Gotta vent about the show Merlin (spoilers)

[uebermann]

Ok so Netflix kept suggesting this show to me and it appeared to have good ratings so I finally gave it a try. I forced myself to keep watching but really didn't like the show past the first few episodes. I made it to S3 ep3 tonight and I had to call it quits.

The show is awful, which is sad because it really had a lot of potential. Essentially, its Smallville but in the times of knights, wizards, witches, and dragons. So if you liked Smallville, you'll love this show. I'd even say it almost shamelessly mimics the show to a T.

Anyways, the main problem with the show is a few very unlikable characters (that hang around) and the complete absurdity of the main characters are times that just make you think the writers were taking a break and just decided to cheat their way out of things.

Some examples. King Uther is beyond unlikeable. I know, its the point - the audience isn't supposed to like him. But they f**k never get rid of him. He's in every episode, doing something that makes you hate him even more like trying to kill children or kill innocent people any chance he gets (when anything magical is involved). And that is perfectly fine if you are going to kill the guy off. Which they hint at happening like every f**k episode. So its just a constant tease.

And pretty much every character in the show should hate him too, but its like "Oh, you did horrible even things that I will never forgive you for but....you are king so I forgive you."

One character changes in this regard but then she turns into an unlikeable character too and once again, she gets to sit around on every episode. You keep thinking she's going to do something cool and the story is going to open up some but no. It just turns into predictable shit where its basically the same thing happening over and over. And thats what really drove me away from the show. Nothing exciting happens. Nothing you don't expect. Its all so very predictable and you know how things are going to turn out before the episode is even half over.

edit: Oh, I forgot to mention all of the absurd things. Like "Merlin you can't let anyone know you use magic." Yet he uses it all the time and in groups of people and miraculously no one ever notices. "What, I'm in a huge battle with people all around me?" *does magic*
No one notices.
"What, I need to cast a spell with Arthur right in front of me? No problem!" *magic chant and casts spell*
Even though Arthur is supposed to a be a hunter and warrior, he cannot hear Merlin talking in his ear!?

And then there's one episode where they lock a powerful renegade sorcerer in a cell. And they do not bind his hands or gag his mouth! Uther, the guy that has killed thousands of magic users, has no clue how to keep them from casting spells? Come on, the guy is a f**k nut and kills people for even TALKING to sorcerers and yet he doesn't break the magic users' fingers or gag their mouths so they can't cast spells!? Bullshit. f**k lazy writing. They don't even try to hide it. Its like "Ok, well we need to let this guy escape. Lets not have Uther do anything smart like restricting him so he can break out later on. But for some reason, the sorcerer can't break out until the guards are drugged. Yeah, that sounds good."

Well, I can't watch any more of it. Its just too dumb. I cannot recommend it. I give it 4/5 grumpy cats.






Thats bad.

[PoS]

If you hated the show why did you keep watching it for so long?

[Breakage]

Is this the British show ? If so I've avoided it as it seems to be typical saturday night dreck like the awful Robin Hood series and the new (not improved) Doctor Who. Seems like I was right to do so. Weekend night TV drama is aimed at a lower IQ level... it's for folk who just watched X Factor or Z list celebrities dancing on an icey jungle or whatever crud they have on at primetime.

[Kane]

I was flipping channels and caught some of one episode...kept flipping channels. It looked like a movie made for direct video tape sales.

No thanks.

[uebermann]

[OGPhilly]

Looks like a pretty terrible show but I will take exception with one thing you mentioned Ueber. I don't think there's anything wrong with not killing off hateable evil characters. In real life, bad guys don't always get what they deserve but they usually do in TV and movies. I appreciate when television shows have the courage to not just give the audience what they want and sometimes let the bad guy off the hook.

That said, this is a shitty tv show so they will probably kill off that guy you were talking about later in the series.

[exploited]

I knew Merlin was a bad show before I was even aware of its existence.

[uebermann]

[eynon81]

[lil bit]