A Few Thoughts on Merlin (Once Upon a Time)

I wouldn’t go so far as to call this a Crimes Against… post.  For me, Once Upon a Time’s Merlin isn’t a beloved character done a disservice by the writers, nor is he a character so badly mishandled that he never really gets a chance to be.  Instead, this featured character on the show’s latest half-season is presented from the get-go as really great and amateur-hour bad at pretty much the same time.  (Merlin-related spoilers for season 5A.)

I think the best way to describe it is this:  I love the way Merlin is, but I hate the things he does.  Does this make anything resembling sense?  Let me start with a little setup, and then we’ll move on to this frustrating dichotomy.  I do really like the general slant of Merlin’s backstory.  His power isn’t innate like Emma’s or Zelena’s, but he doesn’t seek it out like Rumpel, either.  Instead, this 1000-year-old wizard is created through no intention of his own.  An age ago, Merlin is a runaway (soldier?) lost in the desert, and after his companion tries to touch the Holy Grail and is destroyed for his unworthiness, Merlin dares to ask permission to drink from the same cup.  His life is more than saved by its waters – he’s made ageless and nigh-immortal, wielding incredible power.  I like that he’s just an ordinary guy who was given power and immortality without looking for it, and that he really doesn’t have any guidance as to how to use it, instead finding things out for himself.

Okay, so that’s the Merlin we’re given.  I’ll jump to the not-so-good now and work my way back to the positives.  A number of the heroes on Once Upon a Time spend far too much of their screentime unfortunately saddled with the Idiot Ball, and Merlin, it seems, gets more than his fair share.  So many of his actions during his time on the show range from nonsensical to downright baffling.  For someone as long-lived and powerful as he is (not to mention his little gift of prophecy,) he’s remarkably prone to being played for a chump, and I just plain don’t get wide swathes of what he does.  Why does he visit Emma as a child to warn her against reforging Excalibur when he wants her to do just that in Camelot?  Why does he leave a cryptic magical voicemail for the heroes instead of talking to them when they’re right outside, and for that matter, why does he say Nimue is their only hope when that makes zero sense?  Why does he get owned so completely by Arthur, and why is he just randomly cooking up a Dark Curse, sans freshly crushed heart, when things are going south?  For such a powerful, mythic, and long-awaited character, he hardly contributes to the good fight in any meaningful way.

But here’s the thing – when you take out all the brain-dead stuff he does, Merlin is awesome.  Illogical, but true.  Now, a lot of this is down to Elliot Knight’s fine performance (Once Upon a Time has always had a phenomenal casting department.)  Merlin just exudes the presence of a man who has absolutely been around for 1000 years and moves through a more rarefied plain than us mortals.  At the same time, he doesn’t act like he’s above others; instead, he’s a warm, calming figure who works alongside the less godlike heroes with quiet assurance.  I love his easy, clear-eyed command of his magic, and it’s cool that, though he can see the future, he’s still a strong champion of free will.  He believes in the good of others without wearing rose-colored glasses, and he himself has been a force for good for so long despite ample opportunity to use his immense power for ill or his own personal gain.  True – if his actions always matched his awesomeness, he could wrap up the whole half-season conflict in two episodes tops, but surely there’s a middle ground where he isn’t constantly doing stupid, ill-advised things Because Plot.