The Adventures of Merlin: Which Episodes Should I Watch?

In the five seasons of the show The Adventures of Merlin there have been some excellent episodes, some lame and repetitive and pointless episodes, and some episodes that were just downright destructive and did huge damage to the plot, characterization and overall awesomeness of the show.

Below is my personal list of episodes to watch. The episodes on this list are either awesome or just important to the plot/can't be skipped. There are other episodes from Series 1, 2, and 3, which were fun/had some merits, but I ended up omitting them because they did nothing to contribute to the plot. For example the goblin episode and the troll episodes.

Super Awesome Episodes are indicated with a * next to their name. 


Season/Series 1: 

Series Rating: Awesome.
To Watch Episodes: 11/13
Brief: Great season that introduced some excellent characters and great, varying examples of magic.

Episode 1: The Dragon's Call

Episode 3: The Mark of Nimueh

Episode 4: The Poisoned Chalice

Episode 5: Lancelot

Episode 6: A Remedy to Cure All Ills

Episode 7: The Gates of Avalon

Episode 8: The Beginning of the End

Episode 9: Excalibur

Episode 10: The Moment of Truth

Episode 12: To Kill the King

Episode 13: Le Mort D'Arthur 


Season/Series 2: 
Series Rating: Above Awesome.
To Watch Episodes: 10/13  (5 super-awesome)
Brief: Excellent season that built upon the great foundations laid in season 1. It had some great uses of magic, excellent variety, and even the episodes I didn't include on the list were fun to watch.


Episode 1: The Curse of Cornelius Sigan*

Episode 2: The Once and Future Queen

Episode 3: The Nightmare Begins

Episode 4: Lancelot and Guinevere

Episode 7: The Witchfinder* 

Episode 8: The Sins of the Father

Episode 9: The Lady of the Lake*

Episode 11: The Witch's Quickening

Episode 12: The Fires of Idirdholas*

Episode 13: The Last Dragonlord*


Season/Series 3: 
Series Rating: Awesome.
To Watch Episodes: 10/13  (4 super-awesome)

Brief: Great season. It didn't quite live up to the expectation set by season 2 with the single-episode plotlines, but it was a solid season with enough good episodes to keep this show excellent.

Episode 1&2: The Tears of Uther Pendragon I and II*

Episode 4: Gwaine

Episode 5: The Crystal Cave*

Episode 7: The Castle of Fyrien

Episode 8: The Eye of the Phoenix

Episode 10: Queen of Hearts

Episode 11: The Sorcerer's Shadow*

Episode 12 & 13: The Coming of Arthur part I and II


Season/Series 4: 
Series Rating: Decent.
To Watch Episodes: 8/13 

Brief: Not a bad season. It was way below the quality of the first three, but it was still decent. The main problem was lazy writing, moving away from the fun and lighthearted nature of the previous series, and big mistakes in characterization. Basically, it started to take itself too seriously and failed.


Episode 1 & 2: The Darkest Hour part I and II

Episode 3: The Wicked Day

Episode 4: Aithusa

Episode 5: His Father's Son

Episode 10: A Herald of the New Age

Episode 12 & 13: The Sword in the Stone part I and II


Season/Series 5: 
Series Rating: Terrible.
To Watch Episodes: 0/13 

Brief: This is not to say there was nothing in the season that I enjoyed, but there really wasn`t an episode that I can look back on and say `you have to watch this.` Too many stupid mistakes and none of the characters made any sense by this point. The series really lost its heart here - and suffered from serious amnesia.