Ooh, me too—the Arthur/Merlin part was very satisfying. In fact, I felt kind of sorry for Gwen, who seems to have faded away in Arthur's mind during those last two episodes. In the first part, Arthur's preoccupied with the battle and Merlin's desertion; by the second part, I wonder if he even thought of his wife much at all. To me, even the part where he gave Gaius the signet ring for Gwen was about Merlin—in any other situation, wouldn't you say he'd have waited for the last moment and then given it to Merlin? Or even just trusted Merlin to know without being told? After all, he's been on death's door before, but he's never tried to pass on his signet ring before he was even dead. I think that at that stage—having only just found out about Merlin, and probably wondering how this powerful sorcerer was plotting to take over Arthur's beloved kingdom—he was "thwarting" Merlin. But then, after that...the way that he says, "I know now everything you've done for me, for the kingdom that you helped me build..." I think they had must have had a lot of discussions about magic that we didn't get to see. I think that Arthur was so busy figuring out Merlin, thinking about him, learning about him, that he sort of...forgot about Gwen.
But then, heh, maybe that's my wishful thinking. I grew to like Gwen in the last series, but I had trouble warming up to the Arthur/Gwen dynamic before that. In series 2 and 3, I just found their Romeo and Juliet mentality (and the sudden onset of this all-encompassing affection) a little bit tiresome. And series 4 was alright...up until the incident with Lancelot, at which point I got a splitting headache. In series 5, though, I liked them together. Gwen makes a great Queen. :)
Don't you kind of wish Morgana had had better resolution, though? The drastic change in her personality between series 2&3 was always attributed to the love that Morgause offered as compared to the fear that she suffered under Uther, combined with the knowledge that Merlin had tried to kill her. But I read somewhere a theory that Morgause had subjected Morgana to the Dark Tower as a rite of passage of sorts...and wouldn't that explain a heck of a lot? Even with the original interpretation, the fact that Merlin just sort of stabbed her was...well, kind of nice, in a way, because Arthur was there and stabbing is a thing that Arthur understands, but still. I wish there had been a little more about her. Aithusa, too.
It's interesting, though, this moral that love for a person over love for your ambitions will doom you. Because isn't that ultimately how the Arthurian legend goes? Traditionally, Arthur dooms Camelot when he chooses to wed Guinevere despite Merlin's warning that she's meant for another. And then when Guinevere and Lancelot can't resist each other, Arthur is perfectly willing to live as part a menage a troi, but his people see it as weakness and ultimately he has to punish them. And in being forced to send away his best knight, he dooms Camelot because they can no longer win the battle with Mordred's forces. (Which, incidentally, also broke out over a misunderstanding—the armies were facing each other with instructions not to fight, but it was hot, and some soldier had a fly buzzing around his head, so he drew his sword to stab the fly, the other side saw the glint of the sword and thought that they were dishonoring the agreement...and ta-da! War!)
**Continued in Re: Part 2 II B (I admit it—I'm enjoying this discussion too much to try to delete paragraphs when the comment doesn't fit. :P)**
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timeasmymeasure
Re: Part 2 II A
Date: 2013-03-09 11:14 am (UTC)But then, heh, maybe that's my wishful thinking. I grew to like Gwen in the last series, but I had trouble warming up to the Arthur/Gwen dynamic before that. In series 2 and 3, I just found their Romeo and Juliet mentality (and the sudden onset of this all-encompassing affection) a little bit tiresome. And series 4 was alright...up until the incident with Lancelot, at which point I got a splitting headache. In series 5, though, I liked them together. Gwen makes a great Queen. :)
Don't you kind of wish Morgana had had better resolution, though? The drastic change in her personality between series 2&3 was always attributed to the love that Morgause offered as compared to the fear that she suffered under Uther, combined with the knowledge that Merlin had tried to kill her. But I read somewhere a theory that Morgause had subjected Morgana to the Dark Tower as a rite of passage of sorts...and wouldn't that explain a heck of a lot? Even with the original interpretation, the fact that Merlin just sort of stabbed her was...well, kind of nice, in a way, because Arthur was there and stabbing is a thing that Arthur understands, but still. I wish there had been a little more about her. Aithusa, too.
It's interesting, though, this moral that love for a person over love for your ambitions will doom you. Because isn't that ultimately how the Arthurian legend goes? Traditionally, Arthur dooms Camelot when he chooses to wed Guinevere despite Merlin's warning that she's meant for another. And then when Guinevere and Lancelot can't resist each other, Arthur is perfectly willing to live as part a menage a troi, but his people see it as weakness and ultimately he has to punish them. And in being forced to send away his best knight, he dooms Camelot because they can no longer win the battle with Mordred's forces. (Which, incidentally, also broke out over a misunderstanding—the armies were facing each other with instructions not to fight, but it was hot, and some soldier had a fly buzzing around his head, so he drew his sword to stab the fly, the other side saw the glint of the sword and thought that they were dishonoring the agreement...and ta-da! War!)
**Continued in Re: Part 2 II B (I admit it—I'm enjoying this discussion too much to try to delete paragraphs when the comment doesn't fit. :P)**