The Adventures of Merlin: Season 5

The finale that put my whole family in a 24-hour depression and after almost 14 years, the fandom has never forgiven the writers for their decisions. All that being said, with the exception of the last 10 minutes of the final episode, season 5 was actually a very good season! The entire Merlin storyline itself takes place in a span of ten years and in that time, we've seen Merlin grow up (very well) from an awkward boy to a confident young man (more on the growing up very well later). 

Merlin's character development can never be underrated. He wasn't perfect, he had fears and flaws, but he was loyal to a fault. Life handed him a raw deal, but he made the most of it. He was a good friend and an exceptional apprentice. While Arthur may be our golden king we admire, it is Merlin who is the common man we all see ourselves in and at end of the day, we all hope to have even half of his bravery and strength.

• So, to start off with, it is a truth universally acknowledged amongst the Merlin fandom that Merlin/Colin Morgan was really hot in this season. Anyone who watches the series straight through will notice that Colin Morgan's usual slender, thin frame bulked up quite a bit in season 5 and that was due to Colin learning parkour for a stage production of The Tempest.

• This scene alone has been a constant favorite due to the showcasing of Merlin's noticeably...stronger looking physicality, not to mention his commanding presence was an unexpected change to his usual cheerful character.

 

Ok...now that's taken care of.

• It wouldn't be Merlin if we didn't begin the series with Merlin and Arthur bickering about something. And yes, I'm pretty sure Arthur is aware of how big the palace is, seeing as he's lived there for 30 years.

• The different scenery in the beginning ("Arthur's Bane - Pt.1 and Pt. 2") was a surprise. We're so used to seeing so much greenery in Camelot and surrounding mountainous areas, that seeing snow and valleys of Ismere was such a change. It was beautiful though.

• Let's totally start the season off with fan service by providing scenes of sweaty and shirtless Gwaine and Percival. Yes, the writers knew what they were doing there.

• Gwen and that red dress (see top picture)! Amazing! 

• The game trap scene with Merlin and Arthur had to be homage to the scene in Star Wars: The Return of the Jedi and you can't tell me otherwise.

• I liked the Diamair. Clearly, she's a powerful, but frightened creature who risks her exposure to save Gwaine (I loved when she told him he had a pure heart and was worthy of healing!), but there was something very frail to her as well. It would have been interesting if we had circled back to her character.

• Sweet, sweet Aithusa. Why??

• She was begging Merlin for help. Her character is the most heartbreaking and the most wasted in the whole series.

• The "Death Song of Uther Pendragon"...this has to be one of the most terrifying episodes I have ever seen in a series. The Supernatural vibe was strong in this one (and this may have been the Halloween episode as well), but they also managed to keep with Arthur and Merlin's wit and humor. My heart breaks for Arthur because even with all his father's sins and cruelties, he still loved and worshiped him. His father was the only family he had so it's natural for Arthur to want to hold on to what he had his whole life. The problem with this episode is that it completely overrides who Uther was when he died in season 4. The loving and noble father who died for his son and would have eventually been proud of Arthur in whatever decisions he made for the kingdom. 

• My theory for "Death Song" is this ghost Uther seems to be a combination of all of Uther's evils and prejudices and makes him completely void of the love and pride he had only for Arthur.

• Seeing Princess Mithian again was great. She's such a lovely and spirited princess. Her trust in Merlin was so strong, and her struggle with Morgana was so intense. Mithian was such a well written character and it's a shame we didn't get to see her more often in the series.

Maybe Mithian noticed Merlin's physical difference too and decided to take a chance with him.

• One of my biggest qualms with season 5 is that we have spent years building Gwen up to be this wonderful Queen of Camelot and yet most of this season she's a possessed puppet of Morgana whose sole purpose is to kill Arthur. She literally has a 4-episode story arc about Morgana's control over her and not focusing on being the Queen that Uther said she couldn't be. 

• There were some unpleasant aspects to Arthur's character as king that people picked up on and that was how his treatment of Merlin (after 10 years of service and friendship) still bordered on bullying and indifference to their positions. This is seen in

• S4-E4 "Aithusa" - the infamous scene where Arthur and the knights hide Merlin's food.
• S5-E1 "Arthur's Bane Pt. 1" - Arthur forces Merlin to perform in Queen Annis' court despite Merlin's protests. 
• S5-E9 "With All My Heart" - Arthur forgets about Merlin and has to be reminded by the Dolma.
• There are several good Tumblr posts about these events Here and Here. 

• "The Kindness of Strangers" was a beautiful episode and probably my favorite in this season! A total underrated gem!

• So...Mordred...I wanted to like him, but due to the prophecy put into place regarding his role in Arthur's death I couldn't find myself doing so. He's enigmatic, a dark horse. He's an excellent knight, but his eagerness made him seem more like a spy that a man doing his duty to King and country. How they brought about Mordred's betrayal through the death of his friend was well thought out though and they humanized the situation perfectly.

• Finally, we get to “Diamond of the Day”...

• The gambling scene in the beginning was so unexpected, but I loved, loved it!

• As much as I love Gwaine most of this war could have been avoided if he had been thinking with another part of his body.

• Seeing Balinor again brought a sense a closure for Merlin.

• Arthur and Gwen's final night together was beautiful.

• They really dragged out that trip to the Isle of the Blessed. My husband was so mad when they were so close....

• And then of course the end. 

• One of the most devastating, horrible endings in television history. I'm not going to dwell on it, but I'll give my final thoughts in a repost I made on Facebook and Instagram.

    Christian and I just finished Merlin last night. This is actually the first time I’ve rewatched the series. While the show did have some serious flaws, it still is an absolute comfort watch…until we get to that final episode. I had definitely been dreading seeing it.

However, after finally rewatching "Diamond of the Day pt. 2", I realized that my frustration with the ending wasn’t how it was written, but by how much was not written.

The prophecy stated that Arthur would unite Albion. It didn’t say how long he would remain in a united Albion. Ok fair enough. That I can accept. What I find difficult is the omitting of a grieving follow up from Merlin himself. If anyone is validated to a complete crash out, then it’s Merlin.

He sacrificed 10 years of his life for this prophecy, while having to hide who he really was, being mocked, humiliated and never thanked. He had loved deeply and loss greatly. He had to forgo a wife, children and domestic happiness to remain a lowly underappreciated servant secretly consumed by loneliness.

If there had been just one scene of Merlin, crying, screaming, grieving, letting his magic reign free and for once not caring. If we could finally have seen Merlin in a public, vulnerable, raw, emotional state but then (like always) still find the strength to heal, to move on and finally freely live for this new world he gave up so much for, I think the ending would have been better received.