fairness, wasn't Merlin ready to give up everything (or a lot anyway) for Freya too? 👀

Ooooh cinematic, I wish the shot lingered a bit more on that

~ Interlude #2 to eat, play some more Stardew Valley, watch Doctor Who videos, and just overall avoiding the ending ~

Im also realizing (had to rewind a bit) that the wings were visible behind Mordred in the front shot of him too oops

I don't say that a lot but Gaius is right lol, Merlin did free a lot of ppl from the cells before

Ok Merlin's got a point too

Whatever Merlins plan is, Gaius does not approve

We're on season 5, almost at the very end, and Merlin still doesn't know how to knock lol

Does he want to rat Mordred out?? Please you're not gonna get him on your side like that 😭😭

Actually facepalming rn aghhh Merlin ik you want the best for Arthur but I don't think this is gonna help 😭😭

Oh wow he's already left with her damn

Oh wait they're still in the dungeons

Oh wow Kara has zero hesitation lmao that's wild skdkfkgk like she could've just knocked him out but she wen't straight for the kill 😳

(kinda very badass of her)

Mordred looks horrified like yeah did you forget that she was tried for murder?? 😭

Nooooo not Arthur giving Gwaine/the knights the permission to kill them though :((

Not to kill the vibes but why don't druids ever know healing spells?? I'd imagine that would be the most useful spell and yet there's rarely ever anyone who knows it?? ...although tbf that one time Merlin used a healing spell on himself it seemed to be extremely painful so maybe that's why no one uses it 😬

Oh no, not Mordred about to fight the knights :((

Kara is such an instigator lol "Kill them!!" like girl chill with the bloodlust for one second 😭😭

Uh-oh, is he actually gonna use his magic??

DAMN lmaoooo Percival to the rescue with a well-timed punch djfjfksj

Yay and now they're both in prison isn't that great <3

Arthur looks like a disappointed dad ngl (he probably is)

M: "What are you going to do to me?" A: "I wish I knew." oughhh Arthur is still a new king and doesn't have much experience yet with situations like these and now he has to think carefully what to do bc it'll set a precedent :((

"The very thing I was trying to stop just happened" yeah Merlin seems to be happening to you a lot 🥲

In all fairness, Merlin and Gwen are probably indeed the only people in Camelot who could change Arthurs mind on something ㅡ although I'm not sure he will in this case

I do love Arthur asking Merlin for his advice, it's happening a lot lately (for better or for worse) and it just shows how much Arthur trusts him and values his opinion because clearly Merlin has a different and valuable view on things. It also shows that Merlin hasn't been "just a servant" for a while now and that he has a close relationship to the king and even some influence on him

I'm not convinced Kara will take another chance to prove she's not ready to murder soldiers or knights of Camelot but whatever will win Mordred back on Arthurs side <3

Well, Merlin tried

Y'know Kara, I agree, you do have only yourself to blame sorry

I'm sorry for slandering her so much btw, I can understand her actions and her point of view on the whole situation with Camelots ban of magic and I really don't want her to die either but I just know that she's a big piece of the domino that will make the finale happen so I wish she would at least fake being sorry for her crimes or smth bc then it would also be easier for Arthur to let her go and like just banish her or smth 😭😭

Omg Arthur rly took Merlins words to heart, love to see it

KARA FOR FUCKS SAKEㅡ

Her loyalty to herself and her morals are admirable but sometimes there are good moments to lie Kara aaaaagh !!

Also he just offered to let you free !! After you made one of his loyalest knights betray him and murdered another soldier on your escape !!! Like I'm not expecting her to suddenly revere him anything but smh recognize change when it's happening girl PLEASE

No guards to see the shaking around Mordreds cell?

Ooooh interesting, Mordred has vanished ㅡ does he have vanishing powers or did he sneak away in the smoke and chaos of that explosion-thingy?

I bet Merlins having very loud "I knew it!" and "I told you so!" thoughts in his head, alongside "Fuck, I hope Arthur will be safe" etc

Of course Mordred would go straight to Morgana *sobs*

Ngl I don't understand love, so I can't rly emphasize with Mordred now being violently against Arthur but also he's still young and his feelings are probably more intense than mine (in general)... like Kara had so. many. chances, more than Uther would have ever given her, it is entirely on her and her stubornness that she was hanged

Now that I'm thinking about it, I was extremely stubborn too when I was younger so I would've probably ended up the same way lol

NOT MORDRED GIVING AWAY MERLINS IDENTITY NOOOOOO MORDEEEED !!!!! (Also this is what I was spoilered about when looking for the episode title AND IT HAPPENS IN THE LAST THIRTY SECONDS ARE YOU KIDDING ME????)

(also also, because I love being pedantic, I thought "Emrys" was his true name and not "Merlin" lmao)

OH THERE'S THE EPISODE TITLE WELL THANK YOU VERY MUCH 😤😤

Well. That was a very sad episode for everyone involved except for Morgana who finally knows the answer to her biggest question ㅡ who is Emrys?

Ngl I only had vague memories of Merlin from back when I watched it like 15yrs ago and I never finished it, but for some reason I thought that Morgana knew about Merlins magic pretty early on, like when she was fully evil and back in Camelot. I always thought they had a kinda checkmate situation of her not being able to expose him because he could have exposed her back and them having like this rivalry of him trying to foil her plans and her being openly mad at him, idk where I got that from, my imagination probably

Stay tuned for the finale, I will watch in probably another month lol

[remyfire]

The acknowledgment of respect. I love them all becoming friends.

[normcore-tertiary-character]

Hey Eddie, Buck kissing the hot firefighter lady was the wrong move for him but also that is how someone attracted to women acts when a hot firefighter woman is into them. Stupid and horny.

Not completely ignoring them and then getting up close and personal with sweaty men. You absolute homogay.

[invisiblyvisiblejay]

"this is a good experience for me my parents didn't get divorced" taub 😭😭😭😭😭😭