What I learned from “Merlin”

Merlin. A five season show following a loose adaption of the legendary characters King Arthur, the Lady Guinevere, and the great magician Merlin… only before Arthur was king,  before Gwen was a lady and when Merlin was just Prince Arthur’s man servant. Well, Merlin was already a magician, he just had to hid it so he wouldn’t be killed. While being Prince Arthur’s manservant. Tricky, tricky. How he lasted five seasons without being detected is worth a round of applause.

I recently finished the fifth and final season of BBC’s Merlin and I gotta tell you; wow. What a good show. The finale was a punch in the gut, I even teared up near the end (didn’t actually cry, just teared up). And it’s left me a lot to appreciate.

The two character I liked the most were both Merlin and Arthur. Not just because they’re hilarious together but because they were realistic characters. The two start off disliking each other very much but over time they build a solid friendship with plenty of banter between them that made me laugh. But the two of them individuality go through excellent character growth that I greatly appreciated.

We’ll start with Merlin, because he’s my ultimate favorite.

Merlin is an extremely likable character; he’s funny, he’s way smarter then everyone thinks he is, he’s quick to learn, yet he can be clumsy and is not a good liar. He learns to accept his destiny as the the protector of Arthur and uses the magic within him to preserve his master and the kingdom he loves; Camelot. But he’s not perfect, and that’s what makes him a fully rounded, balanced, realistic character.

You know how in most movies, there’s always the cliched young protagonist who ends up going against what some figure of authority or elder has said, to do things his own way and it ends up alright in the end? Well, Merlin is imperfect in that against warnings from his mentor, the court physician Gaius, and the great imprisoned Dragon, he often does things his own way. The awesome thing about this, though, is that writers of this show make Merlin suffer the consequences of his choices.

Merlin, especially through out the first few seasons, does things his way but then later on, whether in a different episode or different season, the consequences of his bad choices come to threaten everything that he’s worked for or holds dear and he regrets going against the wise counsel given him. You don’t see this in most films, do you?

Merlin makes mistakes but he’s also wise and discerning, this baffling Arthur and the other knights who view him as just a clumsy friend to tease. Merlin has a soft heart, he’s kind to all. He becomes very loyal to Arthur and puts his life on the line for him an awful lot, saving his life, or the lives of the noble family many times; often without anyone’s knowledge except Gaius’. He does great things and learns to love doing those things without any self gain or reward. He’s a great title character and we could stand to learn a lot from him.

And Arthur, too; shall we talk about Arthur, now? Lets, because Arthur almost has more character growth then Merlin does.

We meet Arthur as spoiled, very prideful prince. That’s a long ways off from even being similar to legendary character who’s goodness and nobleness of heart made him one of the greatest kings ever. But that’s part of the beauty of this show, in meeting Arthur before he was a great king. We get to see him grow from being selfish and prideful into an extremely self-sacrificing and noble man who puts his kingdom before his pride. He learns to live out excellent skills in leadership and humility. And that was how I learned to love Arthur.

It’s also why I think most men today could stand to watch this show and learn from his example; that the greatest of men are the most humble and self-sacrificing. It was amazing to watch throughout the five seasons as Arthur learned to stand up for what was right, even against his own father the King; to see him humble himself before those he had wronged, including those who were enemies, and literally say, “It was wrong of me.” He made things right, often saving the spilling of blood.

One of the things I like most about Arthur was that when he knew something was wrong but his father, King Uther, was going to do them anyway simply out of pride, he would often stand up and say, “No, this is wrong and I can not do what you ask.” It takes a lot of guts to stand up like that, even to your own father who happens to be the king of Camelot. But Arthur learned to stand up and do the right thing. And I raise my hat to that.

The other thing that I really, really appreciated was that Arthur always kept his word. If he promised someone he would do something, he would do it, even if it was extremely dangerous. This was a great breath of fresh air for me to see someone follow through with his commitments.

By the end of Season Five, Arthur really was the noblest King Camelot would ever see.

There are a lot of other things that I could try to cover but there really is too much to discuss, so I’ll keep this shorter then longer. A few of these will quickly sum up a few things that I just love about the show; besides, I need my moment to share some fangirly stuff, I haven’t really talked about this show on here like I have Sherlock or even Dr Who, and I’ve only seen the first season of the latter.

I need this…

…. I laughed a lot watching this show, it really did help relieve some stress even though it wasn’t supposed to be a comedy.

So, what did I learn from Merlin? You don’t need recognition to do the right thing. The best men are the humblest men. Great leaders are those who put their people ahead of themselves. Give ear to those around you, especially great Dragons who can see the future, they might have some good counsel for you. Always stand up for what is right. You never know what the future holds. Your friends will tease you a lot because they are just that comfortable around you to do so; that’s how you know you are good friends. Never judge a person by their cover, your man servant could be the most powerful sorcerer in existence.  True love always prevails. And embrace your destiny, it was given to you for a reason….

Thank you, Merlin, for finding me when you did. Thanks for being there for me and for setting some noble examples. I greatly appreciated it.

~Jamie

a thank you to YOU

This past week my blog made it to a milestone that I honestly thought would never happen. I hit 100 followers; actually I hit 101 followers! And it blew me away! So, I first wanted to say thank you to all of you, especially any of you who took the time to comment; it was your presence especially that I really appreciated! A thousand thanks to all 101 of you.

On this blessed occasion, I want to share one thing about my blogging experience that has aided me in my blogging journey; a key factor of my blogging ethics, in fact. I’ve always blogged for my own enjoyment. My amount of views or comments has never really phased me, even though I get very excited when people leave their feedback on my thoughts. But I’m thankful that I learned quickly at the beginning of my blogging journey that blogging will never be satisfying if I’m doing it to please others. I will never make everyone happy; not everyone can or will agree with me on what I like or think  or believe. So, I’m glad that I quickly learned to blog for my own enjoyment and not let my happiness lay in how many comments people leave or if my stats go up or down by 30 percent. This policy has served me well and is a mindset I would recommend to any and all writers who go public with their scribbles.

However, I’m thrilled to pieces that there are that many of you who enjoy my writing enough to follow me, either by email or WordPress. It makes me feel very special, and once again I give my thanks to you! I tip my hat; I raise my glass; I stand; and I give a great bow; I loose my balance and follow off my stage… et cetera, et cetera, et cetera.

~Jamie

Currently

Currently liking: these currently posts I came up with, they are fun to write and simple and I hope they are fun to read.

Currently listening: to the Wreck-It Ralph soundtrack, specifically Sugar Rush’s theme. This song makes me happy and I really wish I could visit Sugar Rush myself, it was the cutest arcade game ever in existence

Currently eating: Terry’s Chocolate Orange (dark chocolate of course!) One of my favorite chocolates, it reminds me of Christmas and when I was a innocent and naive little girl. Nostalgia.

Currently sitting: at the dinning table for once instead of at my desk.

Currently learning on the piano: Marsden’s Lament from Warehouse 13 and playing around with the Harry Potter Theme and Fireside Dance from Oz: The Great and Powerful; not doing so well with those two.

Currently writing: an assortment of film reviews for my other blog and about to begin my “What I Learned From Merlin” post considering I just finished the final season on Sunday.

Currently tired: from lack of sleep, I’ve been trying to get up earlier but my sleep cycle has gotten knocked around so it’s hard to fall asleep before midnight now. *sigh*

Currently excited: about watching The Office tonight with Kayla!

Currently scaring myself with: scarier movies… and I don’t know why I end up watching them at night when I’m alone in my room right before I go to bed. The thing is I enjoy dark scarier movies and at least I’m not a vivid dreamer.

Currently praying: that Kayla gets comfortable with her new schedule and that everything will go well when I see my dad tomorrow and that we will get a lot of rain this monsoon season. I really want some rain.

That reminds me.

Currently wishing: for rain.

~Jamie

Iron Man 3

I saw Iron Man 3 last night and it was a-maaa-zing! A lot better then I was expecting and I was kinda expecting a lot; but it was an excellent sequel and they didn’t screw anything up in my opinion. I didn’t cry! I actually didn’t cry but that didn’t bum me out either. Also, I am keeping this spoiler free!

It was great seeing Tony again, especially since he’s my second favorite Avenger. Everything going on with him was very realistic behaviors after he what he went through during the alien attack  in The Avengers, it was good finally seeing how he was doing after the whole ordeal.  Although shaken up a bit, he still had his same good ol’ sense of humor that was fun to hear!

I LOVED seeing Pepper again, she’s always been my favorite Marvel woman. She was wonderful; she even had a few kickbutt moments of her own which was amazingly awesome. I’ve always loved her and Tony as a couple so I was inwardly squealing through many of their scenes; Tony was actually not so much of a jerk towards her and apologized several times and reassured her of his feelings for her. That’s  just swoon worthy because guys never apologize or take responsibility for their screw ups anymore, so for a guy like Tony Stark to do that to Pepper was just awesome to see. They’re still one of my most favorite films couples ever.

All of Tony’s suits were really awesome to see; I’ve always loved the scenes where’s he’s building or experimenting with his suits, so I was happy to see he had been doing more experimenting. I certainly loved his new suit capabilities; they just get better and better with each movie that comes out!

Keeping this short and neat, I’m going to finish off by saying I thoroughly enjoyed this next addition to the Marvel series, it was a blast to watch, it had some great lines and some surprising twists and turns. I highly recommend viewing in theaters! Oh, and also the end scene after the credits was brilliantly amazing and I was grinning SO. DANG. HARD! Do not miss that scene!

~Jamie

While I’m Floating

Well, life is strange right now; one day still blurs into another now that we haven’t gone to church for several weeks; going to church on Sunday always helped the week feel right; Monday felt like Monday and Tuesday felt like Tuesday. Not so much anymore but hopefully a new routine will help that.

I miss seeing people; church was pretty much the only place where I was able to socialize with people. I miss The Doctor a lot, I miss Sherlock Holmes a lot too; a year of reading Doyle’s works very faithfully every week set my mind in a certain pattern that I really miss. There was a security in doing the same thing every week: talk, pick a story, read the story, see each other on Sunday and gush over that story, talk some more and then pick another story. Week after week for at least eleven months; it was one of the few things that stayed consistently the same and it made me feel secure. It was nice knowing someone else was enjoying the exact same thing I was and wanted to do it with me as much I as I wanted to do it with him.

That pattern has now been shattered and I feel like I’m floating in space or under a great big river underwater not really knowing what to do now. No more reading, no more seeing my best friend, no more church. I miss it a lot.

The only problem with all this is that my dad will use (already has tried to use) the church and even my best friend as a manipulation tool to try to get me to start seeing him again on his time table and not mine. I do not understand why he can’t wait for me to be ready on my own time or that it is impossible for me to even consider attending a church with him. It hurts a lot to have things that are very dear to you used as dangled bait in front of your face as though your a dog who can’t see that’s it’s attached to a string. It’s hurtful and cruel.

I am thankful, though, that I do know what I need to do and that I now have the freedom hold my ground as to where my boundaries are and what I feel comfortable in doing. I’m done in being constantly run over, in being emotionally manipulated and being mentally frightened by what other people think. I need to do what it takes to protect myself; I’m done with being forced into a tiny box with no consideration to my feelings or needs as a person while being told that that is “biblical female submissiveness”.  I’m done with that crap and I’m learning to stand up for myself and for my mom and siblings against patriarchy that has been horribly twisted and blown way out of biblical proportion. Enough is enough. The sad thing is that very few people have been able to understand our side of it or are unwilling to see how big of a problem it is and that really sucks.

So, yeah, those are some conflicting feelings I’ve been working through and I’ve been very grateful to God that I, as of yet, have not yet been completely crushed under the pressure.

So, I’ve had been struggling a lot recently, but comfort things always come in handy around now; like reading. I recently picked up my collection of HG Wells’ novels and started the Time Machine as sort of an antidote against my Holmes-reading-withdrawal (I think I and The Doctor have become as addicted to Sherlock Holmes as he’s addicted to heroin, actually). It’s been an interesting substitute to say the least. I like HG’s way of titling characters without necessarily giving them all names, like “the Medical Man” “the Provincial Mayor” “the Time Traveler” “the Editor” and then there’s Filby, who  has quite the personality.

It’s different but interesting and enlightening in many ways in regards to my own writing style but I’m not going to get into that right now!

The other comfort is that Kayla and I have been together again since she’s come home. I helped her rearrange her room and we’ve watched a lot of The Office recently and a couple comedies together. Although we’re very different in personality and have different tastes when it comes to almost everything (clothes, music, ect), we get along very well, and it’s nice to have someone to lean on. We make a good team. And yes, I have been very grateful for having my own room now that she’s returned. Except that I’m directly under her bedroom and Nathan likes to be in Kayla’s room and he does not know how to walk softly, so in the morning it’s like a jack hammer is on above my head while I’m trying to sleep. My mornings have been bizarre as of late.

So anyway, to tie this kinda mash of ramblings together, I’ve kinda been floating through space here, but I’m learning a lot about myself and about my personal needs and personal convictions; I really hope this devastating experience really helps build and shape me into who I’m suppose to be in the future.

Because my story isn’t. over. yet.

~Jamie