#the last dragonlord commentary

[not-rome]

so my brother watched the fifth season of merlin with me & then random episodes. im like “oh, i love the last dragonlord. let’s watch that” and he goes “oh is that when the dragon is introduced?”

apparently he hadn’t even seen the first episode. so now we’re watching the whole thing. my favorite comment so far is “wait, you’re telling me THAT’S morgana? she looks so nice and normal.”

i can’t wait for the commentary

[i-am-the-one-who-wololoes]

Feroz's Ban: I agree with the commentary.

Detainment Corps: I agree with the commentary. I also like the blink a lot.

Rekindle Hope: Two lands at instant speed is definitely strong, but I won't call it too strong. It's a nice, nice card.

Guilt of Unmaking: I agree. Watch out, people, that damage does not destroy the creature, SBEs do, so not LBolt shenanigans to prevent for you.

Tainted Cure: Nothing to add.

Release from the Helvault: BPCR, Braver people carry removal XD

Unwavering Devotion: Nothing to add.

Contested Reservoir: Miserable for sure and I'm here for that kind of "you have limited turns and plays to survive".

Love's Betrayal: Eh, my brain went "life gain -> white". I had zero ideas, I didn't have that much time to think about something better so this is what people got. "I didn't have time and other exuses" sounds like a book title LMAO I also guess that I thought about a moment more "long" than the part of their encounter when Vrask's pulls a phyrexian on Jace, when I though about this card. I did not do a great job and that's valid. I'm happy for the flavour text comment at least :3 I feel that's the worst thing about my designs, usually, especially during your contests XD

Dragonlord's Trophy: "He's not exactly please or displeased. He's dead." LMAO

An Offer You Can't Refuse: Nothing to add.

Danitha and Radha: I agree with the commentary. I like it.

Sunder the Helvault: Nothing to add. I like it as its own card.

Urza, Sworn to Yawgmoth: The card itself is neat, but I don't see how it's supposed to show the betrayal. Maybe with the last ability, that can only be used as a token (of YM)? Hmm, possibly.

Pulled to Ground: I love the art. It's so cool. And I think I will scour through Legend to see if I can recognize the card/moment this one is depicting.

Perspective Commentary: All Sides

Like I mentioned in the chat, there were a lot of entries that caught my eye, and narrowing them down was a process. There were also a lot of cards that made me uncertain about how to proceed, and we’ll get there, but here are my majors for this week.

I really liked the way that people utilized card types to either enhance or shift the perception of the story. That was the main goal of the contest, and turning moments into monuments, or characters into dramatizations, really worked well for me. I’m glad obviously since that was the goal of the contest but all the same, really impressed by how people chose to use that.

I feel mixed about the complexity this week. There were a lot more grounded cards to be sure, and there came a point where I found myself impressed by the down-to-earth nature of it, but there were still come less-than-elegant choices that make me feel that people are pushing for a horizon for the sake of it. Wording was really awesome this week, though.

The most improvement I want to see is the practicality of cards. There were some strong mechanical entries, but there were a lot of pragmatic pieces where I feel people needed to take a step back and examine the card on its own merit. In greater environments, there are combos and interactions to watch out for, but many cards’ choices assumed things that didn’t come across in a way that made me ask questions, but rather, made me question the intent and/or the necessity of that intent.

Take a look at Judge Picks if you want to see cards that I feel stand out for specific reasons. Check ‘em if you want to pick up on some design chops.

@0woah — Feroz’s Ban (Feroz’s Ban)

There’s...a lot of questions I have, but my first one is about that mana cost. Whatever compelled that colorless-and-white combination, it’s a strange and off-putting restriction that doesn’t feel relevant or necessary here. Perhaps there’s compelling evidence in-story, but gameplay-wise, it’s not something that needs to appear here. As for the card’s application, four-mana planeswalker wrath is not the worst thing in the world, but it’s extremely narrow. In most cases, I imagine it simply stops creature spells for a turn, and the fact that you have to have a legendary creature/planeswalker to cast it in the first place feels more demanding than not.

Despite a lack of practicality, the story aspect of players not being able to cast creature or planeswalker spells feels good enough. The ban itself, from what I’m reading, didn’t actually destroy anything—or anyone, rather—so I hesitate to see how that applies itself exactly. I didn’t know much about Ulgrotha, though, so that peek into history is nice. The representation is more modern, and I’l give you that much. Overall, though, there’s a lot about this card that handles too clunkily for it to have a home even in sideboards.

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@bergdg — Detaintment Corps (Confiscation Coup)

One of the first examples we had in the modhouse was based on this card, ha! As a story moment it does feel compelling to make it into another card that doesn’t use energy. The blink is definitely the best part about this, and the flavor text ain’t too bad either; I can really hear the robotic grind. Having the representation of the Consulate be blue and white feels great; Dovin was a jerkwad and I’m glad that those colors really showed their antagonistic side in the Kaladesh block.

My main critique is the handling of the first trigger. IMO, there was no reason for this not to be just a Thopter Arrest on a stick? Or rather: “When ~ enters the battlefield, exile target nontoken artifact or creature until ~ leaves the battlefield.” You could make it “you don’t control” if you really wanted to, but why not tokens, actually? I want to blink the heck out of someone’s thopters, and in a set where (presumably) thopters and servos exist (or at least a world) there’s nothing wrong with doing so. The “nonland” part is just silly to me. If my opponents are playing Seats of the Synod, I wanna O-Ring the crap out of that, and it’s frustrating that I don’t have the opportunity to because of what I presume is flavor reasons that aren’t relevant except in formats where this card probably wouldn’t be played. Y’know? This card is potentially fantastic—patrolling, chasing the big enemy, locking down, patrolling again. Just that little bit more polish could make it stellar.

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@bread-into-toast — Rekindle Hope (Wrenn and Realmbreaker/Wrenn’s Resolve)

* JUDGE PICK

So I’m gonna talk a lot about modal spells and story choices here further on because there were a few that irked me. This one doesn’t and I’m really wracking my head trying to figure out why exactly I’m more lenient with it. I think it’s because it illustrates something important about the story: the inability to fulfill every choice on a single path, where every choice needs to be made and yet can’t be made. Wrenn wants to enact destruction, fire upon the enemy, and grow herself with her tree. And she doesn’t have the strength for all of it! So you have to do everything you can and sacrifice one thing. That feels like character growth—a non-binary choice of strengths based on the needs of the moment.

That’s the gist, innit? This is probably one of the strongest story cards for sure. It just happened to be up against a week where there are a lot of mechanically perfect cards as well, and in my judicial opinion, searching for two lands at instant speed on a mode feels a little too strong without playtesting. Am I wrong? Shoot, probably. It’s genuinely probably fine. I’d love to play this in a beefed-up Xenagos deck with duals and whatever, but that hardly matters. God, maybe that’s wrong and I’m nitpicking because of arbitrary numeric choices, but that’s besides the point. Story-wise this is the best modal usage of character choices that one could’ve asked for, and I want to hold it up as an example for that at the very least.

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@certification-wizard — Guilt of Unmaking (Anguished Unmaking)

You know, I have to wonder: how guilty is Sorin, really? Does he feel that guilt with everything? He’s kind of a vampire. You know, a guy that...eats people. Avacyn was...like a fusion of magnum opus and daughter to him. Does he feel that kind of guilt every time he kills something, or is it, like, just the one time? I genuinely can’t think of a reason for this to be a curse flavored this way in the story, sorry. It’s definitely a unique take, though, and the name kicks ass for sure. I’m glad to see weird cards like curses find their way into contests where they belong.

As for the card itself, I wish it wasn’t quite so narrow, because the concept feels akin to Karmic Justice, which I’m sure was the basis for this kind of card. In a premier set, the amount of times you’re going to encounter this in limited is so narrow that I doubt it would do more than just get rid of one of your own creatures. Commander, though? Perhaps it would be stronger. I think that you could have pushed for a broader punishment for the crime on the mechanical side of things. Three life does add up, but the punishment could be more severe for the infrequency of the crime. Great concept, and an interesting card angle. I’d like to see a bit more of a push on the power and a nudge on the story.

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@halfsilveredmirror — Tainted Cure (Tainted Remedy)

Now I get to be all hither and thither about modal story moments. What exactly is this supposed to represent? The thing is, only one things happened here. Liliana may have been hoping for something to happen, but the curative power of her medicine isn’t flavorfully sensible to do on a draw spell. And we know what happened: her brother became a lich. Admittedly, the first story moment represented by Tainted Remedy is a little bit odd as an enchantment, but it’s about a moment locked in time, and requires that wiggle room. This card has several outcomes for a singular moment, and I’m really not sure what to do with it, because I’m failing to see how the modes connect to the outcome.

Mechanically this card is pretty weird, too. The most favorable outcome I can see are modes 1 and 3 happening together, which means your opponent gets the life you lost, as well as a card, but they lose a creature. That’s...not great. This card overall isn’t favorable. I’d much rather play the instant-speed of Diabolic Edict and the straightforwardness of Night’s Whisper than whatever this is trying to do. For two mana, there aren’t going to be any stellar ways of going about casting this card. I can’t find any specific weird use for it as a limited selection or a constructed place. For the future, I’d strongly consider the kinds of normal board states you’d see in a premier archetype and compare how you want to affect those states with other cards that do similar effects. You’ll see the disparity easily enough.

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@helloijustreadyourpost — Release from the Helvault (Avacyn, Angel of Hope et. al.)

I really want to like the weird kind of cheap reanimation that you’re going for here. Honestly, I’m going to take a step back: I have to imagine this card, not as the moment in reality where Griselbrand was released, but rather, as a representation of the story being told canonically to someone else in reality. It’s only then that I can stop grousing about how the angel is only a representation of Avacyn and how it wasn’t a reanimation precisely, and on and on. No, I like this card as an out-of-time retelling. I’m knocking points for it not precisely being its own in-the-moment moment, but what’re you gonna do?

Mechanically it’s great. Seriously, it’s pretty awesome! It’s a rough drawback for sure if you wanna get your bomb out, especially if it doesn’t have flying itself, but it’s seriously cool that if you reanimate Griselbrand your opponent gets a copy of Avacyn’s representation. Cheap creatures giving your opponents cheap fliers hardly matters if you’re ahead of the race, and there are other ways to get rid of tokens that can be used in conjunction with this card. Heh, reanimating a bounce creature would be fun for sure. It’s not a card that’s gonna break any formats because of the drawback, but premier sets getting this kind of cheap reanimation is still totally fine. Not bad. I’ll let braver people play this card.

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@hiygamer — Unwavering Devotion (Cruel Reality)

Okay, I think I’m feeling what your goal was. Instead of Gideon’s mindset, you wanted to bring yourself closer to what Djeru was having to go through. Checks out. I’m really surprised that this hasn’t seen the kind of printing, you know, the whole sacrificing thing. I can imagine it’s a bit of a pain—but whatever, we’re talking about this card. It’s still quite interesting gameplay-wise! It’s certainly balanced enough at that cost with a symmetrical effect. Honestly, I have the feeling that in the next however many years, we’ll see something similar if not exact. Does exactly what it says on the face.

As for the story, I think I’ll have to sort of concede that this isn’t the perfect example but that it would fit the bill? The name’s great, and the flavor text is quite well-written—even if there’s a song with that line in it that I have in my library and canNOT recall the name of and it’s been driving me nuts—and it would make sense to have sacrifice be a major part of the Amonkhet storyline. It’s a shame that there’s not like, the one creature left standing to represent Djeru? Cruel Reality is a weird one but it’s designed to support Amonkhet’s cutthroat gifts to the gods and to instill that sense of awful dread I suppose. Here, it’s probably more emotionally personal to Djeru, his mindset. I don’t have to match it 1:1 to feel that. In the heart, this card’s still good.

~

@horsecrash — Contested Reservoir (Invasion of Kaladesh)

* JUDGE PICK

Wow I (jokingly) hate this. Not that I wouldn’t play this card and make people mad, but the second that it’s played against me, I’m going to growl and snarl and be a real jerk about the whole thing. I think that this card suffers from the fact that multiple copies make it absolutely miserable, and someone is going to 100% do that in a stax deck and be mean about it. Still, as a clock, and as an inverse of the Aetherflux version, it’s one heck of a card. What a defense.

The story is neat, too, and the flavor text is superbly written, another one where I legitimately thought that it had been copied. But no, it’s a horsecrash original, so heck yeah to that. The readiness of the Kaladeshians pinging the Phyrexians for their invasion feels awesome. There’s no boom, but there’s sure as heck sparks. “This is OUR resource, and your attacks and advances mean nothing because they’re costing you and I have the energy you don’t.” I wonder, if it WAS legendary, if you could’ve made it inverse as well, where you get the lifegain. Maybe that would’ve been too much, but what do I know, they’ve printed worse. Take out the spaces around the emdash and this card’s pretty darn good. Narrow, but good.

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@i-am-the-one-who-wololoes — Love’s Betrayal (Phyrexian Arena)

Oddly enough, this feels like a bite or fight effect? I think the wording is a little off, or you could say “you don’t control” instead of “an opponent controls” to make it, like, less weird, but... Huh. Mechanically—oh yeah, sorry, comma after “this turn”—mechanically this card is pretty good, actually. It’s strange to see this effect in BW but not unheard of, at least for the part of it where it’s a killspell, life-loss, counter-Phyrexian thing. I would go so far as to say that this card implies a BW toughness matters draft archetype, which is nice to see.

What’s up with the white, though? That’s what I’m really scratching my head over from a story perspective. The black is clearly Phyrexian, but neither Vraska or Jace have any white in them whatsoever. This card could’ve been any black-X combination except for white or red, in my opinion. Mechanically it could be any black-X, that’s all fine. In the flavor, blue or black could have been perfectly fine. You know, looking at the Phyrexian Arena reprint, I’m a little confused as to what’s happening to merit that moment on that card, barring locale. What about Jace and Vraska’s meeting merited it? Here, we’re sort of in the same state, but if it wasn’t for the color, then it would pass just fine, I think. As for the flavor text, I’ll commend that it’s poetic, perhaps a little flowery, but a good try. Huh. I’ll be honest? If this card had nothing to do with Jace/Vraska I’d be a lot less picky about it.

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@just--a--penguin — Dragonlord’s Trophy (Dragonlord Silumgar)

I feel frustrated at this card’s ties to the original Dragonlord. Part of what this contest was supposed to be about was a complete mechanical departure from the cards on which they were based, and this one is cozying up with its predecessor. I’ll judge it on its own merits from here, but I want to point out what the prompt was asking beforehand. Anyway, this card’s got teeth as it stands. It’s simple enough, which is fine, and I think it could even be uncommon for its cost compared to other mind-control effects where you get to attack with the creature afterwards.

Seeing things from Tasigur’s perspective is pretty cool, despite him being a 99-cent Claire’s discount item now. Also, I just spend the last thirty minutes rereading the Khans-block storyline, and lemme tell you, the audience that Tasigur wanted was not one of pleasure. He was annoyed, and then killed, and he’s not exactly... Well, he’s not exactly pleased or displeased. More dead. It would be interesting to represent that by the brittleness—like, if the aura leaves, the creature gets destroyed or something. All the same, though, the audience part doesn’t quite mesh with what we know about what happened. If it had, this card would be pretty awesome—again, on its own merits.

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@lanabutnotdelray — An Offer you Can’t Refuse (An Offer you Can’t Refuse)

* JUDGE PICK

Like I mentioned previously, I’m a little frustrated that the specificity of the two treasure tokens was brought to this card too when I wanted them to be completely distinct, and I’m even more frustrated, not at you, that this card depicts the event so much better. Xander enlists Elspeth in the story! Straight-up! It’s exactly how your card’s depicting, to some extent! The flavor text would have been perfect, too—coercive and despicable and sly and elegant and grungy all at once. So that’s something to keep in mind, right? What an odd coincidence.

I forget if you mentioned it, but I think that if it was only one treasure token, this card would be a nice rare. I don’t feel that it would be a healthy uncommon in any premier format. The story of New Capenna doesn’t need radical stuff to make play rougher. Something like, I dunno, Lullmage’s Domination works because the really expensive stuff is slower and the UUU investment is a pain in the butt in most limited formats. Regardless: I wanted to showcase this card for being similar, but not quite the same, but also a little cooler, but also not pushing the envelope of, the card on which it was originally based. Good stuff, I say.

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@misterstingyjack — Danitha and Radha (Heroic Charge)

* JUDGE PICK

Kickass. I mean, you already know that, clearly. This card kicks so much ass that it’s dented its Swiftfoot Boots. There are...lots of weird little wording quirks and strangenesses that make me pause, but the concept is solid enough as a team-up. I think that taking the new sensibility route for the card that’s basically draft chaff otherwise was a great and bold call and I’m surprised we didn’t see more of that. Story exists on cards other than story spotlights, after all! Just having these lovely ladies together is already doing so much good work.

First strike comes before vigilance, though. C’mon! I don’t believe you need the “then” in the third ability. Mechanically... I mean, this card’s already good, you don’t need me to tell you that. Is it the best Naya commander? Probably not. Is it the best equipment/aura Naya commander? That depends on whether or not you want to spend enough to bling your Uril deck (Jeez, a foil ARB Uril is seventy bucks??) and/or go wider. But are you gonna throw some equipment down and start going crazy? Even when it’s on a single creature, it’s awesome. Two or more? You’re in business. I really like the restrictions that make this card complicate combat. I love the feeling that you’re going for. In short, story-wise, who gives a hoot, but I just really love what you’ve done bringing these ladies to a bloody meeting of the minds.

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@nine-effing-hells — Sunder the Helvault (Avacyn, Angel of Hope et. al.)

I honestly thought we had more than two Helvault cards in this contest but I’m mistaken. Whoops! Either way, this one is the one where I’m a little less inclined to be charitable. It’s clearly depicting the moment of release, and we already know what happens. I’m actually a little confused as to what this card is supposed to be alluding to as its predecessor, because I put that it was about Avacyn and the rest, but I’m actually not sure. I quite clearly remember the Avacyn Restored trailer, which was kickass, but the only card that actually mentioned the event was Avacyn herself, so... I guess it’s a ‘before’ card, sure.

All the same, the reanimation spell was a stretch, and this card just doesn’t seem to have anything to do with the event in question. Thalia made the choice to destroy the Helvault; is that the reanimation part of this card? What’s the destruction supposed to be, then? An alternative? But it didn’t happen at all; there wasn’t anything that happened that could be tied to that mode and it’s not representative of anything that occurred in the story. Having a modal option on a story-based card should be representative of the events in question, OR the multitudinous possibilities that don’t affect further outcomes. This is, of course, my opinion, but it’s what makes the most sense. Nonlinear stories call for different options; not every card can be Crux of Fate, which is in a wheelhouse of its own. I...rambled too long and didn’t talk about the mechanics. It’s commendable enough as a boardwipe. It’s hard to get excited with the aforementioned issues, but.

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@stupidstupidratcreatures — Urza, Sworn to Yawgmoth (Phyrexian Arena)

Envelope, consider yourself pushed. Well! This card is...definitely a card. I want to say that this card is a leap and a bound, but it’s quite weak overall. There’s no way for Urza to continue, so for three mana, you get either four mill options over four turns or a couple mills and one exile. Hm. Okay, it’s not THAT bad, actually, but there’s a lot to be desired personally. There’s no way to keep him around and there’s no way to make him anything more than a recursive-ish removal-ish card assuming he doesn’t die. I think he would be pretty okay in a control deck? But like, yeesh, compared to any other control card, he’s not the strongest, and I wouldn’t know personally what the hell to do with him.

The story of the Urza block at least comes in little chunks, so the Arena portion was easy to see. Do I understand fully what you’re going for? Kinda, a little. I don’t feel still that its the best use of a mythic slot or a planeswalker slot considering the power with which Urza operated to have his severed head become part of the legacy weapon, but what are you gonna do when your head gets chopped off, right? I think that I don’t hate this card, but I don’t love it, either, not compared with a preconceived notion of planeswalkers and a desire for a board state to encompass XYZ qualities. I’m genuinely curious to see what parts of the story you wanted to bring across in a 1:1 way, because I’ll admit to not fully understanding what I’m supposed to be evaluating.

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@wolkemesser — Pulled to Ground (???)

Without a “then,” the second sentence in this card doesn’t do much to the fliers. Aside from that, holy cow, this is a cool card. I like the pseudo-freeze and exhaustion and this is one heck of a rare. It might be a little strong, and 2WG might have been better, but that hardly matters. I think this is a great instant to support an archetype where you might have to face some creature-heavy boards, and that part of the card comes across quite well.

As for the story, what the hell is this supposed to be precisely? I genuinely cannot find the right card to show what this is, and maybe it’s obvious to someone who knows the story, but I’m lost, because you went to LEGENDS and pulled this out of thin air. Does it accurately represent what these Mercenaries went through? I don’t know! Maybe this is part of my lack of knowledge, or maybe I can blame this on over twenty years of story happening in a time probably before I could read well enough to know that Magic had novels. Either way, I’m not seriously upset in any regard, but I’m sure wishing you submitted what card you chose beforehand, because I’m at a loss and I REALLY wanna know.

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Thank you all for your entries! New contest tarmarroew. Hecka. —@abelzumi

[weakforarwen]

The biggest mistake the writers did with The Last Dragonlord was beginning the episode in the middle of a battle. Already you knew there was no real urgency and that Kilgharrah's attack was not the focus of the episode. Had the dragon been a real threat to Camelot, the finale wouldn't have begun on day 3 of his attack. The characters were scared but had already grown accustomed to the attacks; all of them were safe: Uther never left the castle (Kilgharrah's revenge was against him but he was weirdly comfortable); Gwen was saved in the beginning of the episode so we knew nothing would probably happen to her, and she and Gaius only left the castle during the day, when it was safe; Arthur and Merlin can't die so no one was feared for their lives; and Morgana was gone. Truly, what was there to be scared of?

The episode was very high tension but the audience couldn't share the characters' sense of urgency, so it was all a bit excessive. It didn't help that the episode was jam-packed with pivotal character-building moments that almost didn't feel earned. All the events of this episode could've taken place at any other point in the season. Furthermore, the excessive amount of emotional scenes had the effect of partially desensitizing me to them. That also created an issue with the pacing. The episode was constantly "lurching". It started with a battle scene but the tension quickly dropped only to pick up fast in the scenes with Balinor; yet, the episode climaxed with his death and the tension dropped afterwards, even though the stakes were supposedly higher. The episode just didn't feel like it was building up to anything.

An example of the intensity of pivotal scenes decreasing throughout the episode was Arwen. Arthur saved Gwen early into the episode, and they shared an intimate moment in the infirmary; much later, at the end of the episode, Gwen ran into Arthur's arms after he returned safe from his suicide mission to defeat Kilgharrah. The last moment had bigger significance than the first one because Gwen had been openly and publicly embracing Arthur, yet the first moment had been much more tender and touching. The significance of Gwen running into Arthur's arms was slightly undermined by the fact that Arthur only reacted with surprise and the moment ended as fast as it begun.

A better example of this were Merthur. When Arthur and Merlin set out to find Balinor, they rested at an inn for the night. Merlin was quiet, worrying about meeting his father, so Arthur asked him about it. (The scene frankly read as romantic: the soundtrack was romantic, and Merlin and Arthur sharing the same room and an intimate, late night conversation was the kind of scenario common to romcoms.) Arthur was uncharacteristically sweet with Merlin, encouraging him to see Arthur as a friend; it was a very touching scene, if somewhat odd due to its obvious yet entirely misplaced romantic undertones, and it was really the only scene I needed from Merthur to feel like they'd grown closer and that Arthur cared for Merlin the way we already knew Merlin cared for Arthur.

However, we had another touching scene between them, before their final confrontation with Kilgharrah. By then I had already reached my limit of heartwarming Merthur scenes, so I just felt a bit bored by it. Too much emphasis was placed on the fact that Merlin was willing to go into battle with Arthur; Merlin had proven his loyalty too many times for Arthur to act surprised by his actions. We already knew they would survive with 100% certainty, so, honestly, who even cared that they were going on a dangerous mission? The best part of the scene was Arthur telling Merlin no man was worth his tears, not knowing that man had been Merlin's father. Everything else was redundant. Just like with Arwen, their second big, emotional scene was less meaningful and impactful (to the audience) than the first.

The highlight of this episode was obviously Merlin and Balinor. I loved their scenes a lot, but the writers made a mistake placing them in the season finale. Balinor and Merlin needed an entire episode dedicated to them. Merlin meeting his father and becoming a Dragonlord was a big deal, but everything felt rushed, because, technically, the focus of the episode was on defeating Kilgharrah. Yet, the most emotional and tense moment of the episode was watching Balinor die in Merlin's arms. The episode peaked there. We knew Merlin could stop Kilgharrah, so nothing else mattered.

If the entire episode was about Merlin becoming a Dragonlord, why make it a season finale? It may have been significant to Merlin, but it meant nothing to Arthur. Apart from showing his great courage and leadership skills, Arthur had no character-building moments. This series wasn't just about Merlin. His destiny was to serve Arthur, his story began with Arthur. Any series finale should take Arthur a step closer to becoming The Once and Future King. The Last Dragonlord would've been an excellent mid-season episode, but it was certainly not a proper finale. It was similar to Le Morte d'Arthur in that way; Arthur was rather useless in both finales and only Merlin got to prove himself, so both episodes were underwhelming and felt filler-y to me. Watching Prince Arthur become the legendary King Arthur was the appeal of the series. At this point in the story, we already knew Merlin was powerful and that his powers grew by the day. It was Arthur who was a big question mark for us; he was far from being legendary.

So, yeah, the episode was enjoyable yet messy. It would've been an excellent episode were it not the season finale. For a finale, it felt too much like a standalone episode. It told us nothing about what was to come (besides Arwen, maybe; Morgana was only mentioned once, in passing, by Gaius); Arthur didn't grow much as a character; it was completely unrelated to all other episodes - probably because the season had not plot; and although Kilgharrah's freedom had been hinted at from the beginning, I hadn't expected him to attack Arthur of all people.

Lastly, I'll just mention a few scenes I liked a lot:

Arthur and Gwen's first scene was amazing, but the scenes between Gaius and Gwen were just as touching and meaningful to Arwen. I found Gaius's words so beautiful, hopeful, and moving:

Oh... the world's a strange place, Guinevere. Never underestimate the power of love. I've seen it change many things.

I immediately thought of Merlin and how his love failed to change Arthur's destiny - and, in fact, cemented it, but love did indeed change many things.

Gaius's (and Arthur's) love saved Merlin from possibly becoming a Morgana, or a Gilli, or even a Mordred; Gwen's love nurtured Arthur and sheltered him from his father's influence so he became a better King; Arthur's love transformed Gwen and gave her the means to fulfill her calling to serve Camelot; Arthur and Gwen's love for each other saved them from the outside forces trying to separate and weaken them; the love between Morgause and Morgana birthed a new Morgana; Merlin's love for Arthur changed both of them forever; Arthur's love for Camelot made him The Once and Future King of Albion; and I could go on.

I loved Gaius in the episode. His words to Merlin were so sweet and deeply touching:

Merlin, I know I can never compare with your father, but for what it's worth, you've still got me.

Their scenes together felt earned due to the love, trust, and respect that existed between them. To me, the Merthur scenes were tainted by the fact that Arthur only seemed to value Merlin when their lives were at stake. Arthur and Merlin's dynamic in this episode was not their normal. Just in the previous episode, Arthur told Merlin to stick to what he did best, which was nothing.

Anyway, like I said, I loved Gaius and Gwen in the episode. I like their friendship a lot; they work well together. Gaius loved Arthur so he was happy to see him and Gwen at the infirmary. He was happy Arthur and Gwen had each other. He gave Gwen hope for the future.

I liked the symbolism of the last scene of Gwen running into Arthur's arms, and sort of "stealing" Arthur from Merlin, and Gaius going to Merlin. The person Arthur loved the most was Gwen, and the person Merlin loved the most and could always count on was Gaius. Others (Freya, Balinor) left Merlin, and Arthur was inherently unreliable since he didn't know Merlin's secret or approve of magic and, besides, his priorities were Camelot, his father, and Gwen, but Gaius was always there for Merlin. I didn't mean to say Gwen actually stole Arthur from Merlin, as in, romantically, but rather that the scene was symbolic of the fact that while Merlin lived for Arthur, Arthur lived for Camelot, Gwen, and his father first, and remained oblivious to Merlin's pain and sacrifice, which only Gaius truly knew.

Lastly, what stood out to me about Arwen's hug was Arthur's shock. Gwen had been the one to distance herself from Arthur, so I think he was taken aback by her very open display of affection. Perhaps he was also surprised that she cared for him that much.

[pyjamacryptid]

SLAY, DRAGON!! wait, oh no--

BBC Merlin + live commentary by @gabbaghouls and I from our Merlin re-watch

first | prev | next | all

[twoohugs]

BBC Merlin 2x13 The Last Dragonlord

[Click here for a full list of my BBC Merlin commentary] 

One thing I don’t get is, Kilgharrah wouldn’t want to harm Arthur, right? He just wants Uther, and he wants Arthur to become the Once and Future King with Merlin by his side. So how could he be doing something that may harm or even kill Arthur? What if Arthur actually dies?

Like, Kilgharrah: “Merlin, you have to help Arthur become the once and future king.”

Merlin: “I can’t ‘cause you killed him.”

Kilgharrah: “oopsie”

Example 4761 of Uther bringing his own downfall

Awww, Arthur, you care!

Honestly, can we all agree that this man is the true hero of the series? Leon, my man, you are the best. Also, how are you not dead yet?

One of the five hundred things I’ll never forgive the show for... Just let Merlin have one good thing FFS!

One, this again proof Arthur would be a much better king. Two, Uther: “oh shit, I can’t let them know I’m a selfish coward”. 

“If you kill me dragons will go extinct so you cannot”? Urgh, disgusting. How about YOU not try to annihilate an entire kingdom and make people want to kill you?

[coinofstone]

Combining 4x12 and 4x13 The Sword in the Stone pts 1 and 2 into one post, no commentary tracks on either episode, unfortunately.

4x12 The Sword in the Stone pt 1

I really don't mean to question any of this homoerotic comedy gold, but why has Arthur got his chainmail on before his pants? Surely chainmail is a post-trouser application?

"No one likes to be called fat, Merlin"

Arthur sitting there moping over Gwen is the biggest self own. "I look for her in the room, and she's not there. Then I remember why." Yea cuz you threw her out you DUMBASS. Sick of TV trying to make me feel sympathy for dudes who played themselves.

Can you hear the music when you see this

Such a great shot. AND a great piece of music too.

Dear reader, you're probably expecting me to make a shit ton of hypnosis jokes, and you know, you're not wrong, but first - there is something pressing that needs to be addressed:

Behold, the most awkward handshake of all time. Eoin is literally going for his bicep instead of his forearm, what even is that?!? And poor Percival, he's got one injured dumbass hanging off him on one arm, and another dumbass trying to shake his other hand like he's never seen an arm before. It looks like he's reaching up into his armpit because of the angle 😂😂 I'm cackling watching this gif loop.

Same energy:

(Gif credit not found)

THIS is why Elyan/Percival is the superior side ship:

Look at that sweet sweet chemistry. I almost always see Percival paired with Leon or Gwaine in fic and I just... how on earth can you pass this up? These two are perfect together. That LOOK Elyan gives him and Percival's giddy face as he looks over at Merlin and Arthur 😍😍😍 it looks better in the video than I can reproduce in gif

Christ, he DOES play the bimbofication well, doesn't he? "Whatever you say I'm entirely in your hands." I feel like at the time that was the line that spawned a million fanfics.

Morgana that is a magic snake, not a pen

Agravaine is so fuckin creepy. I mean I'm glad it took this long for him to go full blown creepazoid but we ALL saw it coming. Even tho he's NOT her uncle it's still gross, he's twice her age and disgusting.

How many brothers did Ygraine have anyway? Tristan I guess we'll never know but why would Agravaine really want his sister's SON dead? Fuckin royals.

Is Arthur listening for woodworm?

Why is Tristan twice Isolde's age

I miss Simpleton Arthur, but at least King Arthur looks good fighting in those tight capris

Arthur's all moody about Agravaine betraying him and Merlin is so supportive. If I were Merlin I would've been dropping "I told you so's" left and right.

What I don't get, is if Merlin knew Gwen has been in Ealdor, why has he never told Arthur this?

Gotta figure the people of Ealdor are not gonna be too happy about their village coming under attack cuz King Arthur is hiding out there. He's not even their king 😂

4x13 The Sword in the Stone part two

It's weird to have what feels like a ending moment ten minutes in

Tristan is such a dick

Won't eating moldy bread just make Gaius sicker

Hey um... how did Arthur get his clothes back? Did he keep a spare set in Ealdor? You know, for all those times he visits Hunith with Merlin? What's that you say, I'm getting fanon confused with canon again? Am I though?

Actual scene from when Merlin was telling Arthur the Bruta coda:

Omgggg the way he looks at Merlin's mouthhhhhhhhh before he goes to try and pull the sword from the stone

This is probably the second most iconic scene in the series, after the round table scene

and yes, I realize I'm going to hell for this but I can't be the only pervert watching this and thinking about how incredibly ... phallic it is.

There's a whole other level of subtext to this. Not just the phallic imagery but Merlin literally leading a doubtful Arthur to this ... performance space in front of a crowd, where Merlin is in full control of what's about to happen - and he guides Arthur through the motions, encouraging and confidence boosting, until Arthur becomes the truest version of his self. I say Merlin is in control but that's not even entirely accurate, he's only in control of releasing the sword from the stone, but that in and of itself is of no consequence; the power in this scene lies with Arthur, in his faith in himself - which is what Merlin is really helping him reclaim; the sword is just metaphor.

But am I supposed to believe that this subtext isn't intentional? Especially immediately after Merlin had Arthur in a trance-like state where he became more pliant and willing to be led?

My god if I were involved in this fandom when this was airing this episode would've made me lose my MIND.

Daaaamn Leon coming on a bit strong there but okay.

Nice to know that Morgana Pendragon, last priestess of the Old Religion, powerful Socereress and current ruler of Camelot, freezes and whimpers in terror at the first glimpse of an unexpected octogenarian in her castle.

I never watched any cast interviews beyond the SDCC panel that was in the S3 extras but I really want to know where that little laugh Old Man Merlin does came from. That little 'heh' is just the greatest thing ever, I'm dying to know if he based that on anyone or anything in particular.

Hey remember in S2 when Morgana got a whole bunch of hairbrushes for her birthday? Bet she wishes she knew where those had got to now.

This brief moment between Gwen and Arthur is actually perfect. Arthur has for so long gone been brooding about how he loves her but he's angry, even though we, the audience, know he has no business blaming her, none of the fucking characters do, including Gwen. But Gwen has also been through a lot, and he's given her zero benefit of doubt the whole time. So watching her march up to him and angrily tell him that she still loves him, then walking away without letting him speak - him, the king, her, leaving the 'tho God knows why since you behave like such an ass' unsaid at the end. It's really a beautiful, perfect moment.

Arthur: what happened to you, Morgana?

Morgana:

We love a mirror corridor fight scene

Percival and Elyan tho 😍😍

"Hold me"

No parallels there, nope, not at all.

Arthur: will you marry me?

The castle staff: christ, not again

Merlin's got himself a new coat for the occasion and everything!

Why is it that Merlin never checked on Aithusa? Never even asked Kilgharrah about her? You'd think he would've felt some kind of obligation, as the last Dragonlord, towards her. Yes I'm going with 'her' don't @ me it's hc.

As per usual, if there's anything worth commenting on in the special features for S4 I will create a separate post.

[poli-z]

I am the dragonlord! Part 1 I did my best editing this with the voices.

[wtfzodiacsigns]

the signs as fortune street characters’ board commentary

ARIES: “Bwah hah hah! Lava everywhere! The only way this could get better is if someone fell in!” - Bowser, Mt. Magmageddon

TAURUS: “I’m getting a faint whiff of…eau de vine, is it? Is that your perfume? Very classy. I’ll have to get a name off you.” - Stella, Castle Trodain

GEMINI: “Oh, look at that little old castle! Isn’t it adorable? Say, I wonder if the owner would let me set up a party planning branch in the town?” - Patty, Peach’s Castle

CANCER: “There’s nothing like a big strong man to- Hey! That’s just a statue! But I gave it my number…” - Birdo, The Colossus

LEO: “Argh! That stupid sun is blinding me! Think you can outshine the great Waluigi, do ya, sun?!” - Waluigi, Delfino Plaza

VIRGO: “Look at this picturesque little town! I remember the time I cleaned it top to bottom!” - Mario, Delfino Plaza

LIBRA: “That statue is certainly imposing. Maybe they should soften it up with a little lip gloss…” - Princess Peach, The Colossus

SCORPIO: “Spawn of contumelious constellations? I shall banish the stars one by one, till the one true darkness hath won!” - Dragonlord, Delfino Plaza

SAGITTARIUS: “Bwah hah hah! So this is the place to change my vocation, huh? Sure, why not! Sign me up as a Master Fool-Stomper!” - Bowser, Alltrades Abbey

CAPRICORN: “I’m gonna snatch up every last Yoshi on that island and sell ‘em to a collector! I’ll be rich!” - Wario, Yoshi’s Island

AQUARIUS: “A castle way up high in the sky!? I bet they’ve got some magic bananas around here!” - Donkey Kong, The Observatory

PISCES: “Whew! This place looks friendly enough. I actually think it’s smiling at me!” - Toad, Slimenia

Source: highlyspecificsigns

[spiritofcamelot]

In a land of myth, and a time of magic, the destiny of a great kingdom rests on the shoulders of a young man. His name… Merlin.

Summary: The young warlock, Merlin, arrives in Camelot, a kingdom where “saucery!” is outlawed, meets a vague-as-hell dragon and a royal prat - and shit happens (namely destiny).

“I laughed. I cried. I had a complete mental breakdown.” - The Merlin Fandom

Note: All series links are for DL. For streaming links, I suggest this, or, if you have Netflix, S1-4 are currently available. Alt. links for DL can be found here for S1-4 (*S4 not in 720p). Also, if any links in this post are broken/removed, feel free to let me know so I can attempt to update.

Season 1 (OST)

01 The Dragon’s Call 02 Valiant 03 The Mark of Nimueh 04 The Poisoned Chalice 05 Lancelot 06 A Remedy to Cure All Ills 07 The Gates of Avalon 08 The Beginning of the End 09 Excalibur 10 The Moment of Truth 11 The Labyrinth of Gedref 12 To Kill the King 13 Le Morte d’Arthur

Season 2 (OST)

01 The Curse of Cornelius Sigan 02 The Once and Future Queen 03 The Nightmare Begins 04 Lancelot and Guinevere 05 Beauty and the Beast (pt. 1) 06 Beauty and the Beast (pt. 2) 07 The Witchfinder 08 The Sins of the Father 09 The Lady of the Lake 10 Sweet Dreams 11 The Witch’s Quickening 12 The Fires of Idirsholas 13 The Last Dragonlord

Season 3 (OST)

01 The Tears of Uther Pendragon (pt. 1) 02 The Tears of Uther Pendragon (pt. 2) 03 Goblin’s Gold 04 Gwaine 05 The Crystal Cave 06 The Changeling 07 The Castle of Fyrien 08 The Eye of the Phoenix 09 Love in the Time of Dragons 10 Queen of Hearts 11 The Sorcerer’s Shadow 12 The Coming of Arthur (pt. 1) 13 The Coming of Arthur (pt. 2)

Season 4 (*all episodes in 720p) (OST)

01 The Darkest Hour (pt. 1) 02 The Darkest Hour (pt. 2) 03 The Wicked Day 04 Aithusa 05 His Father’s Son 06 A Servant of Two Masters 07 The Secret Sharer 08 Lamia 09 Lancelot du Lac 10 A Herald of the New Age 11 The Hunter’s Heart 12 The Sword in the Stone (pt. 1) 13 The Sword in the Stone (pt. 2)

Season 5 (*all episodes in 720p)

01 Arthur’s Bane (pt. 1) 02 Arthur’s Bane (pt. 2) 03 The Death Song of Uther Pendragon 04 Another’s Sorrow 05 The Disir 06 The Dark Tower 07 A Lesson in Vengeance 08 The Hollow Queen 09 With All My Heart 10 The Kindness of Strangers 11 The Drawing of the Dark 12 The Diamond of the Day (pt. 1) 13 The Diamond of the Day (pt. 2)

Extras & Misc.:

◆Merlin Extras Masterpost by clotpolewithabox    ➥ A masterpost of several DVD extras from Merlin including Behind the Scenes, Deleted Scenes, Bloopers, and the beloved Video Diaries. ◆ Audio Commentary here & here    ➥ Audio commentary by the cast, directors and producers. ◆Translation of Spells    ➥ An incredibly interesting guide to translating/understanding/interpreting spells used on Merlin.  ◆Spells via Merlin Wikia    ➥ More spell translations ◆Arthurian Legend Starter Guide by phantasmagoricsplendor    ➥ A thorough and well-organized collection of works about Arthurian legend and lore. ◆Disney’s The Sword in the Stone (stream)    ➥ In case you wanted to relive some of your childhood.

[weakforarwen]

The Last Dragonlord

This was a very good episode! In a way, I still believe episodes 12 and 13 should’ve been switched around, but this episode has a much bigger emotional payoff, and significance to Merlin. There are also a lot more important scenes between the characters; in the last episode, most of them were unconscious.  

Starting with Arwen, Arthur saved Gwen, because she was being a badass and endangering herself to help others, but got injured in the process. It wasn’t even Arthur throwing himself at Gwen to save her that I loved the most, but him grabbing her hand and dashing off with her to safety. Later, in the makeshift hospital, when Arthur tells Gwen he wouldn’t have let anything happen to her, he holds her hand against his heart... Hand-holding can be very personal to me. There’s also the reunion scene, where Gwen runs into Arthur’s arms, that is pretty significant. She did it in public, so I’m not sure if the knights just decided to never speak of it or if they assumed Gwen was just being a fangirl. It’s funny that Uther was watching Arthur arrive, so he almost saw him and Gwen. Also, it turns out Merlin is not the only Arwen shipper. Gaius is one too! Gaius assumed Gwen was sad because she missed Morgana, but she was just concerned over Arthur. Although Gwen doesn’t believe Arthur and her can ever be, Gaius disagrees: “Never underestimate the power of love”... Morgana says something similar to Gwen in The Dark Tower: ”Don’t underestimate Arthur’s feelings for you”, or something along those lines. But Morgana is definitely not an Arwen shipper - she is, as always, the opposite of Merlin: trying to break them up while Merlin tries to keep them together. 

Speaking of Uther (terrible segue, apologies), but he’s really a cold-hearted bastard. He must’ve known it was him that the dragon was exacting his revenge on, yet he didn’t for one minute think to offer himself up in return for the safety of his people. He could’ve tried to negotiate with the dragon, to beg for mercy, but of course he didn’t, Uther never apologizes and Uther is never wrong. 

Poor Merlin, he lost his father twice to Uther. How he can save Uther after what he did to his father is beyond me. Poor baby is always suffering. His scenes with his father were so touching! He was so disappointed in his father at first, but then he was so happy to be able to call someone “dad”. He couldn’t even grieve his father properly because of Arthur. He had to wipe away his tears and pretend all was well. That’s cruel.

Arthur is sweeter than usual with Merlin this episode. He tries to reach out to him when he’s being quiet on their way to the last dragonlord, but, of course, Merlin can’t share his thoughts. Each season, there’s always an episode where Arthur tells Merlin they’d be good friends in another life. He obviously sees Merlin as a friend, but is not dense enough to know they aren’t equals. But it’s not just that Arthur’s the prince and Merlin’s the servant, Arthur doesn’t know Merlin’s secret, so Merlin can’t talk to him about what’s bothering him 90% of the time. It’s a very one-sided friendship, thank god for Gaius. But Arthur and Merlin are still very cute, even if Arthur has the emotional intelligence of a spoon sometimes, as Hermione would say. That slap on the chest/back/arms thing he does to Merlin is peak bro behavior. 

Arthur takes the credit for slaying the dragon, but he did prove his worth many times throughout the episode. I guess Merlin was okay with Arthur stealing his thunder again for that reason. But I personally would’ve gone insane with the lack of validation. Imagining risking yourself every day, accomplishing miracles, saving everyone, being so powerful, only to have someone else take the credit for your deeds and to be seen by most as “dispensable” and foolish. How did Merlin not go insane? How did he remain humble? He probably only stayed sane because he’d been brainwashed into believing his sacred duty was to secretly help Arthur, and that Arthur was the only thing that gave his life any meaning. If he didn’t believe he was worthless without Arthur, he would’ve seen he deserved a lot better and that he was too powerful to just follow orders. 

There is something I didn’t like about the episode though: Merlin’s dragonlord voice. I hate it when he uses that weird, deeper voice to call on a dragon. It sounds ridiculous and the spells are always so long too. I also didn’t understand why the dragon attacked Arthur when he’d spent all this time trying to help Merlin protect him. Did he know Arthur would be okay? What did he have to gain by helping Arthur only to kill him later? Revenge? 

[coinofstone]

2x13 The Last Dragonlord

I really appreciate that this picks up 2 days into the dragon's scourge. We were shown that Merlin knew what would happen if he set Khilgarrah free; he chose to do it anyway. There was no reason to pick up ten minutes later when everyone is scrambling trying to get a defense together while Uther demands to know how he got free. The little time jump that puts us right into the thick of it was exactly the right creative call imo.

Why IS the dragon going after Arthur? And how does nobody hear him yelling at Merlin about his magic?

Arthur taking off his gloves and sitting down in a pained relief while Uther goes off about 'rid ourselves of this aberration' is a mood. He's fighting off a damn dragon all night and then doing admin all morning while his dad is there all fresh and clean and conveniently ignoring the fact that it's HIS pet that's got out and is murdering people and destroying the castle. Like how about you do whatever you did to capture it in the first place, again?

Lol @ Gaius 'Bee tee dubs I've known who your pops is this whole time, he's not only alive but also a Dragonlord, which isn't something I thought fit to you tell you in all that time you were having campfire chats with the great dragon Uther's kept chained up in the basement for twenty years! Safe journey!'

Wtf with Arthur's magical moving bed. What were they thinking with that staging. Also, this is why you don't throw pillows at ppl. He throws his pillow at Merlin and now he must lay there pillowless.

Merlin's known his dad for five minutes and he's already lying to him about his boyfriend.

Balinor said, 'let Uther die, let Camelot fall' and Merlin is like, disappointed? But wtf did he expect? Dude lives in a cave cuz Uther's pursued him so far in an attempt to rid the world of Dragonlords. Like why would his indifference shock you?

Arthur's just blatantly flirting with Merlin in that campfire scene.

Merlin wins the award for 'most awkward and drawn out familial confession ever'

I do feel for Merlin. He's so awkward and hopeful and clearly romanticizing the perceived 'missing piece' in his life/upbringing, as tho it were a magic fix for everything that's ever gone wrong in his life. It's painful to watch, partly because Colin plays it so well.

Arthur and Merlin were gone for at least as long as the dragon had been attacking Camelot when they left. At the point when they retuned Camelot would've been under attack for the better part of a week. Kind of shocked Uther didn't have a bunch of knights turn deserters, thinking Arthur's been sent away to preserve the royal lineage.

Arthur's just blatantly flirting again. It's hard not to think he's being so free with his affection because he's fairly goddamn certain they're both going to die. I guess the argument could be made that facing a dragon who is literally burning your castle down around you might've just put things in perspective for Arthur - but really, I doubt it. They're heading back to a Camelot that's been under siege by an unkillable, fire- breathing, flying beast, for days, after having left the only man on earth who could've saved them, who refused to assist them. And Arthur is sitting there downright giddy teasing Merlin. That, my friends, is the *true* face of defeat. The further example is when Arthur is suiting up to go try and fight the dragon in a clearing outside the castle, and he's like, sort of trying to say goodbye to Merlin but also kind of flirting and playing up their usual banter - it's gallows humor, clearly. And the way he melts and doesn't even put up a token objection when Merlin says he's going with him. JUST MAKE OUT ALREADY but it's very much like that absurdist - I don't want to say nihilism, but essentially, acceptance that the odds are overwhelmingly NOT in their favor, and that they're probably going to die and nothing can be done to save them or Camelot. Once you reach that point, you've really only got two options: a) die mad b) live. Arthur really seems to be taking the latter approach, and I'm here for it.

Gotta admit, it was very courteous of Kilgharrah to come meet the knights in that clearing instead of just flying over them to take another pass at destroying the castle with Uther inside it.

That dragon said 'tonight, I'm have bbq knight'. Also I've always kinda given them shit because Leon supposedly went out with them for this, and all the knights lined up to get flambéd yet Leon is ever present in following seasons - but if you actually watch carefully it's Arthur, Merlin, and another knight that get knocked off their horses by the dragon's tail. I may or may not have rewound that part half a dozen times just now to be sure. Looks like two knights on the ground unconscious by Arthur's side.

So. Okay. I understand finding his dragon voice and I understand the whole inherent- language thing, I understand Merlin showing the dragon mercy and letting him go, I understand everything said between them and that's all fine. What I don't understand is how in the holy hell Merlin let him go without demanding answers. Answers to why he wanted to destroy all of Camelot, when he'd spent the last however many years helping Merlin save it, and save Arthur, in order to bring about their destiny. Answers to why he didn't just fucking kill Uther, why attack the lower town? Why attack Arthur who again, he'd repeatedly helped Merlin save, because he's supposed to bring peace and magic to Albion etc? Like HOW IN THE FUCK are you really just gonna let the fucker fly off without explaining himself? Maybe it's just me.

HC: Arthur was so relieved and elated when Merlin told him he'd dealt the dragon a mortal blow, Merlin came over to help him up off the ground but Arthur pulled him down and rolled him over in the grass instead.

Uther watching from the window like a maiden in a tower 🤦‍♀️ get fuuuuuuucked

Big season finale and no commentary track? 😕 probably cuz it was too gay to ignore the gay so they thought it best to just not say anything.

DVD extras in lieu of commentary track:

My favourite part of any of these BTS things are the little tidbits about the horses. And the terrible jokes.

I'm a little bit freaked out by how much Johnny Capps looks like my city councilman? I've never seen him before. If he was in the first season's extras I didn't notice him.

Why is "Cast and crew introduction to S2" on the last disc of the box set?

Googling instead of watching and I've discovered these guys did Atlantis after Merlin, which is a show I randomly started watching and fell in love with and was devastated when it got canceled so quickly.

The "secrets and magic" special feature seems to be an episode-by-episode BTS thing, which I wish I had known earlier as I would've just gone back and forth to watch the feature after the corresponding episode. Since it's too late for that now, and the runtime for the entire feature is nearly three goddamn hours, I'm just going to slog through one single separate post for the entire thing. It'll be posted late tonight or tomorrow. But I'm 1000000% checking the S3 extras BEFORE I start watching the season.

[coinofstone]

3x01 The Tears of Uther Pendragon pt 1

(Since there's commentary for this episode, I will not be combining 3x01 and 3x02 into a single post.)

The double fisted callback shots are interesting. First, Arthur & co walking into a deserted camp only to be ambushed, complete with whizzing crossbow bolts (have you learned NOTHING) which is essentially the same exact scene as in 2x11 The Witch's Quickening when they come upon Alvarr's camp. It's a neat nod to the audience, who already know that Morgana wasn't exactly captured, she was (from Morgause's perspective anyway) rescued after Merlin tried to kill her. So calling back to that ambush sequence is a nice way to signal to the audience that Morgana is once again knowingly and willfully colluding with Uther's enemies in a plot to destroy him, despite all the dialogue giving the impression that she needs rescuing. That Morgana had in fact aided in setting the trap for Arthur & co is both further pushed by and contrasted with the second callback, when she emerges from the woods looking like a hot mess. This references 2x04 Lancelot and Guinevere when Morgana had in fact been actually captured, but she managed to escape and find Arthur who'd been out looking for her. The difference of course being that Morgana is full of shit this time, but repeating that moment is a clever way of demonstrating Morgana's intent to trick everyone into believing she's the same damsel in distress she'd once been, while we, the audience, know she isn't.

Uther's unquestioning acceptance of Morgana's return is irksome. I know it's been over a year but has he just forgotten that she helped Alvarr escape? It was made perfectly clear that he knew and that they were at odds with one another, yet it's like none of that ever happened. He's just thrilled to have her back and has no memory of any of those events.

Drunk!emo!Uther is amusing as hell. Also a little odd that they're worried about explaining Uther's behavior at the well as tho they didn't have the perfectly viable excuse of him having been drunk off his ass and emotional about Morgana's return.

Morgana being a dick to Gwen even as she tries to convince everyone else that she's back to her old self is just as confounding as Uther's lack of suspicion.

I love Tom Ellis. Everyone loves him for Lucifer, and you can definitely see some early shades of Lucifer in Cenred, but he will forever be Gary to me. Idk why Lucifans aren't all over Miranda, I mean just look at what you're all missing:

What's not to love?

I can understand Morgana leaving the sentry alive by accident, but why in God's name would she leave her dagger after stabbing him?

You'd think the king would have better security while he's ill, and servants competent enough to notice motor oil dripping onto the floor under his bed.

I cannot adequately express how much I LOVE Morgana's calling out Merlin after he's followed her to her meeting with Morgause. "Did you really think I was that stupid, Merlin?" YES HE DID, BECAUSE EVERYONE ELSE INEXPLICABLY SEEMS TO BE. Merlin is clumsy as fuck and yet somehow he's the stealthiest dude in Camelot. I looooove Morgana calling that shit out 😂

I know she's evil and stuff but Morgause is so cool.

Merlin rockin the wackest shibari of all time. It's a little hard to see but they've got it wrapping his legs as they're bent too. That can't have been very comfortable to film in.

Roasted scorpion, offical delicacy of Camelot.

I know it's stupid to question the summoning of a talking dragon via a magical language but honestly I can't help myself wondering whether Kilgharrah hears Merlin or if it's like, dragon-radio where wherever that language is spoken by a Dragonlord, every dragon can hear it? Cuz either way I still have questions.

Commentary by Bradley and Katie.

They've made comments about the weather during the first scene and then promptly forgotten they're supposed to be doing commentary 😂 apparently it's they were brought in to do this very early in the morning during the last week of filming, which probably explains why they're so quiet.

Cracking jokes on shirtless Arthur, and how Gawain puts him to shame later on, then going on about how he's got the best hair in Camelot.

I love that Katie asks how Bradley did the blindfolded swordfight then doesn't let him answer😂 I would've liked to know how exactly they coordinated that

So for S3 they built additional corridor stages in Wales to reduce the amount of time they spend shooting in France. Katie's disappointed by that, but Bradley was happy it meant he got to go home to watch more of the world cup, except that England did horribly that year - Katie is surprised to learn the world cup happened that year 😂

I normally love Katie on these things but I think because Bradley's not entirely awake his storytelling is a bit slower or more drawn out, and Katie keeps cutting him off so he keeps like, dropping stories halfway told. This annoys me for two reasons: I'm a woman whose friend group is mostly men, who do this to me irl ALL THE TIME and it's INCREDIBLY annoying, so I'm over-relating to Bradley in this moment. And also, because I really would've liked to hear the rest of these stories! What did Tom Ellis do at the read through! Why does it make no sense that Sir Leon is alive? I counted bodies of least two knights that didn't get burned. HOW DID THEY DO THE BLINDFOLDED SWORD FIGHT. Let the man speak

Bradley makes fun of Colin for being overly excited by how great the music was during the episode screening they did.

They've talked more about Bradley having a stretch than they did about the entire episode.

He's got a really irritating laugh, not in general but like just this one particular sort of shrieking bark that irks me.

You can tell they were DONE with the commentary because they wrapped it up before the credits actually started 😂