Merlin

[JediKnightMuse]

I LOVE Merlin, and I was so sad when they ended it, especially with the WAY they ended it. Since there are some people who haven't seen the final season/episodes yet I'll keep from saying too much more. But Merlin was one of the best shows I've ever gotten into, and I'm sad it's over. I use Katie McGrath/Morgana from before she was super evil to represent a Jedi character I made for a role play I'm in. Story and personality-wise, they're nothing alike, and technically it's a redhead!Morgana.

Spoiler: Spoilers for the last few episodes/last season!

I wish they had done the magic reveal way, way, way sooner than they did. And I wish some of the plots they went with didn't end the way they did- either in a really crappy way or totally forgotten about. And I wish Morgana had been a better villainess at the end. And I wish we'd gotten to see Merlin as an adviser to Arthur with Arthur KNOWING about Merlin's magic. And I wish Gwen had been handled better, especially toward the end.

I didn't feel very satisfied with the ending, unfortunately. It sucked that I ended up feeling unsatisfied and sad.

I own all but the latest season on DVD. Merlin is the kind of show I wish there were more of on TV. I mean, yeah, there's Game of Thrones, which I don't watch at the moment, but we need more shows like Merlin, whether it's based on a book/legend/whatever or completely made up. I hope that Colin and Bradly are able to land awesome roles for themselves in the future and can be on another project together.

 

[CupofJoe]

BBC announces new series 'Atlantis' to replace 'Merlin'
The BBC has announced a number of new commissions including a series from Misfits creator Howard Overman called Atlantis.

 

[JediKnightMuse]

-Drools- Atlantis sounds awesome.

Hm. Another show I'll probably have to use online methods to watch. >.> I think I only get BBC America, not the BBC that actually aired Merlin.

 

[Zero Angel]

I LOVE Merlin, and I was so sad when they ended it, especially with the WAY they ended it. Since there are some people who haven't seen the final season/episodes yet I'll keep from saying too much more. But Merlin was one of the best shows I've ever gotten into, and I'm sad it's over. I use Katie McGrath/Morgana from before she was super evil to represent a Jedi character I made for a role play I'm in. Story and personality-wise, they're nothing alike, and technically it's a redhead!Morgana.

Spoiler: Spoilers for the last few episodes/last season!

I wish they had done the magic reveal way, way, way sooner than they did. And I wish some of the plots they went with didn't end the way they did- either in a really crappy way or totally forgotten about. And I wish Morgana had been a better villainess at the end. And I wish we'd gotten to see Merlin as an adviser to Arthur with Arthur KNOWING about Merlin's magic. And I wish Gwen had been handled better, especially toward the end.

I didn't feel very satisfied with the ending, unfortunately. It sucked that I ended up feeling unsatisfied and sad.

I own all but the latest season on DVD. Merlin is the kind of show I wish there were more of on TV. I mean, yeah, there's Game of Thrones, which I don't watch at the moment, but we need more shows like Merlin, whether it's based on a book/legend/whatever or completely made up. I hope that Colin and Bradly are able to land awesome roles for themselves in the future and can be on another project together.

Agreed about the spoiler. REALLY agree.

 

[CupofJoe]

The BBC are almost universally bad at bringing shows to an end. I can only put this down to that they record all [or nearly all] of a season before it is shown.
The producers of Merlin may not have known they weren't getting another season until after filming and had to cobble together a final...
Whereas US shows are often only recorded a few weeks ahead of broadcast and do know they are ending. The last eps of Buffy and Angel [especially Angel] stand out for me as the right way to end a show!!!
I have to admit that after season 1 I stopped watching Merlin... I really didn't like it or the way it strayed away from what I know as the story. I really wanted a "real" dark ages Merlin and not a "faux" medieval Merlin...
Now where did I leave that Kickstarter link... [It worked for Ron Thomas]

 

[Ophiucha]

Spoilers for the last season and finale, summarizing my thoughts.

Spoiler: Merlin S5

I definitely agree that the magic reveal should have happened sooner. It is such an interesting plot point and they leave it until Arthur is incapable of doing anything except lying there listening to Merlin apologize and explain himself. How droll. Morgana was underutilized and got a really weak ending. Stabbing her? How had we not thought of that before? C'mon.

The whole season was a bit boring, to be honest. Every episode, like clockwork, was somebody giving Merlin a perfect opportunity to change Arthur's opinion on magic, then opting to make him hate magic viciously. What is wrong with you? I genuinely ended up hating his character by the end of the season because Arthur, really, did nothing wrong. He was willing and able to change things for the better, but Merlin would get in there and be like "NO MAGIC IS EVILLLL", why are you stabbing yourself in the foot, Merlin, WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU?

I'm still scarred for life by the terrifying blue alien/fae that appeared in the season opener. What the Christ was that thing? Biggest compliment to the show is that they opted not to keep bringing that abomination back.

Guinevere. LONG LIVE THE QUEEN! Hell yeah. I love Guinevere and I love actual angel Angel Coulby. She's gorgeous, she's compassionate, and she gets stuff done. My husband and I joked that Arthur's destiny to unite Albion was more of a 'Sarah Connor in the first Terminator' sort of situation, where Arthur actually does nothing of any importance except marry Guinevere, hence giving her the throne, and now that she is Queen and will presumably rule for many years to come (maybe they'll resurrect Lancelot so she can get herself the man she's *meant* to have) and under her rule Albion is united and there is peace and prosperity throughout the land. And Arthur was only there to give her a crown and faff about in the woods with Merlin like an idiot.

Boo on killing Gwaine. And poor Percival. ; _; A thousand more boos on not using Gwaine these past two seasons. Remember the episode with the short dude and the wyverns and whatnot? Remember how Merlin, Arthur, and Gwaine were meant to be this magical triumvirate? Where did that plot point go?

Eh, yeah, last season was a real weak ending to an otherwise pretty good show. But the actors maintained their flawlessness and I wish them all well in the future, particularly Angel and Bradley. Those two really blew me away with their portrayals of the characters and I think they deserve some great roles after this.

 

[Jess A]

Agreed about the spoiler. REALLY agree.

Me too. Completely. I actually didn't like the 5th season at all. I had to 'sit through it'.

Spoilers for the last season and finale, summarizing my thoughts.

Spoiler: Merlin S5

I definitely agree that the magic reveal should have happened sooner. It is such an interesting plot point and they leave it until Arthur is incapable of doing anything except lying there listening to Merlin apologize and explain himself. How droll. Morgana was underutilized and got a really weak ending. Stabbing her? How had we not thought of that before? C'mon.

The whole season was a bit boring, to be honest. Every episode, like clockwork, was somebody giving Merlin a perfect opportunity to change Arthur's opinion on magic, then opting to make him hate magic viciously. What is wrong with you? I genuinely ended up hating his character by the end of the season because Arthur, really, did nothing wrong. He was willing and able to change things for the better, but Merlin would get in there and be like "NO MAGIC IS EVILLLL", why are you stabbing yourself in the foot, Merlin, WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU?

I'm still scarred for life by the terrifying blue alien/fae that appeared in the season opener. What the Christ was that thing? Biggest compliment to the show is that they opted not to keep bringing that abomination back.

Guinevere. LONG LIVE THE QUEEN! Hell yeah. I love Guinevere and I love actual angel Angel Coulby. She's gorgeous, she's compassionate, and she gets stuff done. My husband and I joked that Arthur's destiny to unite Albion was more of a 'Sarah Connor in the first Terminator' sort of situation, where Arthur actually does nothing of any importance except marry Guinevere, hence giving her the throne, and now that she is Queen and will presumably rule for many years to come (maybe they'll resurrect Lancelot so she can get herself the man she's *meant* to have) and under her rule Albion is united and there is peace and prosperity throughout the land. And Arthur was only there to give her a crown and faff about in the woods with Merlin like an idiot.

Boo on killing Gwaine. And poor Percival. ; _; A thousand more boos on not using Gwaine these past two seasons. Remember the episode with the short dude and the wyverns and whatnot? Remember how Merlin, Arthur, and Gwaine were meant to be this magical triumvirate? Where did that plot point go?

Eh, yeah, last season was a real weak ending to an otherwise pretty good show. But the actors maintained their flawlessness and I wish them all well in the future, particularly Angel and Bradley. Those two really blew me away with their portrayals of the characters and I think they deserve some great roles after this.

So many agreements here too. I'm also scarred for life on the point you mentioned. What a stupid, stupid-looking thing. Crap can't even begin to describe.

 

[Zero Angel]

Spoilers for the last season and finale, summarizing my thoughts.

Spoiler: Merlin S5

I definitely agree that the magic reveal should have happened sooner. It is such an interesting plot point and they leave it until Arthur is incapable of doing anything except lying there listening to Merlin apologize and explain himself. How droll. Morgana was underutilized and got a really weak ending. Stabbing her? How had we not thought of that before? C'mon.

The whole season was a bit boring, to be honest. Every episode, like clockwork, was somebody giving Merlin a perfect opportunity to change Arthur's opinion on magic, then opting to make him hate magic viciously. What is wrong with you? I genuinely ended up hating his character by the end of the season because Arthur, really, did nothing wrong. He was willing and able to change things for the better, but Merlin would get in there and be like "NO MAGIC IS EVILLLL", why are you stabbing yourself in the foot, Merlin, WHAT IS WRONG WITH YOU?

I'm still scarred for life by the terrifying blue alien/fae that appeared in the season opener. What the Christ was that thing? Biggest compliment to the show is that they opted not to keep bringing that abomination back.

Guinevere. LONG LIVE THE QUEEN! Hell yeah. I love Guinevere and I love actual angel Angel Coulby. She's gorgeous, she's compassionate, and she gets stuff done. My husband and I joked that Arthur's destiny to unite Albion was more of a 'Sarah Connor in the first Terminator' sort of situation, where Arthur actually does nothing of any importance except marry Guinevere, hence giving her the throne, and now that she is Queen and will presumably rule for many years to come (maybe they'll resurrect Lancelot so she can get herself the man she's *meant* to have) and under her rule Albion is united and there is peace and prosperity throughout the land. And Arthur was only there to give her a crown and faff about in the woods with Merlin like an idiot.

Boo on killing Gwaine. And poor Percival. ; _; A thousand more boos on not using Gwaine these past two seasons. Remember the episode with the short dude and the wyverns and whatnot? Remember how Merlin, Arthur, and Gwaine were meant to be this magical triumvirate? Where did that plot point go?

Eh, yeah, last season was a real weak ending to an otherwise pretty good show. But the actors maintained their flawlessness and I wish them all well in the future, particularly Angel and Bradley. Those two really blew me away with their portrayals of the characters and I think they deserve some great roles after this.

Speaking of the legend itself, Gawain is an interesting character in his own regard. Originally, he was the perfect knight (perfect in five ways as represented by the pentacle), and it wasn't until the French wrote in their own knight (Lancelot) that he got demoted to playing second fiddle. I couldn't find this info on Wikipedia, so I can't remember what the five perfections were, but when I took the class, "Arthurian Legend and Cultural Change" it was something I researched when doing my research paper on Lancelot. Even though I chose Lancelot as the topic of my research paper, the only Lancelot I've ever liked was T.H. White's.

haha, I just reread my introduction to the paper. My thesis was, "the legend of King Arthur and his noble knights has become misanthropic propaganda and this is accomplished with Lancelot."

 

[Mindfire]

I disagree with Ophiucha in a few respects, but chiefly in her opinion of Lancelot. I hated him. Not because he was a bad guy, but because I hate "homewreckers" and romantic unfaithfulness in general. Even if the show had gotten another season, Lancelot should stay dead.

 

[Ophiucha]

That's fair, I suppose, but I think BBC handled the entire Lancelot-Guinevere-Arthur love triangle so poorly and so radically unlike the myths (with Arthur acting like a total ass and Merlin once again obscuring the truth because he somehow believes telling the truth would also mean he has to reveal his magic even though he definitely doesn't and this would solve literally every problem in the show since season two) that it's hard to hate Lancelot for it in the show. Or Guinevere, for that matter. I mean, the whole thing is 1000% on Morgana; Lancelot was nothing but respectful of her choice to be with Arthur before the whole lake nonsense.

Besides which, I don't know if I'd call it romantic unfaithfulness for her to hook up with a reborn Lancelot post-S5 given how the show ended.

 

[Mindfire]

That's fair, I suppose, but I think BBC handled the entire Lancelot-Guinevere-Arthur love triangle so poorly and so radically unlike the myths (with Arthur acting like a total ass and Merlin once again obscuring the truth because he somehow believes telling the truth would also mean he has to reveal his magic even though he definitely doesn't and this would solve literally every problem in the show since season two) that it's hard to hate Lancelot for it in the show. Or Guinevere, for that matter. I mean, the whole thing is 1000% on Morgana; Lancelot was nothing but respectful of her choice to be with Arthur before the whole lake nonsense.

Besides which, I don't know if I'd call it romantic unfaithfulness for her to hook up with a reborn Lancelot post-S5 given how the show ended.

Post S5 it wouldn't be unfaithful technically, but it would still be... unpleasant. As if Lancelot somehow "won".

Spoiler: stuff

Plus it'd devalue Arthur's heroic sacrifice.

 

[Zero Angel]

Can yins edit your posts to have these in spoilers? Not everyone reading the thread (specifically the OP) has watched all the seasons. I think we can expect people to know the general legends and myths, but how the series handled them should be obscured by the spoiler tags.

 

[Ophiucha]

I can't edit my post, I guess because it's been quoted. If a mod's around, feel free to hide that last post behind a spoiler tag to be safe.

Personally, I wanted Guinevere to get with Morgana. They had way more chemistry than Gwen had with either Lancelot or Arthur. I do really like the show, but the writers were not masters of romance. Remember the episode with Merlin and his lady friend? That was the least compelling romance in TV history, I think. Though I do really like that one violin theme that seems to only play when Guinevere is getting kissed... I'll have to find it on YouTube or something, but it's like the most dramatic and generally loudest track that ever plays.

 

[Mindfire]

Personally, I wanted Guinevere to get with Morgana.

No. You're as bad as the internet shippers. -_-

 

[Ophiucha]

I could have said Merlin and Arthur.

 

[Sheilawisz]

I don't really have a problem with spoilers, because I have been reading many articles at the Merlin Wikia and I already know how the series ends, who dies, who lives and everything that needs to be known =)

The start of the third season was fantastic, with the siege on Camelot and Morgana raising that army of dead!! I accept that Morgana was better as the good-hearted character that she was at the start of the series, but this new and super evil version of Morgana is cool as well.

I have a doubt:

At the start of the first season, Morgana realizes that Merlin has magical powers... however, later in the series she does not know this secret, like she never saw Merlin casting Magic.

Why is that??

 

[Jess A]

At the start of the first season, Morgana realizes that Merlin has magical powers... however, later in the series she does not know this secret, like she never saw Merlin casting Magic.

Why is that??

I noticed this as well. But there was a big gap between me watching various seasons so maybe I missed something, but less chance you missed something if you've watched it all together?

 

[Sheilawisz]

I have missed a few episodes Jess, so I don't know, maybe one of those explains this little mystery about Morgana realizing the truth about Merlin and then ignoring it later in the series.

An update: I already watched the two-days episode that closed the fantastic Third season =)

It was wonderful and a pivotal part of the story. However, I would have liked it even more if Morgana could have enjoyed a longer reign and caused way more damage. It was heartbreaking to see her screaming like that, and also, she should have executed that bloody Uther when she had the chance to do it!!

Sadly for me, the Fourth season is not available in Sony yet and I will have to wait...

 

[Chilari]

Wow I can't believe I missed this thread before now. As Zero Angel has kindly mentioned, I have blogged about the series - twice, in fact. Once early in season 5 as a review, once specifically about the finale. Basically, I found I was frustrated in season 4 and especially 5 that there was little the challenge the status quo. Perhaps the writers wanted to keep it going as long as they could, and rather than make it interesting so it keeps getting commissioned, they just avoided moving things forward so there was always potential story ahead.

I do like the lightheartedness of it and the dynamic between Merlin and Arthur. I think Morgana's conflicts when she first learns about her magic were well handled. I think, though, that it falls down in that the writers knew where they eventually had to take things with Morgana, as well as with Lancelot, Guinevere and so on so those storylines were very much on rails. They never quite got off track to where they could surprise and delight. They became predictable, even if the core of the story wasn't stuck to. That, perhaps, is the danger of basing a series on a well established legend: everyone knows where it will go in the end, they're just waiting for it to happen.

 

[Sheilawisz]

I have started watching the series from the start again, hoping that the fourth and fifth seasons will soon be available for me =)

After watching the episode where Nimueh poisons the water causing a magical plague in Camelot, I realized my mistake: In the end, when Morgana said to Merlin "I saw what you did" and promises to keep the secret, she was not referring to having witnessed Merlin casting Magic to destroy the monster.

Morgana was under the impression that Merlin was in love with Guinevere, so that was the secret that she was talking about!!

@Chilari: After watching the first three seasons, I have fallen in love with the series. Many have told me that seasons 4 and 5 are not so good, that the ending is definitely bad, but I hope that I will enjoy the final part of the story anyway.

What are your favourite episodes??