Talk:Series 5/@comment-1536224-20121121215614

To be honest I think that Merlin has been going downhill since series 4. Agravaine was basically a male version of Morgana and the only really important thing he did was help kill Uther and now Gwen seems to have become another Morgana and Morgana now seems to be Morgause. All this treachery is just getting boring, especially since it's always the people that Arthur cares about the most. I feel like only Merlin, Gaius, the Knights of Camelot (apart from Agravaine), Freya and Kilgharrah (who doesn't have a choice since Merlin's a Dragonlord) are capable of true loyalty, barring a few of the guest stars such as Tristan and Isolde (by the way they should bring back Tristan since he just vanished after Isolde's death).

I still like Merlin enough to watch it, but I really wish the writers would come up with something new. I was genuinely shocked when I realised that Gwen had joined Morgana, but in the last two seasons, three if you include this one, there has been a traitor in Camelot and in series three and four, Arthur and Merlin have been forced to leave Camelot in the finale's and then fight to get it back and Morgana mysteriously escaped both times. The Sword in the Stone and The Coming of Arthur were both great with The Sword in the Stone having better fighting scenes and a confrontation between Arthur and Morgana and The Coming of Arthur including an appearance from Freya and Merlin using Excalibur, but basically they were the same story. The characters are great, or at least portrayed brilliantly even if they have horrible personalities (such as Morgana) and there are some excellent fighting scenes and emotional scenes but the storyline just seems to be the same as it was in the last two series. The only difference is that Gwen wasn't a traitor in the very first episode.

I really hope they redeem Gwen. It's so out of character for her to be evil. With Morgana at least we knew she had a darker side; in the very first series she worked with Taurin to try and kill Uther, but Gwen turned evil without any warning. The only time she's shown any real darkness was when she sentenced Sefa to death and that was only so that she could get rid of Ruadan. I really hope Gwen redeems herself but normally when one turns evil in Merlin they stay evil. If Gwen does turn back into a good character again then that might re-ignite my love for the series since they don't really do redemptions in Merlin and that would be something new for the show.

Now I'm going to explain why I've mentioned Freya twice in this comment, even though she's only appeared twice in the series. I really want her to return. I've missed her and Merlin never even talks about her even though he has mentioned Balinor a few times. Freya is very loyal and selfless and she's also stronger than she seems since she's a good survivor. From a certain point of view she survived death itself; her soul didn't move on and she didn't become a dorocha or anything. Also she's beautiful and she's the only real love interest Merlin has ever had. Additionally with Arthur having a treacherous wife (who has to be redeemed if I'm going to keep liking her; I've hated Morgana ever since she joined Morgause), it would be good to have some real love that doesn't get corrupted or manipulated.