User blog comment:Percivalxx/Which series of Merlin did you find the best?/@comment-5102537-20130109114250

Anyone remember the scene when Gaius was sentenced to death in "The Witchfinder" and looked up at the few sunbeams entering his cell on the morning his execution was supposed to take place? In this scene where Gaius sees the sun rising and birds are singing outside, his unspoken thoughts were so very obvious even though this scene was very subtle. Gaius sees the the sun rising, the beginning of a new day which should be the end of his whole life. While the birds are singing, he soon won't hear anything anymore as this will be the last time that he ever sees the beginning of a new day.

Another subtle scene was when Uther sat at the table in his dark chambers,  his face buried in his hand when trying to understand why his son loved a serving girl. Then Morgana shows up, lits the candles and "brings light" into the situation by claiming that Gwen must have used magic. The candles were symbolic for her explanation, finally making Uther understand what's going on by the advice and idea of his beloved daughter who always draggd him out of the darkness even though she actually did the complete opposite.

Then, when Gwen was being held prisoner by Hengist and lied on the bed in her cell with her red cape. The red cape was the only thing that remained from her former life and reminded everyone of who she actually was, who she will be and where she used to live, as a huge contrast to the desolate, grey cell she was in and which was totally inappropriate for her, nothing she would ever fit in.

In the first two seasons, Uther had a drink when he made tough decisions like when sentencing a sorcerer, for example or when preferring Edwin over Gaius. It demonstrated that he wasn't comfortable with what he had to do and wanted to forget about it as fast as possible.

In "The Curse of Cornelius Sigan", Uther sits on his throne in total darkness while the room starts to collapse around him. It not only demonstrated loneliness but also entropy, desctruction and the desperate attempt to keep what is about to crumble. He was alone and the last one to hold the fort without any hope. Only Gaius entered to look after him and to get him out of the room while Camelot was attacked by a powerful sorcerer who had already wanted to destroy Camelot long before Uther's time. The fight against magic seemed to be invane and darkness and loneliness returned  or has always been present.

Then the conversation between Gaius and Uther in "Excalibur" when in this short conversation we learnt more about the two men and their relationship than in the entire show. Both had a history together, both had secrets, both appreciated and liked each other. Uther relied on Gaius and trusted him, Gaius spoke his concern about Uther when he told him that he had always feared that Uther's temper would be his death someday, thus telling him he cared. Uther trusted Gaius with Arthur's life and later trusted even Merlin with Arthur's life. When he held Excalibur, the sword that would kill the Wraith, and said that it's well balanced, it was symbolic for the balance that Uther wanted to restore which was giving his life for Arthur like Igraine did before.

When Merlin saw the Sidhe for the very first time, his ability to see things in slow motion was the ability to see the beauty of things that others fail to see, yet the seemingly beauty was a real threat in reality. Looking deeper into things and seeing them for what they are meant an great deal and was essential for him to make the right decisions. The deceiving beauty, the essenece of things instead of the obvious. Things weren't always what they seemed to be, they weren't only black and white, beautiful or ugly but often something in between.

And in season four when the dorocha attacked and entire Camelot was on alert, everyone trying to protect themselves and others with torches against the spirits while hell broke loose, Uther slept in his bed, alone, helpless and in darkness again. There was no fire and no-one there to protect him from the dorocha. It showed again the loneliness and that everyone had actually abandoned him. The darkness of the chambers also demostrated the darkness that his mind was captured in.

I missed such scenes full of symbolism that spoke volumes in the later seasons and epsiodes. Morgana dressed in black with wild hair and black make up, living in a dark hut and then in a dark castle wasn't subtle but too obvious. Merlin and Arthur reassuring each other of their friendship wasn't subtle either but often even cheesy. Merlin feeling like an outsider when being on a mission with Arthur and the knights was too obvious too and basically led to nothing. Where were all those symbolic scenes, the clever ideas that characterised the protagonists and antagonists only through some seconds of happenings and environmental situations? Shame that it was all replaced by too obvious, direct situations and conversations that left no room for deeper thoughts. The first three seasons had such brilliant moments.