Board Thread:Rewatching "Merlin" - Season Five/@comment-5102537-20140329115401/@comment-24456706-20140331183632

Ozymandias v wrote: There are so many times in this show that I wish the writers would have done things differently. But in the case of this episode, the outcome was so perfectly heartbreaking that it couldn't have gone any other way, and I will forever remember Merlin's 'There can be no place for magic in Camelot' scene as one of the saddest moments in television history (and for once, it's not solely thanks to the actors' brilliant performance). To me, the episode implies that, because of that moment, Merlin is responsible for Arthur's death. I'm very curious whether it seemed to anyone else to be saying this. If anything, this scene indicated to me that Merlin's destiny was no longer "bring magic back to Camelot," but rather simply "save Arthur's life," with no promise of the former. In series one, it was implied that Arthur's life had to be saved to ENSURE the former, because Arthur would be the one to unite Albion and allow magic back or whatever --- or, at least, that had been my understanding. It seems like, somewhere along the line, Merlin's priorities changed completely. It was now a matter of choosing between Arthur OR magic. And Merlin chose Arthur. Which, again, is perfectly valid, but I wish we could understand the reasoning behind it, because it was so poorly explained. And, if that were the case, I wish the show-runners hadn't tried to push the "Arthur definitely did unite Albion and he definitely was kinder to magic-users than Uther" line, because none of that actually happened, as this episode aptly demonstrates.

As far as Arthur's choice --- allow magic or not, with Mordred's life hanging in the balance --- the whole construction of it made NO sense. Mordred being allowed to live was Arthur's PUNISHMENT for refusing magic... which leads me to believe that, had Arthur told the Disir he accepted the Old Religion, Mordred would have died, eliminating the prophesied threat to Arthur's life. But Arthur clearly cared about Mordred, and Arthur was, by and large, led by his heart. As a king who still won't allow magic-users the courtesy of marked graves, are we really supposed to believe that Arthur would have stuck to his promise and allowed magic/the Old Religion back if Mordred had died, when he'd been to made to believe that doing so would let Mordred live? I doubt it.

This was a "no-win" situation for magic here. That's why, for me, there's not much sentiment to be found in Merlin's declaration that magic could never have a place in Camelot. The writers constructed this situation in which both he and Arthur were forced to make choices... but they never really had a choice, either of them. It would have been more heart-breaking if Merlin had told Arthur to accept magic, Arthur had done so, gone back to Camelot to find Mordred dead, and retracted that promise. But that was never --- and, indeed, COULD never --- happen.