User blog comment:Morganaforever/Best series of Merlin/@comment-5102537-20120612094505

To me, season four was the worst one. As a matter of fact, the worst I've seen on TV in a long time.

I don't know where to begin... First of all, the deaths of Morgause (though she is not so very interesting to me), Lancelot and Uther were annoying, disappointing and very badly done. Aside from the fact that I think that killing off popular characters or characters that the show based on is always a very bad idea, their deaths seem to had been done in order to "surprise" the audience and to create a drama that was cheesy, hasty and totally exaggerated. It felt like the viewers were supposed to sit and watch in shock, saying "wow" every few minutes and being curious how it now all continues and how the remaining characters deal with it.

The problem is, the remaining characters didn't deal with it at all because the next epsiodes it was forgotten again what had happened before. There was not just one single moment in season four that made me curious or gave me a good feeling or thrill or any emotion except of annoyance. Often, I waited for the epsiodes to end. But that is just a subjective opinion, based on feelings and points of view.

On an analyzing note, without considering the subjective emotions, this season was very, very rushed, absolutely shallow and full of inconsistency and discontinuity. Skipped plotlines and the radical and sudden character changes were incomprehensible and not explained, which is a very bad way of storytelling. Happenings of the previous seasons were overlooked and the strange character behaviour was ridiculous. When a series builds up characters and plotlines, it can't be all changend all of a sudden in order to tell a complete new and different story that barely has anything to do with what had been developed before. Season four lacked of depth and logic big time and it was made for a teenage audience in a very simple way, with overstated and far-fetched situations. Forcing the complete Arthurian legend (and hell knows why suddenly the Arthurian legend is the main focus of the show when it was supposed to be about the years before!) into just one season naturally leads to hastiness and confusion and can't be done with a snap of the fingers.

And back to a subjective feeling and opinion, to me it felt like was made in a coffee break, loveless and empty. It wasn't "Merlin" anymore but something else, like a collection of trailers or meaningless action-stories.

The previous seasons were great, except maybe Morgana's incomprehensible and sudden change in season three. There were also continuity flaws but they weren't as bad as the ones in season four and I had always thought that things will be explained in the future. Nothing was explained, on the contrary, plotlines were dropped and being left unsanswered and/or were simply changed. Very confusing, very disappointing, callous and very incomprehensible.

Season one was the most fascinating season in regard to stories and characters. It was logical and it was fun to watch, great atmosphere. I wanted to know more and couldn't wait for the next epsiodes and seasons. Season two and three were equally good (except for Morgana), better effects (though they are not so important to me) even more stories that I wanted to get resolved and see how they end. Shame they were just cut off.

Edit: I don't want to annoy anyone with my opinion about season four, I know that a lot of people liked it. It's just my opinion and an anlyzis of what a good story should be about.