#like in a theater

[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

[ahotknife]

the thing is that childhood doesn't just end when you turn 18 or when you turn 21. it's going to end dozens of times over. your childhood pet will die. actors you loved in movies you watched as a kid will die. your grandparents will die, and then your parents will die. it's going to end dozens and dozens of times and all you can do is let it. all you can do is stand in the middle of the grocery store and stare at freezers full of microwave pizza because you've suddenly been seized by the memory of what it felt like to have a pizza party on the last day of school before summer break. which is another ending in and of itself

[teex]

SINNERS (2025) dir. by Ryan Coogler

[kcrabb88]

I feel like we really lost something when we started looking at writing as a reader-centric product meant to appeal to the desires of a specific audience rather than a writer-centric approach of someone writes whatever particular thing particular compels them/whatever weird thing the demons in their head want to talk about, and people out there who are also compelled, and/or relate, find that writing. A lot of discussions of writing really center around what readers want rather than a writer's exploration. Sometimes as a reader I don't know what I want. I click on a fic or pick up a book I'm not sure about but that looks interesting, and I love it. Reading what I expect to get is it's own joy, but we always need to expand our horizons and not get mad at creators for not always writing what we want/expect.

[sneeblbop]

I HATE THEATER !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[dotty-literati]

"Dodge this."

[riocinn]

those were the lyrics right

[wazzappp]

I think I hauve covid

[anna-scribbles]

emma dupain cheng on the brain😽🎀

more:

[mari-lair]

Menu

[cloud-ya]

finally beat dark gaia today, had to draw werehog about it

[morganbritton132]

AU where Eddie has been arguing with someone via writing on the bathroom walls at the movie theater about how the new Star Trek movie sucks ass. Eddie thinks it’s the worst movie he’s ever seen but this guy says that it’s great and Eddie is an idiot for ‘not understanding’ it.

Eddie thinks he’s arguing with some sci-fi nerd but he’s actually arguing with the king of Hawkins High, Steve Harrington.

[izloveshorses]

greta gerwig really said. when this girl gets a little sad and confused by the weird and complicated and uncomfortable parts of being human and growing up, she meets god and sits at her kitchen table, drinks her tea, holds her hands. and she asks god if she’s allowed to be happy. and god tells her she doesn’t need her permission. she tells her she’s going to be okay.

[normasshearer]

Norma Shearer & Joan Crawford in THE WOMEN (1939) dir. George Cukor

[hexbaiting]

@lokiusweek 2025 | DAY 5: PRAISE