Season 4 Superlatives
Join us for some hiatus fun, where we discuss a selection of the Superlatives written in by you, the listeners, for Season 4 of Merlin
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21st June 2021 @ 6:33 am
Thank you for this extra episode. And you’re right, maybe Merlin’s people shirt is still alive – but if it is, Merlin has definitely stopped wearing it after 4.6! It’ll be buried in his wardrobe till the end of his days. So, buried alive… Not sure that is a better fate for what was my absolute favourite item of clothing for Merlin!
In terms of the cave where Balinor lives being the entrance to the tower with the dragon egg: you’re right, the episode as it is does not make it explicit that this is the same cave. Apart from the fact that the cave chosen is pretty unique and recognisable. BUT we learn that it is indeed the same one in a deleted scene from that episode when Arthur comes to find a brooding Merlin sitting on a log by the fire (of course) who then confesses that this was where he saw his father last, that he was proud of him and wants his father to be proud of him too. And in an episode about dragons and Dragonlord powers, this then makes it explicit. Now, sadly the scene has been cut but probably because someone has noticed that Arthur wouldn’t react so calmly when Merlin tells him about his father when in 2.13, Merlin said he’d never met him.
Also, I just wanted to ask: you mentioned previously that you found a picture of Merlin wearing Arthur’s mother’s sigil at Gwen’s coronation. But I cannot find it. Any chance you can point me in the right direction?
Alright, enjoy your hiatus to the full! We miss you already.
21st June 2021 @ 6:36 am
See: https://youtu.be/DoYG-xI3gFk
23rd June 2021 @ 7:01 pm
Omg!!! YES!!!! How could they cut that!?! (Yes yes…. The whole Merlin saying he never met his father…but wow!!) That has got to be my favorite deleted scene so far! Thanks so much for sharing! ❤️ And now my mind is even more blown! 🤯
21st June 2021 @ 11:10 am
Yes, I totally remember the deleted scene now. Think you even shared that YouTube clip before, as I definitely remember watching it in the last 3 months… just completely forgot about it 🤦♂️🤦♂️ Lol
I’ll search my laptop to see if I saved the picture at the time, as google brought nothing up for me just now, either. It was like a (maybe leaked?) production still from gwen’s coronation as I remember a LOT of excitement over the new coat, and of course no one new what the broach was about at the time, as the deleted scene wouldn’t have come out until the dvd release… 🤔 but yeah, I’ll search my merlin folder and see if it brings anything up. Will let you know!
21st June 2021 @ 11:21 am
nope, nothing on my laptop, sorry 🙁 Turns out I’d stopped obsesively saving photographs of the actual thing, and had veeeery much moved into fandom…. I have over 800 pics of Merlin fanart, but less than 100 actual photographs of BBC Merlin… lol
20th June 2021 @ 1:06 am
Thank you for this fun, extra season 4 episode! I enjoyed hearing everyone’s different best-of thoughts.
My only addition would be this – I think Lancelot’s sacrifice at the beginning of the season was quite epic because it was such a twist! I really didn’t see it coming when I first watched the show. But I see what ya’ll mean about there being almost too many season-finale worthy moments which bring the actual season finale down a notch or two. Lancelot’s ultimate sacrifice and then funeral could have been a season finale moment!
I also love how Ruth pointed out the difference between Merlin needing a reason to hide his magic and Merlin needing a reason to tell Arthur about his magic. I have never thought of it that way. It still doesn’t make me like how the show never deals with his having magic one way or the other, but I think it’s another very interesting way to look at the story they did tell.
20th June 2021 @ 9:14 am
actaully, that is totally totally fair! And certainly, when season 4 started up live on the BBC, I wasn’t in the habbit of regularly spending time on IMDB, so I’m pretty certain I didn’t know that Lancelot was only in the first two episodes, and actually him being in that opening shot and everything being awesome and merlin being so happy should totally have been a clue of how he was going to die lol but I think for me at the time it was mostly a ‘OH YAY, we’re gonna have proper lancelot in this season! he’s here to stay this time!!!’
…
fail lol
–It still doesn’t make me like how the show never deals with his having magic one way or the other, but I think it’s another very interesting way to look at the story they did tell.–
that’s certainly what is going on in my head at the moment, and has done pretty much since we entered season 3… I’m not happy with what the show choice to do, and the stories it told, and more importantly, the stories it didn’t tell. But I’ve been not happy about that for 10 years… lol
So I am currently much more interested in stepping away from that particular frustration, and looking at the stories that they are telling, and different ways of interpreting them, and trying to figure out where the individual interpretations start, looking at all five seasons as a whole, and in how far they hold up.
M Xx
21st June 2021 @ 10:27 pm
Yeah, it feels like any character, besides Gaius 🙄, who knows about Merlin’s magic ends up getting killed off quick. SIGH.
I heard on another podcast somewhere (yes, my obsession has now led me to seek out other Merlin based podcasts, I blame you and Ruth) that Merlin doesn’t owe Arthur, or anyone else, a magic reveal. I think that’s also very interesting, and really changes my perspective on the story in general but particularly the ending of season 5.
I’m with you, it would have worked so well at the end of season 3, BUT if Merlin doesn’t need a reason and doesn’t owe anyone that part of him…well, maybe it softens the blow of Diamond of the Day a little bit for me. Just a little…not much though.