User blog:Waterwecna/Diamond of the Day Part Two: Review

Morgana using a lightning spell we have never seen before!

Merlin appearing as Dragoon and being more powerful than ever before!

Guinevere actually managing to kill a man bigger than she is!

This episode was packed with many surprises and many twists from the start! First, the battle ended much sooner than anyone of us thought I am sure! Mordred suddenly appears and strikes Arthur, but he does so when they are both alone. And then he is suddenly killed so easily! And the battle ends just like that! I to be honest was quite disappointed!

What surprised me even more is that the battle ended up being much different than in all the visions. No red sky, no Morgana reaching out for Emrys, no epic Mordred arriving. Why let us see all those versions if this is not how the battle itself actually would be? It does not make sense to me. I am very disappointed also that we did not get the "Is this really what you wanted, Morgana?!" moment in real life.

Yet there was a magic reveal! Arthur finally found out who Merlin had been all along! His reaction was much better than I thought it would be: I imagined that he would actually yell at Merlin or at least try to. It does make sense that he was mad and did not trust Merlin at first. I mean, he had lied to him for almost 10 years (or a bit less).

A broken Morgana mourning for Mordred: yet another thing I did not expect to see. It seems that after all he did for her she still cared for him a lot. This is proof that Morgana is not a typical villainness, she has a heart. When she yelled "I want him dead!" - this was truly one of the best Morgana moments ever. Morgana may have been repetitive in the previous seasons, but she has truly redeemed herself in my eyes. Once again we see her for the epic sorceress that she is. Still, she was but a shell of herself for most of the episode, doing nothing but planning against Arthur and using one powerful spell.

What I really loved about this episode was Merlin using his magic more freely than ever before! He feared no one, not even the Saxon soldiers! He truly was the sorcerer he was destined to be, and it was a real shame that he did not get to be this bold version of himself for much longer.

"Why are you still behaving like a servant?" - this was one of those moments where I was proud of Arthur. He was finally about to see who Merlin truly was, what he had done for him. It was as Alexander Vlahos had said: this episode truly was about their friendship. Merlin could finally speak to Arthur about everything, and not have to hide any longer. Yet.. why did he say that he was pleased how Mordred died? I honestly am not and  Iam sure I am not the only one who is not. Mordred's candle was snuffed waaaay too quickly.

What puzzled me was that Gwaine and Percival planned to go against Morgana alone. Are they not at all aware that she is much powerful than they are? Did they not fear for their lives? Although I thought the moment where Morgana triumphed was awesome, I was disappointed that she got stabbed once again. Why do people constantly keep stabbing her? And why did Gwaine trust Eira so easily? To be honest, Eira was an unnecessary character to begin with.

Morgana keeping Percival and Gwaine as prisoners was definitely not something we had seen before in the series. It showed us truly how desperate she was. And that moment where Percival broke himself free was simply epic! We truly saw the strong man who he is once more! Yet Gwaine's death was not only unexpected but also unnecessary: I myself would have kept him alive. Such poor character development this season and then this sudden death! I get why Eoin was disappointed with how his character was this season: I would have been too if I was him.

Yet even more disappointing to me was Morgana's death. Why would Merlin kill her like this? And why did he say before he did so that he felt that he was to blame for her turning evil? I am truly disappointed that Morgana, like my beloved Mordred had to die so quickly. Such a strong and epic sorceress taken out like this, without even an epic battle! I truly feel it for the Morgana fans, as I am upset over Morgana dying (especially like this) too! After this, I did not even feel sorry for Arthur dying and the desperate Merlin!

And the last scenes were a disappointment too. Guinevere started ruling Camelot, yet we never actually find out the fate of Camelot. Then Merlin takes Arthur to Avalon, yet stays behind himself, only to look like a homeless person in the modern world! Although I am glad that he survived, I am not at all happy that his story was never fully explained. And that the stories of many characters were not either. Although we did see what became of Merlin, the series still kind of ended in a cliffhanger because we will never know the answer to some questions. Like for example: why did Morgana have to die? Why could she not be redeemed instead?

So in conclusion.... All in all, this was a quick episode that lacked quite a lot of things. I am not at all pleased that this is the way this epic series would end, so quickly and with so many unnecessary and missing things! Seriously, I feel like I myself could have done a better job writing this last episode. Such a shame.
 * This episode contained a lot of unnecessary deaths: Mordred, Morgana, Gwaine, Arthur... I remember them all in fondness.
 * In ths episode we did not see what we had hoped for all this time: no epic Mordred vs Arthur, or Morgana vs Merlin battle. And no scenes from the vision! Many things we had waited for.. lost.
 * In this episode, we still saw something we had really eagerly waited for: the magic reveal. Yes, Arthur finally found out Merlin was a sorcerer!
 * And finally: the old Merlin walking around in the modern world! WHAT ON EARTH would I like to ask?

21:02, December 24, 2012 (UTC)