#fricking a

3.06 The Changeling: arthur’s scene with gwen where he talks about how he’d be “happy being insane” if it meant that he didnt have to give into the expectations of having to marry someone he didnt love out of obligation and duty. i rewind the little scene over and over where his eyes get REALLY BIG and REALLY FUCKING WOOBIE with unshed tears cause wowowowowowow fucking O U C H, bradley, motherfreaking O U C H. because if im being perfectly honest, when it comes to the arthur/gwen scenes, i never felt it from bradley as much as i felt it from angel. and its not because i think bradley is a bad actor of course, its because i personally think he didnt put as much effort into it because it was a storyline he wasnt too big of a fan of, from what ive seen. but THAT SCENE is one of the very few times he made me really feel it as arthur, longing for the life he could have with gwen (someone he loved) vs. having a life with elena (someone he didnt love). THOUGH bradley also played arthur’s scenes with elena very charmingly. i love how he DID end up becoming smitten with her at the end, but in a different kind of way.

ALSO, the scenes right before he was to marry elena, the ones with merlin. and how he looked like he was about to vomit. THE TREPIDATION ON HIS FACE. you and your stupid face acting makes me mad, bradley.

3.13 The Coming of Arthur (Part 2): ONE OF MY FAVORITE FINALES. like it competes with 5x13 as my fave finale overall in the series. i go back and forth djfhasd. and a lot of the reasons why 3x13 is my favorite is because of all the arthur scenes that gave me GOOSEBUMPS. from the beginning where arthur was so upset over morgana’s betrayal and merlin couldnt even get him to eat. and his little “merlin, for once, leave me in peace. please.” bradley does this thing where he injects such a REALNESS to a lot of his lines. a lot of his little lines. like a line like that could have gone overboard with him being more angry but he played it off as being RESIGNED cause he is so UPSET over morgana. and like i said earlier, he sometimes cant even muster the strength for any proper anger. and the little gestures he does too. with covering his face with his hand, etc. its so NATURAL. I CANT EVEN PROPERLY DESCRIBE IT?! like it looks like nothing to everyone else, i’m sure. but to me it just…makes me feel a shit ton more for arthur. always always ALWAYS. and of course all the scenes with the knights and the round table djfhaajdfads.

4.03 The Wicked Day: TEARS TEARS TEARS ALL THE F U C K I N G TEARS. and i know its been compared before, paralleling this scene with the scenes from lion king when mufasa dies. with the whole scene of simba crying out for help jdkfhafjkdhfasd. OW OW OW OWOWOWOOWEJAHFASDFSD. ALSO AN EXTRA ADDED, WOW FUCK YOU MORE, BRADLEY, STOP. THIS. RIGHT. THE. FUCK. NOW.

4.04 Aithusa: ONE OF THE DELETED SCENES. THE LITTLE FUCKING SMILE ARTHUR GIVES TO MERLIN. like that is FUCKING BRADLEY JAMES BLEEDING INTO ARTHUR SO MUCH. CAUSE HE IS JUST. SO. FUCKING. FOND. youre lucky that arthur is equally as fond and endeared by merlin as you are with colin, bradley, cause I SWEAR TO HADES. but yeah, scenes like those. that are a gifmaker’s fucking DREAM. cause you dont notice it as much until you make graphics and then it makes your heart burst with so much FUCKING EMOTION YOU DONT KNOW WHAT TO DO WITH YOURSELF.

4.05 His Father’s Son: this entire episode was arthur from beginning to end. and bradley did such a great job with playing arthur being manipulated by his uncle and the struggle, again, for arthur to prove himself, to do what he thinks is the right thing, that he fucks up so much along the way in order to do it.

4.10 A Herald of the New Age: HI HI HI HI HI LET ME POINT YOU OUT TO THE SCENE THAT I WILL BASICALLY REWIND EIGHTY BILLION TIMES EVERY TIME I WATCH IT. i mean, thats not the entire scene of course, but YOU ALL KNOW ALL WHAT SCENE I’M TALKING ABOUT.

THERE’S A REASON WHY BRADLEY

INCLUDED IT IN HIS ACTING REEL

also, i havent talked about it yet but bradley is also fucking AMAZING in the sword fight scenes. it might be a thing that’s not looked at the most (or at all) when it comes to shining through your acting. BUT MAN, OH MAN, HE WAS. SO. GOOD. AT. IT. thats just one tiny example since i’m on the episode. cause he fights so much in the entire show obviously dkjfhafasd. but this is one of my faves. cause he’s mostly just DEFENDING himself here, instead of actively fighting elyan. and you can tell and thats cause bradley is ACES AT IT.

4.13 The Sword in the Stone (Part 2): THE CONFRONTATION WITH MORGANA. see, ive been trying awhile to gif the part where he’s got tears in his eyes when he sees how much she hates him. but it’s hard to capture it in a gif so i havent made one yet. BUT THIS IS WHAT I MEAN. that scene coupled with his line of “not so powerful now, my lady.”

LIKE FUCK IT ALL TO HELL OKAY. i mean, i didnt get from the tone of that scene, that it was supposed to be played in a way that was AS SAD AS BRADLEY MADE IT. i mean, yes it IS sad but i was still thrown by the tears i saw in arthur’s eyes and i am PRETTY SURE THAT WAS BRADLEY GETTING INTO THE MOMENT. of seeing his sister, one of the best friends he’s ever had growing up, as someone who now HATED HIM. hjfdhjdsfjkhdfkjfhadlkjhfdkjfhafkjlahfafjkadhfakjfafasd.

i thought bradley shined a lot in season 5 but i’m just gonna pick a few of the ones that really hit me in the gut:

5.03 The Death Song of Uther Pendragon:

LIKE PLEASE GET THE FUCK OUT

OF MY MOTHERFUCKING FACE

WITH YOUR PERFECT PRETTY CRYING

AND PERFECT FUCKING FACE ACTING (x)

WITH THE ANGST YOURE GOING THROUGH

IN THIS EPISODE

also WAIT WAIT dont forget LOL APPLES. WHAT DO YOU MEAN I’M THE KING OF CAMELOT?!

how bradley asshole james can go from the comedy to the deep core angst, dont ask me. ASK HIM. AND BY ASK, I MEAN YELL AT HIM. CAUSE HE DESERVES IT. FOR BEING ONE OF THOSE STUPID VERSATILE ACTORS. I MEAN, WHO NEEDS THOSE KINDS OF ACTORS NOWADAYS, EH?!

5.04 Another’s Sorrow: arthur’s really obvious but still quiet way of wanting revenge on odin in this entire episode. THE WAY BRADLEY, AGAIN, PLAYED HIS RESIGNED QUIET SADNESS OVER MORGANA’S BETRAYAL. i know that gifset sort of emphasizes how he pretty he is BUT SERIOUSLY LOOK AT HIS FACE. how he’s just like…i should have fucking known. cause why WOULDNT morgana keep wanting to hurt me? his little quiet “morgana“ SLAYED ME TOO. seriously, RESIGNED. eat me, bradley, eat me.

ALSO. MORE QUIET ANGRY ARTHUR. sometimes the most deadly kind tbh. and especially the caption/tags on that gifset. all in bradley’s acting choices. especially the times where he probably knew where the camera angle was gonna be pointed at. he worked it well to his advantage.

the scenes where he’s fighting odin. HELLO DETERMINED FACE, THY NAME IS, BRADLEY JAMES GREGORY. and then at the end of that fight where merlin stops him. and arthur is trying to convince odin to a truce. and i really loved how bradley had arthur say parts of his lines THROUGH LIKE GRITTED TEETH. the “take it” line, like he’s snarling? OKAY THEN.

5.13 The Diamond of the Day (Part 2): first of all, EPIC PHYSICAL ACTING OF A SCENE WHERE THE HERO OF THE STORY SLOWLY REALIZES HE’S DEFEATED ONCE AND FOR ALL.

i wanted to emphasize the physical parts of this episode for bradley especially. because like before in the ask i got about colin and his acting, i talked about how i felt like it’d be hard to act through scenes where your character is supposed to be like physically incapacitated. and arthur is mortally wounded throughout this entire episode. so i feel like that might have been a nice challenge for bradley when it came to acting the emotional parts of the ep.

like in the beginning, when merlin tells arthur about his magic. arthur’s face goes from fucking FOND to DISBELIEF in a matter of moments. and LOOK. AT. HIS. FUCKING. EXPRESSIONS. the play of emotions of “why is merlin telling me this to FUCK. IT’S. TRUE” (x) LOOK. AT. THAT. GIF. OF. HIS. FACE. when merlin is confessing. the shift in his expression is so ~subtle but when you SEE IT (and you do see it) it’s like a blow to the fucking stomach. I SERIOUSLY CAN WAX POETIC ABOUT BRADLEY DURING THE INITIAL MAGIC REVEAL AND HOW FUCKING A M A Z I N G HE WAS IN HIS SUBTLE ACTING AND MOVEMENTS.

cause i mean, arthur can barely move right? so bradley has to remember that arthur is wounded so when merlin physically reveals his powers with a spell and arthur is upset and angered and surprised, he literally cant walk or run away from merlin. so bradley does this thing of like unconsciously LIFTING HIS ARM UP AND TRYING TO SHIELD HIMSELF FROM MERLIN?! and telling merlin to leave him. and trying to PHYSICALLY move away from him as much as he can but not being able to and YOU CAN SEE THE STRUGGLE THAT BRADLEY GIVES ARTHUR THERE. cause merlin is trying to get closer to him and arthur is trying to like get away. AND I FUCKING CANNOT EXPLAIN ANYMORE HOW BRILLIANT I THINK THAT BIT OF ACTING IS.

LIKE FUCK I AM WATCHING AGAIN AND I WANT. TO. SCREAM. IT’S. SO. GOOD. WATCH. IT.

bradley is amazing throughout this entire episode but i wanted to focus on that part the most because it fucking kills me every time i watch it. literal goosebumps on my arms and fucking stars in my eyes over this man during that scene. EVERY. TIME.

and of course how bradley played arthur’s acceptance and L O  V E for merlin in that episode. all the little looks and smiles he gives him.

I MEAN, LET’S AGAIN LOOK

AT A FEW

OF THE LOOKS

ARTHUR GIVES MERLIN

IN GENERAL?!?!

bradley does genuinely besotted arthur BRILLIANTLY. i also didnt focus on the comedic parts of arthur. but AGAIN, bradley does those perfectly too. i mean, simpleton!arthur honestly.

i went overboard again. SORRY. but i mean, anyone who’s been following me for awhile knows how much i love this show so. when you send me these asks, IT’S ALL ON YOUR HEADS for my novel-length responses. :’))))))))))))