Reilly2040's Blog

I haven’t really talked much about Merlin on this blog for some reason, but with the second series having come to a close this weekend, it seemed like a good reason to revisit it.

For me, this series has undoubtedly been a big success.  Its an interesting world it inhabits.  We, the viewers, know that eventually Arthur and Merlin emerge to lead Camelot into a new golden age of general goodness.  However aside from that knowledge, the world of the show is filled with shades of grey.  Uther’s campaign to wipe out all magic undoubtedly paints him as the villain.  And certainly more than a few times he’s created the very enemies he’s been trying to wipe out (Morgause and the Druids for example).

However often these people are portrayed as the villains, while Merlin and Arthur fight to preserve the status quo of Uther’s anti-magic reign. From the point of view of Arthur this makes sense, and Merlin’s been told of his destiny by the dragon, so you can understand him backing up Arthur.  However it does make you question who exactly in the right sometimes, which is nice.  Granted, the Druids etc are usually heavy-handed enough with their desire to dethrone Uther that they’re as bad as he is, and therefore understandable that they be stopped.  But how this will be tackled next year, with Morgana could be very interesting indeed.

And regarding Morgana, what a great turn of events that was.  Her distancing from Uther after discovering her own magical talents was built up over the course of the series, alongside her growing allegiance to the Druids.  The viewers of course, could also see her being manipulated by various parties throughout the series, but none-the-less her stance against Uther is entirely justifiable, and to actually have her used by Morgause, resulting in Merlin poisoning her was a brave move by the series.  All the actors played those scenes exceptionally well, and it adds an edge to Merlin’s character, in what he was willing to do to save Camelot.  And nicely sets up Morgana to want revenge against him (even if it was Morgause using her as the anchor of the spell that led to Merlin’s actions).

The second half of the series definitely saw things moving forward.  Arthur and Merlin’s friendship is well established now, and Merlin’s usual port of call when things got out of hand, the dragon, is now gone from Camelot (although did at least seem grateful Merlin spared him).  Hopefully this will lead to Merlin having to stand more on his own two feet in series 3.  Also we have Morgana’s situation turned on its head, with her now in place to return as a villain, or perhaps, not even a villain.  Just someone who justifiably wants Uther removed from power.

I’m hoping things regarding Merlin’s secret will also move on next year.  If Morgana does return and target Merlin, then she may well discover his magic.  However I’d also like Gwen to find out as well.  Granted, Arthur finding out might make a bit more sense from the larger view of their destiny and the legend, however I can’t help but think the show won’t go quite that far yet.  Gwen finding out, would give Merlin another ally in the palace, and someone his own age he can confide in.

We’ve also got some recurring villains to hopefully look forward to.  Mordred, despite his age, is being shown as someone to be feared, and who has no problems with who gets in the way with removing Uther.  Morgause will also hopefully be back, and likely linked to Morgana.  Certainly a mistake I felt the show made in the first series was killing off Nimueh, so I was glad to see them not repeat that here and leave Morgause alive to return.

That’s just some random musings regarding Merlin.  The show is a lot of fun, but has some interesting layers to it.  This year, I did feel the two-part silly story with the Troll was a bit much, however having seen how dark the later episodes were (and how the events with the Troll also drove a more hardline stance from Uther, resulting in him calling the Witchfinder etc) going for a couple of comedy episodes makes sense, even if I wasn’t keen on them.  Given the excellence of the final episodes though, and that they were just two episodes out of thirteen, they’re easily overlooked, and I find myself very excited to see what the show will bring with its third series.

We’ve now had two episodes of the BBC’s latest entry to the “Doctor Who” Saturday teatime slot: Merlin.

The show is basically Smallville meets Arthurian Legend. A young Merlin is sent to Camelot by his mother, who is finding it increasingly difficult to help him with his growing magical talents. So she sends him to stay with Gaius, who appears to have some knowledge in the ways of magic although not a magic-user himself. He quickly identifies that there’s something different about Merlin, who is able to use magic without the use of potions or spells, unlike all other magic-users. However, with King Uthar having banned all magic in the kingdom on pain of execution, Merlin has to balance keeping his powers discrete, while at the same time, embracing them.

To me, this show has proved much stronger so far than the other “Doctor Who” slot candidate, Robin Hood. There’s a confidence in this show in what its trying to be, and the cast all suit their roles well (while I’ve enjoyed episodes of Robin Hood, and its got some nice ideas, its never quite gelled for me, although I did quite enjoy season 2). The first two episodes were good fun, with some nice character building, with the first establishing Merlin and the setting in Camelot, while the second episode took the arrogant young Arthur from the first episode and showed the pressure he’s put under by his father as prince.

If I have any worries at this early stage, its that there could be a trap of falling into a predictible pattern, with some magic-related threat to the kingdom, Merlin discovers it, however is angsty about revealing the threat without being able to use his own powers.  Merlin manages to discretely foil the threat.   However, as I say, its only two episodes in, and I hope that with setting and characters established, we’ll see some more arc elements start to emerge.   We obviously know the outcomes for these characters, so it’ll be interesting to see if Morgana’s villainous future is hinted towards, and you have to wonder how often Merlin will be able to visit the Great Dragon before someone notices…

Its great teatime TV, and its definitely something I’m looking forward to every Saturday.  I’m very interested to see how the storyline develops.