Trabia Garden

I watched some more Elementary a couple of weeks ago, and the end of 'You Do It to Yourself', with Sherlock and Joan waiting quietly together in the clinic, catapulted me straight into 'shipping them. Oh, dear. I think I'm doomed to 'ship Holmes and Watson in every incarnation. The opening of the following episode, with extremely sleep-deprived Sherlock getting into Joan's face and rambling feverishly about the bank's security system, only made things worse.

During 'M':

Sherlock: I have every intention of torturing and murdering him.
Riona: Oh, wow, he just became so much more interesting to me. I mean, not that he bored me before. But now he's much more interesting.

After 'M':

Riona: I thought Watson might be too well-adjusted to let her relationship with Sherlock ruin her life. I'm so glad I was wrong.
Friend: I'm really worried about you, Riona.

Sherlock was punched repeatedly in the gut in the wonderfully titled 'A Giant Gun, Filled with Drugs', and it was great. And then he angrily pinned down another guy, and that was also great! This show is appealing to all of my most unsettling tastes.


I got the platinum trophy in Final Fantasy XV! I've never platinumed a game before. And then I just, er. Kept playing. I can't stop. I'm at over a hundred hours on the gameplay clock. My entire party is level 99. Yes, I've done practically everything, but there's still wildlife to menace!

I defeated a horde of Magitek soldiers. 'Glad that's over with,' said Prompto, exhausted, as an airship above us discharged another twelve.

I'm still constantly discovering new small details in this game. I was sparring with my teammates, and when they knocked me into the 'danger' state Ignis instantly stopped attacking me and moved to shield me instead.

I like Ignis so much more than I thought I would when I started playing this game. Like Élise in Assassin's Creed: Unity, I think I took a while to warm to him because his accent sounded like a parody of mine. If I can't believe in a character's voice, I'll have trouble believing in that character. I also took a while to get to grips with his motivations, I think; I couldn't decide until the game's second half whether he was acting out of duty or out of love.

I love his terrible, terrible puns. (They all make terrible puns, but I feel Ignis takes a particular pleasure in them.) And his habit of occasionally muttering dark things, and how much he enjoys cooking. Prompto is still my favourite (by a long way, if I'm honest), but Ignis is pretty great.

I like everyone, really! Although Gladio is the bro I'm least attached to, which surprises me a little, because I was expecting him to be my favourite. He suffers from the omission, in the full game, of CLEARLY THE BEST PIECE OF DIALOGUE in the Episode Duscae demo:

Prompto: If you could be reborn as anything, what would you wanna be?
Gladio: Easy. I'd wanna be me.
Prompto: Wow, what a greeeeat answer.
Gladio: I know.

At the Game Developers Conference this year, Square presented some charts showing how the Final Fantasy XV characters interact with and perceive each other (there are more legible versions if you scroll down). There are some interesting details in there; for example, Noctis thinks of Ignis as the friend who understands him and Prompto as the friend who accepts him. Prompto thinks of Noct as 'buddy from school who I'd do anything for' (awwwww). But I think my favourite is Ignis's perception of Prompto: 'Expendable comic relief whose company I secretly enjoy.'

Something about Final Fantasy XV that's been playing on my mind: the hotel rooms have two double beds. Always two double beds. Maybe they book two rooms, I thought at first, but Ignis occasionally says that 'the tent lets you stretch out a bit more' when you camp. How is it possible that sleeping in a tent with three other people is less cramped than sleeping in a lovely roomy double bed? Answer: you have to share that bed. Canon.

One of the hotel receptionists says, 'The finest room in the house is available for your... immediate comfort,' and I'm convinced he thinks all four of them are banging. I'm not entirely sure he's wrong.

(The title is supposed to be 'Merlin' sung to the tune of the Merlin theme, in case that was not clear. reipan and I have developed the terrible habit of singing along to wordless themes with the name of the series, to the alarm and annoyance of anyone we happen to be watching with. This is entirely the fault of my brothers, who like to duet to the Sherlock theme ('Sherlock Hoooolmes, Sherlock Holmes...'). It also works with Waterloo Road.)

You know it's Merlin when two muscular knights lose their shirts in the first six minutes and remain shirtless for the rest of the episode. And also at one point lie next to each other, shirtless and exhausted and looking vaguely postcoital. Oh, Merlin, I've missed you.

I thoroughly enjoyed the first episode of series five! A bit thin on plot, perhaps, but nobody really watches Merlin for the plot, let's be honest. Merlin and Arthur were adorable; I'd forgotten how charmed I was by their abrasive-but-affectionate relationship. An involuntary 'awww!' escaped me when I realised they were sleeping back-to-back for warmth. And their little serious talks amongst the mockery! And Merlin's determination to save Arthur above all else! They are too in love and I can't cope.

I feel that Arthur respects Merlin more now, even if he doesn't like to show it, which is nice.

(I watched this episode with th_esaurus. She isn't actually a Merlin fan but still ended up hissing 'now make out!' at Arthur and Merlin. I had to agree. They just really need to kiss sometimes.)


I also watched the first episode of Elementary yesterday evening. I quite enjoyed it! I'm intrigued enough by the Holmes-Watson dynamic to want to see more of their interaction, which is good; it would have failed as a Sherlock Holmes adaptation in my eyes if the relationship between Holmes and Watson hadn't interested me. (Holmes seeking her out at the opera delighted me, even though it also made me cringe. OH NO, WATSON, HE'S ATTACHED HIMSELF TO YOU AND NOW YOU'LL NEVER BE FREE.) I did find myself thinking 'do I really need to watch this when I have The Mentalist?' on occasion, though. I may watch more; I may not. We'll see!