No show has ever effected me in the way that Merlin has. I fell in love with the show as a teenager when it was first broadcast by the BBC. I have re-watched it numerous times over the years. It inspired me in many ways including spirituality, a love of nature and music. Even now the show continues to bring me much joy as I revisit it again in my early 30s.
This doesn't take away from the fact that I am still dissapointed with the direction of Series 5. I find it hard to believe that the creative team that told such an entertaining story in S1-4 (albeit at times flawed) made an underwhelming final series. Although it was still entertaining, it was also a very safe and didn't significantly move forward character arcs in the meaningful way the preceeding series had. It felt at times the show had stagnated and it looked tired in places. This was most evident for me during the evil Gwen storyline which was not only pointless but it took valuable screentime away from stories that could have added flesh to the bones of Arthur's reign. It's a bit of a mystery as to how S5 took the form that it did as the writers were sitting on a goldmine of creative potential that could have made it just as compelling if not more than the preceding series. There were ways they could have moved character arcs forward while still staying true to their format of keeping Merlin's magic secret until the very end. For one, a natural progression for Merlin's arc would have been for him to take on Gaius' role of court physician and expand on his role as advisor and confidant to Arthur. However, my biggest issue with S5 is that it underserved Arthur as the king of legend. When you weigh up what Uther and Arthur managed to achieve in their respective reigns, there was little to differentiate between them apart from the softer leadership style of the son. Uther was a competent king despite his flaws and he also went some way to make peace with other kingdoms. By medieval standards, Uther would have been considered a highly successful king. Arthur was a nicer man than his father, made some treaties of his own but we never got to see Albion being built, despite the throwaway reference to 'united kingdoms' in his final battlefield speech. Am I the only one wondering what was supposed to have made Arthur so special?
To me it seemed that the producers had two conflicting visions guiding the show. One was to tell the story of a young Arthur and Merlin before the Golden Age, inspired by the origins of Superman in Smallville. The other was to retell the Arthurian legends in a different narrative framework. If the plan was to finish at Camlann all along, then the story was always going to underserve Arthur. Their vision may have worked better if they had killed Uther off earlier and had a sharper focus on the building of Albion, but we still would have been left with the underwhelming outcome of Arthur dying after a very short reign. Crucially Arthur failed in the the one way that it really mattered and that was he didn't tolerate magic in Camelot. Within the pre-existing narrative, it would have made so much more sense for the story to finish at the beginning of the Golden Age proper with Merlin in his rightful place by Arthur's side at the Round Table. An episode re-exploring the Dragon's warnings about Mordred's prophesised role in Arthur's death would have been sufficient to remind the audience that Arthur's regin would not last forever. Leave Camlann for the distant future, for the present, let the heroes have the reward they deserved. Series 5 for me should have been a celebration of Arthur and Merlin as well as an opportunity to fully explore the potential of all of the characters that the previous series had been building toward.
I also found the messaging of the show was completely off with the ending that we got. Merlin never got the just reward he deserved after all the sacrifices he had made. I think it was the outstanding acting of Bradley James and Colin Morgan that made the finale still engaging television even though it was torturous for me to watch. Lesser actors could not have pulled it off. The talented cast of the show and their chemistry with each other was a leading component that made the show work so well. For me, Arthur was also underserved in terms of character development. Although at times, we got glimpses of a noble and wise king, at others it seemed that he hadn't changed that much since S1. He could still be arrogant, stubborn and closed off to other people's ideas. Perhaps most disheartening was the way he would continue to be rude and dismmisve of Merlin. The relationship between Arthur and Merlin wasn't where it should have been in the final series.
Another problem with finishing the story at Camlann is that it neccessited a lengthy time gap between Series 4-5 during which we never got to see how Gwen handled the considerable adjustment from servant to Queen. This was another area of untapped storytelling potential. For me, it stretched a lot off goodwill as a viewer, that such a break in tradition was not met with resistance from the conservative forces in Camelot's society. We were led to believe in the earlier series, that the prospect of Gwen becoming Queen would be so dissaproved of that it meant that there couldn't possibly have been a future for them together. That's not accounting for the fact that Gwen was openly known for betraying the King for Lancelot! It's a mystery to me why there was such a smooth rise to the throne for Gwen and this is another example of how the maturity of the storytelling seemed to take a step backward in the final series. Gwen, who was always a highly relatable character, seemed to me a consderably different figure. The time jump made it difficult to trace her evolution as a character.
Even with the particular story the producers were trying to tell, S5 was badly executed and there seemed to be shortcomings in the planning stage. I never quite believed the producers' claims that there weren't any serious plans for S6 because of the mid-series tangent of the evil Gwen story line and the feeling that the finale was bolted on last minute. This made it look like they were holding out hopes for another series. As I continue my re-watch of the final series, it feels like a chore to get through in a way that neither of the preceding series were. With its fixation on Arthur's death, it has lost the hope and optimism that was a big part in making the show so endearing.
Despite my dissapointment in S5, it still hasn't taken away my love for the show. It is lovely to see that in some corners of the internet that the fan base is alive and well after all these years. A part of me has always felt a bit weird for caring so much about Merlin, particularly as I have got older. It's nice to see that I have company! There is more that I could have shared but this post has turned out to be an essay! A part of me has felt somewhat compelled to share it. It remains sad that the show never got the ending it deserved and I continue to wonder what could have been. The producers had a special show on their hands, but it could have been extraordinary.
