This is a decent episide. Of course some things are absurd, but if you watched it until now this is no surprise. However, one absurdity did influence my rating and made me lower it from 9 to a 8, and that is Morgana's behaviour. She was in a perfect situation to do something, twice, and both times she made an irrational choice not to. When you watch this episode you will know exactly what i mean.
3 Reviews
Two Parters are always a problem
A_Different_Drummer21 February 2015
To be fair, Merlin is not the only episodic TV show that stumbles when trying to do a 2-parter.
There are so many challenges. You are basically almost creating a small full-length movie, so expectations are raised, yet you still have to stagger the scenes to allow for commercials and you must close the story with the appropriate arcs "up in the air" so the writers can slog on when the next episode appears.
That last one is the killer.
The reason I am appending this review to Part I of the two parter is that (and this has happened before, and will happen again) is that Part I is the far superior drama.
Un-hampered by the need to string the viewer along, the production team is free to cut loose in Part I. And indeed they did. It is clever, well written, lavishly produced, constantly entertaining, and even contains an odd (but fun) homage to LORD OF THE RINGS. Very enjoyable.
And the problem (if you watch the second part or 5.2) is that the quality will fall. The pacing will drop, actions will become more trivial, and because of the need to keep all the story "balls in the air" the conclusion will not be as satisfying as the buildup.
So make hay while the sun shines. Enjoy this while you can.
There are so many challenges. You are basically almost creating a small full-length movie, so expectations are raised, yet you still have to stagger the scenes to allow for commercials and you must close the story with the appropriate arcs "up in the air" so the writers can slog on when the next episode appears.
That last one is the killer.
The reason I am appending this review to Part I of the two parter is that (and this has happened before, and will happen again) is that Part I is the far superior drama.
Un-hampered by the need to string the viewer along, the production team is free to cut loose in Part I. And indeed they did. It is clever, well written, lavishly produced, constantly entertaining, and even contains an odd (but fun) homage to LORD OF THE RINGS. Very enjoyable.
And the problem (if you watch the second part or 5.2) is that the quality will fall. The pacing will drop, actions will become more trivial, and because of the need to keep all the story "balls in the air" the conclusion will not be as satisfying as the buildup.
So make hay while the sun shines. Enjoy this while you can.
Still hiding?!
Calicodreamin16 March 2021
It's crazy to me that after five seasons Merlin is still hiding his magic. Bit of a mediocre episode this one. Picks up in the same tone as season 4 but I would have liked to see more character development for it to be a three year gap.
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