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So Merlin was always just sort of a crack fandom for me. Like, I never tried to take it too seriously, because the show never held up well to any sort of close scrutiny at all. Two good-looking guys flirted outrageously with each other, and there was magic and dragons and stuff, basically. And there was some good AU fic (the non-AU stuff always made the historical inaccuracies of the show stand out more to me and made me cringe).
But the last two seasons, I don't know, I watched them more out of boredom than anything else. It felt to me like they were just spinning their wheels because they realized they had written themselves completely out of the Arthurian legends completely, and they kept awkwardly trying to get back to a recognizable point in the story, but nothing worked. When I heard the show was cancelled, I wasn't all that surprised.
It's not that I don't think the show couldn't have found more stories to tell, I just feel like they had written themselves into a corner, and for some reason they weren't willing to take the necessary steps to move the story forward. The finale episode literally could have taken place at the end of last season (with a happier ending) and it would have fit in with the storyline of last season perfectly. Or to put it more bluntly - Merlin should have told Arthur he had magic ages ago.
Also, the Arthur/Gwen ship is, in the original Arthurian legend, full of angst and tension and drama. It's one of the original love triangles, really. So why was Gwen stripped of all personality and turned into a Mary Sue who was always perfectly devoted and loving to Arthur? It just made the whole plotline boring (I was cheering when Morgana briefly turned Gwen evil this season, and I thought it would have been a lot more interesting if they didn't hand wave that away as her being under a spell).
The finale episode did remind me of all the things I had originally loved about the series. For one, the Arthur/Merlin relationship, which had felt a bit like a shell of it's former glory, had a conclusion that felt like it was ripped from a fic (even if fans were left chanting KISS KISS KISS in their final scene). It definitely had it's flaws as well, but they were the same flaws that have permeated the series since the beginning. All and all, though, it left me with a sense of what could have been these past two seasons.
I guess that's what fic is for.
This entry was originally posted at http://risti.dreamwidth.org/912838.html.
comments.
But the last two seasons, I don't know, I watched them more out of boredom than anything else. It felt to me like they were just spinning their wheels because they realized they had written themselves completely out of the Arthurian legends completely, and they kept awkwardly trying to get back to a recognizable point in the story, but nothing worked. When I heard the show was cancelled, I wasn't all that surprised.
It's not that I don't think the show couldn't have found more stories to tell, I just feel like they had written themselves into a corner, and for some reason they weren't willing to take the necessary steps to move the story forward. The finale episode literally could have taken place at the end of last season (with a happier ending) and it would have fit in with the storyline of last season perfectly. Or to put it more bluntly - Merlin should have told Arthur he had magic ages ago.
Also, the Arthur/Gwen ship is, in the original Arthurian legend, full of angst and tension and drama. It's one of the original love triangles, really. So why was Gwen stripped of all personality and turned into a Mary Sue who was always perfectly devoted and loving to Arthur? It just made the whole plotline boring (I was cheering when Morgana briefly turned Gwen evil this season, and I thought it would have been a lot more interesting if they didn't hand wave that away as her being under a spell).
The finale episode did remind me of all the things I had originally loved about the series. For one, the Arthur/Merlin relationship, which had felt a bit like a shell of it's former glory, had a conclusion that felt like it was ripped from a fic (even if fans were left chanting KISS KISS KISS in their final scene). It definitely had it's flaws as well, but they were the same flaws that have permeated the series since the beginning. All and all, though, it left me with a sense of what could have been these past two seasons.
I guess that's what fic is for.
This entry was originally posted at http://risti.dreamwidth.org/912838.html.
comments.