Thread:Ozymandias v/@comment-24691863-20140323095510/@comment-24629321-20140324142706

It's funny that you ask, I did look at the show very differently when I started watching it a second time. The first time through I had very different initial reactions from the way that I later grew to think about the show. I couldn't stand Merlin for the first several episodes—he was so shortsighted and self-centered (I hated him for almost getting Gwen executed as a witch in 1x03!) 1x10 was when I got absolutely hooked. That episode reminded me so much of Robin of Sherwood, which was the first favorite show I ever had as a child. After that, the dynamic between Merlin & Arthur pretty much overshadowed everything else about the show. Now, watching it a second time, I'm mainly struck by the tragedy of Morgana. Poor Morgana, everyone betrays her! Did you find that you looked at the show differently when re-watching it?

I didn't know much at all about the legend before watching the show, which is probably a good thing. My husband couldn't really appreciate the show much because the ways it differed from the classics really irked him. I would like to read more about it now though. I've borrowed the Mary Stewart books about Arthur & Camelot from my mom, so those will be the first ones I read, although I'm not sure when exactly I'll get to them! And at some point down the line, I'll have to check out the classic authority on the subject, Thomas Malory's Le Morte d'Arthur.