User blog comment:Morganaforever/Episode Review: The Hollow Queen/@comment-5674726-20121125010322

''*Why does Morgana fail so often lately? We all know Morgana wants Merlin and Arthur dead, especially since it is mostly all she tries to do lately. But the methods she uses don't really impress me, especially since she keeps failing when it comes to killing them both. We all know that they will not die before the end.. so what is the use of having Morgana try to kill them all the time before that and fail? She should build an army instead, especially since all of the bad things that have happened to her. She needs protection.''

I'd say that there are two possible explanations for Morgana's persistent failures:

(I) Lack of creativity on the parts of the writers. They can't come up with anything better for Morgana to do than to have her try to kill Arthur and Merlin but there's no way that she's going to be allowed to accomplish that goal, or even to take out another main character like Guinevere, so every attempt is doomed to failure. It'd make more sense to have her consolidate support among other magic users and any monarchs or lords who don't go for the idea of a united Albion, and who view Arthur's efforts in that direction as a sign that he intends to seize control.

(II) Subconscious self-sabotage. At this point, if Morgana is serious about achieving her goals, she should recognise that simplicity and efficiency will serve her better than elaborate plans designed to maximise suffering. In this episode, she should have slit Merlin's throat as soon as he was unconscious, and waited until he was dead before she left. Instead of getting Sarrum to arrange Arthur's assassination, she should have got the key to the gallery from Gwen, locked the door behind her - and shame on Mr Assassin for not doing this! - and used her magic to kill Arthur. It's not like she needs to hide her enmity towards him. Unless there's a part of her that doesn't want to succeed, I can't understand why she hasn't adopted better tactics by now.