Now, the reveal scene itself is everything you could want. Merlin’s tearful confession and Arthur’s reaction - ranging from incredulity, to shock, to disbelief at his own ignorance, to anger at his friend - are perfectly judged.
Our one niggle is this - why does Merlin confess now? He’s had ample chance to do it many times throughout the course of this show’s run - there have been times when revealing the truth would’ve saved his own life or the lives of others, and yet he picks this particular moment to tell Arthur all.
Yes, they’re in a tight spot and all seems lost, but isn’t that always the case on this show? You’re left with the feeling that the reveal happens simply because this is the final episode.
Of course, Merlin and Arthur’s relationship was the driving force of the show, and its evolution from mutual dislike to a true friendship based on respect was a joy to watch. Morgan and James had great on-screen chemistry, moving seamlessly from comic rapport to affecting emotionally charged scenes. Morgan in particular was excellent, crafting the development of his character believably over five series.
(Laughs) That was a lot of fun. I mean, I’d played old Merlin before – as an old guy - so when I read in the script that I was going to be playing an old woman, it was definitely a bit of a challenge. But it was very exciting getting to get the chance to play essentially three different characters in one episode. It was a lot of fun.
Colin Morgan (X)
A lot of my favourite stuff has been this season so far, but in past series I guess my favourite one was an episode called The Last Dragonlord, which was the finale of season two. It was an episode where we got to see Merlin for the first time confronting an element of his past.
Colin Morgan (X)
It’s probably my very first day – you know, being on set and that excitement and uncertainty, and the expectation of what was to come. It was just a huge adventure and I very much look back on that time as being very exciting. It was the beginning of an era.
Colin Morgan (X)
I can say nothing, really - obviously you’ll have to watch it! But what I can say is that I’m happy with it. I haven’t seen it, but filming it and reading it and whatnot, I thought, ‘Yeah - this is a good way to end the show’ - that is all I can confirm… I’m happy with it
Bradley James (X)
We were asked if we wanted to do a series six, but I’d always had in my mind that we’d kind of gone as far as we could - off the back of the five series - and I’ve always harped on about wanting to leave it on a high. I think that’s what’s been achieved this year
Bradley James (X)
“It’s very interesting and it’s a real credit to Merlin that it does that. I think it’s because it’s very, very different. The reason it works is because Merlin has a very broad, very wide audience - it’s a very unusual show in that sense.
“It has a substantial audience of men over 40 and a substantial audience of teenage girls - they both watch it! That’s unusual - I’m using those two groups as an example of the range of it.
“I think to take on The X Factor you need a very broad audience base, because there’s obviously a large proportion of the audience who don’t particularly want to watch The X Factor - there’s also a large proportion that do and don’t get me wrong, it’s a great show.
“But to get a substantial number against it, I think it’s the breadth of your audience base that will make that happen. I suppose that would be my hunch as to why it works.”
-Julian Murphy (X)
“There are legends of this - I can’t actually remember where they’re from, but there are various medieval stories about Gwen going to the dark side. Well, not quite going to the dark side, but being on the opposite side to Arthur - that would be more accurate - and those are the stories that inspired it. “It’s been great with Gwen this series because she’s so much more an active character - we knew that was going to work well and I guess this was just a development of that. But yeah, there are legends of Guinevere and Lancelot being at odds with Arthur, so we just tapped into that and then did it our own way.”
-Julian Murphy (X)
Speaking as Gaius, I feel I have mentored the young wizard as far as I can - he is much smarter and greater than me now and I am simply exhausted!
