Board Thread:Rewatching "Merlin" - Season Five/@comment-5102537-20140420094458/@comment-24785400-20140423113455

''Do you guys consider it stupidity or a random act of mercy when Morgana let Daegal live? ''

Good point Areanna123! and I'm not sure of the answer, apart from the completely Doylist view that he had to be there to save Merlin and then help save Arthur, but there could have been ways around that if the writers had bothered. She's certainly meant to be more angry and lashing out in this series, so by rights she just should have killed Daegal when she had the chance, or perhaps we're meant to see her in a more sympathetic light so if the writers decide to redeem her we'll be there for the ride. I just don't know what we're meant to think - and I think some of it comes down to her change to "evil" and becoming this High Priestess (which means what exactly?) happen off-screen.

I saw something similar to TV-Tropes saying Morgana was all about the amount of damage she could inflict, or maximum impact, but no longevity. She does have pretty bad instincts when it comes to being a villain, and her plans are so ridiculously complex that they are bound to fail (she sort of reminds me of that little animal in Ice Age who keeps chasing that acorn no matter what).

It was odd she didn't bother taking revenge on The Sarrum, she's the High Priestess remember, capable of anything, she could have snapped his neck, or done the Darth Vader chocking thing. She found out that Gwen had no idea what had happened to her, and presumably Arthur, and she sort of just shrugged it off, but also she forgot about her search for Emrys, who's her destiny and doom remember? So inconsistent. I'm with you with the random peace treaty signing - again what sort of Golden Age of Camelot did we have exactly? The producers and Bradley said that bit is boring to show, but some sort of hint or change would have been nice. Do the writers even know themselves?

The women thing (and before anybody argues that women didn't have a great time in Arthurian legends, or in medieval times, I will again say, this is a FANTASY, with talking dragons etc, and a passing reference to Arthurian legends - which actually had some excellent women who were neither Saints, nor Villains.  Fantasy does not equal Historical Accuracy) - It was brought up again in the commentary for the final episode, Murphy marvels that somebody (Rachel? who-ever she is) was always telling him that this show only had two types of women, and Katie reply was "you do!!!" He didn't believe it. But increasingly, and more so in season 5 than anywhere else, the women seemed to be vixens/evil, with only not-enchanted Gwen being good/pure (but mainly kept out of sight), even the cook wasn't pleasant.

''Part of what annoyed me about Merlin is that while he had a goal, bring back magic, he never seemed interested in furthering that goal. He just sat around and waited for things to get better, and saved Arthur a lot in the meantime. ''

Yep, and in this episode, and indeed series he was alone, and bitter and just doggedly saving Arthur, and telling everybody that it would all change one day, without doing anything about it! (I'm not sure if it was written that way, but it seemed to be the way Colin played it), and still is bullied, hit and degraded. " Ha ha, Merlin and a girl!!" So again, we have the message, if you're part of the oppressed people, DON'T DO ANYTHING don't fight for change, don't try and talk to those in charge to change their minds, someday they'll die, and hopefully those who'll replace will change things,  might not  happen for generations, but it will happen - maybe - one day... oh, and if your friend who happens to be female is enchanted to kill the King, don't help her, even though she's helped you plenty, don't even be a bit concerned about her.

What sort of a legend-making hero is that?