Board Thread:Rewatching "Merlin" - Season Four/@comment-5102537-20131116154357/@comment-5102537-20131129230754

Selecasticon wrote: (i) I don't know if many people have the same kind of boots that Merlin has...

There was a brief moment when Dragoon stepped on his smashed pot, Arthur staring at it under those boots, and he never even wondered what became of Merlin if this old man is now waring his servant's boots!!!

I never noticed that. Maybe those boots aren't unique but very common among people. However, there should have been quite some other hints telling Arthur that Dragoon had something to do with Merlin, especially Merlin's long time in the woods having to pee and him disappearing when Dragoon appears.

I actually wanted to paste and copy here what I have written on other threads/blogs already but I can't find them.

The short version: This episode wouldn't have been that bad if Uther had survived because....

(the long version) this episode started a whole new direction and story of the show and killed the actual one in the process.

There were some touching scenes, like when Arthur talked to Uther and realised that his father not only remembered Arthur's birthday but especially that he responded to him and seemed to get better. Uther's childlike look on his face during the feast was somewhat heartbreaking and hardly reminded of the man he used to be. This feast showed some other things too: Uther sat at a table with the new knights, obviously accepting them, plus he talked to Agravaine, which could be seen in the background for a few seconds in a scene. So Uther not only didn't have a problem with the knights but he also obviously didn't fear that Agravaine might be up to something, especially telling Arthur about the circumstances of his birth - which is quite surprising since Agravaine had actually never had any reason to keep this secret, given that Tristan, his brother, had attempted to kill Uther in a duel because of Igraine's death.

So why would Agravaine suddenly be Arthur and Uther's best and trusted friend? Despite the deep depression, Uther wasn't blind. It's one thing to not care about such things like knighting commoners in comparison to what happened to him and his daughter (which presumably had changed Uther's mind), but it's another to ignore a potential threat that Agravaine was. Moreover, Uther talking to Agravaine showed that he wasn't completely out of order but indeed noticed what was happening around him. This was overlooked or ignored later when he returned as a ghost.

Well, Arthur's birthday. The very day that Igraine died, which surely wasn't a day that made Uther happy. Yet Igraine wasn't even mentioned by him. After everything and after Uther changing in particular, Igraine should have been a subject in this epsiode. The only one mentioning her was Arthur when all of a sudden he knew about the circumstances of his birth. Who told him, how did he react, why was he suddenly cool with it? All the fuss about the secret that no one must ever know, three seasons of keeping it, Arthur almost killing Uther when Morgause played the wicked game by summoning Igraine or the illusion of her, and then - poof - the truth is out but is only mentioned as a sidenote when Arthur says that his mother died of magic.

Would be the same if a year has passed and suddenly everyone knows of Merlin's secret and is fine with it.

Did Uther tell Arthur or did Agravaine tell him or was it a stranger, Gaius, Merlin or who? His whole life Arthur was convinced that Igraine died because of him in childbirth but not at the hands of magic. This was quite evident in "The Sins of the Father" when Arthur tells Merlin that his mother died in childbirth, when he told Igraine the same and when Igraine (or the illusion/shade of Igraine) told him that it wasn't him but magic. And then this was all taken back by Merlin when he convinced Arthur that it was a lie. So Arthur was still thinking that his mother died a natural death when and because he was born. And now he suddenly knows that she died at the hands of magic but doesn't seem to have a problem with his father anymore and also doesn't wonder if he may be someone who is supposed to help magic-users since he himself was born of magic, hence actually being a part of them.

This was a reveal I wanted to see because we were being told for years that neither Arthur nor anyone else must ever know. It's ridiculous that this happened all off screen and was suddenly totally alright.

Arthur and magic

The moment that Arthur decided to use magic and promised Dragoon and sorcerers freedom, it was clear that Uther would die. So no surprise in the end. Had Uther recovered, what would have happened when learning that his son used magic? Did Arthur think that Uther would remain in his depressive state or that he had changed his mind about magic and everything? Whether Uther did or not, Arthur said "when I am King...", and this implies that he didn't think his father would approve of it and allow magic again. Arthur's promise to Dragoon would have also brought him into a an impossible situation, simply because if Uther had fully recovered, Arthur would either have to go behind his father's back and save sorcerers/magic-users best he could or he would oppose his father openly or he would do as his father says and help him in regard to magic - or, if Uther doesn't mentally recover, Arthur would continue as Regent Prince and either continue the ban of magic until he is King or change his father's law while Uther is still alive.

None of it would have worked for anyone.

Moreover, Dragoon should have been a potential threat in Arthur's eyes but not the one who saves Uther's life for long. Why would a sorcrerer want to keep the one alive that forbids magic and therefore spend the rest of his life in fear when it would have been so easy for him to kill Arthur on the spot and let Uther die (in Arthur's eyes). Both Pendragons dead, Camelot without an heir and demoralised due to that.

All sorcerers/magic-users/enemies of Camelot would have a much easier job to replace the (male-)Pendragon dynasty with someone who either allows magic or with someone of their own (Morgana, for example!), and in case this wouldn't work, Camelot could have been destroyed due to the mayhem and chaos. There was no reason whatsoever for Arthur to trust Dragoon. Except if Arthur had remembered that Dragoon was the one who risked his life back then to save Gwen from death when he claimed that he had put a spell on Gwen and Arthur. Had Arthur recalled and wondered why this old sorcerer saved Gwen's life and almost died on her behalf, he wouldn't have been suspicious and disapproving of Dragoon here in the first place. On the contrary, he would have thanked him for saving Gwen and asked why he did that at all. Yet he obiously thought that a strange sorcerer simply did it all out of fun but was a foe anyway.

Had Arthur remembered, he either would have trusted (and thanked) Dragoon from the beginning or he could have thought that this had all been a long planned conspiracy to manipulate him. Instead none of that was shown and Arthur didn't refer to it just once.

The Gleeman

He said that he would give Arthur a birthday that he never forgets... So far so good, he did indeed. But the problem is that he actually wanted to kill Arthur but not Uther. So if he had succeeded, Arthur would be dead. And that means that Arthur would forget (at least in regard to the world of the living - I doubt that the Gleeman/Odin were aware of the afterlife and the souls wandering it, thus making Arthur remembering his birthday in the afterlife). Had the Gleeman planned to kill Uther, his remark would have made sense, but the fact that he wanted to kill Arthur made it quite pointless and absurd.

Aside from the fact that obviously Camelot's guards, especially the guards of the king were so easily to be defeated, hence almost anybody could have killed either Uther, Arthur, Morgana or others at any time very easily, it was quite clear that the circus group/the guests would have been accused. How did the Gleeman plan to get out of this?

Morgana

Why in the world was she so eager to have Uther dead when he was the only one standing in Gwen's way to the throne? Killing Uther was the stupidest thing she had ever done because by that she made way for Gwen to marry Arthur and to claim the throne as Queen, the very thing Morgana had seen in her vision that made her furios. Morgana had tried to kill Gwen before but for some reason didn't tell Agravaine to take care of her again and to kill her. She would have done a much better job by either sneaking into the castle herself with Agravaine's help or by letting Uther suffer in his mentally destroyed stage, simply because as long as Uther was alive, Arthur wouldn't marry Gwen. Moreover, she could have sneaked into the castle to kill both Arthur and Gwen. Or all three of them, Arthur, Gwen and Uther.

If there was a reason why she couldn't (and there actually wasn't), she better had not killed her father but ensured that he stays alive in order to prevent Arthur from marrying Gwen. In case that she feared or knew that Uther wouldn't mind anymore because he may have changed and that Arthur would marry Gwen with Uther's blessing, the options above would have made much more sense - killing all of of them. The Gleeman succeeded, why couldn't she? Nothing here made sense whatsoever.

What's more, when Morgana heard from Agravaine that Arthur was looking for magic to heal his father, why didn't she either follow Arthur and Merlin and killed them on their way to "Dragoon" or sent someone after them to take care of it? Had Arthur died on his way to the sorcerer, Uther wouldn't have been healed and both Arthur and Uther would be dead. Why making it so complicated by enchanting a necklace when it wasn't only risky because someone could have spotted and removed it before the healing spell, but also when she knew that Arthur would hate magic once he sees that magic killed his father? So in the end she not only paved the way for Gwen to become Queen by killing Uther but she also lost her last chance to get Arthur on her side when he saw that magic killed his father instead of healing him.

Was this some kind of a twisted intended self-destruction or what?

First she says that "a broken prince will make a terrible king" (when Uther dies), then, when Uther is dead, she tells Agravaine that now Arthur has taken Uther's place by hating magic because it killed his father. She had known that before but did it anyway. Apparently, she wanted Arthur to hate magic and to become like Uther in regard to this, which shows clearly that she didn't care at all for freedom for her fellow magic-users and sorcerers and witches.

Not to mention that she still refused to see what she meant to Uther, given his mental condition that was caused by her hatred.

The necklace she enchanted was bound to the left hand path, something I've always wondered about. The Left Hand Path is also a part of the Indian Tantra and esoterically black and evil magic. It's the magic of a malicious entity like Satan and said to be used to serve him. Does that mean that by enchanting the necklace, Morgana condemned Uther's soul to some kind of hell in the afterlife? If so, was her hatred and desire to make Uther suffer for eternity more important than bringing back magic to the land? Whether or not the necklace' purpose was to condemn Uther's soul, I think it was obvious that Morgana's priority was her hatred and her hunger for power and not helping magic.

Like others have already stated out, the necklace was risky because it could have easily been spotted especially by Gwen. Agravaine put it around Uther's neck after Gwen had left, but she could have come back and check on Uther at any time since she regularly treated his wound and changed the bandage. Gaius, Arthur or Merlin could have checked on Uther too. Agravaine knew that a sorcerer was about to cast a healing spell but he didn't know how this would work and what the spell requires. Had it required something on the naked skin, most of all the wound, the necklace would have been discovered in time.

Gaius found the necklace after Uther's death but didn't seem to bother Arthur with it. Neither did Merlin. Why in the world didn't they want to accuse Morgana when Arthur knew that Morgana had tried to kill Uther several times before and that she had every opportunity to have somebody putting the necklace around Uther's neck? Arthur would have believed it instantly and he would have never suspected Gwen of it. Aside from the fact that Arthur had every right to know what happened to his father and that his half-sister was responsible, it would have made himrealise that Dragoon had nothing to do with it. This was all so illogical.

Instead of telling Arthur what was really going on they let him suffer from feeling responsible for his own father's death and let him believe that all magic was evil. Why? It made no sense at all. Moreover, Agravaine obviously didn't wonder why the strange necklace was never a subject after Uther's death, despite the very fact that Gaius must have found it when examining and preparing Uther's body. The fact that Arthur never mentioned it showed that he didn't know of it, so Agravaine had to have known that there was a reason for that. Which means that Gaius kept it a secret. Yet it never occured to him that Gaius was hiding something and could have been a potential threat.

When Arthur talks to Merlin after Uther's death, he says that his father had fought magic for twenty years. Well, it was twenty years already in the first episode of season one, namely ever since Arthur was born and Igraine died. Since Arthur wasn't twenty years old when his father died, he should have known that it was at least 25 years already.

And once again the life for a life-rule was overlooked or ignored.

Uther

With his death, all the warmth was taken from the show. Which was ironical. With killing off Uther, characters suddenly changed and behaved cold and callous. While it had been Merlin's goal for years to save people, friends, foes and opposers alike, and while Gaius did everything in his powers to protect and save Uther too, here, all of a sudden, no one really cared and Uther's suffering and death was unimportant. Merlin was willing to let Uther die until he saw an advantage for himself to bring back magic - something which was completely out of character for him. He had it in his powers to heal Uther, as was evident when he did before Morgana's spell reversed it, yet he callously told a desperate Arthur to simply accept that his father is going to die. The look on Merlin's face spoke volumes. It was challenging and somewhat satisfied, as if he wanted to emphasize that his father died too and that now it was Arthur's turn to lose a loved one.

Had he healed Uther sooner, Arthur wouldn't have decided to use magic, thus wouldn't have told Agravaine, and Morgana couldn't have done anything to stop Merlin. However, Merlin didn't lift a finger and obviously didn't want Uther to recover but was willing to agree to his upcoming death that was caused by the Gleeman. Arthur's grief wasn't reason enough for him to save Uther, neither was Uther suffering, a broken man who wasn't a threat anymore, who had been suffering for decades and who was as helpless as a child.

Using him and his misery as a bargain was the most callous and rotten thing that anyone could ever do, and it was disturbing that the so-called hero,Merlin, did it. Saving Uther all the time while he was a threat to him but wanting to let him die when he is destroyed, ignoring his best friend's grief and deperation - ugly. Kicking somebody who is down already.

And Gaius, Uther's long time friend (and both had asssured each other of their feelings of friendship), even if their friendship might not have been the closest one, didn't care at all about Uther, tried to prevent Merlin from healing him (after Merlin had seen an opportunity to bring back magic) and didn't seem to grieve the slightest bit when Uther was dead. Where was Gaius' usual concern and his heart? He and Uther shared a history, had been knowing each other for decades, and Gaius knew that Uther was misguided but not evil, plus that Uther trusted Gaius with his life and considered him as a friend - but all of a sudden Merlin better not help him even though both had saved him several times before, and Uther's life and well-being is completely unimportant? Since when was Gaius so indifferent?

Even if he thought that it was better for Uther in regard to his mental condition, there wasn't the slightest hint to that and it wouldn't have killed anyone if Gaius had at least spent a few seconds showing a glimpse of compassion and sadness. Just like Uther did when he had to sentence Gaius to death and couldn't stand his execution.

Whatever the reasons were for killing Uther off - time schedule or shifting the story to a new level - all the other "good" characters behaved better and more compassionate while Uther was still alive and in charge.

Merlin, Arthur, Gaius and Gwen were on their best behaviour by helping others and by ethically doing the right thing as long as Uther was king. During and after his death, they all became either selfish, indifferent, cold, callous, misguided or immature.

- Merlin didn't care much about his fellow magic-users anymore, submitted fully to Arthur but didn't want to help him when he was desperate about his father's upcoming death, wanted to let Mordred die and even Arthur to kill him, let Gwen leave when she was banished without helping her and killed Agravaine as well as Morgana (the rest of Arthur's family) but never considered trying to change their mind.

- Gaius didn't care about Uther, didn't try to stop Merlin from wanting Mordred dead, didn't really help anyone anymore, kept Arthur in the dark about the necklace and therefore let him believe that he was responsible for his father's death by using magic, didn't consider helping Gwen when she was charged of adultery. The once so great mentor became a more indifferent stooge.

- Gwen seemed to be happy with her new status as Queen, used a girl and her fear of dying to capture and kill her father, obviously didn't change much in regard to servants and commoners and suddenly lost her wisdom and rich emotional life by hopping around like a happy Cinderella in new dresses.

- Arthur persecuted sorcerers, denied them a proper burial, didn't really know what was right and wrong, betrayed his father's honour several times, killed a defenceless man in cold blood, didn't care much about Morgana all of a sudden and walked the Merlinverse like a sedated and numb teenager who was pushed from one side to another by being manipulated and by changing his mind almost every week.

How weird is that? The so-called happy time and desired Golden Age that was supposed to begin when Uther is dead turned out to be a shallow and chaotical mishmash of odd character-behaviour that all ended up in failure, misery and pain.

Why Gaius told Merlin in the end that now that Uther is dead, Arthur can bring peace and stability to the land (and as we know, he couldn't), is beyond me. In season one he told Merlin already that Uther brought peace and prosperity to the land and that he was a good king whose job wasn't to be liked but to protect the kingdom. Did it make sense that now Gaius implies the opposite as if Uther had been a bad king and ruined Camelot?

The humour

I think that the weird humour, the piggy ride and other stand-up comedy stuff was totally misplaced in this episode. It wasn't gallows humour that was supposed to ease a sad situation but simply silly jokes that again - as usual - were done to demonstrate the banter between Merlin and Arthur. Couldn't they do without it in at least this one episode? I found it quite distasteful seeing such silly behaviour while one of the main characters suffered and was about to die - and then indeed died in the end. It only contributed to the unimportance of the actual serious situation and the misery of a helpless person. Ah, who cares about Uther dying as long as Merlin and Arthur are bantering and having some fun? Though Arthur obviously wasn't in the mood for fun, yet Dragoon/Merlin didn't stop and teased and annoyed Arthur constantly.

Another very tactless thing - aside from Gwen's usual "I'm doing it for Arthur, not for Uther" - was Arthur's rushed coronation, the sudden desire for breakfast once Arthur left the throne hall and the very fact that the audience didn't even get to see Uther's funeral. A main character had just died, his son mourns the body for a night and all of a sudden, when he steps outside, the sun is shining (why didn't they just add happily singing songbirds and butterflies flying around while lovers in the park dance and kiss...?) and Arthur is in some mood for breakfast.

Poof! That was it. Uther is forgotten, let's eat.

The shining sun came across as the beginning of  a new happy new era (while Uther's dead body was still lying in the throne hall), Arthur will become king, everything is fine. Who cares that someone who had suffered for decades, who was humiliated and tormented, whose world was shattered to pieces and who had spent a year in living hell when being deprived of his mental and physical health, his hope, his kingdom, his daughter, his pride, honour, dignity and his life, just died an agonizing death. Breakfast was more important. As was the rushed coronation of Arthur and the gloryfying "Long live the King" cheers.

This was supposed to tell the viewer that now everyone is happy because Uther is finally gone. Not only the characters were happy but the audience was supposed to be happy too. Therefore nobody needed a funeral for the deceased king. Where were Uther's loyal knights and his friends (Godwyn, for example)? I wanted to see a funeral instead of Arthur being coronated because his coronation didn't make me happy at all but annoyed me tremendously. I wanted to see friends and knights and Arthur doing honour to Uther because that's the way it should be when somebody dies and others mourn them. It also gives the audience the chance to say good-bye to a character.

Uther's death was also the death of the previously approached storylines about Morgause, Igraine, Vivienne, Gorlois and Morgana. All those questions were left in the open and were never answered, all the stories were eliminated. The whole episode and the fact that it all happened in the third one of season four already gave the impression that they couldn't get rid of Uther fast enough. And Uther was the third dead character in just three episodes in a row.

This also meant that the original story here about Arthur and Merlin's adventures before the well-known legends begin was eliminated by starting the Arthurian legend and rushing through it like hell. Arthur being King, marrying Gwen, the Lancelot-problem, the Round Table, Morgana as the enemy, Mordred and his revenge, the sword in the stone/Excalibur, the battle at Camlann, Arthur's death - it all happened in just two seasons in a rush, barely connected to the previous three seasons and in a new style filled with brutality, emotional torture and cruelty.

That's what this episode had started and why the entire show made a 180.

The acting was great, the music was too. The story was ridiculous, in my opinion, and Uther's death a huge disappointment.