User blog comment:Adelina Le Morte March/Statements regarding Arthurian Legend in general I cannot take seriously/@comment-5763053-20130221120059/@comment-68.125.55.123-20130223183842

Fimber,

I find it incredible that you didn't think Arthur & Merlin had any chemistry. It was their chemistry that was one of the few things that made the show worth watching! It was THE central element of the show, deliberately. Without it, Merlin would have been an unwatchable morass of bad writing.

I'm also surprised that you think there was way too much focus on Merlin & Arthur's relationship in the last two seasons. I see it as exactly the opposite. The second half of S4 was almost totally occupied with forcing the Arthur/Gwen relationship down our throats; and by that I don't mean that the relationship wasn't welcome, I mean it was forced down our throats rather than shown to us, unfolding in a natural and romantic way. Even in the ep where Lancelot returns, they gave Gwen that bracelet so that nothing she did was of her own will, which stripped the story of any relevance or meaning. There's nothing wrong with a person being conflicted when a dead ex shows up and wants you - but they couldn't have Gwen stray from her Mary Sue perfection.

Anyway, in the process, M & A's developing relationship (and I don't mean their gay romance) reverted several seasons to where Merlin was treated like crap, rather than a near-equal (a least in private) like in the first half of the season.

In S5, there was some neglect of Gwen that was almost comical, but it's hard not to resent how eps 6-10 were totally wasted on the ridiculous and irrelevant Evil Gwen storyline, when we were reaching the end and there were so many plot threads that needed tying up.

Regarding the homophobia comment... For example, the homoeroticism in M & A's relationship was only one point of many, yet you spend your entire post arguing that M & A weren't gay, when I never said they were. It seems really overimportant to you that there not be any homoerotic subtext (and just plain text), and for you to think there was too much of Merlin & Arthur when that's what the show is about is puzzling. To call it a soap between them is hard to understand - the problem wasn't soap, it was the static nature of their relationship. If it was tiresome, and I'll grant you it certainly quite often was, it was because it didn't progress, which it could not, because of the decision to never reveal Merlin's magic.

But they were in love with each other, and the last episode was inarguably a romance. You don't die in someone's arms after saying "just hold me, please" to a buddy.

Merlin knew Freya for 2 days when he was a teenager. That's not love. Anyone who thinks you can have real love before adulthood in 2 days has not reached adulthood and experienced real love. You can be infatuated in 2 days, but you can't have love. I can remember thinking I was in love at that age, and it seems cute or silly to me now. It wasn't even portrayed as particularly romantic - it was more like someone caring for someone who needed him, and with whom he could be himself. I don't see much of a difference between Merlin's relationships with Freya & Lancelot. In S2, it was still more or less a kids show - I wouldn't expect to see adult love. I don't know if there were deliberate parallels or just lazy and unimaginative writing, but even their sendoffs in burning boats were identical, with the same emotional reactions from Merlin.

It isn't the fact that Arthur's last word to Gwen was "Merlin!" in itself that is the issue, it's he never said anything else to her after that. "Hon, Gotta go, love you!" - or knowing he's dying, did he ask Merlin to take him back to Gwen, who was a couple of miles away, or did he travel for two days far away from her? If I were married, I'd say, "Please take me to my beloved so I might die pressed to her bosom." I wouldn't actually say that, and If I did, you'd have permission to shoot me, but you get the point.