Quick Reaction: Merlin Finale

[hells_half_acre]

I can't.... I can't decide if I liked it.

Things I liked:

1. The fact that the magic reveal was early on in the episode and just between Merlin and Arthur.

2. The acting, it goes without saying, was phenomenal. My opinion of Merlin is that the talent of the actors has always far outstripped the talent of the writers - and that remains unchanged.

3. I liked the fact that Merlin and Arthur got at least one adventure together where Merlin got to openly use his magic.

4. I like the fact that we could see Arthur slowly coming to terms with Merlin as a sorcerer - I love that he went through the entire arc, from being frightened of Merlin to feeling just betrayed and then finally coming to see that Merlin was still the same person he always knew - and more than that, realizing that he had the most powerful sorcerer ever to walk the earth as his manservant, and that the sorcerer LIKED it that way.

5. I liked the fact that this episode really was about the love story of Arthur and Merlin, which, of course, the entire show has been about - so it was nice to have the final episode completely dedicated to it.

6. I like that we got an ending for all the knights - some were sad (Gwaine, I'd argue, had the most tragic ending) and some were bittersweet (Percival being the last of Arthur's original low-born knights left alive - Leon, who I've seen some people jokingly call immortal, remaining Gwen's right hand knight as he was Arthur's). I think that scene between Percival and Gwaine broke my heart completely.

7. The final moments between Merlin and Arthur were horrendously heartbreaking and very well done. I half expected Arthur to tell Merlin "I love you" as his final words, but "Thank you" WAS actually more fitting, since the whole thing with Merlin is that he has constantly suffered without any thanks from those he suffered for.

8. Gwen being a badass queen was awesome. And I LOVE the fact that she was basically the only one who really did put it together that Merlin was a sorcerer without having to be told. She needed to have it confirmed, but that's hardly the same thing. And when it was, she wasn't betrayed, she was happy. I think Gwen will restore magic to it's rightful place in the kingdom.

Things I didn't like:

1. Magic wasn't restored to the kingdom in Arthur's lifetime. 

2. Morgana's death. Katie McGrath kept saying that she liked Morgana's ending, but I didn't. It was the death of a two-dimensional villain, not someone who was Arthur's sister and USED to have a good heart. I wanted either a sliver of redemption, or at the very least, an acknowledgement that she had gone about everything completely wrong and misguided.

3. The ending. I guess I just wanted a complete reincarnation/resurrection ending. If you're going to have a show that completely changes and plays with the Arthurian myths - like, just COMPLETELY rewrites the legends - WHY DO YOU STILL GIVE US A HORRIBLY TRAGIC ENDING?! Maybe it's just me, but the idea of Arthur's second coming isn't a a balm for pain of his death - nor is the thought of Merlin, immortal and unchanging, stalking the shores of lake Avalon waiting for his friend to return...never able to move on from the grief of having lost him in the first place. Why not give us an ending where Arthur miraculously survives and we see him restore magic? Why not give us an ending where it's the future but Merlin is young and he's walking up the road and he sees a group of boys laughing, and one of them turns and smiles at him and it's Arthur...and they have this sort of unspoken moment of joy at seeing one another again. I guess, I just wanted them to subvert the legends completely.

Sigh...

Anyway, yeah...I guess I'm conflicted. There were some really good bits, but the ending wasn't satisfying to me. I wanted it left open, I suppose, for canon-compliant future-fics to be written that could satisfy me in the days ahead - but alas. 

I'm going to really miss this extremely gay show. I guess I just wanted it to go on in my brain forever.

Now, even though I didn't like the tragic ending. I have to say that the final scene between Merlin and Arthur really was magnificent. I love the fact that Arthur told Merlin just to hold him...I love the fact that he used the last of his strength to reach up and put his hand on Merlin's head. I love that in the end it really was a love story between Merlin and Arthur.

Now I'll go have a sulk.

Comments

Re: Part 2 II A

[hells-half-acre.livejournal.com]

Yeah, it's not that there's anything bad about the Gwen/Arthur storyline, I think everyone would agree on that. It's just...so pitifully weak next to the developing relationship of Merlin and Arthur.

It's true. It's kind of hard to make the Arthurian legends a metaphor about homosexuality and then still have Arthur hook with a girl and NOT have it seem like the lesser relationship.

I agree about Morgana's death where she just sort of stands there (I could say the same about Mordred killing Arthur though). Like... really. It must be a pendragon trait to just await death. :P

I just can't help but think the show showed us the twist of Morgana being under the influence of the dark tower or something - and in her last moments she was able to snap out of it somehow through the love that she USED to have for Arthur.

I really, truly loved that this show didn't have the incestuous sex, though I confess to being pretty disappointed in what they did with the Arthur/Gwen/Lancelot triangle. I could accept that it was just a spell. But Gwen pledges her love to Lancelot at one point! And then just turns to Arthur because Lancelot isn't there! *sigh*

Agreed. Although, to be fair, I kind of hate the Arthur/Gwen/Lancelot triangle story, so I'm kind of glad that they shoved it to the side the way they did. That being said, I don't like what they did with Lancelot... so, I guess I just want to have my cake and eat it too. I'm not a big fan of love triangle storylines.

Re: Part 2 II A

[aegyptae-liber.livejournal.com]

Yet that makes it interesting, because there really aren't that many stories where a friendship and a romance can be compared, and have the friendship win out. (Ignoring the fact that one could refer to Merlin and Arthur's relationship as a romance...)

Mordred, though, I felt actually stood there because he wanted to die. He was never like Morgana: he turned to her side out of grief, because he was suddenly so alone. It makes my heart ache to think how he must have felt. He turned aside everything he believed in for Arthur, and yet Arthur knowingly took away the one and only person outside of Camelot that Mordred loved. He must have felt so abandoned, so lost to know that not even Merlin would help him. I think that all he wanted was to stab Arthur–and once he had, he had nothing left to live for and was happy to die.

Hm...it's not that I like the love triangle. In fact, they generally annoy me. I only like this one when it's really played out as a triangle: as in, each of the three loves the other two equally. And when they're happy to live like this, then I like it. What they did was sort of a cop-out. Gwen pledges her love to Lancelot, then falls for Arthur, then Lancelot dies for Arthur for Gwen's sake, then he's enchanted into briefly seducing Gwen just long enough to mess up her relationship with Arthur...and is gone. I almost wish they'd just left the love triangle bit out of it.

Re: Part 2 II A

[hells-half-acre.livejournal.com]

So what you like is a threesome, not a triangle. To me, "love triangle" by definition means that the participants aren't content to live that way, nor love each other equally (or one loves two equally, but the two don't necessarily love each other.) This is just arguing definitions though - obviously you define "triangle" the way I define "threesome."

I couldn't really sympathize with Mordred at all. Or maybe I did, but by that point I was too annoyed withe season to sympathize with him in the right way. I mean, when it comes right down to it, Merlin blew the whole thing with Mordred from the jump, because he treated him like an enemy the entire time so of COURSE he becomes one. I do think that at the end Mordred had a "what have I done?!" moment and probably welcomed death, as you say. And yes, that was heartbreaking in a "you're a dumbass" kind of way... but like I said, at that point I was pissed off.

I see every relationship as a romance...or as a not-romance. Basically, I widdle every relationship down to love and ignore who is actually kissing... so, yeah, to me it wasn't about friendship coming out on top of romance. It was about Arthur accepting who Merlin was and who he was in the face of great prejudice against it, which like I said, was the only part that I liked. :P

Re: Part 2 II A

[aegyptae-liber.livejournal.com]

Yay, weekend!! It's been a crazy week, and I've only just finished my rewatch of S4.

Ah, yeah, I pretty much agree with that definition of love triangle. Love polygon, really, since it's rarely actually a triangle. It's not that I define this relationship as a love triangle, but that it's generally referred to as such, where I like to see it as a relatively happy threesome broken by outside influence.

But it's not so much that I like a threesome—I just tend to be happy with any relationship setup as long as the characters (or the ones that I care about, at least) are happy. I liked Lancelot a great deal (possibly more than Arthur) in this show. It pained me to see his story end the way that it did. (Gwen doesn't even mourn him the second time around! Nor Arthur, though that was more understandable. Damn it, people!)

Yeah, I can understand not being able to sympathize with Mordred. I actually didn't either, up until I started writing that little paragraph, when I suddenly saw the light. :P

Hm...I guess I don't really put much in store by the term "romance." I'd agree that Arthur/Gwen was a romance, and Arthur/Merlin, and Gwen/Lancelot and even possibly Merlin/Lancelot, but that doesn't necessarily mean I think it was sexualised. Similarly, I don't see friendship and romance as being exclusive. I think that Merlin and Arthur had a romance and a friendship, and that plus Merlin's utter, complete, unwavering devotion makes their bond deeper than Arthur and Gwen's. I also think that Arthur and Gwen's romance, while including a friendship that grew over the story, ultimately was more sexual in nature. It's just nice to see a non-sexualized relationship win out over a sexualized one, for once.

Again, I'm not rejecting the possibility that Arthur and Merlin's relationship could have included a sexual element, or might develop one in the future on Arthur's return. But their bond, their closeness, means that the sex is inconsequential: whether or not they're together that way, their relationship is one that holds strong. I'd argue that this isn't the case with Gwen's relationship with Arthur, as evidenced by Arthur's response to Gwen's betrayal and ultimate forgiveness, which was less of an, "I want you to be happy and to be a part of your life" and more of an, "I need you to be mine in some capacity."

Re: Part 2 II A

[hells-half-acre.livejournal.com]

It's just nice to see a non-sexualized relationship win out over a sexualized one, for once.

Yes, true. And again, probably the only part of the finale that I liked. :)