For Albion: Revisiting Merlin

Merlin

         

         So as you might have guessed, all three of us hosts have picked a series to blog about and I thought I would take the opportunity to talk about a show that always frustrated me. That show is Merlin, from the BBC. This show is supposedly based on arthurian legend, so it should have been a home run for me because I love the stories of Arthur and his knights. I first read The Once and Future King in sixth grade, and since then I have read many interpretations of the myth. That being said, I was intrigued by a TV show about Arthur from the point of Merlin. Then I saw learned some of the other aspects of the show... Merlin and Arthur are the same age? Arthur was raised as a prince by his father and not as a servant on a faraway holding? Guinevere is Morgana's maid? Magic is banned, and Merlin must live in secret? This is so far away from the legend that it might as well be a different show. 

         And that's the point. Merlin is an amazing show with extremely complex characters, political and magical foes, and an ambiguous ending that is very satisfying when surrounded with shows where the heroes definitively win. One of the best things about Merlin is it’s a show where the main character arguably fails. Merlin is trying to live up to a prophecy that he and Arthur will unite the lands of Albion and bring magic back to the realm. He faces a large cast of foes, but the largest threat he faces is actually the prejudice against magic fostered by Uthur. Arthur struggles to accept that magic can be used for good, and this conflict is what keeps Merlin from being able to achieve everything he wants to. The baggage that comes with using arthurian characters actually drags this show down, creating expectations that it doesn't even try to meet. 
         So how do you cover a show like this? The early seasons have a mix of plot moving episodes and more comedic ones, and the later episodes have many different plots interwoven. This is why, since the I have the advantage of posting about a show that is already over, I thought I would do character profiles instead. Each of the series' characters offer a unique perspective on both the past and present events in the series, and in their own way they are all sympathetic. I will try not to compare them to their legendary counterparts, but if those comparisons slip through I will apologize in advance. I will start next week with one of the more ambiguous characters, The Great Dragon Kilgharrah. 
Until next time,
Tori