The Syfy channel recently announced its plans to air the second season of Merlin, the British fantasy series that NBC aired last summer (where the ratings were dismal).
In short, American viewers will finally get to see what happens next in this brand spankin’ new version of Camelot.
Just to bring everyone up to speed, in this Smallville-tinged re-imagining, the action is set before Arthur ascends to the throne, and he and Merlin, a closet-case sorceror acting as Arthur’s servant, are the same age. The kingdom is ruled with an iron fist by the magic-hating Uther (Buffy’s Anthony Stewart Head), but Uther is secretly undermined by his trusted friend Gaius, who is training Merlin in the arts of magic.
Uther’s ward is the beautiful Morgana, who is starting to recognize magical powers of her own, and her best friend and lady-in-waiting is the kind-hearted Guinevere.
Much of the fun of any retelling of Arthurian legend is the different spin put on specific characters, events, places, etc. None of the leads are similar to most versions we’re accustomed to, and the first season brought us Nimue as a wicked sorceress, Lancelot as a commoner aspiring to be a knight, and Avalon as a haven for evil things.
So what does the future hold for this series set in the past? (Minor spoiler alert.)
For one, we finally begin to see an attraction grow between Arthur and Guinevere, and Morgana becomes more aware of her powers, thus setting her on the road to become Morgan le Fey. Morgause, Arthur’s villainous aunt (or half-sister depending on who’s telling the tale), will appear, and that darned dragon that’s chained up beneath the castle finally gets free.
One of the strengths of the first season was the way the writers used standard Arthurian legend as a jumping point for their own imaginations, and thus we were treated to a lot of stories set in this world that never felt tired or overused.
The four young leads are incredibly charming, and Colin Morgan is a fun and quirky young wizard. And in my humble opinion, one of the best aspects of the show was the very Buffy-like set-up of teenagers fighting the forces of evil, while under the tutelage of a rather crusty old mentor. And that Anthony Stewart Head is in it only makes it sweeter.
Merlin begins airing on the Syfy channel Friday, April 2nd.
The trailer for Merlin, Season Two
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Scroll down to the next section is you don’t want to know what Being Human viewers are currently seeing across the pond.
(By the way, if anyone understands why Annie is so keen to help other ghosts pass over, but is herself desperate not to, let me know in the comments, yeah?)
A: The Oracle could not agree with you more! If there’s one thing that turns the Oracle into a Christmas Scrooge faster than anything, it’s, well, yet another production of this sweet, but wildly-over-told tale.
A: A fallen angel who is, more or less, the literal embodiment of evil? No. The ancient Hebrews, from whom the idea of Satan originated, possessed great wisdom, and their religious stories contain impressive metaphorical truths, but their literal understanding of the world was flat-out wrong in almost every respect: the world is not flat, the sun does not revolve around the Earth, a flood never covered the planet, you couldn’t live inside a whale for three days, and on and on and on.
That said, many religions and cultures do contain the concept of some sort of physical embodiment of evil. But the Oracle would argue that this is merely a way for humans to make sense of the concept of evil, and to instruct others on the nature of evil — not evidence that such a being really exists. After all, all these “beings” are so different from each other as to be absolutely irreconcilable.
Q: You said in another question that you can order the season 1 DVD of Merlin on Amazon UK. If, hypothetically, other DVDs from Britain have played on our DVD player, and if, hypothetically, I have a cousin studying abroad in England right now, would it be a good idea to have her smuggle Merlin into the US for me? — Wynne
The first season of Merlin came to an end last night with the airing of two episodes: “To Kill the King,” in which Morgana goes postal on Uther, and “Le Morte de Arthur,” in which Arthur is critically injured by a mystical beast and Merlin learns that he can only be saved by making a deal with a practitioner of “old” magic, which requires the exchange of a life for a life.
Merlin’s magical ability was infuriatingly ill-defined, expanding or contracting based on the needs of the particular episode (and sometimes the particular scene!). In the finale, Nimueh was at first able to brush aside Merlin’s magic with a shrug … and then, after getting a little angry, he proceeded to destroy her with the same magic. WTF?
The most notable thing about the episode is the rather shocking amount of “hoyay” (or would-be gay subtext) in it. People have been telling me for weeks that this show can be read on two levels, and after last night’s episode, I’m never going to deny it again.
Anyway, Merlin is mystified by the curse. “If it’s magic, it must be more powerful magic than I possess,” he says, which is saying something, given that he’s done some pretty amazing things so far in this series (not counting the lame “wind” spell in the previous episode).
Now we’re finally getting somewhere!
Anyway, while Uther is plotting to take on the Black Knight, Merlin goes to see the dragon, who helps him forge a sword for Arthur so powerful that it can even kill the dead.
