In a Land of Myth and a Time of Magic...

...the destiny of a great kingdom rests on the shoulders of a young boy. His name... Merlin.

(Actually, recently the intro has changed to "rests on the shoulders of a young man". Congratulations, Merlin. You have graduated into young manhood.)

HaHA! Who was wondering if I would ever blog about this show? I definitely was. I was watching this show long before I had even discovered Sherlock or Doctor Who or any of the sorts.

First, par usual, I shall tell you how I was introduced. Let's see, I think it was during my winter break of 2009, I was super bored (of course. How else do I discover amazing things?). One morning, I looked up a list of Disney movies so that I could look them up on YouTube. As I scanned the list, I found The Sword in the Stone. I decided to click on it just for fun. "One thing led to another" (a little Brian Regan humor there) and soon I was reading a little bit about the Arthurian legends. Eventually, I came across a list of movies and TV shows based on the Arthurian legends. I randomly clicked on one titled 'Merlin' made by the BBC. After reading the synopsis, I decided I wanted to go look it up. I found the first episode on YouTube. I thought it was pretty good and decided to watch the next one. I ended up watching the entire first season on YouTube and was completely hooked by the end. I continued watching the second season on Netflix instant play. The third season was eventually released in the UK, but I had to purchase it on iTunes. Now, the fourth season is airing in the UK.

BACKGROUND: Basically, it's about King Arthur before he becomes king, the knights of the round table before they become knights, Guinevere before she becomes queen, Morgana le Fey before she goes bad, and most importantly Merlin before he becomes the most powerful sorcerer in the world. So it's the backstories to the Arthurian legends.

SYNOPSIS: Merlin is a young wizard who arrives in the kingdom of Camelot after his mother arranges for him to stay with the court physician, Gaius. He discovers that the king, Uther Pendragon, has outlawed magic and imprisoned the last great dragon deep under the kingdom. The dragon tells Merlin that he plays an important role: to protect Uther's son, Arthur, who will bring forth a great kingdom. When Merlin meets Arthur, he believes that he is an arrogant bully. And Arthur, likewise, has a less than stellar opinion of Merlin. Merlin must keep his magic secret or face being executed by Uther.

MERLIN played by Colin Morgan

Our main character. Like the synopsis said, he's a young wizard. He was born with extremely powerful magic, which is apparently unheard of. Today, most people picture Merlin as an old rickety man with the long white hair and beard, right? Ha! Well, not here. (Actually, wait for some later episodes where he uses an aging spell. Hilarity ensues!). He serves as the personal servant to Arthur and eventually as the two of them become better friends, he sometimes serves as a source of trust. He is also known as Emrys to magic folk. (He has been spoken of in many ancient legends under the name of Emrys which is why he is called that by the magic people.)

ARTHUR played by Bradley James

I ain't putting no spoilers here. He's not a king, he's a prince. When we first meet him, he's an arrogant brat and a bully. No one really likes him very much. Guinevere even says in disgust, "who'd want to marry Arthur?". As the series progresses though, we watch him become more mature and responsible. He is significantly more caring and merciful than his father is, and will often choose banishment over execution.

GUINEVERE played by Angel Coulby

Known as "Gwen" to her friends. She is a servant girl to Lady Morgana and also her best friend. She is high and mighty and not afraid to speak out. Pretty much everyone respects her and her opinion, even though she is just a servant. She, like everyone else, doesn't like Arthur very much at the beginning, but as he matures and gains responsibility, she starts to fall for him.

MORGANA played by Katie McGrath

When we first meet her, she's King Uther's ward, living in the castle. She was born with magical powers (though not nearly as powerful as Merlin's), but doesn't know how to control them on their own. Her story is very complex, but in summary she falls to the dark side because of constantly being lied to, the fear of possessing magic, and eventually learning to control it. It doesn't take too long before she is the main antagonist of the show.

GAIUS played by Richard Wilson

The court physician and Merlin's mentor. Apparently, Gaius once practiced magic. He's one of the few people who knows of Merlin's powers. Everyone in Camelot trusts Gaius (and it makes absolutely no sense to me when the king starts questioning his loyalty -__-).

UTHER played by Anthony Head

The tyrannical king of Camelot and father of Arthur. He is very strict towards Arthur and Morgana, but he does care about them. He hates all forms of magic (for a reason that I shall not share here) and will kill anybody practicing it without question.

Other characters have appeared too. Such as Lancelot, the Lady of the Lake, Gwaine, Morgause, Nimueh, Mordred, etc.

All the episodes somehow introduce some part of a legend, like how Excalibur came to be, or where the Lady of the Lake came from, or how Arthur and Guinevere fell in love, or how Morgana went bad, or something. It's an excellent show! "Four stars. Two enthusiastic thumbs up" (some more Brian Regan humor for you).