Re: Merlin Season 3 Download 41
Hedy Madrid
This second episode was far more effective and action-packed than the first. Guinevere proves herself less hard-hearted than we expected, admitting to Gaius that she will not kill Sefa but use her to lure her father to Camelot since he is the real threat. In this strategy, Guinevere is successful. The father manages to free Sefa but is wounded in the process and although they escape from Camelot, he dies immediately after while Sefa flees. I suspect Sefa will show up in a later episode this season.
For four amazing seasons of Merlin, we were honored with amazing stories of dragons, magicians, and friendship. Then, Season 5 came out, and ruined pretty much the whole story. Not because the ending was weak or poorly conceived. The reason Season 5 of Merlin was so bad is that the story felt like it was all for nothing by the end.
There were a lot of things wrong with season five of Merlin. For one, it is obvious that the story was rushed to make it all fit into 13 episodes. Because of this, there are many plot holes, loose ends, and some questionable character actions.
Even a quick timeline through the future of Camelot after Arthur dies where humans and magic users are in peace would have been better. Or, if the directors really wanted us to be traumatized by death, having Merlin die just as Arthur began to accept magic would have been a great option.
It would have allowed the directors to still wrap up the show and give us a painful ending. But Arthur would have lived, which meant that Merlin fulfilled his duty and Camelot would go on to be a better place, as we were promised throughout Merlin.
At the end of the show, as Arthur was breathing out his last few breaths, I was left sitting there, wondering what the point of the first four seasons was. Why did we get a story about a man who failed at all his tasks?
But when I reached the ending, I felt so emotionally violated and betrayed, I actually looked up the creators of the show on IMDB to make sure I never watched anything else they made. I did not want that experience again.
Merlin learns that there is a prophecy: Arthur will become king and put an end to the reign of terror against magic. This is hard to believe at first, since Arthur has inherited a prejudice against magic-wielders from his father.
Think of the movies Braveheart, The Gladiator, and even Titanic. In each of these cases, the deaths of major characters had a purpose. (Some may argue that point in Titanic, but still: The protagonist, Rose, reached the end of that story with victory and freedom from her previous, oppressive life.)
In any story, there will be subtle promises that the audience picks up on, often unconsciously. Whether or not these promises are made intentionally by the writer, they create deeply-held expectations for audience members about how the story will progress, and how it will end. Making good on these promises is crucial for maintaining an emotionally satisfied audience.
And yes, Arthur does see and acknowledge who Merlin is. The two friends are finally equals (as they always should have been), and Arthur has a heart-wrenching moment of gratitude for all Merlin has done.
Merlin did not at all establish it would be that kind of a story, so the viewers were primed (over five seasons, if I may remind you) to have all major deaths be meaningful sacrifices, or otherwise necessary costs in an ultimate goal.
This is not to say you should be predictable! Audiences never want to know exactly what will happen, but they will always have a set number of expectations that, if left unfulfilled, will have them hurling the book across the room or deciding to never watch anything by you again.
I completely agree. It's like "Hey Gwen, you practically assisted in the murder of your brother. How do you feel about that?" And "Hey, Morgana... what even are you doing. Why do you hate Author, you have never been seen as power hungry in the past, why are all the female characters suddenly just, braindead or evil braindead? Stale female characters are also hardly there problem. The way Merlin acts in this season makes me dislike him. He's even going as far as to convince Author time and time again NOT to allow magic to not be a crime. He barely tries with Mordred and demonizes him every chance he gets- he just doesn't act like himself at all, but like a paranoid fool. Made worse by the fact that Mordred is clearly not evil or enemy until he's made to be so. They could have at least been consistent. Also, the worse offense by far, is Author's lack of growth. He grows, very far, in the first few seasons, but after he becomes king and has married Gwen, it's like he's back to his arrogant self with no regard or respect to be shown. Like when he walked into sacred grounds. Then Merlin convinces him that magic is bad. Like what are you doing Merlin how will he accept magic if you make no effort for him to accept magic. Remember the last prophecy you heard? You remember causing it? It's like he forgot everything. Also, Gwaine's character injustice.... ugh.
Merlin must hide what he is and learn to take the harder road rather than the easy out his powers present to him. He is guided not only by Gaius, but also by the Last Dragon, chained beneath the dungeons of Camelot, who advises Merlin on his destiny to protect and guide the arrogant and haughty Prince Arthur.
Acting Score 5/5
In this first season the acting can be rough in parts, but I think a lot of that should be attributed to the awkward writing, so I am not taking points off here.
Bradley James plays Arthur perfectly as a snobby and arrogant prince, but one who also feels a strong sense of duty and who lives to protect his people, even if he is a bit abusive to his servants. He has brilliant chemistry with Colin Morgan and it really shows through his own performance.
Angel Coulby and Katie McGrath play Gwen and Lady Morgana (respectively) with perfection. You can see how Gwen will one day become the Guinevere of legend, and Morgana seems far too kind as of yet to be Morgan Le Fay, but in her arguing matches with Uthor you get a glimpse of who she will become.
Katie McGrath (Morgana) uses her natural Irish accent in the show, but Colin Morgan (also an Irish actor) uses a fake English accent. The producers almost did not hire Katie McGrath because, if Merlin had an Irish accent, they did not want anyone else in the series having one. Thankfully Colin Morgan managed to nail a perfect English accent (Katie McGrath had more difficulties doing so) and so they were able to keep her.
Soon enough, they realize that Agravaine is still following them and Merlin insists he knows enough of these tunnels to get rid of Agravaine and his baddies. Arthur left with no choice agrees to let him go and Merlin leads Agravaine and his knights into a dead end, it seems, of a cave where Merlin uses his magic to knock them all unconscious.
I confess I am sick and tired of Morgana as a character. She is a one note character, built up through the expanse of the season to be stronger than Merlin, stronger than Arthur as a king in order to get her forces around her to take the castle, so that she can be defeated in the end. Not once in the entire season is there a balance between Morgana and Merlin to show viewers that how and why these two challenge each other. Instead, lazy writing turns to an aged Emrys to show how much Morgana is afraid of him.
That night, Merlin goes back into the castle as Emrys, lingering just long enough for Morgana to catch sight of him. She panicks, and sends her guards after him, but Merlin evades them and casts a spell before he escapes, in his usual age, and in a cloak of abad guy he knocked out.
Morgana is overcome with fear and emotion at seeing Emrys, and it is up to Helios to be properly consoling, before waxing lyrical about how Emrys being so scared of her, which is about when I fall down laughing, and wonder how and why these writers even have female characters on this show if their writing of them is such a bad rollercoaster. Like all big bad men who are in charge, Helios actually tells her to rest, and she actually obeys, ordering that he make sure there are guards at the door.
And cue, the wedding! Or crowning really. Just as Morgana saw it in her visions. So, in one finale, there is the sword in the stone and Arthur and Gwen married. Does this mean season 5 has to focus on Merlin? I would hope so.
After a strong start to this season, that had me looking forward to what the rest of the episodes could bring, the writers unfortunately faltered and much of the second half of the season was a muddled mess of bad characterization as they rushed along to an ending at all costs and sacrificing everything they could in order to get The Sword in the Stone and the Arthur/Gwen marriage out of the way.
The first season aired here in the US I think over the summer and I enjoyed. My only real problem was the casting of Guinevere was way off. IMHO, she wasn't exactly a beauty that could destroy a kingdom.
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