Once upon a time, there was a show called Merlin. It was an exceedingly campy re-telling of the Arthuian legends, only re-imagined so Arthur and Merlin were young and totally repressing their big bromantic love, Morgana was evil, but in a totally awesome way, and Gwen quietly kicked ass. It was a good show. Sadly, it started being replaced by what I can only describe as a spin-off called Camelot High, where Merlin played the sassy friend who never gets any while Arthur and Gwen acted out every Taylor Swift song ever and Morgana smirked so hard I thought she was going to pull something, but magically, no one noticed her smirking.
The Camelot High version of Merlin was not, in and of itself, a bad show. Certainly not any worse than a show about stupid teenagers doing stupid things. The problem with it was that, if you remembered the way Merlin started, it just seemed so awful in comparison. The characters were one-dimensional and inconsistent, the plots were repetitive, it was just kind of … blah. But I had resigned myself to stop fighting it and just accept that this was the state of Merlin affairs, these days.
I am pleased, however, to announce that once again, Merlin is back on air, and oh my gosh, does it feel good to watch it again. This is the show I remember! With the epic fighting and the giant legendary plots and the characters that make sense! Why did this show ever go away?
I had missed so much about this show. I missed enjoying when Gwen came on my screen instead of secretly praying every episode that she just wouldn’t be there. I missed Morgana scheming without it being so obvious that I wanted to tear my hair out and cry over how stupid everyone was. And most of all, I missed Merlin and Arthur together. I missed them being there for each other. I missed them loving each other. I missed them being best bros through thick and thin, never leaving each other’s side, two halves of a whole/sides of the same coin/etc. Arthur cared for Merlin! Merlin gave Arthur a piece of his mind! Arthur hit Merlin, but it was a small love tap instead of throwing something heavy at him! Merlin was willing to do anything for Arthur! Why does the show ever break these two up?!
It’s hard for me to comment too much on the nitty-gritty of the plot because this is clearly part one of two, which makes anything I say roughly the equivalent of pausing a movie halfway through and trying to decide how I feel about the whole movie right then. If you haven’t seen the promotional pictures or been spoiled, I’m certainly not going to do so, but I will say this — I want this show to definitively put an end to whatever high school nonsense it was attempting earlier this season. I want this show to make the characters grow the hell up.
And not just Merlin and Arthur, but I want them to make Gwen grow up. I want the potential she has as a good character in a bad situation to be realized. I want so much for her! I want her to tell off Lancelot when he comes back next week. I want him to be dejected and her to yell at him for leaving her. I want her to make it clear she made the best of a bad situation. I’m tired of this Romeo and Juliet Tragic True Love nonsense they’re pretending Arthur and Gwen are. We’ve all read the legend, show. We know what happens. We know who Gwen really loves, and it ain’t Arthur. I want this damn triangle to be humanized — Arthur as the poor guy caught in the middle, Lancelot as the guy who just made a bad choice, and Gwen as the poor girl trying to do what she can to make it out of this situation intact.
And I want some things to remain the same. Since Arthur’s going to marry Gwen but never really get her, I want to know that at least he’ll have his hetero-lifemate Merlin to take care of him, and that they’ll Jay and Silent Bob themselves into legend. (Should more happen I will of course be first in line to cheer like a maniac, but I feel Jay and Silent Bob are a good compromise for all parties involved.) I want the knights to continue swashbuckling. (And being ridiculously good-looking; seriously, it’s enough to make me want to lock myself in a tower if one of them is going to rescue me. Hel-lo.) I want the legends to continue to be legendary. I don’t want this show to go away again — I want this warm, fuzzy feeling in my chest to stay with me.
It’s been a good halftime chat, Merlin. You’ve done a lot that I approve of. Now get back out there and win one for the team.
Clacked by Julia Hass 
on Nov 27, 2010 @ 19:30 EST5EDT
Frankly speaking, the whole S3 is a HUGE disappointment to me. The quality of the A/M relationship development can not compare to S2/S1.
And their scenes, to tell the truth, sometimes I just feel really weird when B/C are on screen. But they shouldn’t have been like that. We all know B/C have brilliant chemistry on screen. So I do sometimes wonder why. I just guess that TPTB might intentionally ask them to tone down the homoerotic acting. Who Knows.
I sometimes think I don’t know this show anymore, which I spend almost 2 years so in love with. I DO hope they are not going to break my heart, seriously. I never love a show so much. I don’t think I can handle a broken heart for Merlin.
And Julia, your review are always the gold. You just pick out the best from the show and tell the truth about those worst. I DO hope the producers spend some time reading your review. We are all loyal fans to the show. I hope our thoughts count sometimes.
marvelpku —
I agree with you that S3 was a disappointment primarily because we could have had 12 episodes so far like 3×12, which I thought was unbelievably good — in other words, valuable time was wasted watching Merlin get hit with dishes, Morgana smirking for 10 minutes an episode, etc. However, I sincerely believe, and I may be deluding myself, that the writers do read these blogs and pick up fan comments, since the fans are what made the Season 4 renewal happen. This episode was where we all asked the show to be. Think of the A/M scenes: going on a quest “alone” with Merlin (? — interesting because Merlin is so much a part of Arthur, Arthur thinks this is going alone), Arthur willing to fight for Merlin in the pit, Merlin (literally) carrying Arthur through most of the show when he is wounded, Merlin talking back to Arthur about his “orders” to enable him to save Arthur’s life, Merlin holding Arthur as the guards pass by, Arthur smiling at Merlin when Merlin decides to stay by his friend’s side, Arthur and Merlin looking at the coronation of Queen Morgana together from the balcony — I could go on and on. All these scenes have been asked for by the A/M crowd. Who knows, we may even get a Poisoned Chalice or Labyrinth of Gedref thrown in somewhere. Even Gwen and Morgana came through as real people and added to the overall story. Truly spectacular.
Julia —
As always, I agree with your comments completely, particularly about more A/M interaction in the form we saw in 3×12. I do think we also need to look at the of the show in addition to what happens. Many episodes this season had a mean-spirited tone, such as Merlin laughing when he causes Arthur to fall in the mud (I know it was done for comic effect, but most fans — like me — I’m sure did not like these scenes). What we need is the following tone: Merlin telling Arthur he will be a great king, Merlin talking about not marrying Elena, Arthur chasing Merlin in “Gwaine”, Merlin trying to heal Arthur’s wound in the “Crystal Cave”, Arthur taking Merlin’s place in the duel in the pit in 3×12 as well as Merlin carrying Arthur and holding him up in the same episode, as well as the “servant in the other life scene” from the “Fires of Idirsholas” (2×12), the last scene where Merlin is preparing Arthur for battle in “Last Dragonlord” (2×13), and many others. If we get this back, we will be good to go for 3×13 and s4.
312 do have some good scenes, I agree. But I just feel the quality of the scenes of Arthur and Merlin and the feeling are far from those gold moments between A/M in S1/S2. Anyway, I am a loyal fan to Merlin. So deep down in my heart, I wish all the good for Arthur/Merlin and their relationship. I really do hope in S4 (and S5 if there is), the relationship of Arthur and Merlin can be put back to the heart of the show.