Merlin – The finale that fixed (almost) everything

It’s kind of awful to say the following, but it’s true — as a reviewer of television, you wish for bad episodes. Not so bad that writing about them is painful because it involves actually dwelling on whatever fresh hell you’ve subjected yourself to, but bad. It’s easier to complain about something than to praise it. Complaining can be broken down into arguments. But when you’re happy, there’s usually a lot of flailing. And it’s really hard to write when you’re too excited to get your arms to work properly.

Here’s the thing, though: I watched the second half of the season finale and I have … almost nothing bad to say at all. In fact, I’m overjoyed. I’m so overjoyed that I’ve watched the episode four times already (and some parts so many times I’ve lost count) and rather than becoming more rational as time goes on, I keep getting more and more jubilant. It’s taken me twenty-four hours to even process this episode, let alone write on it. I’m positively giddy. I don’t even know where to begin.

After much meditation and deep breathing, I think I am finally ready, though, to rationally and eloquently boil my reasons for adoring this episode into four semi-succinct bullet points.

One: Gwen was finally awesome.
My distaste for Gwen’s character this season hasn’t been exactly … subtle. I’ve downright loathed what they did to her. In the first season I adored her. She was what I refer to as “quietly kickass.” Sure, she wasn’t running off slaying ogres, but she was smart, she was endearingly fumbly, she could defend herself in a time of crisis. She was  a strong blacksmith’s daughter who could take what was thrown at her and emerge from it with her head held high. I was so looking forward to her being queen.

And then her romantic storyline with Arthur came along, and she just fell utterly flat. She became a one-dimensional damsel in distress who screamed and got kidnapped a lot, blew hot and cold on Arthur while he followed her around like a demented puppy, and cried and wrung her hands in the face of danger. I hated that Gwen.

Yes, during that one goodbye scene at the Round Table, boring not-Gwen was back. It continues to be a sad fact of life that while Angel Coulby and Bradley James are phenomenal, extremely promising young actors who have chemistry with everyone else in the cast, putting them together fizzles out into so much awkward that no amount of swelling violin music can salvage it.

But the rest of her scenes were my second-favorite part of the episode. (I’m sure you know my favorite parts, we’ll get to that later.) Gwen the double-agent in Morgana’s court! Gwen the blacksmith! Gwen the escape and con artist! Watching Gwen like this was like seeing an old best friend return. I thought Gwen the autonomous and awesome was gone forever! And she’s not! I am kind of ridiculously excited by this.

Two: The Myth and Legend
I’ve been a giant fantasy fan since I was very, very little. I love tales of high adventure and romance with epic sword fights and powerful magic.  And because of that, Arthurian legend has always held an extremely special place in my heart.  When I signed up for Merlin, I knew that it wouldn’t be exactly like the legends, and there would be a certain amount of ridiculousness. I certainly don’t mind that there is some divergence from the source material — the episode with the unicorns in the first season remains one of my favorite episodes to date, and it has nothing to do with the legends — but I always wanted some reminder that, yes, these people were the legendary figures I grew up loving.

And this love makes me willing to put up with a lot of things that in any other show I’d be violently opposed to. Like, say, the lack of strong, sympathetic female characters. Clunky writing with giant, gaping plot holes. These problems exist in the source material too, but it hasn’t stopped me from loving it. But when there are too many episodes where it’s a Magical Affliction of the Week, I start losing interest. It’s like CSI: Some Castle That Sort of Resembles Camelot, and that is not a show I would have signed on to watch.

Thankfully, this episode was beyond epic. The knights of the round table! The actual round table! And I give the show endless props for somehow reconciling the sword in the stone legend with the Lady of the Lake legend. I’ve heard a few fans disappointed that Arthur still hasn’t had a chance to wield Excalibur yet, but I’m not sure he should get a magical sword until he’s, you know, cool with magic.  (Which is why I’m glad they chose not to have Merlin reveal his magic to Arthur this season finale. I’m rooting for that revelation just as hard as everyone else, but they already had so much plot to cram into this episode. Not to mention that right now, as far as Arthur’s concerned, magic is a evil force that’s just kicked him and his father off the throne. Not the ideal time for Merlin to mention magic could be used for good and he would know, since he has oodles of it.) Which brings us to point  three.

Three: Merlin got to win
It is hard to be Merlin. All of his friends either die or go away, his girlfriend dies, he never gets any credit but works his little hiney off, Arthur kicks him around and then ignores him the second Gwen pops up … I’m amazed he hasn’t given destiny the big old middle finger and gotten the hell out of Camelot. But this episode, I felt like finally, Merlin was getting what he deserved. His BFFs Lancelot and Gwaine are back (hopefully for good). He got to not just cower and make things fall conveniently during fight scenes, but he really fought. Sure, usually there was someone around to save him at the last minute, but he did all the legwork. And he got appreciated for it! Not just from Gaius, and not just from Lancelot, but from Arthur, who’s been a total tool to Merlin this entire season. And it’s clear that to Merlin, Arthur’s the one that matters. It’s Arthur he comforts and sticks to, and the way Colin Morgan played the facial expressions whenever Merlin got recognized (both at the Round Table and by Lancelot) — that glassy-eyed, pained longing and hope — was just pitch-perfect. Sometimes, Merlin can be stupid and spineless, but he’s always brutally easy to identify with, and it felt good to not be the only one cheering him on, for once.

Four: Merlin + Arthur = Best Bros Forever
Powers that be,  we’ve heard you loud and clear. You hate Merlin and Arthur together. If you could do one thing over, clearly it would be making them and their fates so closely intertwined. You have, on numerous occasions, expressed derision and, to some extent, disgust, that there are terrible, terrible people out there who seem to think Merlin and Arthur are, horror of horrors, gay, and they’re ruining your beautiful, oh-so-heterosexual show. Message recieved loud and clear.

To be honest, this really shouldn’t have been a strong episode, as far as Merlin and Arthur’s friendship was concerned. The cheer-up speeches Merlin gave he’s certainly given before, and Arthur’s been begrudgingly calling Merlin wise all season. The genius was somewhere between the actors and director, who  allowed those words to become new by injecting actual emotion into them. Someone finally decided to stop cutting out the fond looks and smiles, and it made everything feel new. Now, instead of going, “Really? That’s it? They’re supposed to be best friends and all they’re saying is that?” there’s a feeling that Merlin and Arthur have reached some level in their relationship where their bond is unspoken, where they can publicly rag on each other but privately know they mean just the opposite.

Did it look super-gay? Hell, yes. They looked about five seconds away from going at it against the wall of the cave/old castle/wherever. There was certainly more passion and chemistry in those looks than in both of the Arthur and Gwen kisses combined and possibly raised to the fifth degree. But that aside, it made the show better. And I’m not just saying that because I like the gay tension. I’m saying that because when you cripple two actors who have such a golden dynamic and pigeonhole them into acting in one very narrow range over an over, their abilities suffer. And when their abilities suffer, the show suffers. It felt so, so good to see Arthur and Merlin actually do things like smile this episode.

I don’t know who decided to say to hell with it and let that interplay run wild. But whoever it was, I would like to gather them in my arms and give them a ginormous kiss. Thank you. Thank you for getting over your hangups. Thank you for no longer trying to censor yourself. And please, for the love of god, next season? Don’t ever, ever do that again. The heterosexuality is just not good enough to make it worthwhile.

Clacked by Julia Hass
on Dec 05, 2010 @ 21:47 EST5EDT