Board Thread:General Discussion/@comment-24691863-20140427042038/@comment-108.184.60.87-20140718054513

@Merlin After, I agree with Oxymandias on a couple of points (sorry this is long but I must confess, I was a Literature major in school):

-Camaraderie: I felt like the friendship of the main cast reminded me of the feelings of the sitcom, Friends. There was a warmth between them. Also the loyalty of the knights to one another and to Arthur (and Merlin) were inspiring. Not to mention the loyalty of Merlin to Arthur. I liked the concept of honor too. I liked the relationship between Merlin and Gaius too. If Gaius had not been there for him, Merlin's burden would have been too much but they had a warm and humorous bond.

-Good writing: There was a good mixture of referring to legend and myth that the audience might be familiar with but also mixing up the plot or providing surprises. There was a good sense of timing too, setting up suspenseful scenes, not unlike in a horror film but to less of an extreme end. The counterpart was good acting. I enjoyed many characters but was impressed with the complex characterizations of Uther and the great Dragon. Merlin was played with great expressiveness and Colin Morgan really had a gift to draw you naturally in to his diverse emotional states. This was a story told on an epic scale and that drama drew me in and was engaging.

-Creatures and Magic: I enjoyed the monsters and makeup and costumes for the magical creatures. I felt like the CGI was really nicely done and choreographed. I liked the inclusion of myth and magic b/c all of that pulls you back to childhood and fairy tale and the realm of possibility.

Not from having experience working on a TV show, I somehow imagine with this project that everything came together and the whole was greater than the sum of its parts. I'm sure they must have had challenges but somehow the finished product, I think just came out very well. I will also need to note that I felt like music played a big role in the emotional setting and bringing climax to the suspenseful scenes. I'm sure there are so many other roles I don't even have awareness of but somehow all the parts came together.

I found this show online just maybe one month ago and have watched it about two times through. I binge watched maybe 2-3 episodes a day though. I do miss watching new episodes but have to agree that the show rightfully ended with 5 seasons. I miss the characters and their relationships but I think in terms of larger plot arches, it would have been challenging for the writers to come up with new conflicts that would still feel fresh and have momentum. Now I'm trying hard to find another show to watch which is nearly as engaging. I've started to watch Spy on hulu and its main character is oddly in a similar predicament to Merlin (very loosely though).