User blog comment:Adelina Le Morte March/Statements regarding Arthurian Legend in general I cannot take seriously/@comment-5763053-20130221120059/@comment-6684863-20130223050519

Fimber and Lurker,

Julian M. has since the show ended admitted that yes, the homoeroticism was deliberate. There's brotherhood, then there's Arthur & Merlin. The last episode was just plain a romance - I'm not sure there's any other way to see it. Even Gwen seemed to acknowledge it in that last conversation with Gaius, and the producers are not shy about saying it, now that the show is over.

Remember Arthur's last words to Merlin? "Just hold me, please" and the rest? Do you remember Arthur's last words to Gwen? "Merlin!" While they were in bed. In the Mithian episode of S5, Merlin is with Arthur in his chambers, and Arthur is wearing his Nearly Transparent White Shirt of Sex, and a couple of scenes later, Gwen is ready for bed in that gorgeous nightgown and Arthur is wearing ''chainmail. And I don't need to say anything about how outrightly sexual the ending of Death Song ''was with the gloved fist.

For some reason, many female fans like homoeroticism.

But on Merlin, I think Gwen got shafted because her relationship with Arthur was so poorly written. It was pure Disney, and it was just bloodless. The interacted more like brother & sister than husband & wife. Sometimes it was even more like mother & son. I really wish they had SHOWN us a real relationship, rather than just telling us they were in love. On the other hand, we were shown M&A's love for each other (even just as friends) without having to tell us all the time, or have back-lit stained-glass windows behind them with swelling romantic music like all the scenes between A & G. Did you notice how in S5 Arthur always got formal and proper when Gwen was around? Why? When they're alone they should be familiar and warm. You couldn't have a better example of the problem than the very first scene of S5. Merlin & Arthur bicker like a married couple, then Gwen shows up and Arthur goes cold and formal.

And Angel Colby was robbed of the chance to have an interesting role by their killing off Lancelot. A love triangle would have created some dramatic tension and allowed Gwen some great scenes, and made the romance interesting. And since G & L was so central to the Arthurian mythos, it felt like something was missing from the show.

It's a pity, because I thought G & A had a great dynamic in the first two seasons. When Gwen told Arthur off for insulting Hunith's food, for example, and he knew she was right, and she was embarrassed.