User blog comment:Rod12/Morgause and Uther in Series 4/@comment-5102537-20120606204209

I have read a lot of complaints about the character deaths of season four and I agree wholeheartedly. I think that they all should have stayed, and wether the actors and actresses didn't have the time anymore or if the characters were killed off to create thrill and drama, I think that especially Lancelot and Uther didn't get a proper end at all.

Uther's death was made very indifferent and callous and he was treated like someone who had appeared one or two times but not like one of the most important characters. First they let him suffer, then they create an epsiode full of slapstick and misplaced humour while he dies. The humour would have been great if the episode had had an happy ending but not with the death of one of the main characters. I like Dragoon, but bringing him into this epsiode to show distasteful humour and the usual bromance between Merlin and Arthur was actually really ridiculous.

When a regular or important character dies, no matter who, I don't want to see so called funny scenes that would fit a cartoon, and I don't want to see silly banter between actually grown up men but the epsiode focused on the one who has his final moments and who added so much to the series. Without Uther, the show wouldn't have been possible the way we saw it. It would have been a whole different story from the very beginning. I can't see sense in the fact that Uther had such a miserable end full of suffering and pain, because when I watch Merlin, I don't expect to see cruelty interrupted by childish banter but "Merlin", the show I was looking forward to. I also don't think that saving his son (and hisself, of course) from the Gleeman was any kind of proper end, neither was it surprising. Uther did what he had always done, which was saving his son and finally sacrificing himself. He had tried it before, so what's the big deal? Nobody would let their children die or just sit and watch when an intruder attacks. He reacted instinctively and did what everyone would have done.

Uther's presence in season four had only the purpose to show him suffering and to give Arthur an incomprehensible reason to hate magic which he actually doesn't anyway, and that's all. I don't think that this was appropriate for a series like "Merlin". It was obvious how unimportant Uther was in this epsiode when he didn't even get a funeral and when Arthur couldn't get crowned even fast enough just a minute after mourning his father (in real time, probably not within the story of the show). I didn't find his death even sad, just very disturbing. To me, it was all very shallow, immature, indifferent and callous. In my opinion, The Wicked Day was the worst episode of the entire series. Additionally, there were some goofs, like when Arthur said that his father had been fighting magic for 20 years. It had been 20 years already in the first epsiode of season one. Also, I couldn't find the logic in the fact that Gaius and Merlin didn't tell Arthur about the necklace. Moreover, they killed Uther off when his story reached the most interesting aspects and despite the fact that there are still so many unanswered questions. It was like making a time jump several years into the future. They shouldn't have killed him off, neither should Lancelot have died. I will never understand why they did that since both characters were a real benefit to the show and every other character and story actually depended on Uther.

Lancelot died in disgrace and 3 times (!) and at least three fanbases have been disappointed when killing off Morgause, Lancelot and Uther. It seems the blood thirst in season four was big. And obviously, Lancelot was just a tool to help supporting the weird drama between Arthur and Gwen. This character deserved more, in my opinion.

Though I'm personally not interested in mere villains, I think that Morgause died too quickly too. There were still unanswered questions around her, like why she knew Igraine and whose child she was. I know that these plots had to make way for the beginning of the legendary story around Arthur - and I think that especially this was what made the fourth season so boring to me. Since so many storylines were ended all of a sudden and the usual legend has already begun, the series went downhill for me. The character deaths were the beginning of the Arthurian legend, which I find extremely disappointing. I would have wished for a continuation of the plots that were broached and the story about them all before Arthur and Merlin were famous (like it had actually been planned) and started the Round Table and whatnot, because that was new and fascinating. I think that due to the deaths of Uther, Lancelot, Morgause, Isolde and Agravaine, they wasted the potential of all of them.