From Good to Evil: character progression in the best way. MERLIN EDITION

From reading and watching a lot of Tv and books I have got quite a collection of opinions on characters. In previous posts I have listed my favourite characters including all time favourite characters from books, favourite characters from TV/film and favourite characters from Harry Potter, however, in this post I am going to be discussing the character progressions in BBC's Merlin, these are the character's that I just love to hate. *All these opinions are based from the characters in Merlin, the BBC show, not the actual Arthurian legend*

First up we have Morgana Pendragon. In the first two series Morgana is as nice as a button, sure she's slightly spoilt but that just comes with the territory of being a King's ward. She cares about her friends would do anything to protect them. A great example of this is when she, along with Gwen and Arthur helped Merlin save his home village from bad guys steeling their harvest; she didn't have to do it but she did out of the goodness of her heart and because of the love she had for her friends. They cared greatly for her and in return she did the same for them, no matter what class you came under.

Until Morgana realised that she had magic, she was completely golden-hearted, but I believe that it was the fear of her magic that turned her evil. She was scared and because of Uther's harsh ruling and complete out-law of magic she felt she was completely alone, little did she know that Merlin had also felt the same feelings as she had but it was forbidden to ever be spoken of. So in haste of her being completely terrified and so confused she turned to the only person who was prepared to tell her that she wasn't a freak and that magic was nothing to be scared of and that was of course, Morgause. Sadly Morgause trained Morgana into thinking that if you had magic then everyone around you should be afraid of you and should be at your mercy, she showed her the evil of the magic world, but of course, Morgana had never been able to see the beauty of using magic for good and so I believe she never really thought any different about using magic for anything other than to get her own way. I think she also thought that who was she to doubt the only person who treated her no differently but in fact with greater love than before despite her magic.

However, I believe that the true culprit that pushed Morgana further away and further into the evil witch that she became is Uther. Uther was also mad with fear over magic and would not accept that it wasn't just used for evil, therefore he corrupted Morgana's mind right from the start before she even realised she had magic, so when she woke up one night with her curtains on fire, of course she would be led to believe that she was the one in the wrong. Morgana's greatest weakness was loneliness and that is what pushed her to becoming evil, once she was evil, her thirst for power over rode any kind of emotion that she possessed other than anger. It does truly break my heart because her character progression is one probably greater than Merlin's himself, she literally flipped the side of the coin throughout the show and in the end she died alone instead of being surrounded by her friends and family, even Morgause, who trained her and loved her was not there to see her into the other world. Morgana Pendragon's character is probably the most saddening in the entire series and her end is horrific, because at least Arthur died in Merlin's arm, in the arms of someone who protected him and loved him, but Morgana, as I said died completely alone, in the presence of a self-made enemy.

Next up is Mordred. The first time we see Mordred, he is a child, and a hurt child at that. He is the one who tells Merlin of his Druid name and talks to him telepathically. However, Merlin finds out from the Dragon that Mordred is Arthur's doom and that Merlin should try his best not to help him get out of the citadel, however, obviously this is Merlin we are talking about and he cannot let an innocent person suffer, he ignores the Dragons warnings. Despite helping Mordred, Merlin remains in suspicion of him when he returns, especially in series 5.

Mordred, in series five, now an adult gets knighted as a Knight of Camelot. Despite Merlin always being wary of him, Mordred seems nothing but devoted to being the truest knight he could be, he risks his life several times for Arthur and the other Knights. He keeps Merlin's secret which also happens to be a shared secret, something that they both have, away from being noticed or found. He is literally the model of a perfect knight. So what went wrong?

Arthur is partly to blame for Mordred's fate because he didn't take into account how much Mordred loved Kara, I think Arthur could have handled the situation a bit better, but he did what he did because of the laws put into place by his own father. Mordred did what he did out of spite, he told Morgana, Merlin's true identity to cause pain to Arthur, however, I don't think he ever thought it would be him who was to kill Arthur, until it was too late to back out, or maybe, just maybe he really is that evil and it was planned all along. However, in my opinion I don't believe once he did the deed of killing Arthur, a man who up until the point of Kara had shown him nothing but friendship and loyalty, that he felt any happiness from it but only remorse and you can see that on his face in the Battle of Camlann. Another part of Mordred that led him to eventually becoming evil was that it was always his destiny, and like Merlin learns, you can never truly escape your destiny. Mordred is such an interesting character because you can never really tell if he has always been evil or if he truly was good. Its hard to sum up Mordred's character, because he is just that complex but I think that a quote from Harry Potter is best to use to describe him "We've all got both light and dark inside us. What matters is the part we choose to act on." Mordred unfortunately chose to act on the bad side and ended up dead and killing Arthur as a result.

Also can I just say how amazing was both Alex Vlahos and Katie McGrath's acting is in Merlin. Seriously it was completely top notch, you can just see from the bottom picture of Alex the emotion he had when he played Mordred, it was truly amazing to watch. Katie McGrath's Morgana slowly spiralling down into the depths of evil and her acting just gives me chills. It makes their character progressions so much harder to bear because of the ability and talent that they had with their characters. Congrats BBC on yet more insanely good casting choices.

How I Met Your Mother TV SHOW REVIEW

Yes, I know, I am late (very, very late) to the party but I have recently started watching How I Met Your Mother (or as I shall now call it for the advantage of this post HIMYM). Yeah, I had seen episodes before now on and off but I hadn't really watched it, until I was stuck down my Nan's house with no internet and very few channels available. I have brought the first and second series on DVD and I pretty much watched the entire first series in one night. It reminds me a lot of Friends, I think that that is what they based it on to be honest.

It follows the life of Ted Moseby telling his children about how he met their mother, it is described as a love story in reverse. It doesn't just follow Ted's life though it follows the lives of his four other friends, Lily, Marshall, Robin and Barney. It's hard to say who is my favourite character because they all have their qualities and disadvantages.

I believe that there are eight series and that the eighth is the final series and the identity of Ted's wife. Although I don't think that this is the best programme in the world, certainly not, but it is a show that I enjoy, its warmhearted, simple and exactly the type of thing that I like to have on in the background when I am doing homework or writing blog posts etc. So yeah, if you're late to the party as well then I'd recommend you watch it if you love Friends, you probably wont love it as much but you will certainly enjoy it.

Thoughts on Game of Thrones

I recently started watching Game of Thrones about a month ago. There is currently three series and about 10 episodes in each, so for me to still be only on series 2 this late on tells me a lot. This is coming from a person who watched all five series of Merlin which has about 13/14 episodes in each in less than a month whilst I was still at school and therefore didn't have access to the TV all day. I am at home now and so statistically thinking I should be finished with Game of Thrones by now, but I am not.

I don't really know why I am not completely in love with it. There is something about it that I just don't connect with. I like it but I don't love it and I wont be buying it on DVD. It has definitely grown on me however, because I only really started liking it around about episode 5 of series one so. I can only imagine it gets better as I watch more episodes.

My favourite characters are definitely Daenerys Targaryen and Arya Stark. I think that they are the most badass, loveable and complex characters and I always look forward to them coming on the screen because I know I'll be entertained.

Merlin series 1-5 REVIEW!

Merlin, has recently become my favourite TV show (probably of all time) it took me little over a month to watch all of the episodes from series 1 to the absolutely heart wrenching finale of series 5. *warning there might be spoilers*

It first aired on September 20, 2008, with a cast of primarily unknown actors; Colin Morgan, Bradley James, Angel Colby, Katie Mcgrath, Anthony Head, Richard Wilson and John Hurt as the voice of the dragon, just to name a few. 

A simple review of the plot (taken from IMDb) "Young Merlin is a teenager, discovering and then learning to master his magical gift. Magister Gaius, King Uther Pendragon's learned court physician to whom he's assigned as humble page, teaches him medicine, coaches his magical self-study, and warns him of Uther's strong aversion to magic. Merlin becomes squire to the noble but imprudent crown prince, Arthur, whose fate is linked with Merlin."

Series one

Series one is innocent and light hearted and gets you warmed up to the characters. 

My favourite episode(s): The Dragon's Call because obviously it was the first ever episode and got you introduced to the characters and get a feeling for the show, its brilliant and The Moment of Truth because in this episode you start to see a blossoming friendship between Merlin and Arthur and Merlin shows that he is loyal and brave and helps to regain peace to where he grew up with the help of his new friends, Arthur, Morgana and Gwen.

Series 2

Now all of the characters have since been well developed the story lines get more personal.

My favourite episodes(s): The Lady of the Lake because Merlin falls in love for the very first time and it is the most heart warming thing possible, of course it doesn't last long but it made me very happy seeing Merlin find his first love and The Last Dragonlord this episode is among the top for emotional episodes, Merlin discovers that his father is a dragonlord and when he dies the gift is passed on to himself but not before Merlin has some heart-to-hearts with his father and realises that his father could have never returned back to his mother despite him loving her.

a small dragon his father carved for him just before he died.

Series 3

Series 3 is when things start to become darker and scarier, things are becoming to get more and more serious for Merlin's destiny with Morgana on Morghause's side.

My favourite episode(s): The Eye of the Phoenix because Gwaine is back! and he has teamed up with Merlin to help Arthur along with his quest of trying to find the golden trident; the Fisher King tells Merlin that he is the chosen one and gives him a bottle of water from the lake of Avalon which will come in handy later on and The Coming of Arthur Part 2 because you meet all of the knights for the first time, they find a round table which they all declare allegiance to each other and Arthur knights all the young men (Gwaine, Elyan, Percival, Lancelot and already knighted Sir Leon) -except Merlin, though Lancelot, is now aware of his powers and he tells Merlin he is the bravest of them all, which makes me very happy because finally Merlin has someone to talk to other than Gaius about magic.

Series 4

This series you are reunited with a very battle worn Morgana who looks extremely different from her days being the king's ward. Uther also dies and Arthur is crowned king of Camelot. I also find out that Dorocha are the scariest things known to man (even worse than Weeping Angels)

My favourite episode(s): A Herald of The New Age because this episode is terrifying, I screamed so loudly at one point my mum came rushing upstairs to see what was wrong. Elyan drinks from a well causing a spirit to be unleashed and possess Elyan who will not stop until Arthur is dead as punishment for downing scorers I like this episode because it shows Arthur's softer side and his compassion and The Sword in The Stone part 2 because Arthur really becomes the once and future king of Camelot with the help of Merlin who proves that he is a worthy king by making Arthur pull the sword from the stone, Camelot is reclaimed and Gwen is crowned queen.

Series 5

Now, I am still very, very raw from watching this series (I finished it only yesterday) this is probably one of the most heart breaking finales I have ever witnessed, in my eyes its on par with Deathly Hallows. It is the darkest by far of all the series. It is set three years on from series 4 and Merlin's destiny of protecting Arthur approaches. The climax and the finale of the series *not to be watched without a box of tissues*

My favourite episode(s): With All My Heart because Arthur learns that Gwen has been under the influence of sorcery and enlists Merlin to come on a quest with him to find the sorcer who can rid Gwen of the hold Morgana has put on her, Mordred tags along and Merlin uses the ageing potion to turn himself in to an old woman, which is one of the funniest things ever, a definite highlight of the whole of Merlin, it also shows how in love Gwen and Arthur are with each other and its all very moving and The Diamond of the Day part 2 because it is the last episode, not only is it the one I hate the most because it made me cry so much I was sick but because Merlin told Arthur everything and Arthur once he dealt with the fact Merlin was magic said thank you for protecting him (at this point my heart was completely broken, and I was a sobbing mess on the floor) Morgana dies but so does Arthur... (not going to go into any more detail because it is too painful) and Merlin has brought peace on Camelot again, I wish I could be more descriptive and give you a brilliant synopsis but honestly if you've seen the episode you will completely understand that some thing need to be left unsaid. 

So that is my review of the Merlin series' I'm pretty sure given a day or two I will be back onto watching series one, and who know I may even change my mind on the favourite episodes, but for now I shall leave you with some pictures from the all of the series'.

Call the Midwife Review

Call the Midwife is a British TV show adapted from the memoirs from Jennifer Worth the show aired for the first time last January and I have been watching since the very first episode. It has since picked up loads of awards and quite rightly so it is simply brilliant, each episode makes me laugh and has also lead me to being a complete sobbing mess, so its safe to say it will send you on an emotional roller coaster.

The ITunes description of the show- 

Call the Midwife is based on the best selling memoirs of Jennifer Worth. Set in the 1950s, this six part series is a moving and intimate insight into the colourful world of midwifery and family life in London’s East End. We are introduced to the local community through the eyes of young nurse Jenny Lee as she lives and works as a midwife alongside the Nuns of the Order of St. Raymond of Nonnatus.

The cast

Jessica Raine- Jenny Lee

Helen George- Trixie Franklin

Miranda Hart- Chummy Browne/Noakes

Bryony Hannah- Cynthia Miller

Laura Main- Sister Bernadette 

Jenny Agutter- Sister Julienne 

Pam Ferris- Sister Evangelina

Judy Parfitt- Sister Monica Joan

These characters along with many other minor characters make the show what it is, every episode is unpredictable because of course it is based on a real life story of a midwife in the 1950s. Well worth a look watch it on Sundays at 8PM and catch up by buying the DVD or downloading from ITunes, but whilst your at it buy a box of tissues (you'll need it)