User blog:Fimber/Did Uther win at last? Résumé of Merlin and the finale - The Diamond of the Day Part 2

If I hadn't watched the show from the beginning, this final episode of "Merlin" would have been nice. Not very exciting but for a newbie certainly nice and not so bad. However, as usual, within the context of the show it was a complete failure in regard to really everything.

First of all, one might wonder how one of the greatest sword-fighters, Arthur, could be run through by Mordred so very easily. Arthur's hesitation and surprise was much too unbelievable and also incomprehensible since he was trained to be the best sword-fighter in the land, was always aware of potential distraction and most of all was in the middle of adrenaline-filled battle, fighting for Camelot and his life. This mistake, the hesitation, was as unlikely as his sudden surprise to see Mordred, the one he regretted to have put trust in him and whose girlfriend Arthur killed just a few days before, the one who escaped his cell in Camelot and held a more than obvious grudge against Arthur. Why was Arthur suprised at all and why did he leave himself totally undprotected when Mordred had already swung his sword and attacked Arthur? This fatal mistake was completely unlikely, yet it demonstrated the very annoying new attitude of his to blindly trust almost everyone, to always deny his enemie's hatred towards him and to always act like a scared or surprised innocent child who can't believe the evil of this world.

Mordred died as quickly as possible, as if he was just a random soldier, and this made his character unnecessary to some point. His whole appearance as an adult from the first epsiode of season five up until the finale was somewhat superflouse because any person could have killed Arthur with a sword forged by Aithusa's breath, a good sword fighter, skilled soldier or whoever. Even Morgana herself could have done it. The way they killed Mordred off leaves me wondering what his character was even for in the first place. It simply isn't enough to just include a part of the famous legends but then deal with it in such a boring, undeveloped way. Here, on the battlefield, Mordred was just another soldier. No depth, no development, no real and important meaning. They didn't even manage to develop the relationship of distrust between Mordred and Merlin after the boy Mordred told Merlin that he "will never forget", promising an unpleasant return. Merlin looked at him in silent distrust, Mordred behaved like he was Arthur's best mate ever and then... poooof, all gone. A character with great potential for great drama was wasted. Again.

Merlin standing on the hill and doing it the Gandalf-style by throwing lightning down on the Saxons was thrilling and amazing. Yet I do wonder why neither he nor anyone else had ever tried to do such a thing before in order to show Arthur/Camelot that there are sorcerers and magic users who can do "good" (a stretched expression though, because killing so many Saxons can't actually be considered as being good since they are also only humans and fight as soldiers, as well as the soldiers and knights of Camelot) and who can and want to help Camelot. Obviously, that was all that it took to gain Arthur's sudden respect and probably even trust. Two entire seasons full of lies, hiding, betraying and manipulating - all invane. Because here we saw one thing: do a little magic in order to help Arthur and Camelot, and you have Arthur's and Gwen's gratitude. Wow, if anyone had ever known that it was all so easy. And why has nobody ever told Merlin to simply go to the Crystal Cave in order to gain the power he needs that made him the most powerful sorcerer ever? Was there only this particular point in time, the final battle and Arthur's upcoming death, that allowed him to gain such power? If so, for what purpose? If Merlin and Arthur were paradoxically born to end the ban of magic that only started because of Arthur's birth in the first place (???), then why didn't all those magical helpers of Merlin and even the Triple Goddes or any other god or goddes tell Merlin "go to the Crystal Cave and get your true powers"? That way, all the misery and deaths of sorcerers and magic-users as well as the battle and Morgana's plots could have been avoided, hundreds, if not thousands of lives could have been saved, Albion could have been united, Merlin could have told Arthur much earlier, Morgana could have been stopped, all would have been fine. It's as much a miracle as the very fact that obviously Merlin never ever studied the prophecies about his own destiny and fate. Thousands of books, numerous sorceres, Gaius' knowledge, the dragon's knowledge and hints - and Merlin never took the time to read through the prophecies in order to learn about himself and the things he is destined to do. If I was told that I was the saviour of someone or something and that there are prophecies about me that almost described me as being sacred, I would do everything in my power to LEARN about it all.

And did gaining his true powers mean that he suddenly had super-strength too? He was able to lift and to carry Arthur just as if he was carrying a child, and given that even Uther, who was taller than both Merlin and Arthur and definetely stronger than slim Merlin, had difficulties to carry Arthur, a muscular man almost his size being in full armour, I wonder how Merlin managed to do it. What might be the weight of a grown-up man in full armour?

Anyway, Gwen's sudden acceptance of "Gandalf on the rocks" came a little too fast. True, she must have been grateful, yet after everything she encountered and after she was turned evil by magic, manipulated and used, and since she has always supported the law and ban of magic, even killed a druid and used his daughter to get a hold of him, a bit distrust would have been much more believable. Neither she nor Arthur ever wondered why the heck such a wizzard popped out of nowhere to suddenly help them. Instead they were just glad that he arrived, toasted the Saxons and stopped poor Aithusa.

Speaking of which, where did Aithusa go? What happened to her? She was hatched in the beginning of season four, starting a promising plotline with a companion for lonely Kilgharrah and was only used as a very poor soul that was tortured beyond belief, appeared a few times, forged a blade and then disappeared. For what? Was her only purpose to forge the sword for Morgana and to give Morgana a reason to stay at Sarrum's torture-place where both were tortured in order to tell the audience "well, Morgana went wacko in the beginning of season three already, became totally insane and tried to kill everyone, but since everyone wonders why, we will give you at least a reason for her continuing insanity in season five and we hope you take the bait and finally understand what made her so evil even though she already was in season three but we are sure you will confuse this all and believe us"? Very weird.

''' The dragons. Kilgharrah - '''

Merlin drags dying Arthur around the woods, knowing that, according to Gaius, he will have only have two days to live at the most. Yet Gaius says "let him sleep, you can't travel tonight." Why not, for goodness sake? There is a dying person, wounded by a magical sword and who needs help as fast as possible, being together with the greatest sorcerer ever - but they can't travel at night? If I found a wounded person on the streets, last thing I'd do would say "oh well, let's sleep at first, then have a beatiful breakfast the next morning and then let's rush to a hospital." And why the hell didn't Merlin call Kilgharrah much, much sooner in order to get Arthur to Avalon as soon as possible but instead rode and walked with him in the woods for God knows how long? Kilgharrah would have brought Arthur to the lake of Avalon in a fracture of the time that took the dying king and Merlin by foot an the horses that mysteriously popped out of nowhere actually. Again, if I found a wounded person, I wouldn't try to carry them to a doctor or a hospital when I could call a cab or an ambulance but then would finally call the cab when the person is dead already. Where for goodness sake was the logic here?

It's also a miracle that Gaius knew about the sword forged by Aithusa's breath. To know about that, he must have seen that Aithusa forged it, which is impossible. It's not less a miracle why Merlin didn't even TRY to heal Arthur. In a desperate situation people are trying desperate things. Merlin couldn't have known about the sword until Gaius told him, yet he didn't make the slightest attempt to heal the king. If Merlin knew because he might have seen it in the Crystal Cave, a hint would have been necessary in order to let the viewers know that he is aware of the situation.

And Kilgharrah must be in possession of an inworld-wormhole or something, given that he always arrives only seconds after Merlin calls him.

The reveal -

It was obvious from the very beginning of Arthur's reign in "The Wicked Day" that a reveal would be underwhelming and not bring the satisfaction of reward for waiting so long for it to finally happen. Personally, I was only interested in a reveal while Uther was still alive, simply because I wanted to now how he reacts and what would be the consequences. The actual reveal to the spirit of Uther was totally boring and as wasted as a sack full of gold and diamonds thrown into the deep see where it can bever be found again. Same happened with the reveal to Morgana because we never got to know what she actually thought of it, instead she simply continued trying to get rid of Merlin. That was all and most of all nothing new. And the final reveal to Arhur - well, it was as calm and unspectacular as anything could be. No drama, no real clearifying conversation. Arthur didn't cast a stone at Merlin for not saving Uther in time before Merlin saw an advantage for himself, callously willing to let Uther die. He didn't mention that Merlin didn't do anything against Agravaine with all his great powers, that he didn't use his great powers against Morgana before, let alone didn't tell Arthur about Morgana's true nature before she conquered Camelot, killed thousands of people and drove Uther insane. He didn't wonder who released the dragon, didn't suspect Merlin of being responsible for a lot of weird magical happenings that have happened in Camelot over the years, given that Merlin had lied and manipulated Arthur for at least ten years. He didn't want to know what Merlin had done all the time, good or bad things with his powers, and obviously, Merlin didn't feel the need to tell Arthur himself. Neither did Merlin tell Uther in order to open his eyes, so why would he tell Arthur then? Posing riddles and keeping people in the dark is one of his favourite things to do after all. Arthur didn't cast a stone at Gaius either. Gaius knew about Merlin's true powers but lied all along, as Arthur and Uther's court physician and trusted confidante. Obviously, Arthur doesn't care and still trusts both of them. Didn't he suspect that probably Merlin intentionally killed Uther in order to get rid of him and to continue manipulating Arthur, having it much easier with him? How come that Arthur didn't suspect Merlin of that? After the reveal, he actually had no reason to trust him. But he did. Because Merlin ended the battle. So again, that was enough for him, and everything else, all the open questions and loose ends don't count anymore. How unbelievable and boring. It's totally unlikely that Arthur trusts Merlin so much that there aren't even serious questions. And even if, it's the most boring thing for the audience to see. I've known from the beginning that Arthur would just accept it after a short time of being slightly offended. Merlin hiding his powers for such a long time was totally and utterly invane, a bad joke, the most unnecessary thing ever. Save Arthur and his men with powerful magic, confess and be happy with Arthur and Gwen praising you.

Gwen's sudden acceptance of Merlin's powers came as unlikely as Arthur's. She might wonder why he hadn't helped her father back then when he has such powers, and why he never told her even though he knew that Gwen disapproved of Uther. As much as Arthur should have, Gwen should have wondered if Merlin is really trustable when considering that the moment he arrived, things went downhill in regard to sorcerers attacking Camelot and in regard to Morgana and wars. The time of peace was over when Merlin set foot into Camelot, and since Gwen doesn't know the full story (and neither did Arthur), she should have wondered if this all had something to do with Merlin and if he is responsible for that.

Eira. I'm not riding on the constantly repeating "traitor in their midst". It has gotten old.

Merlin, the servant -

As moving as it might have been for fans to witness Arthur and Merlin confessing their friendship and platonic (!) and botherly love for each other (again), I'm overly irritated by Merlin's brotherly passion for Arthur, playing, as Arthur himself stated out, Arthur's servant all the time. I've never understood what exactly Merlin saw in Arthur and it hasn't become any clearer to me in this final epsiode. Merlin has given up his own life and all his needs completely for Arthur and a kingdom that ultimately failed in regard to the golden age and the unification of Albion. For what? I have never bought just for one minute during the entire show that Arthur and Merlin are best friends. It always seemed as if Merlin based his feelings and loyalty for Arthur on the false promises and the prophecy only. It never ever was a friendship of equality, not even after the reveal. Merlin was Arthur's pet and servant until the king drew his final breath, no matter what Arthur said. Which is the reason why I wasn't touched by their conversations at all. Not now and never before. To me, there wasn't the slightest bit of chemistry between the two of them, and the main reason for that was Merlin's annoying devotion and submission. Moreover, in this episode, whether it was intended or not, I had the feeling that Arthur was only flattered by Merlin's statement about being born to serve Arthur. It might not have been what they wanted to show us, yet I couldn't get rid of this impression. It felt like Arthur was pampered and praised by Merlin, and this made me even forget that Arthur was about to die any minute. Nothing felt real or convincing in their scenes. Nothing was sad to me. I watched it like I would watch a documentary.

Morgana's end -

I don't know where Morgana's horse suddenly got its super-speed from so that she could reach Merlin and Arthur in time who had a hell of a headstart and actually travelled into the opposite direction of where Morgana had travelled, but she did what she was best at for three seasons: torturing and then killing someone. Even though I never wished death on anyone on this show, her death wasn't touching at all. It wasn't even epic, tragical or dramatical. It was just there. And it was as quick as Mordred's death. She fell down, died and was forgotten again. Five seasons of showing an unbelievably evil character, only to switch off her lights within a few seconds and then ignoring her completely. What happened to her body? Did she get a burial or is she rotting in the woods? Anyone remember her in the first two seasons when she still was sane and a strong and mostly fair personality, fighting for the (mostly) right things? Nothing was left of that in the end. She was only a tool to serve more and more unbelievable and ludicrous plots and then was wasted in the very end as if she had never even been there at all. And when Merlin said that he blames himself for what she became, the show runners surely forgot about their own plots that, since season four, made Uther being the one who made her that monster. No? Wow! That's something new. Both Arthur and Morgana blamed everything ridiculously on Uther only and a lot of fans followed that and started to believe it too. Now it was Merlin all of a sudden and he said it himself? Why not, finally(!) making the only one responsible for her evilness and change: Morgana! She was the one who chose to become cruel, brutal and evil, she was the one, the only one who was responsible for what she did. If they had at least given her something like a severe shock that suddenly made her so bad, like they did with Uther (and then subsequently ignored it again), the audience could at least have thought that she indeed was partly a victim and that there was hope for her. But they didn't. They simply changed her, made her the ultimate villainess, a monster, blamed constantly others for that without just any valid or logical reason and then killed her off just so. Like a broom that is taken out of the broom closet and then simply being thrown away.

 Gwaine, being tortured again and then killed off - 

Gwaine, the once so funny and interesting knight who was reduced to an extra later, died after having been tortured by Morgana. Would anyone have ever expected this when Gwaine was first introduced, and was it really necessary? Granted, since season four started, the festival of misery, pain, cruelty all over and killing off characters, it didn't come as a suprise to me that half of the characters were wiped out in the finale. Nowadays, for some weird and actually even perverted reason, people think that a show or a movie is only good and "realistic" when people die and suffer, most of all those who the audience don't want to die. Yeah, it makes it all so thrilling, doesn't it? Leaving the viewers and most of all children with dead main characters or beloved supporting characters. Great. Who needs that? Certainly not me.

The Great suffering - 

Mordred as well as Gwaine and Morgana's deaths were as rushed and seemingly unimportant as Uther's death in season four, reducing all of them to mere red-shirts and superflouse side-effects. They couldn't get rid of those characters fast enough, and adding Lancelot to them, the one who actually died three times, their characters were all treated badly before they died, were either changed and/or ignored or used as mere tools in order to put others in the foreground. And, of course, they couldn't do without letting them suffer before they died, all of them. Morgause suffered for a year from her inhuries or whatever. Lancelot entered the dorocha/Spirit World and heaven knows what had awaited him in there, then came back as a shade, ripped off of his soul, putting the love of his life into an unbearable and dangerous situation and then dying again when Merlin showed mercy and gave him back his soul. Uther suffered for decades from the loss of his wife, his fear and hatred and then for a year in total misery, then dying a violent death by magic and at the hands of his beloved daughter. Mordred lost his loved one and spent his last days in grief and hatred, died like an unimportant soldier on the battle field, being used by Morgana. Morgana died after all the hatred and insanity, after having been alone and hated by almost everyone, being torn apart by her own despise, driven by fear and sudden sadism, knowing that she lost and failed in really everything.

Wow, who would have ever thought BEFORE season four, the very season that started to destroy pretty much everything about this show, that this once so positive - and much needed positive - TV show would turn into a hotchpotch of torment, misery, suffering and death?

'''... and what was Arthur's purpose? -'''

The misery and suffering of the characters contributed great deal to the ultimate failure of Camelot, Merlin, Arthur and every character in this meanwhile very weird re-telling. The producers/writers have totally failed to give the viewers a reason to believe that Arthur is/was/is/has always been/will be the greatest king ever, worth to rise again. Arthur was described as a naive, sometimes bullying but also supposedly innocent dull person (even when he slaughtered sorcerers) who hardly noticed and realised anything, who always trusted everyone, who didn't listen to Merlin or others and who didn't achieve anything that would qualify him as the greatest king the world has ever known. As a matter of fact, he only did and continued what his father did, and not only in regard to the ban of magic. The Five Kingdoms were already united by Uther, there was peace for at least 22 years before Morgana, Morgause and Cenred attacked Camelot, and most of all, Uther brought peace and stability to the land when it was almost destroyed by magic before he took the throne. What did Arthur do other than establishing the Round Table and marrying a serving girl? Kilgharra's words in the end, telling Merlin that he fulfilled his destiny, are actually ridiculous, given that there was no golden age and no unification of the lands of Albion, that Arthur died and that Merlin is now alone and obviously deliberately left his friends alone. So Arthur will rise again when Albion is in need? Does that mean that the, I don't know, 1000 years (or more) without the unification and without the peace that Merlin actually was destined to achieve don't count at all? Is it only important that Arthur will come back several hundreds or even thousands of years later, but everything that happens in the meantime with millions of people and creatures is unimportant? Or does it mean that now that Gwen learnt of Merlin's true nature, that she united Albion and that she lifted the ban of magic, welcoming all those evil sorcerers that are still out there, even those many who never held a grudge against Uther but fought humans long before he was even born? Do all those sorcerers and corrupted magic-users suddenly live in peace with Camelot and non-magic-users after Morgana, the last Priestess of the Triple Goddes was killed? And do all those kings/kingdoms/people who supported the ban of magic now trust magic all of a sudden? Never.

If it's meant to be that Arthur rises again, in our present time, or maybe even in the future, how should he be able to lead anything or anyone when he couldn't even achieve anything important in his own time? He only scratched slightly an equivalent of democracy and equality, still in it's infancy, if ever. What could someone like Arthur in this re-telling ever achieve and do in our modern and civilised world with human rights, decades of peace in Europe, democracy, countless charity organisations, diplomats and whatnot....? To make us believe that he really could be needed in our present time, he would have needed to be a real role model, a believable liberator, a strong and just and fair person, capable of moving the masses for the greater good that doesn't only consist of motivating people to fight in battles. Instead we got a naive and somewhat dull king who tried his best and was a nice guy most of the time but failed with pretty much everything in the end. Neither the audience nor the fictional character, the legendary King Arthur have deserved this. And that's why this final scene in our present time didn't fit this show at all. Another reason is that "Merlin" actually didn't play in real Britain of the dark ages but somewhere in a land of myths, filled with magical creatures and sorcerers, set at an unknown time, partly rather modern, partly fitting into medieval times, but never connected to a world of progression and later technology. It's a miracle for what Merlin actually needed Arthur since he was always capable of killing Morgana himself, of ending her tyranny - and in the end, he did indeed. It wasn't Arthur who stopped the war with her, it was Merlin all along. What exactly was Arthur's so great part in it? He didn't even get the benefit of sacrificing himself for others, unlike Uther who was "lucky" to be able to sacrifice himself for Arthur. Arthur simply died in an inevitable battle, on the battlefield, by Mordred. He didn't protect a friend or a knight when it happened, it just happened due to a mistake he made which was hesitating. Merlin stopped the Saxons and Merlin killed Morgana. Why didn't they give Arthur a propper ending that really makes him the great king?

Some weird things -

On a sidenote, it's somewhat weird that Merlin took care of the king's funeral on his own, that neither Arthur's wife Gwen, nor the knights or friends, other kings and nobody at all who would have liked to say good-bye had the chance to attend the funeral. And obviously, everyone was fine with that. How did Merlin explain this to Gwen - and did he at all? Was she okay with the fact that Arthur's body was sent to a magical place and that Merlin didn't even ask for permission?

It's also sad that Gwen wasn't even there when Arthur died and that they couldn't say good-bye to each other when Arthur's time came. Again, it was all only focused on Merlin and Arthur, leaving everyone and everything else outside and treating them like a side-effect. In my opinion, even though a lot of fans will disagree with me on this, it was the show's biggest mistake to only focus on the bromance. The second biggest mistake was to make Arthur king so early. If they hadn't focused on the bromance only, thinking that Merlin and Arthur are enough to carry the whole show, the plots and character developments of others, including this odd finale would have been much better and less plotholes and inconsistencies would have happened. When telling a story, some characters or things are in the centre of it all, they are the heart and soul of a story. Having them as the heart and soul of the show is totally fine, but creating stories around them that contradict themselves and lack of logic big time in order to be able to show some banter and some cheesy bromance again, even when it doesn't fit the overall plotline(s), is not. Not to mention that, naturally, fans of other plots and characters will be disappointed.

Now, with this disastrous finale of an equally diastrous season, or should I say, disastrous past two seasons, the show presented a glorification of failure, revenge, death, misery and sadness, with a legendary king who, like Jesus, is supposed to rise again, as the saviour of the world, or better, Albion, all shown on Christmas Eve. All four Pendragons died at the hands of magic - Igraine (former de Bois), Uther, Morgana and Arthur - and both male Pendragons were fatally wounded by blades that injured their hearts (and maybe the same happened even to Morgana when Merlin run her through). Three Pendragons had to face failure, misery and pain before their death, all three of them hurt each other and killed countless people. What a message for a family show, what a poor ending for a show that used to be so great in the first three seasons.

Has Uther won or has he gone nuts?

Since Uther seems to have some kind of a magical telescope in the Spirit World, he surely has gone nuts seeing his son and daughter dying at the hands of magic after his wife and he himself died at the hands of magic, his daughter being the reason for his children's death, his son being manipulated by a sorcerer, used by the Old Religion, killed by it, only to come back in order to someday bring back/allow magic to the land that actually was in chaos the whole time due to magic and the Old Religion. Crazy. And even more crazy that now, in our present times, magic does not exist anymore. So he succeeded after all? Magic is meanwhile wiped out? If this is the case, meaning that sorceres died out over the time and the Old Religion didn't take care of any "replenishment", or if maybe the Old Religion was suddenly outruled by non-magic-users (which would mean that Gwen probably didn't lift the ban of magic) - if magic died out for any reason whatsoever, Merlin actually worked for Uther. It was then Merlin's destiny, according to Kilgharrah who said that Merlin indeed fulfilled his destiny, to help Uther succeeding in his fight against magic. Well, why didn't they say so from the beginning? Uther and Merlin would have become best mates ever and the entire drama and all the death and misery wouldn't have happened at all. They could have used those slugs to take away Morgana's powers and everyone would have lived happily ever after. It would be absurd if magic would only take a break for several hundreds or maybe thousands of years if Merlin's destiny would have been to help Arthur restoring it when he rises again, because why would our present times or the future be more important than the dark/medieval ages back then when it all started?

So perhaps Uther is as happy as anyone can be in the afterlife, now that he sees that the greatest sorcerer and his own children managed to stop or even wipe out magic? Either way, I wonder what's going on in the Spirit World now, in case Uther, Igraine, Arthur and Morgana are reunited again, one way or another...

''' Was it all only a job? '''

And what about Merlin? Did he leave Camelot for good after Arthur died and therefore abandoned his friends in Camelot? If so, Arthur and Camelot was only a job he had to do. He wasn't present at Gwen's ceremony, so in case he left for good, he also left Gaius, his mentor, friend and kind of father-figure. Not quite a sign of friendship, I would think. However, I'm not even interested in what he did in the time between Arthur's death and the final scene in our present times, simply because all the loose ends have never been tied up and there is nothing left that could fill the time gap, given that everything suddenly became unimportant after Arthur died. The question is why? The moment that Arthur accpeted Merlin's true nature, both the audience as well as Merlin himself must have or should have wondered why the hell Merlin hid his true nature all the time and what the entire plot was even for. This happening alone made at least two seasons and six years in Camelot completely superflouse and absurd. Imagine, Merlin had told Arthur everything and Arthur, as suggested, had said "great, let's allow magic now and make peace with Morgana".... What would have happened, what a great life Merlin could have led, what great opportunities may have arisen - and Arthur wouldn't be dead now. Or not?

''' The Old Religion again ... and the reveal again - '''

Well, obviously, the Old Religion had planned this farce and charade all along, starting with predetermining Merlin's fate "since the dawn of time" and continuing with Arthur's fate, Igraine's death, the Great Purge and the entire outcome of it all. Why, for goodness sake? It doesn't make sense at all. And now that Arthur is dead and that the show obviously ignores the fact that neither sorcerers nor non-magic-users suddenly will have a party and build up residental communities only because both Arthur and Morgana are dead, there is nothing left to tell, given that mankind managed to invent technology and is now living in a modern world of progression. The show ended without an ending, it just left a huge vaccum. The show and the entire plot about Merlin hiding his magic went downhill the moment that Uther was dead, as this final epsiode - the total failure and the fact that Arthur wasn't sure what he'd have done to Merlin and indeed accepted his powers - proved but too well. Did anyone throw their hands up in horror when Arthur said this sentence to Merlin and accepted his true nature just so? I did. Years and years, numerous lifes... wasted. This plot about Arthur banning magic and Merlin still hiding his powers never ever worked for me at all. Even though Arthur had quite good reasons to forbid and to continue the fight against magic, it was all negated again when it was ridiculously said that Camelot had a so-called golden age in the three years time skip, when Arthur rescued the old sorceress, used magic to summon Uther, used magic to release Gwen from the enchantment, promised freedom to the druids and so on... And then, of course, when he indeed praised Merlin and even thanked him after he learnt of Merlin's powers. His sentence that he wasn't sure what he would have done is actually ridiculous since he seemed to be totally fine with Merlin being a sorcerer after being little bit annoyed before. Or did it only have to do with the fact that he was about to die? I have to mention it again: if it was all so very easy and if it only took a little magic from Merlin to prove to Arthur that he was one of the good guys and wanted to help, why didn't he take this chance much sooner before things went so awful? Uther's death destroyed the show we had for three seasons, then a new one started that didn't make much sense, ended in chaos and to the dissatisfaction of a huge amount of viewers, leaving us all scratching our heads in disbelief.

No answers no conclusion -

This finale didn't answer "all questions" at all, on the contrary. We still wonder why Kilgharrah freaked out when hearing that Uther wielded Excalibur, claiming that only "evil" can come from Excalibur in Uther's hands. Yes, very evil to kill a zombie that was about to kill Arthur. I will never get that, it was totally ignored after it. Not to mention that Excalibur was only forged by Kilgharrah's breath because Tristan returned, and he only returned because Uther asked Nimueh for magic in order to receive an heir, and without Excalibur, the army of the undead soldiers couldn't have been defeated and Morgana couldn't have been killed by Merlin when wielding Excalibur. So what was the entire situation, from the very beginning until the very end, all about? It was all planned all along. Why? We also don't know why Merlin told Morgana in the vision "Is that what you wanted, Morgana?". This scene didn't happen in the finale, and given that every single vision that Morgana and Merlin ever had came true the way they saw it, there is no explanation why this happening didn't take place. Same with the red sky. Never happened. What was the story about Aithusa, where did she go, what did Kilgharrah think or feel when she helped Morgana, why did she even help Morgana? How come that Morgause knew Igraine? Why did Igraine think that Uther sacrificed her willingly? What happened to Vivienne and how were Morgause and Morgana related? Where they even related? Why was Morgause smuggled out of Camelot as a baby? Was Vivienne a sorceress, and if so, did Uther know about that? If he knew, did he know or suspect that also Morgana had magic all along? Why did Uther spare Nimueh and Gaius when starting the Great Purge? Why was Arthur destined to unite the lands of Albion and to bring back magic with Merlin's help when Arthur's birth caused the ban of magic in the first place? Why did Gaius think that the sidhe would help Arthur when they weren't exactly Arthur's best friends and wanted his soul when Sophia and Aulfric tried to sacrifice him? Why did they plan to have a sidhe queen in Camelot at Arthur's side in the first place when they were willing to let Arthur die which would have eliminated the possibility of a sidhe queen? Why did Arthur try to unite the Five Kingdoms when they were already united by Uther? Where was Godwyn when the five kings came to Camelot since he was Uther's close friend? What kindoms belonged to the Five Kingdoms at all? What were Agravaine's reasons for hating Arthur and for helping Morgana and why was he accepted by Uther and why didn't he tell Arthur about his birth when Arthur was achild or a teen? And much more...

This finale wasn't a masterpiece but a mere rushed epsiode about more or less unimportant and not very interesting conversations between Merlin and Arthur. It wasn't even a conclusion. I wish they had cancelled the show after season three. It would have spared us two seasons full of plotholes and a dissatisfying and confusing finale that disappointed too many viewers.