Warning- Spoilers
Ok, so I think we can all agree that the last episode of Merlin was, by far, the best this series- I might even go as far as to say the best of all. Finally, something significant is happening. Up until now, all the 'major' episodes were about something quite irrelevent to the much awaited finale, or have simply been confirming the already-confirmed. Now, Morgana FINALLY knows who Emrys is! Like everyone else, I was slightly disappointed that Morgana's reaction wasn't shown more, but that doesn't overshadow the fact that events are actually getting under-way now.
This, coupled with brilliant acting on the part of Alexander Vlahos, made the episode amazing. However. I couldn't help but notice, reading through some of the other blogs, that two of the most overwhelming opinions were:
- Mordred and Kara were quite justified in their actions- murder or no murder on Kara's part!
- Merlin has been rather stupid, and has been making all the wrong decisions, which will lead to Arthur's death.
For Point 1, although I actually sympathise with Mordred- I think he's been the victim of fate, as he wouldn't have gotten so angry and broken out if Arthur had brought him to see Kara rejecting his offer of a second chance, I cannot feel so sympathetic towards Kara. Firstly, she kills innocent men in cold blood. Secondly, she continued to claim Arthur was not a good man, despite him putting away his sword, and coming to help her (which she repayed by trying to murder him in cold blood as well!), and thirdly, she did not take the chance of life from Arthur. Some may say that this is because she was too proud to even pretend to repent. Whilst I can understand this, I think she had a lot more to live for than she had to die for. She would have been able to be with Mordred, and- though I wouldn't have liked this- she would have theoretically been alive to try and murder Arthur again.
Now, for Point 2. I cannot stress enough how much I disagree with this! It is made clear to us throughout Series 5 that fate is something we cannot control, so whether Merlin made the right or the wrong choice, it was fated to be. Take the example of Oedipus (For those of you who do not know, he was the subject of a trilogy of plays by Sophocles, wherein he is a boy who does not know he is adopted, and is told that he will murder his father and marry his mother. He decides not to return home to prevent this from happening. However, he meets his real father later, and without this knowledge, kills him in self-defence. He then later marries his mother, again without realising who she is, and henceforth by trying to avert the prophecy, he fulfilled it.) This demonstrates the lack of control one has over their fate. And so returning to Merlin: don't blame him for the things he can't control!
What does everyone think on those two topics?
NOTE: I was also pondering the loyalties of Aithusa, and am just editing to add this little note. In 'Aithusa', Kilgharrah says how a white dragon bodes well for Arthur and Albion. So why is Aithusa allied to Morgana, and is suspected to take her side at Camlann? Will there be some spectacular turn around? I don't know. In the previews, we do see Aithusa breathing fire onto a sword Morgana is holding. This has obviously spawned theories about Excalibur .2, but how in any way would this be good for Arthur?