Season two was an excellent one with more awesome acting by Colin Morgan and the rest of the cast. Some of the things that annoyed me about season 1 are mercifully absent from this second season, but there are a couple of episodes where Merlin got on my nerves in this one. Overall, though, I would have to say I liked this season better than the first, especially the last few episodes of this season. I think they may have got a bigger budget or something because the special effects were much better... or maybe I stopped noticing in the face of the great story-lines.
After seeing this second season I do not hesitate in recommending The Adventures of Merlin. You should watch it. Seriously.
Details: (Beware Spoilers)
Season one dragged a little because Arthur kept almost-dying. It felt like almost every episode was about some plot to get rid of Arthur. In the second season the writers finally ditched this tired plotline. The motivations of the bad guys in these episodes are much more complex - and realistic in my opinion - than before. For example there's an episode where Camelot is hosting five other kings who are supposed to be signing a peace treaty and one of the kings has his own reasons for not wanting peace to happen, another episode where someone kidnaps Morgana for a ransom, etc.
There are also more episodes where there isn't necessarily a purposeful attack on Camelot or the King or anyone. For example one of the best episodes centers around a cursed girl who is brought to Camelot by a bounty hunter, and she is as much a victim of the ensuing chaos as the people who get injured or killed.
Morgana's story-line is progressing as well. Katie McGrath is a great actress and they have some really good episodes where you can see her hatred for Uther grow and they are mostly well done. In fact, Uther seems to have taken Arthur's place as the victim of life-threatening attacks - I just wish he was dead already. I also wish Merlin would stop saving him. It irritates me because I am increasingly on the side of the magic-users that Uther is hunting, and yet Merlin seems to think it's his mission to save Uther no matter how evil he is or how many innocent people Uther has killed. Maybe if there's an episode where someone tries to kill Uther, Merlin has no idea what's happening and so can't feel compelled to save him... we do get some satisfaction in the troll episode, which was hilarious...
We also get to see the Druid boy, Mordred again. This time I looked up his name - Asa Butterfield. I am becoming increasingly impressed with this kid's acting and I hope they use him more in Series 3.
There's also some very good acting by Mackenzie Crook (the guy from Pirates of the Caribbean with the fake eye that keeps popping out). He pulls off an amazing performance as both a funny and greedy thief and then as a powerful dark sorcerer in the first episode of the season.
Finally, I want to say that I was very impressed with the writing overall, and especially in the two episodes: "The Lady of the Lake" and the finale "The last Dragonlord". Freya and Balinor are very cool and the scenes between them and Merlin are heartbreaking. I was looking at an episode guide in Wikipedia and found out that Julian Jones was the writer for all the best episodes this season, so I guess some of the credit should go to him for making this season awesome.
World-Building Rating:
The writing is tighter this season and it makes the world all the more believable. There were a couple of irritating things, like the fact that Arthur never again questions his father after the confrontation in episode 8 (why, Merlin, why?!), but overall with the new magical creatures and spells and the revelations about Uther's past it is a more believable and more vivid world. These improvements bring this season up to a rating of Great.
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