Board Thread:Rewatching "Merlin" - Season Five/@comment-5102537-20140510092611/@comment-24785400-20140511105803

You're not at all crazy Areanna1023 for sympathizing with Kara (and I've followed zahrawithaz on LJ for a couple of years, and she always has interesting things to say.  Also have a look at http://ravenya03.livejournal.com/ as she is great too). The audience for this show has always been pretty divided depending on who "they shipped" or how they viewed it (either wanting to be entertained, or looking for a deeper story)

I often wonder if the writers realised what they were doing with this episode. I honestly find this a mess, and as somebody from TwoP said

So I guess the problem with this episode was that I was 100% on the designated villain's side, watching as the storyline split at the seams in the attempt to divert as much blame as possible away from the so-called heroes.

It was obviously written with one aim - that to turn Mordred against Arthur - and with that final scene of Mordred telling Morgana about Emrys in mind,  but it was done in such a way that I personally really couldn't buy it. I know people did, and thought Kara brought it all upon herself, which was what we were supposed to think but... Kara was smart, articulate and for a female in this show - had plenty of agency.(and look at the message again - you can't trusts girls, look what happens. She not only put Arthur in his place, she told him why - and she made so much sense.   She wasn't crazy in the slightest.  She had beliefs and she was sticking to them, and in the end, was willing to die for them. (and that's her biggest downfall - not accepting Arthur's offer of repentance). There are movies about these sorts of characters and THEY are the heroes, but here Arthur has to be the hero, but for what? The writers have to make her look crazy for not accepting his offer, and placing the blame on her for her own actions.  She told him in no uncertain terms that she considered him at war against her kind.  What happened? he had told the ghost-druid kid that he would no longer hunt down druids, but with the 3 year gap and lack of attention paid to what was happening to the people in the kingdom in that time frame, we can't judge for ourselves what's been happening. Just because Camelot are not actively hunting down druids doesn't mean these people are not being oppressed. Or so we are led to believe. Did the writers just put in some sentences for the actors and think the audience will buy it without question? This again is an episode where we area seeing a section of people for whatever reasons being oppressed, its not propaganda, they're not seeking revenge, but their freedom. And Arthur has done nothing to make them believe differently then when Uther was on the throne.

To make Arthur the hero and in the right, they had to go and make her a bit stabby and try to assassinate him. In turn he had to be reasonable and tell her he wasn't going to try her because of magic (did she have magic or was just a druid? I was really never sure), but because she committed an act of treason. Its been a while since I've watched it, but  didn't get the impression that she was league with Morgana in anyway. Kara wants her freedom, Morgana wants the throne.

We see in this episode a very frantic Merlin. We as well as him were supposed to believe that Mordred was the traitor in the midst, as was Agravaine, and Morgana before him, and his realisation that this wasn't the case at all, and now he has to try and fix it all up. All we the audience had seen was Mordred's devotion and hero-worship of Arthur, and his belief that Arthur would bring about a better world. Its as all of a sudden they've realised that Merlin could be blamed for a lot of what happened and had to scramble to make him less accountable. But, as an audience, we saw Mordred  turn away from Morgana and what she had become, and was  knighted  for his troubles- and then nothing of him for several episodes. We were just not offered enough about him to make a judgement either way... just what the dragon had said, and Merlin's vision. But now, between his and Arthur actions, Mordred was turning to Morgana anyway. We are also supposed to be reminded (wow, call-backs!!) of Freya, and also Igraine as well. Again, there are movies made about men whose loved ones are killed and THEY are the heroes. what, because Merlin forgave Arthur killing his once and only love, this sort of self-sacrifice for the good of either Arthur or Albion, Mordred should have done the same? I can't get over the message here. Let your loved ones die, do nothing, and hope one day things will be better.

Show-runners decisions - things are coming to a head, and we still have time for Merlin to refer to himself as a swan, and Arthur to call him a louse. Is that supposed to be funny/bantering? It really wasn't and such a waste  of a time and at the same time had a type of meanness about it. Most of the recent scenes between these two seem to have one undermining the other. Merlin is hiding so much from Arthur, so how is Arthur to know what is at stake and what his destiny should be. The writers seemed so scared of moving anything forward and letting go of the secret that they can't do the story justice, again they are playing with our preconceptions of the legend, but not what they are offering us on screen. They've created this incredibly complex situation and tried to render it in the most simplistic terms