Merlin :-(

[sally_maria]

I was sorry to hear that this will be the last season of the show, even though it's become increasingly obvious over the last couple of years that the story I signed on for wasn't the one the writers wanted to tell.

I still love the characters, though, and hope that a fandom that has already continued in large part in spite of what was happening on screen rather than because of it, will carry on writing about them. I'll miss the actors, but I hope they'll go on to other and enjoyable things.

In the meantime, this still made me laugh...

Comments

[sir_guinglain]

What was the story you signed on for? I've not seen very much of this series, though liked what I saw of last year.

[sally_maria]

Ummm... this got rather long, so don't worry if it's a bit much.

I can see why coming into the series at a later time and without our kind of fannish investment in the characters would be a completely different experience. The actors are good, and the individual shows are often entertaining, it's the ongoing story arc that didn't work for us. Obviously it hasn't ended yet, and my opinions may change between now and the end of the season, but they haven't given us much hope that that will be the case.


I think the fundamental thing for a lot of us who watched from the first season was that we were repeatedly told that not only was it Arthur's destiny to be king of all Albion, the greatest king ever, but that he and Merlin were two sides of the same coin and that they would be working together to build that kingdom.

Five seasons later, 10 years in show time, and Arthur is still only king of Camelot, and Merlin is still his bumbling peasant manservant. We were expecting that Arthur would bring back magic to Camelot soon after his coronation, that Merlin's power and role would be publicly recognised and that they would be working together to build a kingdom of Albion. Instead Merlin is still having to live a lie, continuing to deceive Arthur about what he is doing to protect him and the kingdom.

Arthur looks more and more clueless and incompetent not seeing what's going on right under his nose, while Merlin's constant deception becomes more and more unforgivable. Yes, he means well, but given how many times Arthur has been betrayed by people he loves - Morgana, his uncle Agravaine, even his father in many ways - it seems hard to believe that he will ever be able to trust Merlin again, at least on a personal level. Quite apart from the investment that we have in their relationship as slashers, it really seems as if there's no way out of it without breaking the whole basis of the show.

Now the show is ending and it's been strongly hinted with Arthur's death, and we're wondering what happened to the golden age of Camelot we were expecting. This was supposed to be the characters "before the legends", after all... ending with Arthur's triumph would have made perfect sense.

It's entirely possible that the writers were all along trying to tell a tragedy of missed opportunities and betrayal, but if so they were pulling a pretty major bait and switch on their fans - as I said, not the story I signed on for.

[bunn.livejournal.com]

I'm still quite enjoying watching it - but then I came to it late, having just picked up the odd episode here and there, and still not really with any idea what fandom wanted from it!

I always feel it does slightly pick up on the Monty Python verdict : "Camelot is a very silly place" but watchable for all that.

[sally_maria]

Yes, as I said to sir_guinglain over on Dreamwidth, it makes sense that someone who's watching in a more casual way wouldn't feel the same disappointment as those of us who've got invested in the story arc.

It can be very silly, and I've always enjoyed those episodes. I just wanted to see the fulfilment of the prophesies about Merlin and Arthur working together to make Arthur the king of all Albion, the great king ever, as well. And now we have five episodes to go - not much time for Arthur to get over Merlin lying to him for 10 years...