MASSIVE SPOILERS BELOW!
You have been warned.
This episode of Merlin would have worked if only the writers/producers hadn't messed up a couple of things. As it stands, I really didn't feel anything during the episode except annoyance. And even that was less than usual simply because I have, by this point, given up hope.
1) If Arthur had actually been a "Great King" at any point in time during the series. If he had actually united Albion, or done something different and/or awesome. If they had shown us a tiny bit of his interaction with peasants like he used to when he was only a prince and not yet king. As it stands, Arthur didn't do anything significant and I honestly couldn't care less about him or the fact that he died.
2) If Merlin had called the stupid Great Dragon before dragging the dying Arthur halfway across the land for two days. I really don't understand how the writers of this show think. Even if the Dragon never showed up - they've established that he's sick or old or whatever a few episodes ago. Merlin could have called him only to get no response and then he'd be FORCED to drag Arthur across the wilderness and it would not only make sense but also create tension as we worried about the dragon as well!
3) If they had left out the highly uncomfortable hugging/almost kissing scenes between Arthur and Merlin. This was even more difficult to watch that Gwen's stupid non-dresses.
If they had done these three things, I would have loved this ending. However, I just find it annoying. It just tops off the stupidity we've been forced to endure for a long time now and shows how out of touch the writers are with their fans and with their own material.
There were, of course, many other small irritating things. For example Gwen's husband just died and she's running around in a red dress with her whole chest sticking out. Also, they completely destroyed Gwaine, just like they do with every other interesting knight. However, I will not bore you with a list of these small things. The three main points above are the key ones for me.
Once I get over my anger I plan to re-watch the whole series and write up a series overview for the complete Adventures of Merlin with my thoughts and comments now that the ending is known.
Before reading the review I'd just like to note that I'll pretend this episode never happened. It sucked.
ReplyDeleteNow. I thought of the exact same same thing about calling the Dragon beforehand! Also, couldn't he just left them ON the island instead of the shore? That whole sequence was completely stupid.
The hugging/almost kissing- again, agreed. It was really uncomfortable to watch.
Gwaine is just pointlessly killed and though I admit to know nothing about the original Arthur/Merlin legend thing, to kill Arthur like that and the Dragon's prophecy about him rising again just felt, again, stupid. The hand sticking out of the lake to grab the sword freaked me out a bit, lol. And what on earth was that final scene with the truck and old Merlin?
Did you write any Merlin fanfic? I never ventured into the Merlin fandom but this final was so lame I might need to read some good alternatives. :)
Actually, I didn't find the hand sticking out of the lake freaky as much as it reminded me of Lancelot and I was thinking "if only they hadn't brought him back from the dead then I'd still like him" lol.
ReplyDeleteI haven't written any Merlin fanfic... yet. This finale as you said, sucked so much that I am seriously considering taking matters into my own hands. We'll see... hmmm.
What you said about pretending the episode never existed... I feel like going through and making a long list of all the episodes that should never have existed (this would probably include most of seasons 4 and 5, lol)