Merlin: 5:07 A Lesson In Vengeance

[tanous]

So, another episode down and six to go till the (bitter?) end of S5 and possibly, if rumours are to be believed, the entire show. And …where are we now?

Well, actually,  we’re back in S4. Or is it S3?  Deep anyway in the Merlin producers thumb-sucking comfort zone of ‘Merlin trying singlehandedly (save Gaius - the device to enable us to know his

Comments

[prime_meridian]

Drive-by comment for now. A hearty yes to all of this, though I'll add in some acknowledgement of Alice Troughton's direction. I think she is just MUCH better with Colin that Justin M. or the others that have become the go-to directors for the J's. Yes, the episode, unlike most this year, put Merlin front and center, not secondary to Arthur/Gwen/Mordred/whomever. This Merlin wasn't a dishrag as you noted. But I felt like Colin was enjoying himself in this ep, which I don't think I've seen yet this season.

There's nothing more to add to the absurdity of the never-ending re-hashed plotlines. There's nothing more to add to the staggering stupidity in wasting a third of the final season on this storyline when all of the important plot points go ignored.

I've got a serious beef with what I think I now understand about our boy Mordred's inevitable turn to the dark side, but that will have to keep. Needless to say, this was NOT a good week to be a Merlin fan who cares about how this story ends.

Thanks for review. I wish TPTB had a clue how many of us feel this way.

[tanous]

Actually yes I should have mentioned the direction. There were some lovely shots in there; it just all felt so heavy handed as a story and I dont know who to blame for he constant close ups of Gwen to make sure we knew she was gloating evilly.

It was incredibly blatant how rehashed this was - just about every idea was reused from past seasons. Now of course Arthur is the target of the plot of the week and not Uther, but otherwise, identical tropes, and in some cases identical scenes to S3 & S4. Do they really have no new ideas at all? I kind of get the feeling they decided their ending some time ago, which they've hugged to themselves with glee ever since be ause they clearly think its *brilliant* - and I suspect because of their obsession with that single idea everything of any interest has been held back to happen in it. To preserve that, they've doggedly padded out the whole season with shite, since the only idea they really have *is* that ending, and they're going to give nothing at all in the way of freshness to the rest of the season. The whole season is about the ending, and in the meantime we're getting reruns. Its hard to believe a show could be run so badly and with such limited imagination and stubborness, But there you are.