So, I’ve endured the bad casting/acting and bad production/writing of Merlin because I always felt that I would be rewarded as a viewer.
Don’t get me wrong, I understand the young casting and the acting isn’t always bad, nor the production and sometimes the writing is very poignant.
But as a whole, each of the aforementioned points drags down the best aspect of the show, which is the story. Now I understand I’m slightly above the age bracket, but here are my thoughts.
Seasons 1 and 2 were both solid, they firmly established the characters, the story, and they treated popular elements of the Arthurian legend (of which I’m no expert.)
Season 3 was very good, 11/13 of the episodes were to say the least, phenomenal, they really milked the Merlin/Morgana tension that arose as a result of the Season 2 finale, they developed the intricate Arthur/Morgana relationship and also challenged the kinship of Arthur and Merlin. There were negative aspects though, Merlin had way too many opportunities to kill Morgana, I don’t think even the audience believes that Merlin is that naive and it became ridiculously frustrating towards the end. Now I never had a problem with the characterization and plot of Uther until they did what they did in Season 4. They took this rich character, whose flaws were only just starting to be revealed and just destroyed any credibility and character worth in Season 4.
Goblin’s Gold, enough said. It is by far the worst episode of Merlin ever, and I can’t believe that made Richard Wilson stoop that low.
So before Season 4 starts we basically have this standard. Each finale was great and the 2 best non finale episodes The Labyrinth of Gedraf, The Sins of the Father set a high standard.
Those who followed the interviews would know that each season, according to the writers and actors gets “darker,” which definitely wasn’t the case with the opening of Season 4. It was a joke and it was a gratuitous and facetious way of establishing a new scene with some “hit the ground running” style exposition.
We all knew, as John Hurt stupidly said, “she (morgana) is the darkness to your light” to Merlin so to just openly tell Morgana that some wizard is against him was a stupid and shortcut way of reaching this point with Morgana’s character.
The show has also been good with pacing, but it seems that in the first 3 seasons they continually built up to 3 important points, Arthur’s ascension to the throne/Uther’s death, Arthur’s marriage with Guinevere and Arthur discovering/being told that Merlin has magic.
In the first 3 episodes we achieve the first point in the most anti-climatic and frustrating way possible. There really has been no tangible evidence of Arthur’s maturity, besides the unrealistic and ridiculous Camelot takeover. They built to that moment so well and they simply ran out of steam when they reached it. I feel that the finale, should have been Arthur’s ascension to the throne by means of the sword in the stone somehow.
Agravaine, I don’t think they could have been any more blatant with him, “I’M EVIL LOOK AT ME” was his basic role in the show, if there’s any proof that the character of Arthur wasn’t mature enough, there it was, “I haven’t seen you in a while but I trust you with my whole being.” Some might say he inherited the stubbornness of Uther, but really?
Mordred. who? good question, has he even been mentioned in the past 2 seasons? they’ve really written themselves into a corner with that one, don’t be surprised if he has used some sort of permanent aging spell or they reintroduce him in the final episode of the show to do magic shit to Arthur.
The Sword in the Stone. fuck me, could they have treated that element of the Arthurian legend any worse? I doubt it, it was fucking ridiculous, a complete joke, I really don’t know what I can say about it.
The 2 part finale was so bad that I completely lost interest and I really couldn’t care less if Merlin or Arthur died. The line “I would ride into the mouth of hell with you” really sums up the quality of writing and acting of 12/13 episodes.
12/13? you mean you liked an episode? Yes, I actually did, “A herald of a new age” however cliche was the only episode to send shivers up my spine, we really got a glimpse of the talent that Colin and Bradley rarely get the opportunity to show. It foreboded the next season well and I was really hopeful that we would have similar or better drama for the rest of the series, but I was wrong.
One thing I haven’t spoken about, which is a salient feature of season 4, is the knights of camelot. How fucking horrible, Elyan and Leon are the only knights that have any credibility at all and Leon lost his with all the stupid annoying shit he did in the (in retrospect relatively okay episode) of “Lamia.” He is essentially second to Arthur, but his character is so awkward and plain that it’s hard to care about him.
Now to Elyan, I really like Elyan’s character and he is a reformed and humble character that I really enjoy, his relationship with Merlin is something special, maybe it’s just me, but there’s an intangible “good vibe” emanating from his character.
I should mention Lancelot, Santiago Cabrera is possibly the second or third best actor to ever appear on the series, Anthony Head (Uther) being 1st and Richard Wilson (Gauis) being second (EDIT: I overlooked John Hurt, he is number 1 by default). I don’t even want to talk about the Lancelot story line because it is so fucking weak, whether it’s because they can’t afford him or they just don’t care, I don’t know. He really is a hit-and-run type character to Arthur and Gwen’s relationship, at least he knew Merlin had magic, one positive aspect of his character.
Morgana, they ran that character into the ground too, and the finale was fucking horrible, Merlin should have fucking cut her throat and drank her blood, he could of, he had the perfect opportunity.
Now to the ending. We have a stupid, ambiguous ending that is just ridiculous. Without magic and being wounded she escapes Camelot and gets out into the woods and is met, on her death bed by the dragon Aithusa from earlier in the season, then it ends. I’m all for ambiguity, but not when it’s that random and absurd.
Season 5, I will watch it I think, they have written themselves into a massive hole that is going to require a lot of work to get out of, it will be interesting, but more than likely frustrating to watch.
I haven’t revised this, and I may have misquoted or mislabeled things, but that is my general opinion. What do you think?
