Board Thread:Series 5 Discussion/@comment-209.196.232.2-20121230195253/@comment-5995315-20130206124922

There's a difference between saying the finale was flawed and that it totally ruined everything.

The finale is about as perfect as a finale can be. It ties the entire series together with one single message to viewers. In other words, it's a story with a moral to it. It is proper tragedy. That means that the tragic ending contains within itself the redemption that makes the whole story worthwhile.

Every theme the finale touches on is found all throughout every season of Merlin. The message the finale gives viewers is simply that of four major themes running through the show, one was the most important of all.

After reading so many posts saying the finale destroyed the show I've concluded the people writing such things are oblivious to the thematic motifs holding the series together. They have also completely missed  clues that were given starting with the very first episodes as to how this show was going to end.

In other words, people who press the idea that the finale was somehow inconsistent with the rest of the show or in some way ruined Merlin are invariably missing some major element or other that the episodes touch on. They've watched the episodes with blinders on, screening out the parts they don't like or don't understand.

It is one thing to say the finale is flawed. It is something much different to say it somehow destroyed the show. A claim of that magnitude defies common sense and buys into the rumors and conspiracy theories put out since late last year to the effect that the writers, producers and even the actors set out to vandalize their own work.

That the finale destroyed everything is an unreasonable conclusion. It's much more likely that the finale is pretty much consistent with the rest of the show, unless someone wants to explain how it could have veered so wildly off course under the stewardship of so many people involved in its production.

When people say the finale ruined everything, what they actually mean is that it ruined everything for them. If they feel this strongly, they should ask what it is they themselves were missing while watching the show. The rest of us out there think the finale was beautifully acted and superbly directed, and that the message it left viewers with is a classic in storytelling.