Merlin: 5:08 The Hollow Queen

[tanous]

Right. That was 5.08.  I wont get those 45 minutes back.

Much as I thought I could stick it out to the end, I’m seriously starting to wonder if I underestimated the ability of the producers of this show to annihilate every thing that was good about it before the finale. Are they actually trying to drive their audience to the point where Camlann

Comments

[prime_meridian]

This may be one of those times reading other people's rants is actually a bad idea, because I'm managing to feel even worse about all of this. I'm trying to remember that the heart of the problem is Really Craptastic Writing. They write each week to force their characters to fit some arbitrary plot, instead of writing stories to fit the characters (hat tip to gealach_ros for saying as much elsewhere). But at the end of the day, if they weren't doing such a terrible job of writing these stories (or if the acting were a lot worse so it wasn't apparent that the lead character is consistently bummed the hell out), what would we think were true? IOW: how do most people watch this show since they're not over-analyzing it the way I do?

They tell us in articles that they're best friends, so M&A must be best friends. Who routinely lie to and/or constantly insult one another.Feh, nevermind. I'm in way too cynical a mindset to even try to paint this as anything other than dismal. And having just read the teasers for next week's ep (which thank

[sforthewicked]

It's a definite no.
Can't say if I'm glad or not. Even after all this disappointment, it still breaks my heart that it's over. Perhaps especially because it ends now and like this.
I think it's the uncertainty of it all.
What if Colin doesn't find any work in films or tv series? And, think about it, we will never again see Colin and Bradley together on screen. No matter how f*cked up the M-A relationship has ended up being, their old chamistry is nothing but legendary. I'll miss the hell out of it.
Mostly, though, it's that in the end, Merlin has sacrificed everything for NOTHING.

[mingaumatador]

Thank you, that's exactly how I feel about it.

I guess it hurts even more because of all the wasted potential, they could have ended it in a golden note with incredible character development, and now it's like it's going to fade away in shambles, because the writers weren't prepared to handle this show or these characters at all.

[sforthewicked]

For f*ck's sake I'm nearly crying here... Listen to this:
"Colin Morgan (Merlin) commented: “From the beginning this was always going to be a five year journey that we embarked on and I think the show has run its natural course. The show has grown and grown each year and now we’ve arrived at its strongest point and we’ve achieved what we set out to do… I know this is the end, and I know this is goodbye, but thank you for being there on the journey with us because it has been a lot of fun!”"

He knows this is the end and he knows this is goodbye...

WHYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYYY????????????????
*sobs*
I can't deal with this. Imagine what would happen if I actually was excited with how the show is going...

[calaerel]

Merlin the show died for me at 4x09 when the writers showed how much respect they had for the legend, and any notion of Arthur as the Once and Future King crashed and burned with "The Hunter's Hart". I thought the writers couldn't possibly sink to the depths of the last half of series four, but they have been remarkably skilled at proving me wrong with series five

[tanous]

"Oh, and apparently rape vibes and a girl having sex with someone she hates is alright on a family show, and consistent characterization and intelligent plots aren't. Okay then

[calaerel]

I'm trying to rationalize to myself why they keep rehashing the same tired plots over and over for Queen Mary Sue instead of actually making her a rounded character who would naturally generate more interest. Could they be afraid of being slapped with the labels of 'racist' and 'sexist' like the fans who express a dislike towards Gwen, if they give her flaws and make her human? I don't know. I'm making up crazy excuses for the writers now. It's just I'm having a hard time with the fact that these scripts are coming from professionals

[adrienne5413]

It's official. s5 is the end.

[arwyn_t]

OK, I'm talking now

[sforthewicked]

You've got it wrong, missy. S will be more like: "NO! I don't want to leave the theater! Let me stay here forever!!! Please?" and then security will come and take me away from a bewildered and slightly afraid Colin. :P

Plus, the magic reveal has to happen now. If it doesn't, all hell will break loose on the Js.

[merlenhiver]

they had the spand of 2, TWO series to develop the stories and characters properly because they got series 4 & 5 together, so that made it 26 episodes to plan ahead

Oh gosh, I didn't even know that. That's even more depressing, especially considering that they seemed to have a Great Plan when Series 4 started. Why did they drop it? WHY?!?!? I want to know!!! Otherwise I'm going to go with the homophobia explanation - the show was getting "too gay" again. That's how frustrated I am. :(((

[tanous]

Eoin said at Cold Con they never plan ahead and make it up as they go along. Having 26 eps for these guys just meant more to pad. As long as they denied the reveal thats all they could do really. Look at S5. The story as I said elsewhere was 5.01, 5.02. 5.11, 5.12 and 5.13. The plot was so full of holes though without a reveal somewhere, they couldn't allow any kind of development or examination in the middle, so they padded like buggery. The downfall of the series has been the refusal to change anything - to ever do the reveal and for all they say with typical arrogance that they never felt the need, the obvious truth is that they were scared. They had something that worked so they weren't ever going to try something new even if the show rotted from within as it has very obviously bee doing. I wonder how much was the fear of what it might do to the Merthur relationship since that is as they all admit the backbone of the show. It IS the show and the producers have always been scared to let it breathe. Im still amazed that they're

[sforthewicked]

I wanted to add that apparently, the three years we missed during s4 to 5 were the GOLDEN YEARS OF CAMELOT. S5 is it's downfall.

DEAR GOD WHAT A LOAD OF CRAP

[merlenhiver]

Eh ... is this the official explanation? Or am I just unable to read sarcasm again? I'm so numb I can't tell right now ... :(

[sforthewicked]

It was in one of the articles about the end of the show. I could find it if you like. And judging from what Colin says in his interview about the end of Merlin, I think it's very likely to be true.
In case you haven't seen it, it's this interview here
http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=b9PbMkUrljI

God... Colin looks so sad here. Especially the part where he says
"He tries his best, he tries everything, but it’s, by the end, I think Merlin maybe realizes, maybe that it’s actually the way it’s supposed to be, “maybe this is what my destiny is building up to.” And it’s terrible, it’s not nice and it's not a nice thing to go through, but he starts to, I think he starts to click on to that..."
DAMMIT! I knew it would be like this, why does it hurt so much???

[merlenhiver]

Okay ... now I'm just speechless. Wtf?

I don't think I can watch the interview just now. I thought I wouldn't be sad over the end of Merlin, considering how the latest episodes have gone, but it still hurts not to get the happy ending I've wished for my favourite character on the show (and probably my favourite TV character EVER) since series one.

Ugh, what a mess. Thanks so much for the info and the link, I'll get back to it later in the day when I'm more composed. :P