solitary_summer (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
solitary_summer) wrote2012-12-25 02:54 pm
solitary_summer) wrote2012-12-25 02:54 pm
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Merlin finale...
Mixed feelings. On the Merlin/Arthur front more and better than I expected, but still too handwavey for my taste. After 5.05 I wrote: Merlin with all the best intentions and self-denial isn't protecting Arthur, he's killing him, and has been for a while now, going back as far as Sins of the Father, because he's not allowing him to make a realistic judgement about magic and its true nature. Merlin is at least partly responsible for every disgruntled sorcerer coming Arthur's way since Arthur became king. (...)
There was another line about how Arthur was going to eventually wind up dead and Merlin would have a lot of time to live with his regrets, which I ultimately deleted before I posted the entry because I didn't really believe the show would kill Arthur. (Actually, over the last few episodes I thought it would be Merlin who would die after revealing his magic in one final self-sacrificial gesture and only live on on some kind of magical/spiritual plane.)
So, on second thoughts, I wonder... Was this deliberate? Does the show at least subtextually acknowledge underneath the sweeping tear-jerky sentimentality of the finale that without Uther, without all that baggage, without Merlin's lies and manipulations, they might have had a future that didn't result in Arthur's death and the weak consolation of his eventual return? Is the long wait Merlin's punishment, so to speak? If I had the time, I'd almost be tempted to rewatch to see if that fits.
I guess I'm a bit annoyed, because on some basic id-ish emotional level I'd have loved for them to have that future, where the can both be who they are, knowing each other, together, as equals. Which I'm aware is a bit hypocritical after I said I wasn't sure I wanted a happy ending any longer only yesterday.
Other than that, I did like Gwen realising Merlin was the sorcerer, with the implication that she would make the changes regarding magic that Arthur never could, and her ending up as queen, because that at least partly made up at for the truly shitty way this show treated its female characters. Five seasons, and there's one, one female character with a name and face to her that makes it out alive. One. Everyone else ended up either evil and dead, or just dead. There was time and space to introduce Arthur's knights, but not another regular female character? How about a female knight?Like Isolde. Dead Isolde. At the very least they could have given Morgana a better death, but I guess after the way her arc went this was only expected...
I'd also have liked a better resolution to Mordred's storyline, too, but I guess there's only so much you can do in 45 mins.
In conclusion... Bye, show. After the increasing frustration of the last years I can't say I'll miss you very much, but you had your moments; it's a pity that as a whole you never really managed to live up to them.
Mixed feelings. On the Merlin/Arthur front more and better than I expected, but still too handwavey for my taste. After 5.05 I wrote: Merlin with all the best intentions and self-denial isn't protecting Arthur, he's killing him, and has been for a while now, going back as far as Sins of the Father, because he's not allowing him to make a realistic judgement about magic and its true nature. Merlin is at least partly responsible for every disgruntled sorcerer coming Arthur's way since Arthur became king. (...)
There was another line about how Arthur was going to eventually wind up dead and Merlin would have a lot of time to live with his regrets, which I ultimately deleted before I posted the entry because I didn't really believe the show would kill Arthur. (Actually, over the last few episodes I thought it would be Merlin who would die after revealing his magic in one final self-sacrificial gesture and only live on on some kind of magical/spiritual plane.)
So, on second thoughts, I wonder... Was this deliberate? Does the show at least subtextually acknowledge underneath the sweeping tear-jerky sentimentality of the finale that without Uther, without all that baggage, without Merlin's lies and manipulations, they might have had a future that didn't result in Arthur's death and the weak consolation of his eventual return? Is the long wait Merlin's punishment, so to speak? If I had the time, I'd almost be tempted to rewatch to see if that fits.
I guess I'm a bit annoyed, because on some basic id-ish emotional level I'd have loved for them to have that future, where the can both be who they are, knowing each other, together, as equals. Which I'm aware is a bit hypocritical after I said I wasn't sure I wanted a happy ending any longer only yesterday.
Other than that, I did like Gwen realising Merlin was the sorcerer, with the implication that she would make the changes regarding magic that Arthur never could, and her ending up as queen, because that at least partly made up at for the truly shitty way this show treated its female characters. Five seasons, and there's one, one female character with a name and face to her that makes it out alive. One. Everyone else ended up either evil and dead, or just dead. There was time and space to introduce Arthur's knights, but not another regular female character? How about a female knight?
I'd also have liked a better resolution to Mordred's storyline, too, but I guess there's only so much you can do in 45 mins.
In conclusion... Bye, show. After the increasing frustration of the last years I can't say I'll miss you very much, but you had your moments; it's a pity that as a whole you never really managed to live up to them.
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