User blog comment:MerlinUSA/Merlin -- The Big Picture/@comment-5102537-20130120143649/@comment-5102537-20130121112322

Let us clarify first what kind of relationship between Arthur and Merlin you are referring to. Do you mean a homosexual love or a brotherly love? Furthermore, would you please point out what mystery of love the dragon was referringb to? I don't remember him saying anything about a deep love between Arthur and Merlin.

What you wrote here:

" You claim that it was intended for the show to end when Arthur was crowned. How do you know this? Everyone connected with the show said it was built around a five-year story arc, and the writers said at least a year ago and many times since that they already knew how the show would end when they started it. " 

This was said in interviews by various people during the first three seasons. I was told by someone who claims to be working on the show that somwhere during season three they decided to make Arthur king much sooner, most likely because Anthony Head had other projects. I don't know the true reasons and it's none of my business anyway. Fact is that it was always said that Arthur will become king at the end of the show, sometime towards the end of the final season. The idea of a five year storyarc might be true or not - fact is that it was never safe to say that there will be five seasons because it depended on ratings or contracts or whatever was going on behind the scenes. Every season could have been the last. So idea or not, they obviously had to cope with what was possible and with the time schedule of the actors. I actually don't like to speculate about such stuff since I don't know their business and  don't know who talked to who about what. Spreading rumours is not a good thing. However, the original idea was to make Arthur king towards the end and to start the original legens when the show is over.

And this was totally obvious in the first three seasons. Arthur still had a long way to go and a reveal was as far away as the next galaxy is to ours. There was no sign whatsoever that Merlin will be seen for who he is and there was no sign that Arthur will be king so soon, despite the rare occasions that showed him in charge when Uther was sick. It was always said by Gaius and Uther and also Arthur himself that he wasn't ready to be king yet - which was demonstrated to us as well. The main plot was Merlin hiding his secret which was the very reason why they brought in Uther in the first place. The show wanted to show us that Merlin and Arthur become friends, that Merlin opens Arthurs eyes and that someday magic will be allowed. The tension of it all was a) Uther always being present and therefore being a threat to Merlin (but honestly, has anyone ever really thought that Merlin would die?) and b) will Uther change his opinion or will he die at the end as a bitter man in rage over Merlin's secret?

Either way, it all pointed into the direction that when Arthur is king, things will change, and it also always pointed into the direction of an overall happy-ending. This was the plan and this was what the show delivered to us in the first three seasons.

As I wrote before, it's trendy to make TV shows as brutal, cruel and "realistic" as possible in order to attract more viewers. Moreover, especially shows set in medieval times are done exceptionally brutal and dark. Take a look at Games of Thrones or Spartacus, for example. Not to mention that the producers have admitted that they are big Spartacus-fans and would have loved to later do Merlin in that style. Oh my God.... what a terrible show this would have been.

It was totally obvious that they tried to surprise the viewers, but instead of surprising them with more clever plots and logical stories, they decicded to surprise the viewers by killing off characters of whom no-one had thought they would die, like Morgause, Lancelot and Uther. With doing this, they also got rid of everyone who was in the way of showing Arthur as king, which was demanded by a very vocal fanbase. It also obviously gave those actors who had other projects the time they needed. The problem was that the main plot - Merlin hiding his secret - didn't really work anymore. All the time we were being told by other characters that when Arthur is king, things will change. Nothing changed, it stayed the same, except for the Round Table and marrying Gwen. It was much too unbelievable that Merlin still had to hide his powers from Arthur, but on the other hand, Arthur's so-called hatred of magic clashed with the promised plot that Camelot had a so-called Golden Age and that things would change. Nothing worked, nothing was believable. So they simply ignored this more or less and suddenly focused on Merlin wanting Arthur's acceptance and being totally submissive only.

They could have done the original plot a lot better if they had brought in tension between Merlin and Arthur, simply due to the fact that Merlin disapproved of Arthur still persecuting Merlin's kind. Instead they presented a Merlin who was a happy bunny hopping around his king, smiling and ignoring the fact that his beloved Arthur was still killing sorcerers and magic-users. There was nothing left in the Merlin we used to know, the one who was devastated by the misery of his fellow sorcerers, the one who tried everything in his powers to help those who needed help. The show runners suddenly put this in the background and often completely ignored it but showed us a Merlin being obsessed with Arthur. The thing is: he started to trust and protect Arthur because of the prophecy. Arthur was supposed to be saviour, the messiah. Since Arthur wasn't any of this but kept killing magic-users and persecuting those who were supposed to be freed, protecting Arthur made actually no sense anymore. In order to make us believe that Merlin had good reasons and that he really was Arthur's friend but also eager to free those of his own kind, they should have pointed out that Merlin was still trying his best and maybe even at odds with Arthur. But no, we constantly saw Merlin confessing his brotherly love and being a submissive slave while sorcerers were still opressed and persecuted.

Yes, "Merlin" was a family show in the first three seasons (not a children's show - but sadly, some believed that it was). While there were a lot of questionable things happening in season three, the execution of a sorcerer in season one wasn't shown and moreover, the viewers had no connection to Thomas Collins. Children are being confronted with death very soon and often, but the main thing is that when those the viewer doesn't get to know and feel no affection for  are being killed, it doesn't shock younger viewers. Whereas it becomes a problem when those characters the audience has gotten used to or even love are being killed or tormented. So yes, the first seasons were appropriate for kids. In season three, it was more serious especially when Morgana tortured her own father. Something which wasn't so appropriate for children anymore, yet there was still hope and the expectation that things will change and that father and daughter will make peace with each other again (speaking of the happy-ending-concept). People still thought that this was only a temporary thing and that there will be a good ending to it.

With season four, all hope for a happy ending was gone and the viewers saw that not only a character was being tortured and destroyed but even killed by his own daughter - and she was never ever criticised for that. Never, by no-one. This is the main reason why this wasn't a family show anymore. Twelve years olds and teens never saw other characters criticising the very fact that a daughter killed her own father only because he was in her way and because she hated him. What kind of message is this for a family show? Sadly, TV shows need to show exceptional violence in a graphic way to call it a show for adults, so "Merlin" was still officially suitable for younger viewers who were confronted with cruelty, hatred, torture, misery and murdering the own parents without the slightest criticism.

The problem was that by showing this stupid silly banter and this utter naive storylines, all the serious hapenings, the real serious stuff was being overlooked and ignored, downplayed and washed away. The focus on the bromance gave the audience the feeling that no-one and nothing was really important but only Arthur and Merlin going on missions and bantering around. Who cared about the misery and pain of others as long as Merlin and Arthur had fun together and a good laugh at the end of each epsiode? Ridiculous.

Yes, it was also about Arthur's and Merlin's friendship because, as usual, some characters are in the focus of a TV show (or movie). But still, there were many other plots and characters and it was all very well balanced out in the first three seasons. The main plot about restoring magic was always present, the other characters and their connection to each other were being show well. You can't do a TV show with two characters only, naturally there have to be other plots and characters that contribute to the overall plotline. But sadly not in season four and five anymore. everything and everyone was reduced to a side-effect in order to try to bring some logic into the story that didn't work anymore after Uther's death the way they handled it. So they changed it into a bromance only and ignored what this show used to be about.

If you would like to know all my problems with the finale, you can read my blog about it. It's too much to repeat it all here.

As for the criticism, there used to be a lot of positive feedback about the show here until it was changed into this disaster. As for me, when I was just about to write a blog about my all-time favourite epsiode "The Crystal Cave", I watched "The Death Song of Uther Pendragon" and was suddenly so very underwhelmed by it that I didn't have the nerve to praise the epsiode anymore when everything went downhill and when everything we had seen before suddenly became absurd. I would have done it if the final season was still connected to the previous plots and if there was still consistency and continuity. As of now, it simply doesn't make sense to me anymore..