User blog:Fimber/Things that went wrong in "The Death Song of Uther Pendragon"

(The following is my opinion about the latest epsiode. My opinion is backed up with facts provided by the show on which the former charaterisation of Uther is based on.) When watching The Wicked Day, I thought that this was the worst I have ever seen on TV but The Death Song of Uther Pendragon really took the biscuit.

There is only one good thing about this epsiode and this is the great acting performances of everyone. When Uther's return was announced this year I knew that his return wouldn't be a satisfying one, considering in what they had turned him in season four already, starting to change his former character description by making him responsible for every bad thing that has ever happend. I was even convinced that Uther will be shown as the bada*** in this epsiode when I read that Howard Overman wrote the script at the latest. When considering this I had expected all sorts of negative descriptions one could even think of but changing the character of Uther into the complete opposite went way to far.

Let's see..... In short this is what happened:

Arthur and Merlin rescue a sorceress. Coincidentally, she has a magical tool carrying with her, something with which the dead can be summoned. She gives it to Arthur, the one who "hates magic". Nobody knows why, but she does before she dies. Gaius tells Arthur what it is, not telling him to better not use it, Arthur is sad and misses his father, summons his spirit, listens to Uther telling him what a failure he is and that love is unimportant, accidentally leashes Uther's spirit into the world of the living. Merlin and Arthur play a little Ghostbusters, Uther tries to burn Gwen and to slaughter Percival, then Arthur talks to Uther and tells him that he doesn't want to be like him, then Uther tells him that Camelot is even more important than Arthur and knocks Arthur out. Merlin interfers, shows Uther that he has magic and tells him what a bad king he has always been and that magic has always been right under his nose in Camelot, Uther attacks Merlin, Arthur sends Uther back to the world of the dead, Arthur and Merlin banter around and all is fine again.

Where was the announced "Uther will get a chance to redeem himself"/"there will be nice emotional scenes of Uther he didn't have because he died too soon on the show"/"The Great Purge will get a mentioning"....? And what was the "cheering moment" for fans in the scene with Uther and Merlin? It surely wasn't this excuse of a magic reveal was it? After all these years, Merlin hastily shows Uther that he has magic, Uther is shocked, then attacks Merlin and Merlin throws him back through the door. That was it? No further conversation, no further rant? Merlin just shows him, tells him what a bastard Uther has always been, pushes him through the door, all within a few seconds?

Where was the chance for redemption? I couldn't see any since the producers and writers obviously hadn't planned to give him one. The Great Purge? I didn't see anything about it. Where was the mentioning? (EDIT: I remember the Great Purge was mentioned by Gaius when explaining the horn to Arthur and Merlin. Nevertheless ist wasn't worth to be announced in the spoilers before the epsiode aired since it contributed nothing to the show/espisode and misled viewers into thinking that the conversation between Uther and Arthur or Merlin and Uther would contain the Great Purge).

What sense did it make to attack Arthur? Did Uther want to keep him being knocked out for eternity so that he as a ghost can rule Camelot again? Or did he want to kill Arthur and leave oh so precious Camelot without a king? If Camelot was supposed to be more important than Arthur in his opinion (ridiculous!!!) then who was supposed to rule it when Arthur is dead. And if he didn't want to kill him but wanted to have him out of the way until he has killed Gwen and the knights, did he want to break Arthur and weaken the kingdom by this? Did he really want to destroy Arthur's love for him by killing what's most important to Arthur and then expect that Arthur will rule the kingdom the way Uther supposedly wants it to be ruled? And how come that magic suddenly is no subject anymore and that Arthur's continuation of the ban is not considered by Uther when telling him that he is such a failure, instead ranting about Gwen who had taken care of Uther for a year and ranting about the knights who had saved him at the end of season three and with whom he had sat at one table in season four, totally accepting them? How come that he, Uther as a ghost, was the personification of magic itself when coming back from the Spirit World, magically throwing things around, fighting Merlin with magic when pinning him to the door, didn't say one word about magic, the thing that he has feared and hated the most? And why didn't he kill Gwen whe she was knocked out but started a few tiny flames of fire so that she hopefully burns alive when he never tormented his enemies but sentenced them to death quickly and only burnt witches, believing that their magic will disappear with them that way? Why did Merlin tell him that magic has been right under his nose the whole time when Uther had figured that about Morgana at the latest? This wasn't something new to him. But Morgana obviosuly wasn't any subject in this epsiode whatsoever. Again everone suffered from amnesia as if this epsiode was the first one in which Uther had ever appeared. And since when does Merlin enjoy hurting others, even Uther? Why did Uther know about the knights, the Round Table and Gwen but didn't know about Merlin being a sorcerer when Arthur spends most of his time with Merlin? How and in what situations did Uther observe Arthur to know about Gwen but not about Merlin?

Arthur is sad and has the opportunity to summon the dead, yet no word about Igraine. Why didn't he want to talk to or about Igraine since he thought that the last "Igraine" was a fake one? Why didn't he ask his father how he is doing and how Igraine is doing and if they are reunited in the afterlife and what "life" looks like in the Spirit World? Why didn't Uther mention Igraine just once? Why did he haunt Percival, Gwen, Merlin and Arthur but not Gaius and Morgana? Why didn't Gaius say anything about or to his "old friend" Uther, why didn't he want to talk to him once he is back? Why did nobody care about how Uther is doing in the afterlife after what he went through, asking if he has found peace or if is a tormented soul? Wouldn't this be the first thing we would do if we had the chance to talk to our dead loved ones? Why did Arthur say that he brought peace to Camelot when Uther was the one had brought peace in the first place 8aside from magic, of course)?

Why did the witch give Arthur the opportunity to summon the dead (and what a coincidence that he carried this little magical artifact with her ). Did she do it in order to make Arthur being told off by Uther and to show him what an a evil man Uther is supposed to be? Was it all planned? If so, how did she know what Uther was "thinking"?

I have tons of more questions but the most important one is why the producers/Overman changed Uther's character to the complete opposite. By making a total psycho of him they ruined his character and totally ignored and changed what they have shown us before. Uther's first priority had always been his children, the show proved this to us in every single season in multiple episodes.

- In "Excalibur" of season one, Uther wanted to sacrifice himself for Arthur and told him that he was much more important to him than his entire kingdom and most certainly than his own life.



- In Le Morte d'Arthur he collapsed crying in grief in front of everyone over the supposed upcoming death of his son. - In "The Poisened Chalice" he told Arthur in the end that he was right in saving Merlin and that he was proud of Arthur. - In "The Curse of Cornelius Sigan" he wanted to run out to save Arthur because he feared Arthur will be torn apart by the Gargoiles.

- In "Beauty and the Beast" he cried over the supposed dead body of his son, saying that he pushed him away when having been enchanted by the troll



- In "The Sins of the Father" he told Arthur that he is the most important one in his life.



- In "The Tears of Uther Pendragon" he had spent one year looking for Morgana, almost sacrificing his entire kingdom when losing thousands of men on the search for Morgana, not listening to Gaius who tries to make him stop in order to not risk the kingdom.

- In the same epsiode he told Morgana that she is more important to him than she could ever imagine.

- In "The Crystal Cave" he used magic in order to heal Morgana and cried in front of Merlin, telling him how he feels about his children and that parents see their own failures in them and try to protect them from every bad thing.

- In "The Sorcerers Shadow" he told Arthur that he knew that Arthur let him win the tournament and that Arthur will make a great king, being proud of him and appreciating his humility and kindness.

- In "The Coming of Arthur" he wanted to sacrifice himself for the innocent people of Camelot and asked Morgana IF she really hated him so much, not casting a stone at her for having magic.

- In the same epsiode he had a mental breakdown due to the hatred of his daughter towards him.

- In the same epsiode he apologised to Arthur.

- In the same epsiode was rescued by the knights who surrounded him and protected him when fighting Cenred's undead soldiers.

- In the first three epsiodes of season four is was a completely broken soul due to the betrayal of his daughter, not caring about the kingdom or anything else, except caring about Arthur and begging him to not leave him.



- In "The Wicked Day" he told Arthur that Arthur has been ready to be king for a long time and that he has always loved him.

And this is supposed to be the man who tells Arthur that he isn't proud of him, that he is a total failure and did everything wrong? The man who doesn't even mention his daughter who killed him with magic and who managed to break him completely.The man who rants about and tries to kill the knights he had known for a year in Camelot and about Gwen who had taken care of him for a year? The man who attacks his own son because Camelot is supposed to be even more important than his son? The man who says that "sometimes love is not enough" when everything he did, starting with the Great Purge, he did out of love for his wife and his children which was why he hated magic so much? How many times does he have to tell Arthur that he is proud of him until Arthur finally understands it?

This was all so incomprehensibl.! What, for goodness sake, is going on with the writers and producers, changing everything about the characters. And how come that Arthur tells his father that he doesn't want to be like him when telling Merlin afterwards that he has always been looking up to his father? How can anyone look up to someone when not wanting to be like them? And wow, again Uther did what he did only out of fear and ruthlessness but not out of grief over the death of his wife. With this epsiode they changed the very essence of Uther's character and of the show and moreover, they destroyed the strong emotional bond between Uther and Arthur that has always been canon throughout the show. They made it all black & white, ignored all the fantastic shades of grey within characters and stories, turned it into a less than average naive show of evil vs. good, turning once so great characters into evil psychos and showed that there is no forgiveness and most of all no mercy, neither for the characters nor for the viewers who had wished for a logical plotline that regards continuity and character consistency and who had wished for a redemption for Uther.

The whole epsiode was a complete farce, a slap in the face of the viewers and the absurd events made a mockery of Uther and turned him subsequently into an evil monster. The actors were all great but I wish Uther hadn't returned for this. Making the viewers hate Uther and ending this character once and for all as an evil psycho was a ridiculous and incomprehensible thing to do.