User blog comment:Percivalxx/Which series of Merlin did you find the best?/@comment-69.171.172.159-20130103011059

Hmm, off the top of my head, if pressed to pick one as my favorite, I would probably say series 2, largely because of The Lady of the Lake (best episode ever!) and Sweet Dreams (seriously one of the best comedy episodes ever; I laugh EVERY time I see it, even though I already know what's going to happen. I think it's Bradley's facial expressions in that episode that push it over the edge of humour, followed by Colin's reactions; those are priceless, the actors really play well off one another's strong points in that episode), oh and because even though she got a little more whiny, Morgana was still one of the good guys and not mean to Merlin in that series.

But really, ALL five series have their own merits, their own personal ups and downs.

Series one high points: Introduction to Merlin and all the other characters; subtle ways to invoke the legend but with a twist that most people might not have even noticed (for example, Uther's being under a spell to make him unable to move in A Remedy to Cure All Ills actually mirrors what happens to Merlin in Howard Pyle's first King Arthur novel!); A really strong, sympathetic, likable Morgana throughout the series with an understandable reason for going temporarily 'bad' after Uther killed her maid's father; the Sidhe; the unicorn; the explaination of how Excalibur ended up in the lake (from the moment I realized where the plot was going, Merlin throwing the sword into the lake to protect it from being used by anyone except Arthur, I was entraced with the legend callbacks and explainations in the series as a whole); Arthur and Merlin's relationship BEFORE Merlin actually realized he was more than a prat and started tripping over himself to protect him, back when they bickered in more than just a 'friendly, brotherly fashion'; Nimueh; Will, and Will's death (it was the first of many deaths to hit Merlin hard in the series, so no matter how many other people he loved who died in the show -Freya, Balinor, Lancelot, and eventually even Arthur himself- Will was always the very first person whose death visibily broke Merlin's heart).

Series 1 low points: Edwin (I don't dislike him as much as I used to, but intially I found him an annoying villian, though he can't hold a candle to Alvarr as far as flat, one-sided magic-having fanatics go); how the first episode made Merlin's magic more ambigous, like even though it's magic they sort of left you to wonder, as he was born with it and never had to utter any spells and mostly what he did was move objects around with his mind, and thus interesting from a sci-fi/mental standpoint and then ripped that plotline away with episode 2 by making him much more overtly warlock/wizard and from then on out he seems to need to say magic words to do even simple things that didn't require such spells in the first episode; a staircase that magically disappears for the ENTIRE rest of the show from the remainder of series 1 to the end of series 5 (it's as if they randomly moved Gaius' chambers to another location after the first episode and it was a little jarring); the semi-kiddish feel to some of the scenes (if you watch all of series 1 as a whole, while not as dark as the show would later become, it is a fairly mature, well-rounded show that is clearly not just for little kids but rather for any age who loves King Arthur stories, but every now and then bits and pieces of it early on would be done in a more kiddish fashion that would make someone who just saw a scene in passing think the show was childish or even a parody because they saw it out of context).

Series 2 high points: Freya; Vivien; Arthur and Merlin's friendship growing stronger but still rocky at times; Morgana still being a sympathetic character overall; Kilgharrah getting released; Merlin's father, Balinor; the humour; using Arthur as the character who almost got his head chopped off with an axe (by Morgause in Sins of the Father) instead of a knight (I like this a lot because in the older legends it WAS Arthur who had adventures like that, and I believe it was also Arthur in at least one of the Howard Pyle books who had that experince too, but most people only know the story of like Gwaine or whoever almost losing their head that way... actually, that's the medievial French tradtion that tends to largely exclude Arthur's character after he pulls the sword out of the stone, breaks it, and replaces it with Excalibur, in favor of seeing what all the knights are up to and they gave them a lot of Arthur's original adventures while he just apparently sits on his throne to keep it warm or whatever); Merlin falling in love (Freylin was too ADORABLE for words, and to think I honestly thought, before seeing that episode, I wasn't going to like them because I was a Mergana shipper at the time!); Arthur and Gwen going from occastionally speaking friends to an actual couple (I know some fans found it rushed, but I disgree, thinking the writers actually did VERY well with this; it wasn't that he didn't like Gwen before, it was that he didn't KNOW her, she was just sort of around all the time, when he got to stay with her in her house for a few days it's not surprising that he would appreicate how kind yet firm she was with him and fall in love with her, thus giving birth to the Arwen pairing!); Kilgharrah laughing his hide off when Merlin tells him Uther married a troll; 'Ygraine' cameo; "Oh what's that wilderan eating? Oh, it's okay, it's just Merlin..."; Merlin's stressed out rant at Gaius in the Once and Future Queen.

Series 2 low points: The placement of some of the episodes and their overall plots (series 2 would have been mindblowingly good beyond all comparison even to the other series of the show if ONLY they had thought some of the placement through better! First off, the episode where Uther marries a troll was great but it did NOT have to be a two-parter, all of the events in that episode could have been summed up easily in ONE forty minute segment, leaving room for The Lady of the Lake to be the two parter instead so we could get a little more in-depth with Freya's character and background before she died. Also, either The Once and Future Queen or The Nightmare Begins would have been better series premire episodes than the Curse of Cornilius Segan. Why? Becuase Curse would have been MUCH MUCH more moving if it took place AFTER The Lady of the Lake... because let's face it, even though it's sweet that Merlin says he'd rather serve a good man than rule with an evil one, it doesn't pack a powerful punch that early on the series since he hasn't really suffered much at Arthur's hand by that point... I mean, all Arthur did was give him the sack a couple of times and make his life harder with unending chores. Rough, sure, but not even half-decent motivation for Merlin to so much as be TEMPTED to betray Arthur and rule with Segan. But if it happened AFTER Arthur killed Freya as a Bastet, I could see Merlin wavering and then, being strong in character, as he says he'd rather serve a good man); they over-kiddished some of it even more than in series 1, such as making the troll look like a Jim Henson character that fell in the mud a few times; Alvarr; Morgana's naive and immedate trust of/adoration towards Alvarr; lack of a consistant villan (Series 1 had Nimueh, series 3-5 had Morgana -whereas series 2, though it introduced Morgause as a sometimes/kinda replacement for Nimueh was more willy-nilly with its villians-of-the-week); return of Lancelot (dang it! I thought we got RID of that gary-stu when he left in his namesake episode back in series 1!).

Series 3 high points: Merlin and Arthur's now much more cemented and strong friendship; Merlin and Gaius' interactions; Gaius possessed by a goblin calling Geoffrey of Monmouth "fattie"; FREYA'S PUDDLE CAMEO!; Gilli; the fisher king; Gwaine; dwarf who played Nikabrik in Narnia having a guest role; Gwaine/Merlin interaction; Merlin and Arthur in that tavern fight where they met Gwaine; Kilgharrah and Merlin's friendship being stronger and less of an on-off thing, in spite of the fact that they fought about Morgana in The Crystal Cave; lack of kiddishness (the third series felt much less "Jim Henson hour" and far more "Lord Of the Rings" as a whole); The crystal cave/Talisen; Dragoon the Great; ARWEN gone wild (there was so much more forbidden lovey-dovey Arthur/Guinevere going on in 3 than in 2!); Merlin putting the sword in the stone; Morgause getting knocked out by Gaius' magic; the humour; Elena; the return of the Sidhe; Merlin KILLING the sidhe elder (that was freaking AWESOME!); Elyan's introduction (they handled springing the fact that Guinevere suddenly had a long-lost brother very well in my opinon, it worked good); Uther going mad because of the mandrake root (very well written, those scenes); Nimueh mention (when Merlin was talking about the cup of life); Kilgharrah saving Merlin from the serkets; Merlin talking to Morgana, trying to turn her back to the good side, when she was bringing all those walking dead to life to invade the castle; Morgana being revealed as Arthur's half-sister!

Series 3 low points: Elena's old nursemaid (I know she was supposed to be comic relief, but she was the only about The Changeling I disliked; she was just annoying, and she looked as clownish and muppet-like as the troll from series 2 in her pixie form; and her flirting with Gaius was just creepy, though Merlin's reaction was priceless! But seriously, the humanized sidhe from series 1 -Sophia and her father- were so aloof and interesting, couldn't the pixie have been less silly and more dark just for the sack of character deepening?); Gwen was painfully passive (she practially TOLD Arthur to marry Elena!) in some parts of this series (I love her character and get that her gentle passiveness is part of it but GEEZ!); Morgana blackmailing Merlin (very uncalled for) so he can't tell Arthur or Uther she's a traitor (what an ungrateful snot!); Freya appearing ONLY in the puddle and not in person when they got our hopes up with "It's given me the chance to see you again"; Uther's blind adoration of Morgana that seemed even to excede his love for Arthur for no apparent reason aside from the fact that we learned she's actually his daughter; Lancelot's return in The Coming of Arthur (he just kept turning up like a bad penny, didn't he?); no more scenes with Merlin going under the castle to speak with Kilgharrah in the basement (I kinda missed those...) cuz the dragon was set free at the end of series 2; Merlin's very dramatic (and wonderfully acted) scene where he was accused of being a sorcerer and dragged before Uther and even SENTENCED TO DEATH being used as part of a jokey running-gag when Gaius was being controled by the Goblin (the problem wasn't that I didn't like that scene, it was that I DID, except there was no sense of fear or "OMG, Merlin's in hot water!" because it was a comedy episode and we all knew he was going to be cleared, probably in some comical fashion, before the hour was up); Morgana letting her sister leave Merlin to die without even a pause of hesistation (just a little something to show her character going into evil more GRAUDUALLY, like some small part of her still remembered he had once tried to help her would have been nice, you know?); Gaius being all hypocrital when Merlin rats out Alice (dude, don't EVEN! You did the same freaking thing when Merlin was trying to protect Freya!)

(I only saw series 4 once quite a while ago and it was in poor quailty and skipping/stopping constantly through the first two episodes, so I apologize if I miss something good or bad in my little pro and cons of that series; I'm planning on watching the whole series again this month when it comes to dvd here in the USA)

Series 4 high points: Merlin and Arthur's Jeeves and Wooster relationship (series four series was the most Jeeves and Woostery of the whole show between them in my opinon); George; Dragoon and Morgana fighting; Agravaine (I know I am in the minory, but I didn't totally hate him; I think he's actually GROWN on me; yes, he's shallow and kind of annoying, and selfish, and lacking disterable movation for many of his loyalties and actions, but he's also interesting in that he's one of the few non-female villians who posed an actual high threat to Merlin and Gaius; the last one we had who was so dangerous to them was the witchfinder... Also, I read a comment on a form that compared Agravaine and Morgana's relationship to the talking polar bear and the snow queen in the 2002 movie Snow Queen -which I LOVE- and I COULDN'T hate them when I realized they kinda WERE like that a little!); Lancelot's death (no, I'm not being a cold Lance-hater... I swear... I honestly liked the scene on its merits and how it mirrored Freya's funeral); The Arthur/Gwen/Lancelot triangle being the result of a love spell (again, I know I'm in the minory and most fans hated this, but I LOVED it because I'm an Arwen shipper -and not just for BBC's Merlin but in general in most versions of the legend as well- and I'm always bummed out when she cheats on him willingly with Lancelot. Also, I felt it fit good with the show overall because love spells were a common thread in this version -appearing either in actuality or theory in both Sweet Dreams and The Queen of Hearts); Mithian; Guindeer (Gwen turned into a deer, LOL); the opening scene to the first episode with the knights trying to steal food from the kitchen and Merlin rushing through the castle (it was a good opener to the series, I liked it a lot, even though Lancelot was in it); Morgana/Merlin confronation (though this has been RUINED for me, because someone on youtube put a clip dubbed over of Merlin telling Morgana, in a singing voice, "Sucks to be you..." after she gribes about how he thwarted her plans to take over Camelot and 'killed her sister' and I laugh hyestercially every time that clip comes to mind now); Evil Merlin in A Servant of Two Masters; clueless Arthur in the same episode; adorable baby Aithusa; Merlin magically dropping Arthur's pants and tackling him in front of the entire royal counsel just so he can steal his keys; Uther's death (well, in part... I didn't like the bit with Merlin unwittingly helping kill him, but I did like how he got wounded protecting Arthur, shows that even though he's been mopey and 'woe is me' over Morgana, he still loves his son); Lamia (again, I know most people didn't like her as a villian, but I really did); TRISTAN AND ISOLDE (arugably the BEST thing about series 4; I LOVED THEM!); Simpleton Arthur being 'nice' and 'obeying' Merlin until he turned back into normal Arthur when the spell wore off (seriously, Merlin, why didn't you use that spell BEFORE dude?); Alator turning on Morgana's butt and protecting Merlin/Emrys; Guinevere being crowned queen; Merlin getting a new red coat (which we NEVER SEE AGAIN for no apparent reason, LOL... Bummer, cuz he looked really good in it, too...); Merlin's over-apparent dislike of Mithian when she arrives because she's taking Gwen's place (I swear Merlin is the biggest Arwen shipper in the world; he's got all of us fangirls topped by like a a trillon!); Arthur and Mithian burping; Agravaine's death at Merlin's hand (he had it coming); Gwen's character in general (she was very strong, likable in series 4, and yet still human; what I liked best was when she looked after Uther for Arthur's sake even after all the old king had done to her, it really showed a great contrast between her character and Morgana's as far as spite goes); Hunith's return.

Series four low points: A Herald of the New Age (most of that episode, with a few exceptions of funny banter between the knights was pure garbage; I hate to say that about any Merlin episode, since I love the show to pieces, but it was nothing but a filler and a pointless one at that... The ONLY plot thread that is explored from the overall show in that episode is Arthur's promising to treat Druids kindly. I also liked the scene where he confesses HE led the raid that killed the shrine boy, not his father, but surely the writers could have thought of a better way to reveal this to the viewers than through forty minutes of ghostly possession and Are You Afraid of the Dark? on crack... I have NO idea what Howard Overman was smoking when he wrote that episode...); That we never got to see Isolde's funeral (I would have liked to, even if it just showed Merlin, Arthur, and Tristan floating a boat with her in it Freya/Lancelot style); Morgana's clothes (it was fitting that she dress differently, because she moved to a hovel and all, but I missed all her pretty dresses from the first three series); Gaius selling out Merlin after being torcured by Alator (eh, didn't sit well with me for whatever reason); Merlin using the poppet to take away Morgana's power (why is Merlin doing vodoo? Is this how the writers make the show 'darker'? This also sat poorly with me)

Series five high points: Odin's return; Mithian's return; Sefa; Daegal; The Hollow Queen and The Dark Tower (Julian Jones outdid himself with those two episodes); Tyr; Mordred's return; Dragoon (he was funny and dark, and it worked both ways!); FREYA'S ARM; Arthur's death scene (how he died after telling Merlin thank you); evil Guinevere; Morgana and Aithusa's friendship; Mab; Colin's great acting at its peak more than ever; Finna; Alator's return; a slight improvment in some of Morgana's clothes (some of them weren't as plain as her series 4 clothes, though they were nothing to her dresses in series 1-3).

Series five low points: The Disir (the character(s), not the episode, the episode was fine); Kara; Eira; weird alien thingie that knew Arthur's Bane; the fact that Mordred betrayed Arthur and Merlin over someone like KARA (shakes head); Aithusa wasn't as cute no more and she was on Morgana's side; Kilgharrah got sickly and oldish and that was sad; no Gilli return; no Tristan return; and Freya's return being only her arm; Freya not getting a mention (I understood that in series 4 there weren't many places where a mention of her would have fit in, but five had AMBLE chances where a mention of her character, espeically since she never reappears entirely and this was the last scenes would fit perfectly); no Alvarr return (I dislike him, but a brief return or a mention of his death would have been okay); Morgana's over the top sadistic treatment of Merlin in The Hollow Queen; almost the whole The Death Song of Uther Pendragon episode (it was an only slightly better repeat of A Herald of the New Age but with Uther instead of the Shrine Boy).