Repetitive frustration

Let me make something clear. I enjoy good stories. It doesn't matter what genre or format they come in, I love them. Mystery, romance, adventure, suspense...or even books, television, cinema or even radio. If a story is good and innovative, you've already won points from me.

Which is why it is incredibly frustrating to be in the middle of the latest season of Merlin and realise that the last couple of episodes haven't really done that.

This puny table cannot hope to hold the awesome of Merlin

To me, Merlin is a bit like Doctor Who in that you have an excellent premise for some really engaging character development and story arcs. And indeed it has delivered in the past.

The concept for people who do not know the plot. It's the story of King Arthur and Merlin of legend, before the real legends begin. Merlin is a young warlock, sent to Camelot by his mother and ends up becoming the manservant of Prince Arthur (later King...let's face it. That's hardly a spoiler). Except Camelot is the centre of Uther Pendragon's anti-magic regime and for someone whose magic is as instinctive as breathing? This is a problem.

From here on, I will be talking about events up until the recent episodes so if you do not wish for spoilers you should probably leave now. Don't worry. I won't feel offended.

Be like that.

Originally, the stories were a bit formulaic. Magic from outside tries to find its way into Camelot, Arthur gets into trouble, Merlin saves him with magic, no one finds out, life continues.

Rinse and repeat.

Of course there are some elements of the legends that had to be sorted. Morgana le Fey had to become an enemy. Guinevere (or Gwen) had to become Queen. And the writers managed that in slow, believable ways. Of course it helped that after each season a year apparently passes in Merlin-land.

So, by the third season, Gwen became a love interest, and Morgana was betraying and plotting left, right and centre. But here lies the problem. The writers recognised that Morgana couldn't hide in the shadows forever, and more power to them, so she was found out and banished. Except their main enemy had now gone. So what did they do?

Ask for a guy dressed in black. Clearly he cannot be evil.

Cue Agravaine, Arthur's estranged uncle who worked for Morgana and basically tried to destroy/kill Arthur at every available opportunity.

He dies at the end of the season.

So what happens next?

Well the season started off promising enough. Morgana was as nasty as ever, but badly broken after being imprisoned with Aithusa. We don't know how or why and that's interesting.

But at the same time, it's concerning. Why was a baby dragon on its own? Especially considering all the hype about its birth which was met with such joy by Merlin and his lonely dragon friend? Why was nobody keeping an eye on her? Even if it was a matter of dragon's natures, you would think the sheer rarity of dragons would have accounted for something.

Mordred has appeared again, leaving Merlin with some serious dilemmas about protecting Arthur and doing the right thing. Arthur always comes first, but I'm not sure I like the cost it's having on the warlock. There's character development and then there is being unusually cruel to your characters.

AND THEN! 

The thing that filled me with more anger than I have experienced in a while. Morgana gets a new mole. And who is it?

Gwen.

I'm noticing a theme with regularly occurring female characters.

Yep. The Queen herself. THAT Gwen.

Granted the episode preceding that gave us an explanation. She was kidnapped and locked in a dark room with mandrake roots (which fill you with horrific images. In Gwen's case, showing images of her friends laughing at her pain) with Morgana treating her kindly in between.

But the reason it frustrates me is in the execution. There is an implication that she could have been there for days, but it's not specified. In 45 minutes, it looks like she hasn't been there long at all. One minute, she is refusing Morgana's offers of friendship and then suddenly...she's her new best bud! Yes, her brother has died. But she has been through pain and loss before. And at the hands of people she cared about.

Why was it so easy to break her this time?

If this had been a two parter, where we were given more of a sense of time, then maybe this would have worked.

But then we got our first episode of evil-Gwen.

Colin Morgan had a couple of brilliant moments as Merlin, including a memorable moment when he desperately attempts to revive Arthur and it looks like he's failed. I won't pretend that Merlin's absolutely distraught face didn't break my heart. But I spent the whole time listening to Gwen and watching her, wondering how little red flags weren't popping up with people who knew her. Yes, her husband seemed to be dying but WHEN IN THE HISTORY OF ALL THAT IS HOLY would Gwen ever accuse Merlin of trying to kill her husband?

This isn't just me looking at it with more knowledge than the characters. Merlin has been accused of crimes before and Gwen has stood by her friend EVERY TIME. How did nobody except Gaius find this suspicious? I'm beginning to think knighthood takes away your ability to think for yourself.

It feels sloppy, like the writers are desperate to continue the trend they started almost two years ago. An insider betraying Camelot and Arthur. But surely there's room for other stories beyond the ones that have been used many times before. 

What about Merlin recognising how much he's changed and whether he likes going down that route? 

Or meeting more potential allies?

A friend recognising his magic? (seriously writers, are you determined to isolate him?)

Or Arthur. He's no closer to accepting magic than he was at the start. He's still convinced it's evil. Stop creating hope only to take it away.

What happened to Aithusa?

You have knights of the Round Table. Give them a plot.

Seriously writers. Whether you create novels, films or a television series, it's not too much to ask that sometimes you look beyond your borders and try and think of something new. That you treat what you have with the same dignity and respect that you gave it at the beginning. That you consider every avenue and before you decide to go down a particular route, you remember to ask 'Why?'

 Your skills deserve it. Your fans deserve it. Your series deserves it.

And most importantly? Your characters deserve it.

Update: Really writers? It was magic? You took your time with that one and honestly? It felt a bit like a cop-out. But thank you, not only for reversing it, but for actually progressing the magical situation at last.