This is one of those posts that have been knocking about in my head for so long that I'm not sure if I have already written it, but here goes anyway.
I have a very high tolerance for cheesy fantasy television. I think this is because growing up, pre LOTR, fantasy movies/minis/television WAS seen as cheesy and low budget, at least the Western shows I watched. Around the same time last year, I discovered both Legend of the Seeker and BBC's Merlin. And while you would think that Merlin would definitely trump LoTS, I have to say Seeker is by far the more enjoyable IMO.
(I recognize that the Seeker books are a very different thing, and I have no interest in reading them, so I'm just comparing apples to apples here).
Crazy right? Because caliber wise, Merlin should be much better. It's much more popular than Seeker for one thing. It's based on a much more beloved story. And actors? They have GILES, and frankly their core cast is so attractive it's almost sickening.
But to me, Seeker has much better emotional and character consistency and I think for me that may be more important than anything going against it. By points:
1) The role of the female characters: Putting aside the fanservice (How does that leather catsuit stay UP? Not to mention how is Kahlan's black outfit any easier to fight in?), Cara and Kahlan are far more fleshed out than Gwen and Morgana. Period. For most of season two, excepting the Gwen romance focused episodes, the women on Merlin get pushed off to the side, with nothing to do but look pretty. Not so for Cara and Kahlan. They are in the thick of the action in every episode and the show is much more enjoyable for it.
2) Female Power: If you go by Merlin's version of events, the downfall of Camelot is completely due to stupidity. Deciding things FOR Morgana, like surpressing her magic and denying her the guidance on learning how to use it, and by allowing her to believe she's completely alone...did they think that would end well? AND they want me to believe that MORGANA is the one who is wrong???
Contrast this to a similar story in Seeker, where a confessor was not told of her power, and the narrative clearly tells the viewer that this is wrong.
3) Love: Ok, I admit it. I love my OTPs. You know what else I love? A show that clearly knows what pairing is end game and let's things develop naturally.
On Merlin it's like they threw every possible pairing together in an effort to be as original!retelling! as possible. First Gwen loved Merlin, then Arthur, then Lancelot, then back to Arthur. And there was definitely a Arthur/Morgana relationship developing before they decided to squash it. Frankly it's a testament to the caliber of actors on Merlin that Arthur/Gwen is still quite romantic if you don't stop and think. At least on Seeker, the OTP has consistently been Kahlan/Richard from the first. They have thankfully avoided any triangle crap too!
4) Friendship: The relationship betwen Arthur and Merlin goes two steps forward and then four steps back. There is no progressional development and consistency.
On Seeker, a similar gradual friendship is growing between Kahlan and Cara. It's been slow, but there's a nice respect between two characters who previously thought very little of one another.
So I guess I have to conclude if it comes to a choice between plot or characters, I go for characters?
This may in fact explain why I'm still watching Grey's Anatomy....
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