Board Thread:Rewatching "Merlin" - Season Five/@comment-5102537-20140223115227/@comment-5102537-20140227115145

71.232.19.35 wrote: I'm curious why Arthur didn't realize that Mordred had magic. Don't all druids have magic? If they don't, I guess Morgana and Merlin were the only ones to see the mirror shatter when Mordred shrieked at the moment of the execution in "The Beginning of the End" in season 1?

It didn't make sense at all. Arthur knew very well who Mordred was, he saved him back then as a boy after all. Mordred told Arthur his name when he brought him back to the druids, yet he didn't even seem to remeber him at all. Mordred never told Arthur that he wanted to serve him because he was greatful for his help and Arthur never mentioned anything about it either, just as if Mordred was a whole new character.

Even if Arthur thought that druids don't have magic but could use it if they chose to - which wouldn't make sense since the druids were known as peaceful sorcerers and they're not a race but people who were called druids due to their practice of magic, which means that all of them practiced magic - he should at least have made sure that Mordred won't practice magic anymore. On the other hand, since Arthur promised the druids freedom it shouldn't have been a problem for Mordred using magic, yet Merlin said that Arthur must not know that Mordred has magic.

So none of it made sense. It was a total mess and one of the biggest discontinuities ever.

Merlin's demand of Arthur to kill Mordred was as rotten as using Uther as bargain in "The Wicked Day". Once again Merlin didn't want to get his hands dirty but wanted others to do the dirty work for him. All based on a blurry prophecy, he didn't even think twice but wanted Mordred out of the way. If ever, he should have dealt with him on his own instead of trying to make a murderer of Arthur.

The only scenes I liked here were the ones with the Diamair and Aithusa. The Diamair was a surprisingly weird creature but I thought he/she/it was interesting. Though it didn't make sense to me that Merlin didn't want to know the future. For once he had the chance to learn about the future directly from the one who knew it instead of seeing confusing scenes in the crystals or in visions. By asking the Diamair he could have talked about it with him/her/it, ask questions, get advice and wisdom from the very old creature. He would have had someone to actually really talk about it all without all this confusing stuff and all those unanswered questions. But for some reason, Merlin preferred to stay in the dark whereas he based his actions on the confusing and blurry visons only. Wanting Mordred dead was the best example for it. If he wanted to base his actions on the prophecy he had better based it on the real and complete future when having all the information.

Anyways, I think it was disappointing that the Diamair didn't appear again. He/she/it was once again a perfect example for the long term and ongoing war on magic that had started long, long, long before Uther was even born. While most characters, except Gaius, always thought that Uther was the one who had started the fight against magic, the show regulary made clear that the fight wasn't his doing but that he was only one of many who had picked the fight against the corrupting magic. And in spite of this, on other occasions the show wanted to tell us again that only Uther had started the war. I wish the show had been able to decide what it wanted to tell us at all. When the creature told Merlin that its entire race had been wiped out centuries ago, Merlin should have realised at the latest that the fight between magic/the Old Religion and those who were against magic had started long ago. He should have realised that there were reasons for it instead of blindly dream of a land full of magic and pink clouds with dancing fairies.

Every time there was a brilliant scene and great opportunity to explore the whole magic-subject a bit further, the show strayed away from it immediately and presented us again bullying knights who don't wash, main characters who seem to be incapable to dress themselves, who all of a sudden grow callous and want to murder others, two men who banter and go on campfire missions as if they were on a highschool trip, a new Queen who loves her pretty dresses and an insane witch who runs amok without any sense. Shame.

Aithusa broke my heart. I don't know why he/she had to suffer so much on the show but he/she was the only one I really cared about for entire seasons four and five. I didn't care what happened to the other characters anymore because I couldn't identify with any of them anymore. Only Aithusa had my sympathies and I still don't understand why he/she was ignored almost the whole season.

Gwen using Sefa to capture and kill her father was mean on the one hand but a good example for the difficult decisions a king or a queen had to make. While everyone bahsed Uther for making hard decisions, Gwen was right in the eyes of the audience. Sure, it wasn't a party and a hippie community in the dark ages or medieval ages, so tough decisions were natural back then. I just wonder why Gwen gets all the support in her questionable actions. I understand why she did it, no doubt. Yet she took Sefa's father from her, and especially Gwen should have known what it's like to lose a father. I think it was interesting that Gwen used the exact speech that Uther had used towards her when she was sentenced to death in season one. Where was the difference? Uther released Gwen but later killed her father. Gwen released Sefa but killed Sefa's father.

So why in the world did Gwen think that Uther was so bad when she had to do the very same?