Merlin Season 3 Round Up
Join us for the Season 3 Round up, as we discuss all things Merlin Season 3, and only get a little bit punch drunk and maudline in the last 30 minutes!
Thank you to everyone who listened, wrote in, made friends on the website, played the Lesson Learnt game, became a Patreon or supported us through Ko-Fi, liked and shared our content on social media, and all around made 2020 just that little bit more bearable.
Check out The List of Destiny to see where we ranked all Merlin episodes so far. The Lessons Learnt game will return in 2021!
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18th February 2021 @ 7:53 pm
I discovered the podcast about a month ago when I was watching Merlin for the first time and caught up now. Can’t wait for the new season to start and to be able to participate live!
You said that the episodes of the different seasons were rather balanced out on the list of destiny, so I thought why not actually calculate what season is the best so far according to the list.
I gave each episode points according to its position. More points=better episode.
Season 1: 221
Season 2: 237
Season 3: 254
This means you rated season 3 as the best! Not by a lot though.
Every season is about 7% better than the one coming before it, making season 3 14% better than season 1. (Or season 3 7% better than season 2)
I think it’s interesting that there ended up being the same difference between each season and that season 3 came out as number 1, especially considering what you said on the podcast. You didn’t really feel that way and it all felt more equal to each other than it actually turned out to be on the list.
25th February 2021 @ 4:59 pm
Hi Denise
that’s such an interesting numerically way to go about it! And it’s interesting that it comes out the way it does, as we were very much just looking at the list as three parts, without individiually weighing up higher placed episodes, as in any episode in the top third was worth the same, as was any episodes placed in the middle third and the bottom third. but it’s really good to know that they’re actually really rather even! 🙂
Would be fascinating to re-do that maths, when we’ve finished season 4 and 5, too. See how that’s shifted everything about, as of course the scoring for more episodes is going to continously change, as new episodes are added to the list and everything
M Xx
21st December 2020 @ 11:24 pm
I totally agree with you about keeping characters in the dark. It’s so frustrating and unnecessary! Honestly I feel like it’s undermining the most interesting thing in story – characters making choices!! (possible spoiler warning) To take a huge example, I would much rather have seen Arthur make choices about his opinion of magic based on Merlin, and have those choices be informed by an increasing amount of available information, than just be in the dark for 99% of the show. Characters, especially Merlin, keep saying “I have no choice,” but I’d usually rather the writers allow them to make informed choices – to make good choices AND bad choices, and face consequences for those choices.
Your discussion has helped me articulate something that has bugged me about the Sorcerer’s Shadow for a while: Merlin never truly considers Gilli’s position. He’s made his decision, and he spends the whole episode working to convince Gilli of that, when we’ve heard him even within season 3 express versions of what Gilli feels – not the same thing exactly, but close enough that it seems unrealistic for him not to engage more directly with Gilli’s argument. I feel like throughout the show Colin does a really good job of showing Merlin’s inner conflict, the hesitation when he has to lie to people he cares about, the mixed feelings about people who he loves but who would react badly to his magic, but after season 1 especially the show gives increasingly little space to that conflict, and consistently seems to come down on the side of secrecy no matter what compelling arguments other characters make, no matter what the consequences of his secrecy. It’s something I loved about season 1, that struggle between wanting to be seen for who you are and wanting to be safe, and there’s so much less of it in season 3 despite Merlin and Arthur’s relationship being less tumultuous overall, despite the fact that Morgana outright tells Merlin how alone she felt and how he could never understanding (which should have made him at least reconsider his previous decision not to tell her he has magic).
Anyway, criticism aside, I clearly wouldn’t be here if I didn’t adore the show despite it all! As you say, the highs are so high that that’s what is memorable.
Finally, I’ve really enjoyed D&C season 3! Your thoughts on the show are always so insightful and it’s been so good to have this escapism, humour, and community especially given, you know, everything happening all the time…
26th January 2021 @ 12:24 pm
I’m just trying to catch up on comments and emails, and I just re-read your comment so I could finally respond to it, right after reading a new comment on Sorcerer’s Shadow, about how right Gilli was and how wrong Merlin was (and our placement of the episode in the list of destiny) – similarly to your point here, and also after responding to an email that talked about how that person enjoyed our podcast hugely, but how we’re sometimes quite harsh… And honestly I have no idea what S4 and S5 are going to be like…. podcast wise, but also what it’s going to do to my opinion of the show, looking at it in the detail we do, and with the critical lense that we watch episodes. Because as you say, the autonomy of characters has been steadily going downhill since S1 and there’s more and more and more ‘stick head in sand and chant I HAD NO CHOICE’ going on with almost all of our characters.
–It’s something I loved about season 1, that struggle between wanting to be seen for who you are and wanting to be safe, and there’s so much less of it in season 3 despite Merlin and Arthur’s relationship being less tumultuous overall, despite the fact that Morgana outright tells Merlin how alone she felt and how he could never understanding (which should have made him at least reconsider his previous decision not to tell her he has magic).–
I completely completely agree. I don’t need him to change his actions to be honest, but it would be so great to see a portrayal of actual conflict over the actions… I seem like we do just keep coming back to destiny being the ultimate villain. However I’m also starting to ponder how much destiny is actually taking over… =|
We also spend so much of the show jumping up and down about how magic corrupts, and as much as we want Merlin to be the good guy, it clearly is happening to him, too. (also something brought up in the Sorcerer’s Shadow write in mentioned above).
I would LOVE to pick the showrunners brain on what they actually thought they were doing and what story they actually wanted to tell.
I think it’s why Merlin is such an amazing breeding ground for fic. Because there are dozens of different ways to interpret what’s happening to our characters, and so much is left up in the air and unfinished, that you can just swoop in and go canon divergent from any one point, and come up with 57 different worlds, all of which have some truth in the actual canon.
FASCINATION AND FRUSTRATION APLENTY!!!! lol
M Xx
17th December 2020 @ 3:06 am
Thank you for the wild ride through Season 3! I’ve been enjoying it tremendously, even when we had to live through goblins and manticores 😀 I’m looking forward to the new adventures 🙂
Also, I agree with almost everything you said here 😉
17th December 2020 @ 7:04 pm
you have to live through the goblins to get to the fisher kings of this world, and it’s always worth it in the end!
thank you for being with us this year, and here’s to season 4!
Xx