Board Thread:Rewatching "Merlin" - Season Five/@comment-5102537-20140420094458/@comment-24785400-20140421063429

There where some good things in this episode, as a stand-alone episode it was fine, but... as part of a story arc it really didn't deliver, nor did it move anything forward. We get a regurgitated story, with Gwen in place of Morgana, and Morgana standing in for Morgause, and plotting to kill Arthur. Again it was written around two plot points. One to remind us that Gwen is evil and also  to introduce us to The Sarrum, who'd imprisoned Morgana and Aithusa so cruelly. There were so many things amiss though,  there were some good bits, like Merlin and Daegal, Gwen and Morgana (I love seeing them together here, Gwens tears and worry over Morgana seemed real), but not enough to save it. First did Merlin and Arthur take stupid pills or something? Gwen has been somehow enchanted or brainwashed to make her evil and Merlin knows this... but leaves anyway, saying Arthur would never miss him anyway (cue for fan's awwws). The Sarrum was a scary, malevolent man, even Uther feared him, yet before serious scenes we have Arthur not finding his comb, asking repeatedly where Merlin was (cue more fannish awwwwes) not being able to dress himself, so the following scenes interacting with the Sarrum don't really work, because Arthur is a idiot who can't dress himself, plus he's supposed to the best warrior, but without Merlin he gets beaten easily! We find out that now Arthur knows how his sister was imprisoned, (and I like how he was disgusted by it) but did Merlin ever find out? That bugged me. We never knew how The Sarrum captured them, how they escaped, or anything more about him, other than he was a cruel man. Morgana finally worked out that she had to get Merlin out of the way to get to Arthur, but (stupid pills again?) she poisoned him and didn't make sure he was dead before she left him? honestly, even if she'd have checked, couldn't find a pulse, and then left would have been better than just leaving him alive. We end the episode again with Merlin and Gwen eyeing each other off, Arthur teasing his servant about going off to see a girl (cue more fannish reponses to that one!), and Merlin burying yet another person who'd tried to help him, and back in his role as servant rather than leader,which he was with Daegal, and which I liked to see from him, but the writers were never going to change that dynamic. But at the same time again he states that though he thinks Arthur is a good man, he tells Deagal he'd probably have his head for having magic. It felt his rescue of Arthur was almost half-hearted, more to do with duty then anything else. Very depressing.