The Soon To Be Lost Land...

….of Camelot.  The BBC series Merlin ends this season.  Actually it has already ended across the Pond.  We catch it on SyFy here so we are still on board for a few more eps.   So, my cozy little world also known as Camelot redone, where Arthurian legend comes to life but way differently than the traditional versions, will be no more. 
Sam and I are both suckers for anything magical and he is an Arthurian expert who doesn’t mind at all a diversion from the purist path of the “traditional”story.  
 
I will miss this show immensely.  It unfolded like a neat little lotus flower with a dragon inside.  You knew the dragon was there and would eventually light you up but that was part of the charm.  It can be (and usually is at least in part) lighthearted and funny. It can be foreboding and dark.  It is PG enough for the family to watch, but interesting enough for a darkling enjoy.  It reminds me a bit of things I watched as a child that no one else was interested in.  Or of listening to the older kids talk about Dungeons and Dragons and wanting so bad to play but being forbidden by my mom to even begin.  

There is a great deal of it that is simplistic enough for TV and for whatever reason rather than making me think…meeehhhhh….it makes me feel like cuddling up with a dog (or a gargoyle) by the fire and embracing some kind of innocence.  Some kind of thing that says – tell me a story and make it have magic. 
 
THIS show is my Harry Potter.   

It presents a different set of circumstances.  First, Guinevere is more often known as Gwen and is a personal aide to Morgana who, by the way, in the beginning of our journey, is nearly impossible not to like. Until it becomes impossible to not wonder, as Arthur now does, what on earth happened to make her
so vile?  There is a dragon.  And a baby dragon.  Lancelot is hardly a factor.  Until at some point he is. 
But only barely.  There is an old guy who knows some magic, a bunch of knights of course.  But even they are different than historically portrayed.  For instance, Gwaine, my hands down favorite knight in the series, has no knowledge of herbs beyond barley and hops (LOL) and his strength definitely does not lessen as the day dwindles.  

And Merlin himself is not the wise wizard you think him to be.  He is more like a young, bumbling
fool.  But he can talk to dragons.  And do some mighty powerful magic as it turns out.  There are unicorns,
banshees, trolls, horses and swords.  There are spells and tinctures and powders, potions and all manner of odd happenings.  There are castles and villages, journeys to dark lands and yes, there IS a lake and a sword.  
 
All in all this little show has been one of my favorite escapes for the past five years.  I’m not sure how I will fill a void left behind from all the stuff above.  Except that they hint there may be spin-offs?  

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