Episode V.XIII – The Diamond of the Day, Part 2
Join us as we discuss The Diamond of the Day, Part 2
We have extended the deadline to send in your Season 5 Round Up thoughts as well as your lessons and comments for this episode. As usual, please get them to us by midnight Sunday 28th November.
Remember there will be a seperate ‘BBC Merlin Round Up’ on the 16th December. Please send your thoughts for all five seasons of Merlin by Friday 10th December.
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15th December 2021 @ 11:01 pm
Thanks so much for all you’ve done. I’m so glad that you went through the whole of Merlin and really brought back the wonder and frustration of the series. As for the last episode, I both loved and loathed it. As so many asked about already, where the heck was Kilgharrah in all this? Certainly he would have been around unless he saw the future and just didn’t think he could change it (in which case, he was a very bad being by taunting Merlin with all that hope when there was none).
I looked at that last few scenes and wondered why Merlin couldn’t just use his magic. After all, he’s supposed to be this great magic user. If nothing else, why didn’t he stop time (like he did in the very first episode) and get Arthur to the Sidhe in time? And let’s face it. Why would the Sidhe help Merlin? He’d already ruined their plans. Bah, didn’t make sense at all.
As for the very last scene, I was spoiled before the episode aired. The group that did the rigging for it posted about shooting the last scene so I knew it was going to end in present day. I didn’t have a problem with Merlin in disguise. People would leave an old man alone as they might not with a fresh-faced young man. But the horror of Merlin being alive all those years waiting for someone who might not come back. A really awful thing for the writers to end it that way. I would have been much happier if they’d pulled back and had Arthur being the one driving the truck.
Anyway, Bradley and Colin acted amazingly and I’ll always love them for it.
1st December 2021 @ 9:26 pm
I so completely missed the boat on this conversation but still leaving my comment for my own self-soothing, haha.
On the whole, I forgot how much I love/get the feels for this episode. Your complaints are generally on point. The prophecy stuff is stupid and mishandled. There are real problems with the way they end the story for Gwaine and Morgana in particular; both characters deserved a lot better. And I have some serious questions too about how this is really a family show, as the prophecy/tragedy was so mishandled the “lessons” in this show are terrible. Will probably touch on all of these more when thinking more about the show as a whole.
But at the end, they told a solid story in this finale about two incredible friends/brothers/partners/however you see them saying goodbye to each other, and the importance of being yourself. Colin, Bradley, Angel Coulby, Rupert Young, and Richard Wilson are all particularly incredible, and it washes over a lot of the mistakes for me.
Callbacks I loved:
– Useful Gwen, complete with her “I’m useful” costuming in the hospital tent – makes me wistful we didn’t get more of this in S5.
– Mordred unmarked in death and then the grave scene with Morgana. These two actors did so much with so little.
-The little bits of Arthur and Merlin banter.
– The types of magic Merlin uses in front of Arthur – it feels like a greatest hits sequence. Even if his magic on this show is on the whole a little underwhelming/confusing, I still enjoyed moments of recollection to other episodes as he pulled different tricks.
Quotes I loved (even if they basically feel like they are right out of fanfics!):
“You’ve lied to me all this time”
“I also do this because you’re my friend and I don’t want to lose you”
“I was born to serve you. I’m proud of that. And I wouldn’t change a thing.”
“You never once sought any credit.”
“I blame myself for what you’ve become.”
And of course, I’m a sucker for the “just hold me” line [although youre so right about the armor, ha].
Alas, we’ll always have Percival’s arms. Thanks for a great time!
2nd December 2021 @ 8:43 am
They should have just put Percival’s arms in charge of the whole destiny right from the start, and then everything would have worked out just fine!!!
And yes, I absolutely agree with all of your favourite quotes, and how they do feel straight out of fanfic. I updated the Merlin Kill Count yesterday, so was skimming through the episodes just to make sure I didn’t miss any sneaky kills somewhere, and I had subtitles on, so I kept stopping on pretty much all the quotes you mentioned and just watching that specific bit, and then suddenly I was crying, because it removed the entire thing from context and the awful awful pacing, allowing the emotions and astonishingly good acting to really do it’s thing, and BAM!
An episode of television should not be improved by watching it on fast forward and in stop/start, but there we go… 🤦♂️
30th November 2021 @ 12:31 am
I don’t have much to say other than I hope all of the first-time watchers are okay. I’m not lol and this is far from my first watch. Katheryne’s song at the end made me cry in my car on the way home but it was gorgeous. I also wanted to point out that katherynefromphilly is a big ff writer for the Merlin fandom! I bet we are getting another fanfic recs episode from our wonderful hosts but I figured I should go ahead and rec her fic for the people that need closure after the last episode haha. It’s called ‘And like the cycle of the year, we begin again’ and it’s an incredible reincarnation Merthur story. Best Merlin fic in my opinion. Can’t wait for the roundups!
30th November 2021 @ 11:11 am
Ooh We begin again is hers??
That’s one of my all time faves!
1st December 2021 @ 4:21 pm
Yep! Mine too haha I’ve read it many times 😁
1st December 2021 @ 4:34 pm
here’s the link for anyone interested
https://archiveofourown.org/works/6092269
29th November 2021 @ 6:46 am
Just a few notes because I’ve always found it hard to process the good/bad bits of this finale since there’s nothing more to look forward to. Oof! So many absolutely beautiful scenes, they may be ticking the “magic reveal” boxes but I don’t even care at this point since the acting is so on point.
A couple things I love (as in they work for me, not that they aren’t gut-wrenchingly sad):
-The sorrow and resignation in Leon’s voice at the end as he announces “The King is dead”, with a kind of a sigh
-The fact that modern Merlin doesn’t look at Avalon in the final scene. You the viewer expect him to glance over at it, but by him not doing so reinforces (as you say) that he’s been “circling the lake of Avalon for thousands of years”. And he’s just so tired.
-I love the cinematography in all of the Arthur/Merlin scenes! Props to Dale McCready. The deliberate focus shifts and the lighting is really well done (the relatively few day-to-night scenes helped with the great lighting too I guess).
A couple more thoughts/comments
-I saw mentioned above the fan theory that Arthur mouths “I love you” to Merlin as/ just after he says thank you. I do see his lips moving in what couuuuld be those words, but I’m fully aware that’s just because I want to see it. BUT Merlin definitely does whisper, almost inaudibly with the swelling of the music, “stay with me”, after Arthur’s gone, and I found the contrast between that super quiet plead and then him screaming at the top of his lungs to be really effective. Not sure if that was in the script or a decision by Colin but it works really well, I think. “Stay with me” because does Merlin know who he is without Arthur; “Stay with me” simply because “you’re my friend and I don’t want to lose you”; because they love each other, however you want to interpret that love.
-This might be the episode I’ve rewatched the most, because it is just enough fanservice and magic reveal tropes and expectation to be what I’ve wanted to see throughout the whole series. Merlin and Arthur as equals, king and warlock, friends, finally saying what needs to be said without the layer of secrecy complicating everything. Which is definitely all in the performances and no thanks to the random Camelot/Eira/Gwaine and Percival/Morgana bits that get shoved in here, but I still love it in a break-your-heart-and-put-it-back-together sort of way. No joke I’ve probably rewatched it five or six times in the past year. The ending was spoiled for me when I was watching season 2 or 3 (a textpost comparing Gwen asking Arthur whether it would kill him to say “please and thank you once in a while” with Arthur in 5.13 saying “just hold me, please” and “something I’ve never said to you before…thank you” and the caption “it literally did kill him”. I was so shocked and immediately skipped to 5.12, watched the double and bawled my eyes out…as I did now. Even while listening to the podcast. It’s all in the acting despite the messy execution of plot and dialogue upon occasion, and that’s why the show is still being discussed nine years after it ended!
Thanks Ruth and Michelle for this lovely, thought-provoking Merlin discussion and to everyone here on the website for their thoughts and ideas and the many lessons learned and ideas sparked from you all!
2nd December 2021 @ 8:57 am
That is the most brutal way to get spoiled for the ending of BBC Merlin 😱😱😱
29th November 2021 @ 3:50 am
As someone who generally isn’t bothered by small plot holes or pacing or things like that, and I don’t profoundly analyze what I’m watching, I really truly enjoy all episodes of Merlin (except the troll ones, which I just skip on rewatches because they’re not necessary to the overall story anyway); but this episode left me feeling all sorts of ways after I first watched it. I cried at several moments, yet there were still a lot of things that bothered me more than any other episode previously. You expect a finale to be satisfying, and this was emotional and well acted, but not satisfying.
Firstly, I have no problem with Arthur dying and rather figured it would happened. I have a problem with his death being pretty much entirely Merlin’s fault. Why is Kilgarrah still alive at this point? They bring up the fact that he’s very old and close to the end of his life in a previous episode, so it would have made sense if Merlin, realising that he needs to take Arthur to Avalon ASAP, and having already revealed to Arthur that he has magic, tried calling Kilgarrah to give him a lift and Kilgarrah didn’t come. Then the audience and Merlin would know he had died, and Merlin would be forced to go it on foot. Instead, Kilgarrah IS alive and completely available to carry them to Avalon in a couple of hours, but Merlin… doesn’t think of it? The more frustrating part of course, being that he does think of it two whole days later, when Arthur finally dies. The fact is Merlin could have totally saved Arthur and didn’t. He’s called Kilgarrah for help loads of times in the past, why didn’t it cross his mind this time?
I also don’t like the way Arthur is stabbed by Mordred. I completely understand seeing Mordred and being shocked and reluctant to attack him, as you said. But a great swordsman such as Arthur would have still parried that stab, no matter how surprised he was. That he didn’t even try to defend himself is ridiculous and nonsensical. He could have backed away or jumped to the side or just knocked Mordred’s blade aside, anything really.
Aithusa, to me, is set up as being this good omen for Albion etc etc, and then becomes completely irrelevant. The most notable thing about him is that he’s not good for Albion at all since he immediately sides with Morgana for NO reason (!!), but then he just becomes useless to the plot. He just shows up in some scenes, but honestly if he wasn’t there, nothing would change. It’s like one writer thought him up, wrote the Aithusa episode, had this huge character arc in mind, and then the other writers said “Nah we’re not going that direction”.
When I first saw Gwaine’s death scene, I didn’t even understand it. When Percival comes back to him, Gwaine is alive and seems unhurt (physically at least). He died, and I was just confused. I had to look it up online to understand that he really did officially die by nathair. That also never made sense to me, as the nathair has been shown twice previously, once on another Camelot knight (Elyan), and we know they cause excruciating mental pain, but they have never been either shown or said to be fatal. I mean, Elyan was in rough shape when Morgana finished with him, but nobody was concerned he would die. So I still can’t accept that as Gwaine’s cause of death, why not set it up properly? Just slip in that if someone resists the torture long enough, they eventually die. Or simply have Morgana stab him or something before leaving, and then Percival could still have a moment with him before he died? It’s really, truly awful how his death is handled. Again, no problem with him dying, but the way it happened is ridiculous.
Lastly, this isn’t a nitpick so much as just a random thought that crossed my mind, but I wish they could have revealed Gwen was pregnant or something by the end of the season, it would be comforting to know she would still have something of Arthur and wouldn’t be completely alone. Her father, brother and husband have all died, she has no family left. It’s just so sad. Then that made me think how strange it is really, when you stop and think about it, that in four years of marriage, they never had kids. I mean, it’s odd given the time (no contraception available), given that as a king Arthur would probably be eager to continue his lineage, and given that their marriage was a rare love match (so I assume they always shared a bed, unlike most royal marriages in those days that had separate bedrooms). This brought me to wonder whether Arthur might be sterile, given that he was created by magic and not by natural procreation himself. This is really not that relevant but just something I started to wonder about and I’d be curious about your thoughts.
But yes, all nitpicks aside, however frustrated this episode makes me, I still cry every time. Equal parts frustration and sadness because it’s still a beautiful episode? Go figure.
29th November 2021 @ 11:53 am
You make a good point about the childless thing. In legend they nearly never had kids, except for the odd name you hear about referring to Arthur’s son, like Amr or Amhar or something. But usually the plots have good reason for why Gwen and Arthur never have heirs.
The show clearly wanted to stick with traditional tragedy on all fronts…
I have always liked the headcanon that Arthur is created by life/death magic, ergo his potential child and carrying on the future of his line is the real ‘deal’ that was made when Arthur was born, not his mother’s. That ygraine died in childbirth because, Well, many did. But it was considered the ‘payment’ due to its timing.
So Yeah, like you said, Arthur could have been destined to be infertile due to the OR magic all along.
It’s not even something the show brought up at all, not even one line here and there. After 4 years of not conceiving in those days, Gwen would have been seriously pressured and bullied to have kids immediately coz anything can happen. It was all quite casual like ‘Arthur has no family to succeed him’ or ‘oh DW Gwen would take over it’s fine.’ Kids show or not, it would have been harmless, like you say, if they end it with a little hint that can be taken either way, like Gwen sitting there with her hand resting on her flat stomach..
28th November 2021 @ 11:35 pm
Just going to drop the season round up here 🙂
Season round up already? I’m going to miss this.
I’m surprised by how bad this season actually was. I remember not liking it, but I thought that was just due to not liking tragedy. But apart from that there was so much that was genuinely bad.
The season wants to be super tragic that it hurts itself.
I especially don’t like how much I goes for “demise from your own doing”. We get the sense that if Merlin had treated Mordred more kindly that he wouldn’t have turned against them. If Merlin had allowed Arthur to change the laws on magic, Camelot would’ve become a better place.
And it’s not the first time that this has happened, but this time it bothers me more. We already had this with Morgana that when Merlin had helped her with her magic and hadn’t felt as alone, that she wouldn’t have turned out evil. But this time there are so many more prophecies involved that basically made Merlin behave this way. I think you can assume that it wouldn’t have happened if Merlin hadn’t known about the prophecies, because otherwise he’d embraced Mordred as an old friend.
I just don’t like the message the show gives me this season that if Merlin would’ve acted differently, the outcome would’ve been very different. And that the only reason why Merlin acted this foolishly is him knowing about the prophecies.
Maybe this kind of story works for others but I just have too much compassion for the characters that it physically hurts me to see them making those decisions.
This will probably be said a million times and has been said a million times before, but it needs to be added: this season just didn’t do what it was supposed to. The writers knew they had to wrap the story up and they didn’t do any work for that. Instead of pulling old strings together they created new, unnecessary storylines. Evil Gwen, I’m looking at you.
I wish they had given Mordred so much more time this season. His motivations were so confusing because they wanted it to be “ambiguous”, but instead you’re just annoyed that there’s no clear sense of where we are with him. The Mordred story arc should have been in this entire season and we should have seen slow development instead of piling it all on like two episodes, which can’t do it justice.
The episodes also just aren’t memorable. I went to look over my list of destiny and see if I want to change anything but I forgot what most episodes were about. The whole middle part has just become a muddled mess. I even noticed that I mixed episodes up. So that’s not great…
Now to the list of destiny! This might be something for the show round up as well, idk. Fits both I suppose 🙂 Like last season I figured out how your rankings for the episode would look like for the total season.
And who would have guessed: season 5 is dead last, with the widest distance to any other season compared to all the others. It’s a bit surprising to see how big the distance actually is, because all the other seasons are pretty close together. But season 5 just completely falls back.
Season 3 (7,45 points)
Season 2 (7,08 points)
Season 4 (7,03 points)
Season 1 (6,74 points)
Season 5 (4,71 points)
For my personal list of destiny for this season I just ranked them looking at my personal enjoyment of the episode. (Arthur’s bane for example ranks high, even though it’s not that good of an episode, because I just enjoy it a lot despite its many flaws). But to be honest, I could mix up all the episodes in the middle here and wouldn’t even notice. They’re all just very meh.
My list of destiny:
3 The death song of Uther Pendragon
12+13 The diamond of the day
1+2 Arthur’s bane
4 Another’s sorrow
9 With all my heart
10 The kindness of strangers
8 The hollow queen
6 The dark tower
7 A lesson in vengeance
11 The drawing of the dark
5 The disir
30th November 2021 @ 2:05 am
-The Mordred story arc should have been in this entire season and we should have seen slow development instead of piling it all on like two episodes, which can’t do it justice.-
Totally agree with this! This is my biggest complaint about season 5! I also wish Arthur would have acknowledged that Mordred is a Druid, but knighted him anyways. That would have demonstrated Arthur was moving in the right direction in regards to magic users (instead of them just telling us that he is). Also, (I know this has been mentioned before, but….) I wish Merlin and Mordred had developed a friendship or at least partnership since both are magic users. That would have made the betrayal even more tragic!
4th December 2021 @ 12:22 am
oh my god yes. All of those things, Arthur willingly knighting a druid and Mordred and Merlin bonding as magic users, would’ve made the magic conversation so much more interesting. The whole magic conversation was so frustrating this season and didn’t go anywhere useful, or where it would make sense for where the characters are at this point, that this would’ve helped so much.
28th November 2021 @ 10:47 pm
My actual commentary: (I haven’t had time to read anyone else’s comments or even finish listening to the podcast so, sorry if I am being repetitive.)
Oh my goodness, you give Mordred one last line in the series and you gave him, ‘You gave me no choice’? This encapsulates everything that has gone wrong with his portrayal this season. Alex Vlahos is a great actor, you didn’t even need to give him a line for us to see his emotions and what he was thinking. And ‘you gave me no choice’ is just such a lazy, lame line, so cliché. Because it’s absolutely not true and the best villains are those who had a choice and chose one side and then live and fight with conviction, even if they are wrong. But this line robs Mordred of any conviction at all. And it doesn’t arouse sympathy either because it’s so easily dismissed. Mordred had choices. I liked it when Mordred confessed that he believed in Arthur and his vision (whatever that is) in 5.2. That’s when he was speaking with conviction. But the Kara childhood-sweetheart romance and having ‘no choice’ is supposed to make us feel the same way and explain credibly why his loyalties changed to the point of wishing to murder all his friends in Camelot? This is Morgana all over again whose hatred against Uther we could understand but I never got how and why she suddenly turned murderous against innocents and her friends.
As always, the magic reveal scene makes me cry so much, mostly the part just before Merlin reveals his powers and he is just quietly sobbing, unable to continue until Arthur prompts him. Also, how beautiful is it that Merlin conjures a dragon to convince his Pendragon of his magic? He did the same spell (minus the 3D effects because it was only season 1) in ‘The Moment of Truth’ which was probably the closest Merlin had ever come to revealing his magic to Arthur. In fact, the crisis in this episode is not too dissimilar to that of 1.10, just on a larger scale. I think what we can learn from this is that Merlin absolutely would never have revealed his magic to Arthur in any other way but through an utter need in a battle crisis.
Why is Gaius in the forest? Why can’t they just let Merlin stand on his own feet? I mean, he clearly knows the herbs to help Arthur and, if Gaius hadn’t told him to be inactive, he could have tried to help Arthur, even if it wouldn’t work. And then, you know, send Queen Mab or the Vilia or something to point Merlin in the direction of the Lake of Avalon and let Merlin deliver Arthur’s ring to Gwen at the end. That would make so much more sense than yet another Gaius-intervention causing lack of action and autonomy from Merlin.
Gaius tells Arthur: ‘He can do far more than me’; ‘If you are to stand any chance of survival, you’ll need Merlin to help you.’ – literally the entire episode and Gaius himself contradict those statements. Once again, the TV show is a TV tell, and a really bad one since they are in NO WAY backing up any of their claims with actions. Even Gaius himself continues to keep Merlin on a short leash as if he is to be trusted with no more than with watering the horses. And he keeps interrupting Merlin when he wants to look after Arthur or have a heart-to-heart with him. I do not understand! Although, Gaius’ character is at least consistent: he has always kept Merlin from telling Arthur the important things.
What I have always found annoying about this episode is how unnecessarily stuffed it is, how much that has caused disjointed editing and, also, how they simply didn’t have enough time to follow through on certain storylines. We really, really should have just exposed Eira and then skipped that entire part with Gwaine’s death. Naturally, that would all have worked much better if, like you suggested, Morgana had been killed earlier by Merlin and Arthur.
Why does Kilgarrah say: ‘All that you have dreamt of building has come to pass.’ How? As far as we know, magic is still outlawed and there are no plans to make it legal. The kingdoms are not united. What is it that Merlin dreamt of that has come to pass? Either the dragon is still, continuously, lying or this is another one of those wonderful TV tell moments: We are not shown that everything has worked out: we just have to believe what Kilgarrah says. I tend to favour the first interpretation because, of course, Kilgarrah straight out baits Merlin with the next carrot that’s going to keep him occupied and hoping vainly for the next couple of millennia: “When Albion’s need is greatest, Arthur will return.”
I have a theory that I cannot confirm whatsoever: I think that they cut out Percival from the scene when Merlin sends Arthur away on the boat, that he found the two of them and then assisted Merlin in the funeral rite. Firstly, the Camelot cloak Arthur wears appears out of nowhere. He hasn’t worn it all episode and while it may have been on the horses those were scared off by Morgana. Perhaps, that was Percival’s offering to his king. Also, when Merlin grieves over Arthur, he looks over his shoulder at something. There is no reason at all that he should look there if there wasn’t something there as it is not a vacant ‘I have to look away because I can’t bear this sight’ look but rather a look that has a clear focus. Also, I mean, how else do Gwen and the court, at the end, know for sure that Arthur is dead to crown her queen? I just wish we would have gotten a scene between Merlin and Percival so we could be sure whether Merlin comes back to Camelot or leaves to wander the wilderness by himself.
I HATE that final scene so, so much. I don’t know what that’s supposed to give us.
Just an aside: as I was watching this episode on Netflix, I somehow clicked a button and suddenly Netflix resumed Merlin season 1, episode 1 where I had left off at some point. It was Merlin walking past Arthur in the marketplace, being asked how his knee-walking was coming along. Oh my goodness, that was so long ago and they were so small and THAT made me bawl!
30th November 2021 @ 2:14 am
-Firstly, the Camelot cloak Arthur wears appears out of nowhere. –
YES!! I have that in my notes! “Where did that cloak come from??” I think that absolutely makes sense that Percival was there! There was some discussion about why Merlin doesn’t completely lose it when he is saying good bye to Arthur in the boat and Percival being there would make total sense! Thank you for this!
28th November 2021 @ 10:33 pm
Bradley and Colin are working so hard, I think they both do as much justice as they can to the characters and their stories and somehow guide the individuals and their relationship through so much nuance. There are so many glimpses of younger versions of them, which are wonderful details, but how they manage to pull off such a highly anticipated, drastic turning point in the relationship in the very last 45 minutes is astonishing. But, as you said, it’s a shame everyone else doesn’t get more to do, because they are also amazing. I would have loved to get more of Gwen, and Gwaine particularly, in this last one
It’s absolutely devastating, that, after years of Merlin saving Arthur in the nick of time, this time, he is too late. I think Arthur’s “All your magic, Merlin, and you can’t save my life” reminds me of this – it’s either fate or destiny, or simply a few minutes too late, but, ultimately, for everything he has, Merlin can’t save his friend. We don’t really know if the destiny has come to pass, but if it has, I love like you say that is laid to rest, and Merlin is allowed to grieve the loss of Arthur the man (even if it could have been even more clear cut!).
Although I don’t hate Mordred’s haunting death grin, I actually prefer the tiny smile he gives Arthur before he falls. The first feels like performance he’s putting on, the second more an acknowledgment – perhaps of the part he played, a recognition of where he went wrong or simply the fact he is dying and, for him, it is over.
It’s been really interesting to see the different lines everyone’s picked out. I can’t decide myself on a favourite, but you mentioned the “maybe” and I found that absolutely devastating. The tragedy seems to be double underscored here, as it highlights how Arthur doesn’t truly understand the extent of it all. But also, as you said, “it was more fun with you” – whether or not we ever got to the golden age of Camelot, we were certainly there with the relationship of these two once upon a time. It happened, and even though it ends in sadness, it still happened and I think that matters.
“Just hold me”. The way his voice eases into the words. Arthur is a trained soldier, as well as a King – he will have had to be prepared to die, and we’ve seen that before. This doesn’t feel like a pretence of casualness though; it feels true, and real, and I think he has accepted that it’s over. And I definitely did NOT cry at that bit and basically every other bit…
While this may not be the very last episode of D&C, it is the very last episode of Merlin so I would like to thank you both and everyone here. It’s been wonderful to talk with you all, and you have been so friendly and welcoming and thoughtful. Thank you.
28th November 2021 @ 10:15 pm
I think this is certainly the episode I have watched least often. Three times only, as far as I can remember: once by myself, once when I and my mum watched the series together and then once when I got the DVD set for the utterly disappointing (and irreverent) commentary- but more of that later.
Here an extract from the notes I took about a day after first watching the finale (in those moments when I wasn’t sitting shell-shocked in a corner or crying):
“Why does Merlin think the Sidhe will help him when he killed their king? Why doesn’t Merlin call the dragon straight away? So he can have some alone time with Arthur?! I don’t understand why Merlin is so cursed: he has to hide who he is throughout his life to be a lowly servant, be poisoned, wounded, almost killed, lose his magic, see his best friend die and then live forever, missing Arthur every day!
Does he become a recluse? Does he return to Camelot and Gaius’ meal for him? I think it must be so – you can’t make me believe that he abandoned all his other friends to sulk by a lake in eternity. He will help to support the kingdom Arthur has built. Also, he would have to carry back the message that the king is dead. I cannot imagine the walk back alone.
Mordred and Morgana are the most blessed: they die instantly. Gwaine has to endure torture first. Why him and not Percival? Arthur suffers for days before succumbing to his wound. Gwen has to live out a lifetime without Arthur. Merlin has to live out all the lifestimes, waiting for a stupid, cryptic promise from Kilgarrah.”
Thus my thoughts many years ago – I would still sign my name under every one of those ideas.
By way of therapy, I remember that after watching the finale, I found comfort in a particular poem from Tennyson (from his In Memoriam) which I could imagine Merlin, once the 19th century and Tennyson rolled around, would have recited to himself in his darkest moments. Here it is in case you also need the comfort after your first or maybe re-watch of the finale:
I envy not in any moods
The captive void of noble rage,
The linnet born within the cage,
That never knew the summer woods:
I envy not the beast that takes
His license in the field of time,
Unfetter’d by the sense of crime,
To whom a conscience never wakes;
Nor, what may count itself as blest,
The heart that never plighted troth
But stagnates in the weeds of sloth;
Nor any want-begotten rest.
I hold it true, whate’er befall;
I feel it, when I sorrow most;
‘Tis better to have loved and lost
Than never to have loved at all.
28th November 2021 @ 6:12 am
While I loved Merlin and Arthur spending this last journey away from the others, I wish there were better ‘goodbyes’ with other characters. Like with Gwen, for instance. When she acknowledges that this may be Arthur’s last battle, it seems to be handled by both characters so casually. Same with the tent scenes. Why does Arthur just carry her to bed like any other date night, instead of layers of emotions and ‘this could be their last night’ hanging over them?
One of my main issues with Series 5 was how Merlin and Arthur were somewhat disconnected, Merlin being aware of things Arthur wasn’t or literally being away from him. So it was perfect to end with them together on a journey, doing their banters, having those conversations that start off amusing then hit something much deeper. It is wonderful to see these two convey all those layers in their acting, expressions, body language. There are many stills from this episode that speak so much, like the pain yet stoicism in Gwen in the end. Even the voice acting. Beautifully heartbreaking. As is the cover for this episode. ❤
A part of me wished the prophesy came true in an unexpected way. Like what if Arthur found out Merlin’s magic before the battle, knowing this is the man he owes his life to. Then Mordred loses control at the sight of Merlin in the battle and goes in to kill him, only for Arthur to get in the way and get stabbed? Or we have Arthur being healed, some big treaty gets signed to unite the kingdoms, magic is returned. Then…there’s a piece of magical sword in him that will ensure he’ll die? Okay, that would have been more tragic probably but I kind of wish everything was a bit more intricate.
Now would be a good time to say how awesome the Destiny & Chicken community has been. Thanks for the podcasts, sharing in my frustrations and even for doing it without any f-bombs! I think it’s a bit of a feat in the podcast world, especially given Merlin frustrations. 😄 And thanks everyone for the comments, for being welcoming and thoughtful.
30th November 2021 @ 11:19 am
Yes poor Gwen didn’t really get a goodbye. Arthur rushes out the tent absentmindedly leaving her in bed staring after him 🙁
And bless her at the end, we didn’t need to see a scene where she is told and is in hysterics. We already know that has happened. Her coronation is clearly a few days after so she has no more tears to shed but the pain is still and will always be there.
27th November 2021 @ 9:47 pm
This episode was quite something to rewatch. When I was first watching it I was already spoiled about Arthur’s death, so throughout the whole episode I was just on the edge of breaking and crying. And I did cry. A lot. I’m pretty confident in saying that I’ve never cried as much as watching this episode for the first time. There were already tears throughout the whole episode but when they arrived on that field and Arthur told Merlin to hold him it got really ugly. I ugly cried and sobbed and would randomly start crying after the episode ended that day. I just get too attached to characters and I just broke for Merlin, feeling along with his pain.
On the second watch last week it wasn’t much different. I ugly cried and sobbed my eyes out, but at least I was more or less okay after the episode ended. Seeing Merlin loose his best friend again wasn’t fun.
But let’s get back to the beginning when old Merlin appears on the edge looking down on the battle and it’s supposed to be all epic. That green screen is so bad it just completely takes me out of the moment. I just started laughing.
In the first forest scene with Merlin and Arthur the note I made was “Why didn’t Merlin take Arthur’s armour off? Wouldn’t that make treating him easier?”. Ruth, you weren’t alone. This kept irritating me until the end and like you said, gets in the way with their physicality.
The thing is, that short conversation between Gwen and Gaius about Merlin being the sorcerer and taking care of Arthur makes me think that Gwen would be a better Queen on her own. And I’m pretty sure the show isn’t trying to tell me Arthur sucked and Gwen is better off now but that is what’s happening.
My mom and I were both convinced that Arthur would say “I love you” at the end there when he says “thank you” instead. I think most people probably did. The thank you was so underwhelming. It’s not like Arthur hadn’t thanked Merlin before. Of course it was rare, but those were some lame last words. I do get a bit mad at the writers to basically tease it like that, knowing full well what they were doing and not pulling through. At the same time I’m glad we didn’t actually get the “bury your gays” trope, even if it does very much feel that way.
WHY DIDN’T HE CALL THAT FUCKING DRAGON BEFORE. I get so mad thinking about it. I keep thinking that Merlin could have saved Arthur if he has just called his fucking sky taxi (sorry for the swearing, I’m getting really sad and mad at this point).
That fucking truck makes me so mad. I’m sobbing my eyes out and then there’s that stupid truck just completely destroying the mood. What the fuck? I feel like it really isn’t the time to lighten the mood. The episode is just too dark and sad at this point.
No other thoughts, sorry, I was too busy crying.
28th November 2021 @ 3:53 am
-That green screen is so bad it just completely takes me out of the moment. –
Agreed…. Have you watched the new show The Wheel of Time on Prime? The way they show magic is AWESOME and had me wishing something similar was done on Merlin, but that was like ten years ago…. so I guess I can forgive it….it would have been so awesome though!
28th November 2021 @ 11:33 pm
oh I didn’t yet but I plan to watch it soon! Very exited to see what they did now!
The cgi and special effects during that time truly are a thing of their own. Watching Doctor who it always was kind of charming in it’s weird way but unfortunately that’s not always the case in Merlin.
28th November 2021 @ 5:57 am
Confession: I’m allergic to re-watching this episode in whole! I only watched some YouTube clips in writing my comment.
So true that Arthur did say ‘thank you’ in previous episodes! Though I think it was keeping in-character. Someone like him in the past struggled to express feelings and wouldn’t say I love you that easily. I guess all of the exchange in this episode was his ‘I love you’. 🙂
28th November 2021 @ 11:44 pm
I can totally understand that you could only watch a few clips. I must say, the clips can make the episode look quite beautiful.
Yeah I agree. It would have been quite a leap for him to express his emotions to Merlin so extremely. However, they’ve been building this intimacy all episode, which is why the episode lead me to believe that Arthur could have been able to be this sincere in his last moment. Maybe an “I love you” might have been a lot, but there should at least have been something stronger than “thank you”. That was just entirely underwhelming, because as you say, he’s been expressing his love for Merlin all episode.
2nd December 2021 @ 10:48 am
I think all of it is a writing problem, because while I understand the conspiracy theories that lead people to see Arthur mouthing ‘I love you’ silently before or after saying thank you, or the even more extreme conspiracy theories that talk about him saying ‘I love you’ instead of ‘thank you’ suggesting it was shot one way and then dubbed the other way… ultimately as far as an analysis of what’s on screen goes, it doesn’t really matter, because ‘thank you’ is what they decided to air. And it’s just so utterly lame. I can immediately think of 10 better things he could have said, that would only require a few additional words here and there, to make the dialogue flow. Because honestly, if he had said ‘I love you’ instead of ‘Thank you’ I would probably dislike that scene just as much, because it has no natural pacing and it still wouldn’t make a lot of sense, and then, as you say, he says I love you and immediately dies? What the heck?? so no, I wouldn’t have liked that, either. But I completely agree, they should have done better in writing his last words. Hell, they should have done better in writing this entire last episode. And prior to that, this entire last season.
SIGH.
M Xx
27th November 2021 @ 4:56 pm
I’m so glad Ruth pointed out the armor problem! I thought I was the only one who didn’t love the “hold me” scene—Colin and Bradley are so brilliant but their positioning is awkward, with the breastplate sticking out between them like a completely inexplicable barrier to how beautiful and visceral that whole scene could’ve been. I fully expected that to be a highly unpopular take on what is such a pivotal Merlin & Arthur moment, so I’m a bit relieved someone else thought the same! I completely concur that there is no medical or plot-related reason Arthur should keep his plate (or his chainmail, honestly) still on.
Medically speaking, we’re always told to “trauma naked” patients with possible traumatic injuries, so you can, you know, actually SEE the injury and the extent of it, and also apply any possible treatments like pressure or bandaging directly on top of the wound. Merlin could’ve at least cleaned it or something. Even in cases with “do not resuscitate” orders, you’re still allowed to provide palliative care to make someone’s last moments easier. So I fully understand that standard medical techniques weren’t going to save Arthur, but it would’ve been nice to see Merlin do something to at least soothe Arthur a little—clean the wound, bandage it, give him some herbs for the pain, whatever. (And it would’ve been a nice way to show Merlin’s physician skills having grown, but hey, who’s counting)
And plot wise, if you’re trying to take Arthur from the beginning of the episode, a great warrior at the peak of his powers, to the end, so frail he can hardly keep his head up, it would absolutely help to take off his plate and armor. He’d look much smaller, much more vulnerable. And being out of his armor would better allow this episode to be about the death of Arthur the man instead of Arthur the King.
Anyway. All this to say, I’m glad this was brought up!
Continuing with that scene, I’m interested in what people think about Arthur claiming he’s going to tell Merlin something he’s never said to him before. There are definitely many times that Arthur has thanked Merlin throughout the seasons. I get that this time, Arthur is thanking him with the full knowledge of all that Merlin has done for him, but still. That bit didn’t really work for me, because I was honestly waiting for Arthur to say something we’d never heard. (Also I don’t know if you’ve seen/believe in the fan theory that Bradley was actually mouthing “I love you” around the “thank you”. There’s what could be “I love” beforehand and what could be “you” after, though it could just be seeing what one wants to see)
Also, I really love that ultimately, Merlin chooses to tell Arthur. It’s his own, personal, voluntary choice. His magic isn’t revealed by betrayal, or exposed through circumstance. In that moment, he had no obligation to tell Arthur, and the easiest thing to do would’ve been to let Arthur die without knowing. But ultimately, he makes the choice that he doesn’t want to let his friend die without knowing the truth, even if that means Arthur dies hating him for it. I think (despite the meta-textual reasons the show might’ve actually had for dragging it out this long) there’s still something really beautiful in that.
27th November 2021 @ 8:39 pm
-That bit didn’t really work for me, because I was honestly waiting for Arthur to say something we’d never heard. (Also I don’t know if you’ve seen/believe in the fan theory that Bradley was actually mouthing “I love you” around the “thank you”. There’s what could be “I love” beforehand and what could be “you” after, though it could just be seeing what one wants to see)-
THANK YOU! (No pun intended haha) I hate that line so much! I have heard that fan theory too, but when I watch it, I don’t see “I love you.” (Sigh) I wish I did though….
-But ultimately, he makes the choice that he doesn’t want to let his friend die without knowing the truth, even if that means Arthur dies hating him for it. I think (despite the meta-textual reasons the show might’ve actually had for dragging it out this long) there’s still something really beautiful in that.-
Totally agree
26th November 2021 @ 6:29 pm
I’m so conflicted over the ending to this show. I honestly can’t remember if I cried over the ending when I originally watched it back when it aired, but I do remember thinking it was definitely going to end with Arthur dying. Not because of anything the show did, because the show was kind of disastrous mess by the end of series 5. I was pretty sure Arthur was going to die because (spoiler for 2009 ending BBC Robin Hood) of how the BBC show Robin Hood ended, i.e. they had form for killing off a English legendary figure in the last ep and both shows are VERY similar in terms of general vibe and ascetic. These days I like to think of that show as the Gwaine AU spin off I never knew I wanted, ha!
But back to Merlin. I’m conflicted because I love the show so much, the music, the actors, gah, the overall heart of the show is great. But I think series five was a messy ball of yarn that the writers pawed and batted around without any sense of how they were going to eventually untangle it. (Now it gives me joy to imagine the writers as grumpy/excitable kittens). Sorry. I’ve been working 12 hour night shifts for the last month so I probably shouldn’t be trying to write anything coherent, apologies.
I think it would have been better if we had the Morgana/Merlin showdown on the battlefield, right after Arthur is stabbed, with classic evil witch mood Morgana gloating about how the sword Mordred used is so swishy and dragony and speshul and mwah ha ha, Arthur, I hate you and you suck and I said I’d get you, and your little MERLIN too! Yada yada so on and so forth.
At this point, they should have just leant into all that stuff and had Merlin be all grrr woof and straight up rage kill Morgana or something equally dramatic.
Here’s a question, rewatching this again as an adult has made me wonder if we should have revealed the magic. Like at all. I mean what was the point in doing it now? It gives nothing, really. Don’t get me wrong, the last half hour of this episode still makes me go 100% fangirl and I love it (as long as I don’t THINK about it). But honestly, now I just don’t see why they bothered to make the big reveal. They made it clear through series 5 that they don’t care about the ramifications of the reveal or exploring what it could mean for the characters, so why?
In an ideal world, for me at least, they would have made the reveal in series 4, then spent series 5 exploring the changes that would have made to the story and the characters. But they didn’t want to do that, and cynically I believe they didn’t want to do that because they didn’t want to change the dynamic between Arthur and Merlin, which would have been inevitable if they did the big reveal. I wish they’d been brae enough to take that dynamic shift on, because it could have been really interesting to see play out. But meh, it’s not my story, so *shrugs*.
My problem with the reveal happening in this last episode is that Arthur is dying, which means his whole turnaround about Merlin being a person with magic is compromised. He is clearly only forgiving and accepting Merlin so easily and quickly because he’s about to die, which makes his acceptance disingenuous at best. There’s no way it would be this fast if the reveal happened at any other time in the story. Arthur would need time to sort it all out in his head. The lying is one thing, Merlin had good reasons for that for the most part. But Merlin has been manipulating him for years. That would be disturbing to find out for anyone, regardless for how they feel about magic.
I just don’t buy how Arthur comes around to say he doesn’t want Merlin to change, which ruins the otherwise wonderful line for me.
I think the big reason why I don’t buy it is because, at this point, I have no clue what Arthur thinks or feels about magic. No clue at all. He’s used it too many times to outright distrust it. But he hasn’t even broached the subject of learning more about it with Gwen or Gauis or Merlin. Because that would be a believable step for him, to learn about magic, if not accept it straight away. You can’t judge something you know next to nothing about, after all.
As for the whole Gwen thing. Since I don’t know what kind of King Arthur is, I also have no idea what kind of Queen Gwen is. So her killing off Gwaine’s meanie of a girlfriend is giving me vibes that Gwen is possibly a ruthless Queen. But thats it. Thats all we get. So her crowing at the end actually just feels weirdly ominous to me, like Gwen could very well turn Uther-y at some point. I honestly don’t know. Gwen has changed as a character, off screen, so who knows what she’s all about now. Her scenes with Leon are cool, but also a bit disappointing because I wish we’d gotten that kind of thing throughout the series. Gwen having Leon as her new childhood bestie could have been interesting too. But instead it’s just there. It’s just there. Being there.
I also don’t like Merlin’s line about how he blames himself for what Morgana has become, because yes. Merlin. Yes. Thank you for not mentioning that until right this very minute. Is this still a conflict? Because if so, WHY didn’t Morgana bring all this up last episode. We could have had an emotional scene with Morgana and Merlin in the caves where she blames him for everything and he agrees and apologises, because yes, Morgana made her choices, but Merlin certainly played his part and that deserved proper acknowledgement, not a throw away line at the very end where Morgana can’t respond to it.
I don’t think I’ll ever not be annoyed by how rubbish Morgana’s storyline was at times. It deserved better. Katie certainly deserved better. One cannot survive on epic eyeshadow and cool halloween dresses alone.
Also, I’m glad someone else was bothered by the armour thing. That’s annoyed me for nearly a decade, so thank you. Validation! *raises fist dramatically*.
I think I might be ranting. Sorry. I think I’ll blame that on my tired brain too.
All in all, I still love and appreciate this show very much and I was so grateful for the experience to listen to the podcast and experience it in a new way. x
30th November 2021 @ 1:00 pm
You saying how Arthur’s reaction to the reveal is compromised because he is dying actually reminded me immediately of the scene I’m s1 where Merlin’s friend Will is dying after taking the rap for being a sorcerer. He says ‘what you gonna do, kill me?’ in a sarcastic way, he knows either way Arthur’s answer would be no because in a minute the autonomy and the choice to do something with the info is gonna be dealt with for him.
So when Arthur’s dying and Merlin’s secret is out, the whole thing doesn’t mean anything either way because Arthur knows he won’t live to have to deal with it all.
He doesn’t get much time of specific info about merlin’s magic during those two days, but he doesn’t ask either. Neither does he joke and say ‘ when I’m healed you’ll do every chore in the castle and then ill make you wear a pointy hat as my court sorcerer.’ He knows the whole magic thing won’t be his deal to listen to before Merlin can properly accept it.
26th November 2021 @ 4:35 pm
Oh, also!
I would have preferred an ending where Merlin either voluntarily locks himself inside a crystal or a tree, like in the legends, or is put there in stasis just the way Arthur is in the lake of Avalon. Maybe after a scene or two that shows how the remaining characters fared in Camelot, aged and died, leaving Merlin alone…it would have been very poignant, instead of just gut wrenching, to see him be laid to rest, however temporarily, in a similarly reverent manner as he had always given to the characters whose funerals he was solely responsible for.
2nd December 2021 @ 11:03 am
–in a similarly reverent manner as he had always given to the characters whose funerals he was solely responsible for.–
right in the feels O_O
26th November 2021 @ 4:31 pm
Oh, this episode! It killed me. I remember feeling so frustrated and heartbroken, over both Morgana and Arthur’s deaths.
Morgana didn’t get a big bad ending, as I think the main big bad in a show ought to.
Just as in season 4, however, on each rewatch I am more impressed with Katie’s performance. She gave a lot to this underserved role. I love the bit about how she and Colin decided to mirror the season 2 (?) moment between them, that’s super interesting!
I might be in the minority, here, but I didn’t think Arthur was going to die and I didn’t like the choice to have him die. I still think the story would have been fine if he lived!
Here’s my argument:
1. Merlin has been touted as being the strongest wizard ever throughout this whole show, and now he’s bust out of the Crystal Cave as his “true self” and can defeat an entire army…why couldn’t he have successfully healed Arthur? Yes, it would change a lot about this episode, but maybe not everything. Maybe they still would have journeyed through the forest (perhaps to the Isle of the Blessed, as another commenter suggested, which I think is brilliant because we’ve been there before and it was in season 1, the first time Merlin tries to sacrifice himself for Arthur) and have a magic reveal, going through the incredibly intimate performances from Colin and Bradley. Then, at the final hour, when all hope seems lost, Merlin finds the power within himself, maybe with the help of the Sidhe or some other magical friend, to heal Arthur. I would have preferred that being Merlin’s “true self” moment rather than in the cave with Balinor. It’s the power of love! Of friendship! How many shows have ended that way? And it’s fine!
There’s nothing wrong with tragedy, or tragic endings, but I honestly don’t think Arthur needed to die, also because…
2. We never saw the dream of Albion. When Kilgarrah tells Merlin that he and Arthur succeeded, I remember thinking, “…they did?” Where was the evidence of that? In the three year gap? Before this dark and gloomy world of season 5 where things have clearly not improved for magical people? It just rang so hollow when I heard that line.
Alright, that’s enough wishful thinking on my part. Arthur dies and it is what it is. Sigh! I love the intimate and vulnerable scenes between Merlin and Arthur, those just save this episode for me. Gwen, also, being queen was the only thing that consoled me when I first watched this one. She is great in this episode and she will be a great queen! I love that they didn’t paint her as only a grieving widow, but as a determined monarch, too.
The immortality bit is…just fucking cruel, in my opinion. I agree with another commenter that immortality is a terrifying fictional fate. When I saw that the first time I was so angry! I thought, “What the fuck?! I signed up for family fun and magic and to check out the queer undertones between the leads that I keep reading about on the internet! Not this shit!” 😂 Poor Merlin. What a lonely and defeating existence. I can’t help but think that things never get any better for magical people…
All that being said, it was my frustration with the ending of Merlin that spurred me to find other frustrated fans on the internet which, ultimately, led me to Destiny and Chicken. So, for that I am grateful!
I have LOVED every minute of this podcast. Ruth and Michelle, you both are so much fun to listen to. Michelle, the cover art has been stellar throughout! What a unique and beautiful touch. I have learned more than I ever thought I would about why stories work and don’t work. I really appreciate the time and effort you both put into this podcast, and anyone else who is involved behind the scenes. I’m really looking forward to the round ups. ❤️
2nd December 2021 @ 11:15 am
I really think that BBC merlin has got the ULTIMATE combination of Fascination & Frustration, that has led us to still obsess over this show a decade later. The insane talent and chemistry of the cast, especially bradley and colin, combined with the endless frustration of the story telling – as ruth put it once, stumbling through the woods and going deeper and deeper into the tangled web of branches, while blindly ignoring every ‘turn back now’ sign there is – just opened the floodgates to fandom, and for that I will forever be grateful because some of my fondest fandom memories are within the merlin fandom.
Thank you so much for the kind words about the podcast, the artwork, and learning about story structure. it means the world!
Also, you made me smile with your (very kind and very thoughtful!!!) ‘anyone else who is involved behind the scenes’ as nope, even once you draw the curtains back, it’s still just us… well, us, and the cats 😀 😀 😀
M Xx
26th November 2021 @ 3:37 am
Before anything else I was wondering why they don’t JUST USE THE CUP OF LIFE. IT’S RIGHT THERE IN CAMELOT AND IF IT’S NOT THEN GO TO THE ISLE OF THE BLESSED. WHY HAS EVERYONE FORGOTTEN ABOUT THE CUP! Sorry I had to get that out of my system.
I actually like tragedy as a genre and I don’t think this show could have had a different end at this point. However the road to getting here was really dumb. I don’t dislike the general story or the ending, I just think this exact story could have been told in a better way. Look I think that immortality is one of the most horrifying concepts in fiction which is why the ending just feels cruel instead of tragic. It feels like he’ll never be free of destiny and destiny is starting to feel malicious at this point.
So I looked up Arthur’s death scene before I started watching the show and I was so distracted by the armour then. I didn’t care as much about it this time because I was too busy crying but I agree with Ruth and I’m really glad you guys brought it up.
Gwen’s lovely in this episode. The show proved me right by Gwen nearly being killed because of being there but the scene itself is great. And I love almost everything in the castle and the magic reveal was wonderful. I hope she’s a better ruler than Arthur and Uther. I don’t know if Merlin ever goes back but I have faith that Gwen would legalise magic. But there’s always the possibility that the Saxons come back and none of it lasts very long.
I actually liked Mordred’s death. The execution was a bit messy but the scene was pretty good. I interpreted his smile as relief and his body being discarded on the battlefield did work really well with the “unmarked in death” theme. It was a really nice callback and I like almost everything about it.
Morgana’s death was frustrating. On one hand this is a really important scene for Merlin and I do like how he kills her, but it was very disappointing. Arthur’s reaction to it was pretty good. I really like that they’re referencing the Fires of Idirsholas but that just makes me wish I was watching that episode instead. A lot of this episode makes me wish I was watching a better episode of Merlin. I really hope Merlin gave her a marked grave after he was done burying Arthur. The worst case scenario already happened. What would be the point of still holding a grudge? God I just made it even more depressing didn’t I?
My ideal story in any medium is two characters on a journey of some kind talking to each other so I would have happily watched 45 minutes of Arthur and Merlin’s trek through the forest. Giving all of their interactions some space would have been wonderful but I do like most of what we get.
I could get into every single line but you guys already did that. The dialogue may have been repetitive but I loved every single bit. This is the one time I’ll forgive any issues with the dialogue because of how wonderfully it is performed. My favourite was definitely Arthur asking Merlin to hold him. I don’t know why but that line gets to me every time I see it.
It’s kind of lovely that even when Arthur’s betrayed and angry he still trusts Merlin with his life. Arthur knows from the beginning that he’s going to die but he’s going along with this for Merlin’s sake. All of it reminded me of that scene in the Last Dragonlord where Arthur is trying to prepare Merlin for his death. It did feel a bit rushed but there’s no way we could have done this story justice in anything less than half a season at least.
I really like Merlin’s ongoing breakdown throughout the episode because he’s the only person who thinks Arthur can be saved. I just wish we got to see him try to heal Arthur and get even more frantic as he keeps failing. At least the dragon’s dead so Merlin can grow and learn and maybe develop some self esteem and a sense of identity outside of Arthur and destiny. The dragon giving Merlin hope is kind in a way but he must know that Merlin would never give up on Arthur.
It’s possible that the dragon lied but it is also possible that Merlin being immortal is because Arthur’s going to come back. Two sides of the same coin and all that. As long as Arthur can come back Merlin cannot die.
If I could change anything about this episode, I would replace all of Dragoon’s scenes with regular Merlin. Including the ending. My ideal ending (without changing canon) would be regular Merlin in modern day clothes standing in the same position, it’s very clear that the world has changed around him, starting to turn away when there’s some movement in the lake, we see his reaction and that’s it. Or we could have the exact same scene as canon but with regular Merlin and the dragon voiceover from the beginning. It would tie in so well with Balinor’s “you have always been, and always will be”.
I don’t have anything new to say about this episode but I thought it was fine. I would rate it at 5/10. It wasn’t a terrible ending but it wasn’t the best ending we could have had. I’m still processing it so maybe I’ll have more thoughts for the overall round-up. I’m not entirely sure where the round up thoughts go so I’m including them here.
ROUND-UP THOUGHTS
Merlin’s characterisation in season 5 is frustrating but also really interesting, because he’s trying to kill Mordred but being a coward about it. This is kind of OOC for Merlin, but not for Uther. Think of that scene in the witchfinder where he can’t watch Gaius be executed. That’s what Merlin’s unwillingness to kill Mordred personally reminds me of which is weird because he went out of his way to kill Agravaine personally face to face.
It’s also weird that no character has realised that killing people for what they are/what they could potentially do is exactly what Uther did. I’m not sure the show realises that either. Because it would be a perfectly reasonable motive for Merlin to not kill Mordred. We could have a scene where Merlin is being all doom and gloom and considering killing Mordred and Gaius or anyone could say you sound like Uther dude, please chill out. Or Merlin could say if I kill him then I’m no different from Uther. Just any indication that this was a deliberate character choice.
If you look back at all the named characters Merlin has killed, he always does it personally and takes responsibility (as much as he can). The most striking example is The Fires of Idirsholas, he didn’t have to admit that to Morgana or Morgause but he faces up to it. There’s also the way Merlin killed Agravaine, it was intentional and he wanted Agravaine to know who exactly was killing him.
It’s very bizarre for Merlin to not take responsibility for his actions. This is also why I think Arthur’s so unlikable this season, because he’s not allowed to take responsibility for anything. Actually Merlin’s probably the only character who gets to do morally dubious things and still remain a good person. Morgana’s cartoonishly evil and Arthur and Gwen are shiny and pure but Merlin actually gets a lot of complexity and it’s because he gets to take responsibility.
This season has a lot of problems but not making people paranoid enough is definitely one of my biggest issues. There’s been no sign of Morgana for 3 years and if Merlin had been living in this world for 3 years he would be constantly looking over his shoulder, waiting for Morgana’s next move (assuming he tried to find her and was unsuccessful). Then he’s introduced to this new prophecy, Mordred and Morgana in quick succession which makes his paranoia much worse. Not to mention the general low level fear of being found out.
At this point he could have decided to fix his mistakes with Morgana and befriend Mordred and we could have seen him slowly relaxing and thinking everything’s going to be okay. Then Mordred turns evil and turns out he should have never trusted him.
But since we didn’t do that he’s at that level of paranoia for the entire season. It’s not possible to maintain that kind of tension. He should be on the verge of a breakdown this entire season. Maybe I’m expecting too much realism from them but they shouldn’t have put him under this much pressure if they weren’t going to deal with it.
While we’re talking about characters not being paranoid enough, all of Arthur’s decisions in season 4 and 5 would make perfect sense if he had been really paranoid. Think about it from his perspective, his sister has betrayed him, someone infiltrated his castle and killed his father, Agravaine’s everything, Morgana’s out there and no one knows what she’s planning, and other kingdoms keep trying to test his borders. This slow building tension would have been a really good arc for the season because we also have the Lancelot du Lac storyline and all of it could have contributed to his breakdown in Sword in the Stone. It would explain why he makes so many terrible life choices in the last season. All of the pieces of a really good story are there; they just didn’t assemble them correctly.
So I’ve been trying to figure out what Arthur’s bane is and I’m still confused. Okay so if it’s his unwillingness to examine his beliefs about magic and accept it then I kind of see it. However, the show doesn’t seem to care all that much about magic users and their situation. It can’t be the promise Arthur made to the druid boy because no one remembers it. All of his actions are framed as correct and good so what is it? Not condemning someone for a crime they hadn’t committed yet? Like Uther did?
I just think that the (metaphorical) ghost of Uther hangs over this season and I would love to know why. In conclusion I’m fascinated by this show’s bizarre moral code and would love to hear everyone else’s thoughts on it.
27th November 2021 @ 2:00 am
-JUST USE THE CUP OF LIFE. IT’S RIGHT THERE IN CAMELOT AND IF IT’S NOT THEN GO TO THE ISLE OF THE BLESSED. WHY HAS EVERYONE FORGOTTEN ABOUT THE CUP! –
OH MY GOSH! Yes!! I had completely forgotten about the cup of life! If they had gone to use that… I wonder whose life they would have bargained? Could Merlin have offered his even though he is immortal? Maybe Gaius?
Even if the show ended up the same and Arthur died on the journey to his destination where he could be healed, I would have liked them going towards a place or item we were familiar with before. Would have been more tidy.
3rd December 2021 @ 10:39 am
I think the show decided to forget the cup of life after season 3. Though it’s original concept seemed to be familiar to the holy trail and it’s Gryffindor sword powers to only appear to those who are good and worthy, it’s very underused and forgotten about by later on coz many problems could be solved with it around.
We dunno even if it did go back to the isle, or the druids, or wherever…
Gwen likely did her best as a queen dowager with some help from her remaining knights but I don’t think she could be allowed storywise to be a better ruler than anyone. Otherwise, why talk Arthur up as being the special one. If history touches this show at all (which s5 does all of a sudden with the Saxons), I’m afraid Gwen/Camelot is on borrowed time as the Saxons take over eventually anyway. So that must mean Merlin never used his lightning powers again to stop Camelot falling…
Oh god can you imagine what it would have been like if sometime near the end of the show, if Arthur found out all about his prophecy and still calmly accepted It, and Merlin finds out he is immortal and gradually falls apart about it. Oh the double whammy of tradegy!
26th November 2021 @ 2:27 am
Wow! We are here! FINALLY I can tell people who are equally passionate about Merlin the thing I have been dying to say since finishing this series. It has never been the plot holes or the cheesy moments or the fake rubber snakes that frustrated me. It has been one line: “I want to tell you something I have never told you before. Thank you.” WTF?!
I was (and AM) so incredibly MAD that BBC didn’t have the GUTS to have Arthur say something better to Merlin than “Thank you.” I understand he is saying “thank you” from the heart and it harkens back to giving Merlin credit that he deserved, but for f@#$ sake these men LOVE each other! If you are going to go there then GO THERE! Why didn’t they have the nerve to let them say this to one another? Yes! It is all there in the acting and Bradley and Colin are pulling it off beautifully, but I would have loved to have Arthur say one of the following: 1) “You are my best and most loyal friend and I love you.” 2) Just “I love you.” 3) “You’ve been like a brother to me and I love you.”
Having Arthur add in things like “for Camelot” and “for the kingdom” just makes me angry! Like I said last post, this is the story of a man living a lie. He has lied to his best friend and in the end he comes clean. He is rejected at first and then slowly accepted by the person he loves most in the world. And at the end when Arthur should be telling Merlin he doesn’t care he has magic but that he loves him, we get words from the ‘Destiny soup’ of words. GRRR!!
Ok sorry! Just had to get that off my chest. Anyways some other comments:
Everyone is doing a brilliant job this episode, especially Bradley and Colin. Multiple times in my notes I have written “Colin is amazing!” “Oh Bradley!”
Ruth! I am in LOVE with the idea of giving Aithusa a redemption scene! Absolutely brilliant! Bravo! Also, I am now angry about the plastic plate when I did not notice it before! I would have loved Arthur in that red jacket he wears under the chain mail. I just remember how good he looked in the Uther’s ghost episode in red… he would have looked fantastic dying in red….
I will never understand why “the most powerful sorcerer of all time” can’t apparate….
Just like Merlin losing his magic and gaining it again, I felt unimpressed with Merlin’s lightening bolts and his assistance in the battle. I so wish Merlin was himself and before he did the lightening bolts that he created an angry and intense storm, like he did when defeating Nimueh. I actually was more impressed with that battle scene than this one… I just re-watched it and what Colin is doing with his face is amazing! This should have been in the last episode! Colin’s actual face full of anger and determination and power. Also, you are absolutely right about there needing to be more of a magical Morgana and Merlin face off. How come they could pull it off in SEASON 1, but can’t in the LAST episode ever?!?!?!
Totally agree with putting the battle all into the first part of the episode and then 90% being on Merlin and Arthur.
I will never understand why Merlin isn’t more frantic to find Arthur after he does his lightening bolt stuff on the cliff. He knows it is Mordred who is destined to stab Arthur. Why isn’t Merlin panicked and searching for Mordred or Arthur?? I know later Merlin says he thought he was in time, but he makes no move to actually stop the prophecy. Is this because Merlin thinks of the greater good and wants to try to save the majority of the Camelot army first? Does he realize he needs to win this battle for Arthur so the future of Camelot isn’t lost and he picks that over going immediately to find Arthur? Is this just part of the layers of the Tragedy? Our great and powerful sorcerer makes a self dooming decision again.
I also disliked Emrys/Dragoon carrying Arthur like it was nothing. Love that you point out that the other moments are so impressive because of the physicality of it all.
I love the “that’s alright…I thought I was dying” joke along with the confession. The way Merlin is holding Arthur’s like arm/wrist as he confesses just breaks my heart. He is holding on like it is a lifeline. Then my heart shatters when Arthur tries to get away from Merlin after the confession. 😥💔💔💔💔💔
I do like how Arthur wants Gaius to send Merlin back to Camelot to send word to Gwen. He doesn’t completely dismiss Merlin or outcast him for his magic. He just needs time away from Merlin to process this. I think Arthur’s reaction isn’t fully about the magic. I think to the core it is the betrayal. Imagine thinking you know someone for ten years and then finding out a vital piece of information that is mind blowing. I would want to crawl away and send that person away too.
I really really really wish Gaius wasn’t here for the confession and that he doesn’t tell Arthur about Merlin. I realize that means no one would tell Arthur that Merlin is the greatest in the world, but I think that would just add another layer to the Tragedy. I wish Arthur and Merlin had to work it out on their own. I wish Merlin would try magic. For Pete’s Sake! TRY MAGIC and have it fail! Colin would have made that scene so beautiful and heartbreaking! Just like when he tried to heal Uther…. or when he healed Arthur recently when he was poisoned. (Sigh) I hate that we are at the end of the series and Merlin is still looking to Gaius for guidance. NO! Emrys you are a big boy now! You found yourself in the cave! Take ownership!
If after Merlin tried to heal Arthur (and Gaius wasn’t there), Merlin got desperate and called Killie and there was no answer…. that would have been even more heart breaking! I mean if you are gonna break my heart…. break it. Even if they had Killie still showing up at the end, he could have been on the brink of death and too weak to fly Arthur and Merlin.
The shot of Merlin with Arthur behind him after he push-shoves those saxons is one of my favorites!
Favorite bromance moment is the reference to the first time they met and how Merlin cheated.
Why doesn’t Gwaine and Percival bring a crossbow? Just shoot her from the top of the ravine! Geeze! And Morgana just carries this box with a snake in it in her back pocket? Yeah… ok….
I read on the internet…. a theory that Gwaine doesn’t really die and I am going to hold onto that theory until my own death. The theory is that we don’t see an actual funeral for him and so maybe he is just recovering during Gwen’s coronation. I think he did survive, but didn’t go back to Camelot for the shame of giving Arthur’s whereabouts away. He just reverts back to his old ways… bouncing from pub to pub drinking and picking fights until some noble quest comes about…like helping some hobbits or something… hahaha jk
I think it is interesting that Arthur apologizes to Merlin about how he treated him after he finds out about the magic. Would Arthur had done the same if he didn’t know about the magic, but was dying?
Colin is absolutely brilliant when he makes it through the conversation with Arthur without crying and then tears up when Arthur passes out.
I hate when people on shows shh dying people who are just trying to get out their last words that are really important to them. Let them finish their business lest they come back as ghosts!
“Just hold me” 💔💔💔💔💔💔💔💔
Why can’t Killie fly them directly to the island?
I REALLY REALLY wish that this was the first time we heard “the once and future king.”
Gwen looks very sad and regal. Beautiful scene. Oh! This episode has made me ship Leon and Gwen extremely hard! I like that Merlin is not at the coronation. I said on the last episode’s comment board that I have always had a pretty bleak outlook on what happened after Arthur die. I think Merlin goes very depressed and becomes a hermit/loner and probably lives in his cave, taking after his father when all that was dear was taken from him. He probably stares into the crystals searching for Arthur and goes a bit mad….
Overall, I love this episode because of all the feels. I do agree that the pacing is shit and the writing is doing Bradley and Colin a disservice. It is when they start to reference destiny/prophecy material such as “It’s my destiny to serve you” or “There will never be another like you Arthur” or “Camelot is nothing without you.” It feels clunky and doesn’t flow easily like their personal banter. Arthur doesn’t know all this prophecy stuff. I feel like a few times Arthur is looking at Merlin he is crazy/mad. Perhaps this destiny talk would feel more true if the show had actually backed that up by demonstrating the change Arthur has made or making it a point to show us specific ways Arthur is different from Uther. Arthur wouldn’t have to know about the actual prophecies, but would know that he handled things differently than his father or previous reigns thus he would find truth in Merlin’s words.
Thank you so much for your wonderful podcast! You both have brought such joy to my life since I have discovered it and I really have enjoyed breaking down episodes and looking at them critically with you and everyone on the website. I feel like listening to your podcasts have helped me with my own writing and story telling. Thank you so much!! Now, I better get busy with my season 5 round up thoughts! YIKES!
Oh! I can’t remember what we did last time? Do I just post the Season five round up comments on this board??
HATE the truck blaring. I appreciate y’all pointing out that Merlin is coming down the hill like the first episode. I didn’t notice that before. Breaks my heart that Merlin is still waiting on Arthur.
2nd December 2021 @ 11:50 am
Thank you for the kind words and for all of your engagement over the seasons!!!!
I made a new blog post for whole bbc merlin round up thoughts, so people had somewhere to post, but also so people could all talk to each other and read everyone else’s thoughts. it’s at the link below
https://www.fascinationandfrustration.com/bbc-merlin-round-up-thoughts/
Xx
25th November 2021 @ 11:16 pm
Hello,
Just wanted to say a huge thank you for all the breakdowns you have done for the entire season.
Today’s episode covering the finale episode seemed so distant when you both first started and I can’t fathom how we have got to this point already but here we are. I have been a bit of a silent listener not really engaging in comments or lessons but have thoroughly enjoyed listening to other people’s takes on episodes and how they have perceived them.
I never watched Merlin the first time round and quite frankly rather glad considering this finale was aired over the Xmas period! Having stumbled upon it on Netflix I binged the whole series in a short time. I never fully understood my disappointment with the ending until rewatch. Many of the points you suggested are the reason this finale does not supercede many others that exist, in my opinion.
My biggest two biggest gripes of both final episodes is that of Merlin transforming into Dragoon and not showing himself for the battle scene and that very last scene again in modern Britain. (Argh, It seems so over the top and uncessary).
I also completely agree about the pacing of this episode and the unwelcome distractions through uncessary plot elements. If they had built a stronger bridge throughout series 5 to this episode then I think they could have easily have made this a focus on just Arthur and Merlin and them coming to terms with the magic reveal and their friendship. Morgana could have been dealt with somehow, in the previous episode, she seems to irrelevant by the time she pops up. This should now be all about our main heroes and their plight to save Arthur. It all seems like so much potential was wasted. A line I feel is always not far off when I discuss this series with friends.
All that being said, I will always have a soft spot for this episode due to the, albeit
clunky, intamacy Merlin and Arthur get to share. At last. It may be short lived but watching these two guys act their socks off gives me great joy and I believe their characters deserved it and more. You can just feel the affection they have for each other, not through the script but the beautiful acting by Bradley and Colin.
This series is certainly a frustrating one but again one of my favourites in recent times. It’s a complicated relationship! Just a side note too, a a gay man, I don’t even mind the almost queerbaiting/love story. I agree with Dan’s comment above in regards to the shows format and aimed demographic and don’t believe it is as blantant or deliberate as some other shows, here’s looking at you Supernatural/Sherlock.
Thank you both again for your time and investment in this series. I look forward to the round ups.
Until then this show lives on in the awesome abundant fan fics that exist!
2nd December 2021 @ 11:58 am
Hi Andy! Great to hear from you and thank you for taking the time to comment and for all the kind words! It’s certainly been a crazy journey and I absolutely agree, how did we get to the end of season 5?!? We only started D&C what feels like a few weeks ago!!!
— It all seems like so much potential was wasted. A line I feel is always not far off when I discuss this series with friends.–
fascination & frustration. I truely believe that BBC merlin has the perfect combination of a fantastic premise, amazingly talented cast, great chemistry – especially between the two leads… and a writers room that just seemed determined to make the worst out of these ingredients… lol I mean, that’s harsh, and I only mean it on days when I’m feeling particularly bitter about the wasted potential, as you say, but yeah, I do think that this combination is what has led to the merlin fandom being as astonishingly good and long lasting as it is. And we should all be greatful for that!!
M Xx
25th November 2021 @ 8:37 pm
Oh Michele, your cover art breaks me 😥
I suddenly find myself drained at the end of all things, it takes me back to watching this on Christmas eve 2012, balling for hours on the rug at my grandparents’ house, then bittersweetly happy I got the Merlin DS game from Father Christmas the next morning. It would also be the last Christmas spent with my nanny. That year I’d lost my grandad.
So here’s to the wonderful show, your fabulous podcast and all the people here come together. The season finale could have been better, that much is obvious so I’ll just sum up the things missing in this ‘shoulda been 90 minutes’ story-plot: Kilgharrah/Aithusa sky fight, all the other allies getting involved, epic Morgana/Emrys boss battle, Arthur getting any breathing room and time to react properly and process Merlin’s magic reveal (As many fanfics have accomplished), a crowd of people able to see off their king at the lake, and any kind of aftermath to Arthur’s death for Camelot and for our remaining characters whatsoever.
Hearing what you guys were saying at the start of the break-down, about how the second to last ep could have ended with Arthur getting stabbed, made me ponder something else. What if Merlin came out of the cave with a third eye; NO I don’t mean literally. But now that he is rejuvenated Emrys and had looked into the light and the light looked into him, what if through the very last episode ever, Merlin had been shown all the knowledge, and had to accept in the end that this was it for Arthur. He needn’t have the dragon at the end telling him ‘Arthur will rise again’, Merlin/Emrys has already reluctantly had to prepare to take Arthur to his stasis booth for however long. Instead of telling Gaius to go back and pass on that he will take Arthur to Avalon to heal him, he could have told Gaius to go back and tell everyone to make their way to Avalon lake too. All the way through the series Merlin has been told he could prevent prophecised events, and always became devastated when it turned out he couldn’t. In this eleventh hour, Merlin/Emrys should voluntarily become the last piece to put in play to let prophecy happen, now that he knows at least it’s not completely the end.
Sure there can still be the Merlin we have always seen, the servant and best friend of Arthur, who wanted to try one last time to play ‘where’s Mordred’ in the sea of soldiers in hopes to get him before anything happened, but got distracted by an ultimate magic boss battle with Morgana. There can still be the Merlin we have always followed, who hoped there was another option once they got to the lake, but ultimately, just like Arthur has accepted it, Merlin should also know that he is taking his king and friend to his final rest. And so has told Gaius to set up everything back at Camelot for the queen and knights to see Arthur one last time, like in the legends. It’s not like the people who need to be there to say goodbye can’t travel safely because Morgana is still out there. Morgana should be dead by this point, ala magic battle six minutes in, and then Aithusa can come pick up her body up and fly off with it (likely to eat her, like in the ‘Impersonated Self’ fanfic 😃)
So, the rewatch notes (as scribbled down at the time, later fleshed out):
Oooh Mordred is surrounded by soldiers! In a second, he will bow his head as if to submit but then give out an almighty cry and blast the men away, breaking their bodies against the cliffs! It will once again remind us of his power and be a connection to baby Mordred in ‘nightmare begins’- oh wait. Morgana kills them all for him….. (sigh) never-mind.
I’m guessing poor Aithusa would have had a bigger impact on the battle, had he been an adult in full health. He can barely fly properly, let alone torch anyone. I’m saddened that Aithusa was wasted in the end. He gets sent off and we don’t ever know where he went and if he comes back to be Merlin’s dragon.
And instead of giving us a mountain-top boss fight between Emrys and Morgana, we opt to just knock Morgana out… again… with lightning… for the rest of the battle. A bolt of lightning has 1.21 gigawatts! 1.21 gigawatts! (Kudos to you who get the ref lol) If that killed off Nimueh, why didn’t it finish Morgana and explode her there and then?
I wish we knew that everyone had come back to fight or got involved. The characters who just left; Sefa, Alice, Alvarr, and Gilli. And kingdom-wise; Annis, Mithian, Odin, Olaf, Lot, Elena, and Bayard. I get that it would have been mega expensive for the show to bring back all these actors and national treasures and they likely had spent all of their season 5 budget on brainwashed Gwen.
Unless they have all fallen to the saxons already without Camelot knowing, the others need to be fighting too as allies, or at the very least, mentioned or given an excuse why they aren’t getting involved. What’s the point of having a series full of Camelot allying with all these places if they don’t ever feature again for the big finale?
I’m always a little confused by how many people Merlin kills in the battle. In legend, it’s said Arthur killed over 900 men. A little too many I get it, but I feel that if Merlin flattens the field and then it’s so easy for Camelot to drive the saxons to retreat, Arthur’s job has been made a little too easy and ‘his’ fight has been taken away. Merlin, before, could have given Excalibur more strength or unlocked more powers for it, or given Arthur a protection charm shielding from fatal wounds. It doesn’t have to work against Mordred’s sword, but at least we would see Merlin trying more things. If he can’t prevent Mordred from becoming the enemy, if he can’t stop the battle, at least research spells to use to his advantage.
By this point we still don’t know whether Kilgharrah is alive, but what would have been neat is if he came into the battle to fight with the last of his strength, without needing to be dragonlord-ordered by Merlin. He doesn’t have to torch the place or turn the battle single-handedly like the green ghosts from LotR. Merlin’s magic is enough at the end for that. He could be this show’s version of the ‘red dragon’ of legend, and further fuel the tragedy of the tale by sky battling with Aithusa, the baby he once saw hatched in front of him. Aithusa, though being small and deformed, would end up besting Kilgharrah due to being quick and ferally fierce. Emrys can still send Aithusa away, only turning up in time to see Killi’s giant body falling out of sight.
The Arthur/Mordred confrontation is done superbly. I get chills every time watching Mordred’s shape slowly approaching behind Arthur.
With the Mordred in the ‘mists of Avalon’ movie, he reminded me of the way I saw Mordred in BBC Merlin, something like being tired of fighting his destiny and didn’t want to hate Arthur coz he was told he should, he wanted to love Arthur “as all men do”. Alas, thoughts can become screams in one’s head and the insanity claimed him (then again he was also told his parents were brother and sister….)
That smile was genius, I tip my cap to that decision, coz it makes you shudder to think what was going through his mind at that last moment.
To me, it shows that Mordred was madder at the world and his circumstances in life more than Arthur and Merlin, once his anger had worn off (maybe as soon as he joined Morgana, and that he once thought of trying to put it right, before realising he was now bound to this path and past the point of no return. He just wanted out.
Mordred might have known in some spiritual sense he would not live past the battle and see Albion in whatever form it would be in depending on who took over. His smile shows so many emotions, but to me, it says (in Frodo’s words) ‘It’s done’ or ‘Thank god it’s over, I’M done’.
Did Gwaine fight in the battle? I can’t remember, did we see him?
I’m a little confused with the timing of all this episode. On the way to the battlefield, Arthur and the army had to stop off for the night. Now the very next morning after the battle, the king is missing and everyone has gotten to Camelot overnight, and Gwen is changed and looking all queenly again. Someone in the comments last week (Sorry can’t remember who) said that Gwen is technically the heir so she shouldn’t have gone so close to the battle, but could have at least had a line or two where she either insisted on coming, or tried to insist but reluctantly had to stay. We could have had a similar thing happen here where she is in the tent and Leon says he has arranged a special entourage to escort her to the city and she insists on staying put until she sees Arthur. Leon could put his foot down and say he had orders from Arthur to put her safety first so she has to go. So when we see her back at Camelot, she could have not changed clothes and yet still be restlessly waiting for word of her husband.
I love Angel’s acting in the tent and in her chambers. That sinking feeling when you worry for a loved one’s life and not able to see them is all too relatable.
The mental image of Morgana on her own dragging the body of Mordred out of the battlefield and taking the time to bury him and build him a grave stone is haunting.
Mordred’s sword raises so many questions. Me and mum were sat having a discussion when it came up to the shot of Mordred’s sword with a piece missing. We don’t know enough about swords, but would it have even broken this way? Taking a chunk out of the side and not the tip. Surely it wasn’t capable of breaking at all if it’s a magic sword. Does this mean Aithusa’s not as good as forging swords as a more experienced dragon? Did the forging not work at all, or did Aithusa actually make the blade more brittle?? Are Arthur’s ribs made of stronger stuff than stone? Is this just a plot device to keep Arthur injured yet alive for days longer than someone stabbed with an immortal sword should have? How can there now be TWO dragon swords, Merlin needs to go find Mordred’s now and chuck it somewhere. Why bother with the sword forged in a dragon’s breath thing AT ALL if it’s not super special to this story!?
I love ULTIMATE LEVEL 100 insane and bloodthirsty Morgana. In this state, she seems to make the most sense than any time being evil over the last 3 seasons. Someone who has just had enough of this world and doesn’t want the throne or power or freedom. Just for Arthur to die. Even she must have forgotten her motives after so long. I believe in the headcanon that she was placed under the teine Diaga mandrake magic by Morgause and since no-one knew, she was never saved. So after years of having her mind feasted on by this magic, she has been rendered completely and utterly mad. Like she no longer eats or drinks or sleeps. Tragedy strikes again.
Because we don’t see anything of what happened after the lake, it is a big belief in the fandom that Merlin didn’t return to Camelot. So the notion this is the last time Merlin and Gaius see and hug each other is so sad. I don’t believe it though. Merlin might not have been there at Gwen’s court at the end, but he must have returned at some point. He’d have regretted not being there for Gaius during his final months/years, and also would need to support Gwen for Arthur’s sake.
I agree with what Ruth said last week, the scene with Gwaine looking emotional that his girlfriend turned out to be a traitor would have been a lot more hard-hitting if we had known this girl for weeks and if even we would have been fooled into thinking this was finally a female character who didn’t turn out to be traitorous. What if during the last few episodes, we had gotten to see Gwaine so happy and then on his way with Merlin to the crystal cave, confided in Merlin that if he lived through the battle, he’d marry Eira! His rash behaviour and feelings of betrayal would make a little more sense then. Gwaine has always been an interesting character for me because it’s like the series gave us the hints of his backstory without showing it. As if he did have a ‘gwaine and the green knight’ plot that was never filmed. For all the times we see him as the comic relief, the flirt, the drunk, the jokester, the adventurer; He’s also much of the time very angry, stoic and reckless to the point of suicidal. This relationship with Eira could have been the thing that saved him and made him settle and yet it wasn’t to be. With the final knife to his heart and his life thrown off on unstable rocks, he throws himself into his angry impulses again without thinking. It just would have worked better if we saw more of him with Eira too.
In some legends, Mordred deals Gwaine a head wound at Camlann, which he survives, but he’s on borrowed time with a bleed on the brain. What if after the battle, after he returned to Camelot, after Gaius arrived back, that Gaius notices Gwaine’s not alright and diagnoses him with a fatal wound? If Gwaine knows he won’t survive long anyway, he will spend his limited time trying to do something right but his wound is affecting his judgement… Okay now I’m extra sad 🙁 Eoin’s acting breaks my heart.
Does Merlin throw the two men off the cliff? I heard the thud pretty quickly after he threw them. Could have been clearer he proper chucked them over a hundred foot drop in front of Arthur haha.
Nothing against Gwen, but I don’t like the implications of how Gwen might go on to be the ‘real golden age ruler’ at the end. Where magic is free and blah blah blah. By episode’s end, she’s a commoner queen dowager who has been left a whole kingdom to shoulder with a little help, when the saxons will eventually come back tenfold anyway, and she has no reason or personal/political ambition to repeal the ban on magic just because her friend has magic. It’s been done enough times in fanfiction when Arthur finds out Merlin is magic, then after accepting it, fully allows magic back in, based on Merlin alone. It’s as hypocritical as Uther banning magic on the actions of one sorcerer alone.
Plus it’s Arthur in the prophecy, it’s been Arthur’s destiny, not Gwen. Or she would have been named dropped as the most important person. It has always been said ‘Arthur’s time cannot come until Uther dies’, not ‘Guinevere’s time cannot come until she is left widowed by Arthur’s death. No one can deny, that dude did his best.’ We don’t know the tales as the ‘Guineverian legend’, after all.
There’s a deleted scene that better explains what Gwaine meant when he says to Percival ‘remember what you said you’d do if you found Morgana.’ Well in the deleted scene, Gwaine and Percival are out in the courtyard watching all the dead bodies from the battle getting laid out (which I don’t think they did in those days but ho hum), and Percival says “If I ever find Morgana, I’ll kill her.” Dunno why now he’s decided it’s personal but without this scene, Gwaine’s line to Percival seems out of context.
I hate Gwaine’s final scene. This is not my Gwaine. They have ruined him. He didn’t ever get to die by doing something heroic or one last middle finger to Morgana or act of loyalty to Merlin and Arthur. Percival and Gwaine don’t slice her neck or lob off her head. I feel like after this long, they should know Morgana can’t die via not-100%-fatal injuries, judging by the many times she’s survived clobs to the head. Gwaine is put under torture and then gives away his best friend’s and king’s destination. Even under torture, Gwaine would never!! He would give her another location or keep firing sly lines at her like ‘Tis but a scratch!’ Or ‘I always knew you liked it rough, my lady’.
And then he dies believing he’d failed. I hate hate hate Gwaine’s ending 😭
But we do get Tom and Eoin kissing in an outtake 😀
I get what you guys mean by the multiple Arthur and Merlin scenes not quite speaking to each other. It’s like we are meant to be hearing the same repeated parts and off screen Arthur has asked Merlin to give him specifics of times over the years he’s used magic. Again, this is what fanfiction has done. Arthur goes through all the emotions he needs to process the new info, then eventually accepts Merlin and then asks Merlin for details. Merlin’s father being Balinor gets brought up, even Merlin’s girlfriend being the bastet Arthur slayed comes up. Gwen’s affair being the result of enchantment and clearing Lancelot’s name! Childhood friend Will was never the sorcerer! Poisoning Morgana! The circumstances of Arthur’s birth being true! The dragon! The Sword! Everything, anything!
Arthur gets no time in the show’s canon to hear anything more than ‘Merlin has magic’, not even that he was born with it, so does Arthur even know that Merlin didn’t study it? Why is he not asking on screen why Merlin isn’t healing him with his so-called most powerful magic? His lines at the end where he says ‘I know everything you’ve done for me and Camelot now’. No, Arthur sorry. In the words of the dragon “You do not know. You can only guess!”
Morgana’s death should have always made the viewers cheer, not groan in relief or sigh at its anticlimactic-ness.
Merlin’s impulse to call out in dragon tongue could have worked if Merlin didn’t think the dragon was alive and was actually shocked at him arriving. His first words to him should have been “you’re alive!” rather than “I would not have summoned you unless…” This creates so many plotholes and the famous ‘why didn’t Frodo fly the eagles to the volcano” conundrum.
Many people have thought that the hand coming out of the lake is Arthur’s because it’s too masculine to be Freya’s, yet this happens before Arthur is set on the barge across the lake. They just couldn’t get a woman for some reason to go under the water. But it IS meant to be Freya.
I’m not gonna go into the final scene. All I can say is I screamed and cried like Merlin the first time I watched it, and even now years later, I shed a tear. The music at the lake with the boat is so gut-wrenching and actually a completely new version of the theme tune with hauntingly beautiful vocals. Gets me every. Single. Time!!
I understand about the pacing though. Considering no one is around and it’s his best friend, Merlin doesn’t get to let everything go. Maybe if everyone else was there and so Merlin had to suppress his crying because Gwen would be chief mourner, it would be understandable, but he is alone and should have so much space to properly say goodbye. He doesn’t know how long he’d have to wait to see him again.
Gaius said that the Sidhe possess such magic to maybe heal Arthur, which is a legit thing to think, even if it is ultimately not necessary because Arthur’s soul is for the claiming, written in scripture. However wouldn’t it have combined and solved the two issues of Merlin needing someone to talk to him at the shore and the dragon better off being already dead at this point, by having the sidhe turn up at the lake? Merlin arriving with Arthur and screaming desperately at the lake to summon them, and then some lovely sidhe queen (from a different clan to the others we’ve met) turns up to tell him all the stuff the dragon says and that Arthur is scheduled to be sent to Avalon for safe keeping. I consider this world’s Avalon like the undying lands from LotR. It’s a place where under special invitation, someone can go there to heal and live in a sort of heaven without the dying part. Merlin could ask if they can’t just heal Arthur and let him live but since Arthur’s death is prophecised and he’s dying via magic sword, they can’t do that. They can then disappear beneath the water whilst Merlin says his goodbyes.
There are a few headcanons and fanfics where, in order for Gwen to secure peace and stability in the kingdom, she would eventually have a fond and diplomatic marriage with Leon. They get on well, they’ve known each other since childhood, they would get their situation is complicated yet necessary for the future of Camelot, for however long. I ship them 😂
Kilgharrah giving Merlin the line ‘Arthur will rise again’ is so cruel to me. Not only is Merlin given hope, a hope that will HAVE to keep him going for a very very long time, he is never given any sort of estimation. Imagine going through all of horrific human history thinking ‘surely this is as bad as it can get’ and Arthur still doesn’t come back. I will not stop referencing fanfiction for this. They do very well at covering multiple plots where Merlin is either thriving through immortality until he is caught off guard that Arthur is back, then becomes fearful because it means everything is about to fall to s***, on the opposite end, Merlin does go insane after living through so much and never given any more answers or hope that his torment and long life will end, if his friend and purpose is gone. And now I feel drained again.
Whilst having tears blurring my sight when I watched this first time, I think I remember screaming at the sight of the lorry and modern times, but I don’t have a strong opinion on Merlin ending the show as a human version of the wizard from legend. I had not even connected the walking down the street with a backpack with the very start of the show.
I feel like Merlin would look young forever if he didn’t have to sometimes age himself once in a generation so the people of the area wouldn’t suspect anything. So this is a way of pointing out that even thousands of years later, he still has to hide and put on his disguise. We know that the most powerful warlock ever is still waiting for his friend, and is still not free.
I wrote a lost script fic at the time to get my own hopeful dream ending down; A young yet old-eyed Merlin is walking along the road next to the now dried up lake, the ruins of Glastonbury Tor in the background. He doesn’t at first notice a strange low fog is rolling in. He stops to take his usual breather and glance around and as the camera is only focuses on Merlin and zooms in slowly, we see his eyes land on something in the distance out of shot, and he frowns. Then his eyes widen and his breath catches. Cut to black and the name ‘Merlin’.
Great Podcast, ladies. Really appreciate you guys. Such beautiful sad music at the end, I’m off to have a strong drink too lol. And I might have to start watching Shadow Hunters now and, on Ruth’s rec, Black sails 😉
25th November 2021 @ 10:57 pm
Agreed on Merlin’s line to Kilgarrah. If Merlin was surprised that Kilgarrah actually answered his call, much confusion could have been avoided.
But please don’t tell me you also think that the eagles from LOTR are a taxi service that could have flew to Mordor without getting spotted by the Nazgul and ruining the mission, no, please (…aand I didn’t manage to hold my tongue 😂)
By the by, fun fact as to Avalon being compared to Undying Lands – Tolkien literally wrote at one point that one of the human names for Valinor IS Avalon – which means he considered them the same place… and THAT is some crossover potential 💖
Okay, sorry, my triggered nerdiness is shutting up now.
29th November 2021 @ 10:05 am
Oh no dw I don’t think that the eagles are taxi service or that dragons are horses, but when the fate of the world relies on destroying a ring or saving a king, maybe they could have pulled their wings out a little further to get the heroes where they need to go, then retire. 😅
I know there’s logic and argument to why not but I’m sure this is a discussion as big as middle earth lol.
Ooh Merlin is the same kind of wizard as galdalf, they share the same world, it. Is. Written! (Sort of)
29th November 2021 @ 1:47 pm
That remark of Tolkien made me all go “Arthur meets Legolas and Gimli in Avalon”, and that’s something that made me grin like mad 😀
27th November 2021 @ 2:04 am
-But we do get Tom and Eoin kissing in an outtake 😀-
Wait! What?!?
29th November 2021 @ 10:09 am
https://youtu.be/Z1sfcauQRXI
1 minute 20 secs in 😉
25th November 2021 @ 3:51 pm
So you know how you said that nobody would casually rewatch this episode?
Hello 😀
(okay, maybe not super casually, but when I rewatched it this Sunday, it was my fourth time. In 15 months. Am I off this world? At this point, I no longer care)
So yeah, here we are. I didn’t cry as much upon my latest rewatch, but I still did cry: at the magic reveal and at the boat funeral scene. I agree that this episode is weirdly paced, though I still love the fact that it’s not the battle that’s the big culmination of this episode. In a way, it shows very well what always mattered most in this show: the bond between Arthur and Merlin. The very humanity of them, divorced from all the prophecy and destiny and grand things.
I don’t really have that much to say, other than: cut all the Eira stuff and leave all the Merlin and Arthur. They are absolutely amazing.
First, the magic reveal. The way Colin’s voice is so subdued when he says it. I literally understood what it means to speak in a strangled voice when I heard him. And Arthur’s fear. This is such an expertly played scene. And the soundtrack: they are playing The Bond of Sacrifice, but distorted and off-key. Oh the pain.
Merlin does a lot of elemental, instinctual magic in this episode. Not just with the fire. He barely uses spells. To me, it speaks to how after the visit to the Crystal Cave, he not only regained his magic, but also is now more attuned to the elements of which he’s part.
So, you know, I usually try to keep my comments here semi-professional and devoid of all the shippy gushing (THAT I reserve for tumblr 😛 ). But I must admit defeat at the “I was born to serve you, Arthur” scene. Because not only is this scene framed as a romantic scene (just recount countless of times on TV when you’ve seen a straight couple having a similar heart-to-heart with lips-staring and intense eye contact, and try to remember how many of those ended up with a kiss), but THEY ARE PLAYING THE LOVE THEME IN THE BACKGROUND. I kind of lost it, honestly. To me, this is queercoding, plain and clear. I’m not saying ‘queerbaiting’, because I realize we’re on a family show about king Arthur here, and to me, it doesn’t feel like a blatant ‘we’re messing with you’ that, say, Sherlock was infamous for (not having that age restrictions and the seeming sacredness of the source material), but like ‘we’re genuinely trying here, but we’re not working in the void’. On that note, I’m really curious what you (and all the other commenters who are aware of that) think of the audio commentary for this episode. Queerbait or not?
Gwaine was done dirty in this episode, I agree. But at least the soundtrack pays homage to him, when a single heroic trumpet sounds in the moment of his death.
Here, I would also like to correct my s5 roundup comment which I sent before rewatching this episode. The unreleased soundtrack that plays when Merlin prepares Arthur’s body in the boat is not a different rendition of The Bond of Sacrifice, but of the main theme – a.k.a. that funky credits theme which you think is joyful and adventurous until you slow it down and take the trumpets out, and you realize it’s B minor, associated with melancholy, longing, and depression. They knew what they were doing with that soundtrack, I tell you (also, thank you to Katheryne from Philly not only for that piano piece, but for pointing the B minor out on tumblr). Here, it’s sung by a single female vocal, and combined with the way Merlin’s face crumbles and he practically breaks down by that boat, it just breaks me. It really does. It’s such an interesting musical choice, to have the same melody in a different arrangement to serve as the main heroic motive of the series, as well as the soundtrack emphasizing the downfall, loss, and tragedy (there is also another sad, slow rendition of the main theme – it’s called Merlin Lost, a piano piece. And it plays right in s1e1 when Merlin asks Gaius if he’s a monster. Can you kill me already?). It really speaks to the idea that this show always had that underlying sadness. It simply couldn’t have done without it, with that premise and the source material.
Gwen’s coronation scene is so incredible. Also, because that the soundtrack I mentioned earlier straight up morphs into that triumphal, but still somber melody there. You know, this is the scene that gave me probably the strongest tragedy vibes in the whole episode – tragedy in the classic sense, not just in a “it’s sad” sense. There is an element in a certain type of tragedy (Northrop Frye calls it Tragedy of Order I think) where the tragic lies in a downfall of a figure of order (a king, a tyrant etc.), and his downfall marks a new era when new, more ordinary (as in: less noble-blood) people come and take over. It’s exactly what we have here. Almost like Fortinbras coming after Hamlet’s death, or Creon after Oedipus’ blinding. I get shivers. This scene makes me think off all the way that Gwen went throughout this series (and bemoan the parts of that way that we didn’t see). I cheer for her, even though it’s so sad. I also love the idea that she’s perhaps the one that will bring the golden age after all. You said that the prophecy was always about Arthur, and therefore, this is not a fulfillment of that prophecy. I agree, it’s not. And I love it for that. I’m like a broken record by now, but I really feel like the prophecy in this show is a powerful story that serves individual purposes, but not a force that rules this world. The tragic parts of the prophecy are self-fulfilling, brought about by poor Merlin who tried to avoid it, and the good parts? The irony is, if Merlin focused more on fulfilling the good parts and not preventing the bad ones, maybe we could have had the golden age during Arthur’s rule. As it is, it’s Gwen’s compassion and humanity that will probably bring it about.
But if destiny is just a story, what do we do with poor Merlin roaming the roads of the modern UK? When I first watched this scene, I was all “I can’t believe they did it” (well, after I got startled to death by that honk – no, I didn’t laugh, but that’s probably because I have sensory processing disorder). Rewatching Merlin, I was straight after my periodic re-read of Tolkien’s Silmarillion, where one of the characters outlives everybody else and goes on to wander the shores of Middle Earth “singing songs of regret”. So, naturally, I drew parallels. Only, Silmarillion is that Big Mythic Book of Tragedy, and BBCM is that funky family show with rubber snakes. Or… maybe not. Maybe it stopped being that some time ago. I guess I’ll write more about it in my series roundup comment.
So, here we are, at the end of all things. I wasn’t supposed to have much to say. I lied. Sorry. I survived, I’m not even that mad at the parts you didn’t like (because I mostly didn’t like them either), I don’t agree with some stuff but I’m a mature human being who can live with that (almost…), and I managed not to get triggered to a point of rant at the passing comment about eagles in LOTR (do not tempt me, I repeat, do not tempt me). Overall, a success! 😀 And now, off I go, forever re-living this show through fic, and may the fandom be immortal just as Merlin is!
25th November 2021 @ 7:31 pm
Now that you said it, I noticed too that Merlin barely incants spells in the episode! Does this mean the crystal cave was a level to unlock all bonus content and XP to defeat the big boss?
This reminds me of fics of how Merlin has a human vessel and so his powers keep growing and he has no outlet because he has to suppress and hide his gifts all the time so they start bursting out at inconvenient times. He’s essentially going through awkward magic puberty. He’s inexperienced and still needed to say some spells for them to work. The cave might have upgraded his human body to Emrys supreme to be able to handle all the extra power and use spells at such ease, which is why I guess many believe Merlin only just became immortal properly in this finale…
Curious, are you saying the show deliberately queerbated us with the ‘love theme’ during the I was born to serve scene’ or that it’s accidental and subject to perspective? Coz if they were playing a love theme music, couldnt it still just be trying to show the deep bond Arthur and Merlin have? It’s been said, it IS a love story. A love story between these two men. Is the show in your opinion aware that its tone may come off as romantic or do they not need to explain that there are other loves out there than romantical? Even in a modernised version of medieval times in a kids show?
Sherlock did it deliberately because it was set in modern times and blokes acting vaguely close together these days, ya dunno if they are mates or dates so you’re open to the idea of either. They covered the bases of how people would see john and sherlock together, so we wouldn’t have to. They knew how fanfiction and ‘see whatever you want’ would happen anyway.
In a early naughties kids tv show where the BBC watched what you put it like hawks and adults would see what goes over kids heads, I don’t see why it would have been bad to delve more into the love merlin and Arthur had more affectionately since in the olden days men kissed their friends and it wasn’t seen as ‘queer’, its only these days where unfortunately the only intense love you can feel for an unrelated person of any gender is romantic/sexual love, like Ruth once said.
DW, I added the eagles into my comment too 😁
25th November 2021 @ 7:54 pm
As to the possible gay themes – I think that, after listening to the finale commentary, it would be hard for me not to think this was deliberate. That being said, I really don’t think this was queerbaiting (or, rather, I really don’t want to think that). It would have been near damn impossible to include, say, a gay kiss, or an explicit romantic overtone in a BBC kid show in 2012 (damn BBC has problems with LGBTQ+ people in 2021, woe). So I feel like they did what they could? I don’t categorize it as queerbaiting, as queerbaiting is often tied to teasing fans about possible queer representation without delivering WHILE the show is still running / the movie isn’t released yet, in order to gain more audience. To my knowledge, this never happened while Merlin was running, and that finale commentary was done when everything was finished and tied up already, so they didn’t seem to gain much from saying “this was a love story between two men”, other than “oh yeah, now we can finally say it”.
The thing of tender male friendship with no sexual undertones is yet another thing, too complex for me to tackle here, but there has been a good video essay done on the topic by the Are They Gay channel on YouTube. It’s called The Crisis of Male Friendship. I really recommend it (though a fun side note: the author sometimes uses Merlin as an example of queerbaiting there, but the photo he uses is not an official promo photo, but a manip – proof that BBCM fandom artists are too talented 😀 )
I really like the idea of tender male friendship. I just have an allergic reaction when people use it as they push for “no homo”. But that video I recommended analyzes this trend way better than me 😉
25th November 2021 @ 8:41 pm
Oh i think I watched the ‘are they gay’ ep for Arthur and Merlin actually, a while ago. It is really interesting!
26th November 2021 @ 3:54 pm
The Merlin episode from Are They Gay? is what originally inspired me to watch Merlin! I was like, magic? Dragons? Cute people? Possible queer undertones?! Sign me up.
27th November 2021 @ 2:10 am
-So you know how you said that nobody would casually rewatch this episode?
Hello 😀
(okay, maybe not super casually, but when I rewatched it this Sunday, it was my fourth time. In 15 months. Am I off this world? At this point, I no longer care)-
🙋♀️🙋♀️🙋♀️ I’m right there with you, Dan! People that know me think I have a problem… and maybe I do but I am OK with this!
-Here, I would also like to correct my s5 roundup comment which I sent before rewatching this episode. The unreleased soundtrack that plays when Merlin prepares Arthur’s body in the boat is not a different rendition of The Bond of Sacrifice, but of the main theme – a.k.a. that funky credits theme which you think is joyful and adventurous until you slow it down and take the trumpets out, and you realize it’s B minor, associated with melancholy, longing, and depression. –
I absolutely LOVE your music insights! I love this breakdown of the main theme. I have it on one of my spotify playlist and listen to it often. I complete agree with the initial layer of the song being fun, but the underlying tone being depressing. Probably why I enjoy it so much…. I love things with layers! 😀
27th November 2021 @ 3:03 am
I love things with layers, too! Especially when one of them is depressing haha 😀 just a way to torture yourself 😀
25th November 2021 @ 10:48 am
There is a lot of logical holes in this episode and I gave some of them some thoughts (because not everything can be explained no matter how hard I tried):
1) Why let Arthur wearing armor: probably because they could still encounter enemies on their way (and they did), armor could still provide a layer of protection to Arthur;
2) Why no looking up on the wound scene: this must have happened out of screen (since they could not show too many blood on screen), Merlin, and later Gaius must have treated the wound as best as they could, then put back the chainmail and armor. I thought putting on more stuff can also help to keep warm (but according to Bradley that is not the case with chainmail) ;
3) Why Merlin did not bring Arthur directly to Gaius: if you think about it, why Merlin used Dragoon image to help Arthur can be that he was not ready to tell Arthur the whole truth yet. He might still want to use Dragoon as an example to convince Arthur after the battle that Magic can be used to protect people, and change Arthur’s mind. And because of this, he did not bring Arthur directly to Gaius, but to hide in the wood and try to heal him using magic. He revealed his magic to Arthur because he had no choice anymore since he probably needed to use his magic to save Arthur and he had to be able to do it without holding back. This is a stretch I know, I tried. (My question for this theory would be, how did Merlin informed Gaius…)
4) Never seeking credit comment: I think Arthur realised that Merlin must have used similar tricks to get he and his knights out of troubles many times before, together with defeating Saxons in previous secenes, if Arthur knew them, he could have rewarded Merlin with better positions, money, etc. It is a bit repeatative, but one is using magic to kill (so Merlin did not actually need his protection), one is using magic to mislead enemy (saving knights of Camelot from getting into unnecessary troubles), together made Arthur really get a true grasp on how much Merlin had done for Camelot before.
5) Why only Merlin can bring Arthur to Avalon, I think earlier in the show once Gaius said that only people who are dying can see Avalon. But Merlin can, which means he is a unique being. (Why everyone later seems to know where it is is a mystery, maybe they know the lake, not the island which holds the magic?)
I like “you cheated” line the best. And Bradly really can nail beautiful dying scenes. I had my share of tears when I first watched this episode so now I am immune to it and it is one of the most rewatched episodes for me.