Worst series finale I've ever seen - Merlin (2009) Discussion

[–] 12 years ago

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[–] jackpotpaul 12 years ago

Great..... I'm up to episode four of the final season of Robin Hood. I just can't seem to pick 'em.

🎬 That's a wrap boys.

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[–] 12 years ago

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[–] jackpotpaul 12 years ago

No problem. I expected as much.

🎬 That's a wrap boys.

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[–] 12 years ago

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[–] DYouKnowWhatIMean 11 years ago

At least Robin Hood accomplished his goal and purpose.

Merlin - I am a sorcerer, I have magic

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[–] dap_125 12 years ago

I don't think the ending was that bad. I did expect more fireworks between Morgana and Merlin. I didn't expect Arthur to die; he was supposed to be the king that did great things to unite the people. I think the writers were expecting a spin-off. The last scene had Merlin walking by the place were he laid Arthur to rest seemed to indicate it wasn't over.

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[–] hellshallbemine 12 years ago

I think it was that last part of old Merlin walking in modern-day Britain which made it the worst finale. It showed that after all these centuries, Arthur still hadn't risen yet. If there was ever any hope that it "wasn't over," that last scene ruined it.

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[–] Yorkegal 12 years ago

I could not agree more with how disappointing this series finale was. It has left a bitter taste in my mouth and I'm still shaking my head thinking, "What was this series all about?" Merlin never accomplished anything he set out to do, we never got to see this destiny that was the crux of the show realized, we never got see Merlin and Arthur "ruling" together, Arthur never became a great King, Gwen apparently ushered in the Golden Age, Merlin never showed a hint of "Emrys" or why he'd be so revered and the stuff of legends. Really, in the end, what did Merlin do other than knock people backwards and drop the occasional branch on the baddie's head?

"I wouldn't say I'm superstitious, maybe just a little bit stitious"

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[–] dakija3 12 years ago

I agree! This was by far the worse series finale ever! I hate that i wasted my time with this show. Ugh!!

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[–] benmasta 11 years ago

whoa there, you obviously havent seen the dexter series finale if you think its the worst series finale ever. lmao

this really was a terrible seriesfinale tho. I mean they killed some many people needlessly in the last season. I mean, killing gwaine was so bad. He died in a bad way for his character, AND he betrayed arthur in the end too cause he couldnt resist the pain.

I mean, gwens bro, gwaine, arthur, and whoever else but all of those characters died in such cheesey ways. They became in more bad taste as the series went on.

It was seriously like the writers like oh ur cancelling us eh well *beep* the fans then ill make sure you get less dvd sales *beep* ill lose money just to *beep* on you! i am a writer for merlin and i am *beep* all over the fans because i dont give a *beep* about giving them what theyve been waiting for i just want as much drama as we can fit in a 2 parter!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

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[–] skoobydoo6789 9 years ago

I'm still mad that they killed Gwaine. He was one of my favorite characters.

If it's all the same to you, I'll have that drink now.-Loki (Marvel's Avengers)

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[–] mariaclaudiacrispin 11 years ago

I couldn't agree more. I have felt exactly the same, almost as If anything he had done was worth it.

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[–] jennifer-colot 12 years ago

As a TV show, this was a very sad ending. But if you guys go back and read the original Arthurian legends, Arthur does die by Morderd's hands. They missed the entire part about the Holy Grail, but pretty much most traditional Arthurian stories do not end happy. Yes I expected more from the fight between Merlin and Morgana, and yes I expected them to talk about how the lands were united, but I don't think magic was ever fully accepted at the of the Arthurian legends. To put simply, this was sad, but this was very true to the traditional stories.

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[–] Shadowjack1965 12 years ago

I'm not too concerned about the fact the ending followed Arthurian legend, it's more the fact that in the early seasons the writers hook you in with all the "Arthur's destiny" crap.

This sums it up best:

"Merlin never accomplished anything he set out to do, we never got to see this destiny that was the crux of the show realized, we never got see Merlin and Arthur "ruling" together, Arthur never became a great King, Gwen apparently ushered in the Golden Age, Merlin never showed a hint of "Emrys" or why he'd be so revered and the stuff of legends. Really, in the end, what did Merlin do other than knock people backwards and drop the occasional branch on the baddie's head?"

This is what was advertised, so to throw all that away and give us one more season of Morgana plotting to kill Arthur only to have Merlin secretly stop her by using magic behind a tree/pillar/horse, etc. is a let down.

Then again it was somewhat appropriate for Arthur to die considering all the times he's been conveniently knocked unconscious the last five years so that the couldn't see Merlin wielding magic I'm sure he was suffering some sort of brain damage anyway...

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[–] bloodlust_1997 12 years ago

Yeah. the ending wasn't great, but at least we got an ending. There is plenty of shows that leave fans hanging. Do not blame the writers, blame the key actors. They were the ones who said, "NO" to season/series 6. So the writers had to scramble and re-write the season 5 ending. Remember the writers of the show thought it was going to series 6, as the network offered it. The actors were tired of the show. So start shifting some of the blame to the actors.

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[–] Shadowjack1965 12 years ago

Good point, I didn't realize it was the actors. Thanks for the clarification.

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[–] Yorkegal 12 years ago

I cannot blame the actors for anything. Even if it were crystal clear that the ONLY reason the show did not go on (and long ago the creators said it was to be a 5 season arc) was because Colin and Bradley said no to another season... the writers could have still written a better ending. They could have revealed the magic earlier than the last episode, they could have written a real showdown between Merlin and Morgana, they could have had Merlin summon the dragon quickly and get Arthur to Avalon and healed (or better yet, have Emrys emerge as the great and powerful wizard by magically removing the sword piece from Arthur’s chest).

While there are so many things I would have changed, I would have been somewhat satisfied with the end being a healed Arthur and Merlin slowly walking back to Camelot together after Merlin has saved Arthur’s life… we, the audience would then know the two would begin to build the Camelot of legend and they achieve their respective destinies together. Which is all I really wanted, as I felt it was what was “promised” by the premise of the show.

"I wouldn't say I'm superstitious, maybe just a little bit stitious"

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[–] maxhampton 12 years ago

Yes kind of like Boagart and Raines at the end of Casablanca...my family and I watched every episode and sat there in disbelief..."that's it???"

Hello. My name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die

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[–] stncold223 12 years ago

The actors only didn't want another season because they were fed up with how terrible the writing was getting.

It's most evident with Colin and Katie, they gave great performances with what they were given, which consistently was crap. If I were them, I wouldn't want another season either with writers who didn't have the slightest clue with what they wanted to do and were dragging out the whole magic thing unnecessarily long.

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[–] mariaclaudiacrispin 11 years ago

Again, couldn't agree more...

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[–] sharonlynnscott 9 years ago

Yeah, Arthur and Merlin walking back to Camelot together would have been a much better ending, with the two of them together having dispatched the last of Arthur's mortal enemies. This would have fulfilled both the prophesy of Arthur dying at Mordred's hand (with Merlin managing to resuscitate Arthur at the moment of death, and the prophesy of Arthur becoming a great king and uniting everybody. In fact, though another season would have been nice, it would have only been necessary to have a final episode showing how the promise of Arthur's greatness, and all he was to have achieved came to fruition. Instead, we watched a wonderful series full of promises about how beautifully things would end--only to be betrayed in the final episode. This really sucks.

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[–] Shiva1177-2 11 years ago

It actually wasn't the actors. The show was actually cancelled from what I've read.
The creators of BBC fantasy-drama Merlin took the time near the end of their fifth season last year to announce that they had taken the show as far as they wanted to and as such wanted to end production before declining in quality, a decision which the broadcaster accepted in fairly good grace

Read more internet tv news: BBC Causes Viewer Outrage After Merlin Cancellation http://www.worldtvpc.com/blog/bbc-causes-viewer-outrage-after-merlin-cancellation/#ixzz2bA9ApRns

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[–] AceRoccola 9 years ago

Maybe they were tired of the show BECAUSE of the hack writers who spent five entire seasons writing the same idiot plots and failing to move the story forward in any meaningful way.

I do blame the writers for that. I blame them for inexplicably waiting until season 6 to ever do anything. That's on them. If they had actually given these characters something to do maybe the entire cast wouldn't have wanted so badly to move on. In fact, the crap ending - in this light - seems like little more than a petty insult to the cast. It's as if the writers were sore about them leaving so they decided to ruin the characters even more than they already had. I'll be sure to avoid anything these hacks touch in the future.

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[–] sdebesh05 12 years ago

yes i am in

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[–] terminator22 12 years ago

I've only seen two series finales as bad as Merlin: Chuck and Battlestar Galactica. All three of these finales ruined the shows.

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[–] jackpotpaul 12 years ago

Absolutely agreed.

🎬 That's a wrap boys.

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[–] parisad 11 years ago

Agreed. The last episode was good as single episode (until the last 5 minutes) but very disappointing as finale, considering that "Merlin" was meant to be a prequel of the legend, not telling the whole legend itself - and at the end they didn't tell anything, because Arthur and Merlin didn't achieve anything: where was the legendary king Arthur, exactly? where was the greatest wizard of all times, Merlin? I'm still wondering actually...

I recently watched the whole series again and the finale really ruined the show, making it a total waste in term of storyline. The only thing I'm glad for is that it ended just before becoming a real mess, because in season 5 the writing was blatantly going downhill. Now that I re-watched the whole show, I noticed that season 5 was truly a mess: confused-dull-repetitive storylines, useless filler episodes, no story-arc, no characters' development.
The show seriously needed new writers, because they were clearly loosing direction.

As you pointed out, along with "Battlestar Galactica", that's the worst finale I've ever seen - the last minutes, with Merlin in modern era, make it 100 times worse than "Robin Hood"s.

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[–] pwntrain 11 years ago

Its not the worst finale I've ever seen because there have been many shows that never have a finale. However IMHO the writers/directors 100% failed.

My wife, teen and I finished the last episode last night on Netflix. I told my wife I was hesitant to watch the last episode because I know I'm going to be disappointed, I'm already am... King Author still didn't know Merlin had magic..WTF...why did they wait so long???

WOW, I agree with every post in these forums concerning how they royally screwed this show up.

Really, if they had to cancel the show prematurely I wish the didn't follow Arthurian legend and just made up a happy good feeling open ended finale at this point. I felt Arthur and Merlin were way to young for the "end game" to take place. (Mordred killing Arthur, etc, etc)

....to conclude we loved this show to pieces and would have watched it for many years to come because there are not many shows like it. The same thing happened with Robin Hood. We would have watched that for many more seasons..... What is UP with BBC shows? Thank goodness Dr. Who has a clue.... :$

WE DESERVE A MOVIE IN CAMELOT TIMES TO REALISTICALLY FINALIZE THIS SHOW. FANS OF MERLIN WERE SHORT CHANGED.. Excalibur the movie did a better job in 140mins

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[–] candiesmother 11 years ago

Whole heartedly agree. What a disappointment. I expected perhaps a flash in the future when both were old men. Don't the writers understand that we the fans invest a lot of emotion into these characters they create and expect an ending that is deserving of this emotion. I want a do over with a proper ending.

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