How do you solve a problem like Merlin?
Posted 8 January 10 by Scott Andrews
For a telly show to survive long term it has to reinvent itself pretty regularly. This can take the form of cast changes – Spooks is the current master of this – or, more risky, format changes.
A format change is damn hard to pull off. I can think of a handfull of shows that have done it well. Buffy did, moving from High School to College and beyond. The Avengers did it, too, as did Angel (when they joined Wolfram and Hart), Secret Army (when they opened a restaurant), Callan (when he became Hunter). And of course the classic example is Doctor Who.
But more often a format change spells the end for a show – Buck Rogers in the 25th Century springs most readily to (my obviously diseased) mind, but Beauty and the Beast went wildly off piste too, as did Bergerac (he lives in London now but, ooh, every case co-incidentally takes him back to Jersey!)
Sometimes, though the change can be more subtle but just as necessary. I’m thinking of shows that change the power dynamic between the characters, especially shows with two main leads.
Which brings us to Merlin – WARNING spoilers for the season two finale!
I love Merlin. It’s simple, straightforward and incredibly old school. It sits squarely in the tradition of old shows like Sir Lancelot and the 50s Robin Hood. Indeed, SFX aside, you could take an episode of Merlin back to the 1950s, put it on in the same timeslot on the BBC light programme and the audience wouldn’t be thrown for much of a loop, I reckon.
But it has one big problem. Its initial premise – young wizard lives in castle run by fanatically anti-magic King Uther, and secretly uses magic to protect him and his son, Arthur, even though Uther would kill him if he finds out his secret – is unsustainable. It works for a season, and that’s it. Because after a while, credibility stretches to breaking point.
There’s only so long the audience will believe that characters have failed to notice really REALLY obvious clues. And as for the way they keep getting knocked out at the exact moment our hero steps up to the plate, only to regain consciousness moments later and believe Merlin’s patently ludicrous explanations for the sudden disappearance of the dragon/witch/monster – well, it’s getting silly.
Season two has been fun, and has had some standout moments, but the framework of the show began to creak alarmingly at times.
The solution is obvious – the format has to shift, albeit only slightly. Arthur has to discover Merlin’s secret and agree to keep it from his father. It’s the only logical progression, and it opens rich and exciting new seams of drama for the show to mine.
I felt sure that was where the writers were going in the finale. The increasing closeness and friendship between the two characters, the way the dragon wipes out everyone except Arthur and Merlin, leaving them to stand against it alone and unobserved – surely Merlin would have to save Arthur’s life by betraying his secret. Surely the season would end on the blinding cliffhanger of Arthur and Merlin staring at each other in the moonlit clearing, all their secrets bared, wondering where this leaves them. What a great ending, and what a great setup for a reinvigorated and exciting third year.
But they bottled it. Arthur was knocked out, again, and Merlin’s secret remains safe. This raises the worrying spectre of a third season where they try to soldier on with a format that has become a millstone around their necks.
Evolve or die, that’s the rule. Merlin is good telly, but it’s got one last chance at greatness, and that requires some authorial courage. Otherwise a rapid decline seems inevitable, and that would be a crying shame, and a waste of a really enjoyable series.
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