Merlin, Season 4
This season was much better than Season 3. They seemed to realize that the reason people tuned in was for the Merlin & Arthur relationship, which is what they built it on in the first place. Even though they wasted any potential for a SGA-Team-like dynamic with their choices for the female counterparts early on, they reclaimed the idea of Team with the knights. Not a bad job all the way around.
The creators re-built the Merlin/Arthur dynamic with a lot of nifty banter and gave Merlin a bit of superiority where Arthur is concerned this season, and I liked that. S3 was a bit too free with the poop and pee jokes, which, as a "mature" *cough* viewer, I didn't find too palatable. This season it seemed as though Merlin was constantly taking the piss out of Arthur, being his servant because it suits him, not because he has to. Which is pretty much how it is.
Putting aside the slut shaming for a minute - despite all the enforced Arthur/Gwen, the storyline of pining!Arthur worked for me. Also the bit where Gwen forges a new life for herself in Ealdor, and almost becomes Harem!Gwen for Helios. And the show was gayer than ever before. I liked that, obviously.
There were moments where I felt, as I did in Season 1, that the hoyay was beyond my wildest dreams. I mean, Merlin would do ANYTHING for Arthur. He has to convince Arthur that he is worthy, that he is going to be the best King ever. (I typed Kink first, ha). Arthur denies he cares about Merlin so forcefully, it doesn't fool anyone. They continue to look at each other like that and their eyes always flicker to the others' lips. Yep, Colin Morgan and Bradley James have chemistry. I'm pretty sure they're in love with each other on some level.
Plus, they ARE pretty:
Let us now discuss what DIDN'T work in this season, which is pretty much the usual. GWEN. Why can't they make this character awesome? Or at least complex? Morgana got stuff to do, which was great, however I would have loved some emotional points for her to play with - where she had regrets and I would have done that with sunny flashbacks to her childhood with Arthur and Uther and Gwen. But she's just evil, full stop. And Gwen. ARG with the slut-shaming. Plus, she doesn't even get with Lancelot of her own volition - she is magicked into it, and then everyone turns against her. We never find out what Elyan really feels about his sister's exile, and how he must remain loyal to Arthur (which seems patently lame to me, after all she's done for him). I had angry-face after that ep, let me tell you. All Angel Coulby gets to do in this part is look doe-eyed at Arthur, despite what he puts her through.
I want Gwen to have agency, man. I want it so bad. But now she's a wife, and I don't see that happening. I have wanted since Season 1 for her to be AT LEAST the one person who knows Merlin's secret aside from Gaius, but they decided to eight-six the Merlin-Gwen relationship, much to my chagrin. I could see that being a great brother-sister thing, and would give Gwen something to do besides Doe Eyes. I suppose it was always too much to ask that she become a Knight with sexual tension with Arthur instead of this... but you know... we're discounting the POC issue, let's discount the female issue too. Why not? I know, I dream. A girl can dream right?
Don't mess with THIS Morgana:
Or THIS Queen:
Good season, folks, what did you all think???