I do wish we'd seen that! It would have been wonderful to have at least one adventure with an Arthur who knows and accepts Merlin's magic! *wishes really hard*
...Nope. Damn you, Disney! Making people believe that wishes come true! *shakes fist*
No arguments from me on any counts. I agree that we had that little triangle going, that Merlin won, and that Gwen was a good Queen as Merlin never could have been. I think the last we see of them kind of illustrates that perfectly: Merlin, grieving horribly and then still waiting, over a thousand years later, versus Gwen, steeling her heart and turning her attention to the kingdom.
I'd add to what you said that to some extent, Arthur was never totally Gwen's because it was Merlin who made them see each other as they learned to. Gwen learned through Merlin that Arthur could be talked to as a human (and a prat), rather than just as a king; and Arthur learned through Merlin that servants can be friends and companions. They knew each other before Merlin, but I doubt there'd ever have been any sort of romance without Merlin there. Arthur was always heavily aware of his responsibilities, his role in life. And while he kept everyone at arms length, and always talked about doing what's best for the kingdom (was willing to break up with Gwen if that was best for his people), he's never been able to do so with Merlin—and when he tries, Merlin refuses to take it sitting down. It's fun, in a way, because Arthur's world orbits around Merlin without him ever really knowing or realizing how much it does. I almost wish we'd had more than that little snippet in Servant of Two Masters (which is one of my favorite episodes) as to how Arthur'd react to losing Merlin.
Similarly, I think that Gwen was never truly Arthur's the way that Merlin was. She'd do almost anything for him, and she loves him, but under all of this has always been the undertow called Camelot-comes-first. She does a lot for Arthur, but watching Merlin, her contributions seem miniscule. I might tentatively suggest that with series 5, the show writers were trying to show us that Gwen's first love was Camelot, where Merlin's was purely Arthur. (And so he caused Arthur to die. I'm tearing up now...)
Re: Part 2 II
...Nope. Damn you, Disney! Making people believe that wishes come true! *shakes fist*
No arguments from me on any counts. I agree that we had that little triangle going, that Merlin won, and that Gwen was a good Queen as Merlin never could have been. I think the last we see of them kind of illustrates that perfectly: Merlin, grieving horribly and then still waiting, over a thousand years later, versus Gwen, steeling her heart and turning her attention to the kingdom.
I'd add to what you said that to some extent, Arthur was never totally Gwen's because it was Merlin who made them see each other as they learned to. Gwen learned through Merlin that Arthur could be talked to as a human (and a prat), rather than just as a king; and Arthur learned through Merlin that servants can be friends and companions. They knew each other before Merlin, but I doubt there'd ever have been any sort of romance without Merlin there. Arthur was always heavily aware of his responsibilities, his role in life. And while he kept everyone at arms length, and always talked about doing what's best for the kingdom (was willing to break up with Gwen if that was best for his people), he's never been able to do so with Merlin—and when he tries, Merlin refuses to take it sitting down. It's fun, in a way, because Arthur's world orbits around Merlin without him ever really knowing or realizing how much it does. I almost wish we'd had more than that little snippet in Servant of Two Masters (which is one of my favorite episodes) as to how Arthur'd react to losing Merlin.
Similarly, I think that Gwen was never truly Arthur's the way that Merlin was. She'd do almost anything for him, and she loves him, but under all of this has always been the undertow called Camelot-comes-first. She does a lot for Arthur, but watching Merlin, her contributions seem miniscule. I might tentatively suggest that with series 5, the show writers were trying to show us that Gwen's first love was Camelot, where Merlin's was purely Arthur. (And so he caused Arthur to die. I'm tearing up now...)