Merlin

[alaterdate]

Just finished watching all 5 seasons of Merlin. I had a false start with this show once, years ago, never made it past season one. I decided to restart it as a background noise show, but after I passed where I had left off I was sucked into it and it became a nightly watch.
I ended up roping my friend into it too around the end of season 2.

We could not stop watching, it became compulsive "watch episodes of Merlin every night until we finish." But at the same time, as the show wore on, we were getting so fed up with it. "What could possibly happen now?" became our mantra at the start of every episode of S4 and beyond.
The acting, the set, and the characters were great (except the antagonists and I'll get to that), but the plot just seemed to drag on and get more and more ridiculous. We were ready for it to end. "Just let Arthur die so we can be free! *sob*" I pin this desperation on the antagonists, not because we were sympathetic, but because we were tired of them!

Morgana's character was underdeveloped, undeserved, underutilized (in a clever manner, overused in a bumbling manner), and overly ridiculous. The show's deviation from the usual flow of the lore was at first refreshing, but as they tried to funnel into the end of the story and tried to get back on track with Arthurian Legend, it just became annoying. Morgana and Mordred being the worst offenders with Morgana clocking in at worst of all time. Even what they did with Lancelot and Agravaine was amusing if nothing else. But Mordred's reason for betrayal being established in a single episode that introduces a woman from nowhere, yawn. Morgana's wild scooby doo, poisoning and attempted assassination attempts were grating. Worse when her character motivation is so flimsy and evil for evil's sake. I really would have loved her character if she had any reason at all to be cross with the other Pendragons besides "I had a loving family and friends then five minutes after I found out I had magic I decided to be evil and destroy the lives of people who never did anything wrong to me." Oi. Morgana and Mordred really have the potential to be the type of vengeance seeking characters I like, but Merlin really missed the mark on what could have been great antagonists in favor of assassin of the week type dealies.
That's my biggest gripe. Besides that the director should have given Katie McGrath better acting directions besides smirk³⁰⁰⁰⁰

So, by season 5's end we were so tired. Until Merlin finally revealed he was a sorcerer. A fantastic episode we really enjoyed. But my friend was really annoyed that Arthur actually died after all the deviation from Arthurian plot lol. Me, I was fine with it, but I honestly didn't expect him to die! In fact this show always seemed to me to be one that would get cancelled before it got a definite ending. Color me surprised.
Also I'd love a Merlin series with Colin Morgan playing "old Merlin", he was so funny when in character as Dragoon and every time he was old.

Dragoon was in fact one of our favorite characters. Others were Gwen, Gaius, Kilgharrah, and of course Merlin and Arthur. And we got a lot of laughs over Percival because he almost never wore sleeves, we pointed out whenever he did (we both knew Tom Hopper from post Merlin roles so it was amusing for us both to see him in this role).
Overall, yes I enjoyed it, but also I am glad it's over.

Comments

[rionaleonhart]

Merlin is such a conflicting show. It's such a disaster! But it's got such delightful character interaction wrapped up in that mess of a plot! I'm glad you enjoyed it, even if it could be frustrating.

[alaterdate]

I agree! I loved all the episodes with the main Knights of the Round joining the adventures. They really acted just like a friend group of boys do, both hilarious and surprising to see a show accurately reflect interactions from real life. A lot of the acting was superb!
It was a fun series, I'm glad I gave it another go.

[artabria]

It has been a while since I heard anything about Merlin. I watched the show when it was airing, and I remember being so annoyed with the show waiting until the end for Merlin to reveal to Arthur that he had magic.

[alaterdate]

I was wondering when Merlin was going to tell Arthur so they could finally start doing the magic antics together, but nope. At least the reveal was suitably angsty for my tastes lol.