History YMMV / Camelot

* ParodySue: Sir Lancelot. Invincible in battle, incorruptibly pure, and completely insufferable. Exemplified in his signature song [[GratuitousFrench "C'est Moi"]], where he exalts the perfect knight as impossibly strong, brave and [[TemptingFate chaste]], then "humbly" confesses that he happens to be this knight.

* EvilIsSexy: Morgan, played by the sultry Creator/EvaGreen.

* RomanticPlotTumour: Arthur/Guinevere and the consequent LoveTriangle with Leontes was generally considered boring and shallow, particularly since Arthur/Guinevere's attraction was based almost solely on lust (occurring on the basis of ''one'' dream, ''two'' short conversations, and sex in a cave on her wedding day to another man), and most viewers' sympathies lay with Leontes.

* WTHCastingAgency: Arthur is played by Jamie Campbell Bower, known for playing evil or jerkass pretty boys. While that might not normally be a problem, the fact that he's the main character makes it hard to root for him, though to be fair this is an issue with the writing as much as if not more than the casting. Some feel Arthur might have come across as more sympathetic with a different actor playing him, and some also feel that Arthur and Kay's actors and characterizations should have been switched, since Kay looked and acted more like the conventional hero they wanted Arthur to be, and the traditional Kay was indeed somewhat of a jerkass in the later romances (but this still leaves the issue of the love triangle with Leontes, which Bower's bad-boy vibe plays into but which makes Arthur possibly more unsympathetic than intended). Some even feel that Bower had the right look and bearing for ''[[BigBad Mordred]]'', but he was playing Arthur.

* HarsherInHindsight: Used in-story. Guinevere, in the beginning, seems flattered by the idea of her being the subject of a war. Later...

* HilariousInHindsight: "What Do The Simple Folk Do?" is a song about [[Music/{{Pulp}} wanting to live like common people and do whatever common people do]].

* OneSceneWonder: Nimue, singing "Follow Me."

* HoYay: Arthur and Kay are quite close anyway, due to having grown up as brothers, but Arthur shares way more chemistry with him than Guinevere.
** Les Yay: Morgan is much closer to her servant Vivian than she is to anyone else.

* MindGameShip: Merlin and Morgan.

* CryForTheDevil: Morgan Pendragon in her ''very first'' scene (and the first scene of the entire show, no less), to the point where some viewers felt so sorry for her they ended up rooting for her over Arthur in spite of her evil actions. Morgan's [[AbusiveParent abusive father]] killed her mother so he could marry his mistress, Igraine, then sent her away to a nunnery. When she returns years later to try and make things right between them, Uther violently rejects her and [[IHaveNoSon refuses to acknowledge her as his daughter,]] prompting her to [[AssholeVictim poison him]] so she can take her rightful place as his heir and get revenge on him for his cruelty towards her and her mother. However, just as she thinks she's about to get back the life and inheritance that was taken from her, Merlin suddenly produces Arthur, a half-brother she never even knew about and declares him the new monarch - mostly [[BecauseDestinySaysSo because destiny (i.e. Merlin) says so]] rather than any actual leadership qualities he possesses; he's also the son of the stepmother Morgan despises, who replaced her murdered mother, did little to stop Uther from mistreating her and is now supplanting her with her own child. Though it doesn't excuse her actions, it's not surprising Morgan snaps. She also discovers that [[spoiler: Igraine]] was the one who urged Uther to send her to a nunnery, because Uther had originally been intending to ''[[OffingTheOffspring kill her]]'' to get her out of the way (which [[spoiler: Igraine]] never mentioned for some reason).

** The show has a CanonForeigner knight in Arthur's circle named Leontes while its rival of sorts, BBC's ''[[Series/Merlin2008 Merlin]]'' has a Canon Foreigner knight in Arthur's circle named Leon. [[spoiler:Leontes dies at the end of the show's only season, while in the final season of ''Merlin'' airing the year after, Leon outlives Arthur himself.]]
* HoYay: Arthur and Kay are quite close anyway, due to having grown up as brothers, but Arthur shares way more chemistry with him than Guinevere.
* IdiotPlot: Igraine doesn't tell Morgan until [[spoiler: she's literally dying that she sent her away to protect her from Uther]]. She had a perfect opportunity to so so in the first episode (or even years before that) and just doesn't for RuleOfDrama -- even when Morgan is banishing her from the kingdom. One gets the sense that if she had told Morgan the truth sooner, there might've been a lot less animosity between them, which could've reduced or prevented much of the conflict in the series.

* LesYay: Morgan is much closer to her servant Vivian than she is to anyone else.

* SugarWiki/SheReallyCanAct: Claire Forlani was considered a weak attempt at hyping up a new star in the 90s, and her hype faded in the 2000s. She went quite against type here and turned in a spirited performance as Igraine, bringing the character to life in a way not usually done.

* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodPlot: The show is rife with this, but for Arthurian lore fans, one bit sticks out: the legendary but probably part-historical [[TheSiege siege of Mount Badon]] (''Mons Badonicus'') had an iconic place in early Arthurian lore as the battle where Arthur spectacularly halted invaders from troubling the British for a generation, [[OneManArmy supposedly slaying over 900 men himself]]. Here, it becomes the underwhelming siege of "Bardon Pass", fought with [[SuspiciouslySmallArmy Suspiciously Small Armies]] -- Arthur and a dozen knights defend not a fort, but what amounts to [[http://www.denofgeek.com/tv/10442/camelot-episode-9-review-the-battle-of-bardon-pass "a farm with two sentries"]], and the enemy force doesn't look that much larger despite outnumbering them.
* WhatTheHellCastingAgency: Arthur is played by Jamie Campbell Bower, known for playing evil or jerkass pretty boys. While that might not normally be a problem, the fact that he's the main character makes it hard to root for him, though to be fair this is an a issue with the writing as much as if not more than the casting. Some feel Arthur might have come across as more sympathetic with a different actor playing him, and some also feel that Arthur and Kay's actors and characterizations should have been switched, since Kay looked and acted more like the conventional hero they wanted Arthur to be, and the traditional Kay was indeed somewhat of a jerkass in the later romances (but this still leaves the issue of the love triangle with Leontes, which Bower's bad-boy vibe plays into but which makes Arthur possibly more unsympathetic than intended). Some even feel that Bower had the right look and bearing for ''[[BigBad Mordred]]'', but he was playing Arthur.

* RootingForTheEmpire: Lots of viewers ended up rooting for Morgan over Arthur. The latter tends to be [[TheScrappy disliked]] by many viewers due to coming off as whiny and spoilt, while Morgan is generally seen as one of the most compelling and charismatic characters. It helps that she actually has quite a [[FreudianExcuse sympathetic backstory and motivations]] and is something of an underdog (she was cast off by her abusive father who murdered her mother, is viewed as being an unsuitable heir mostly because [[HeirClubForMen she's female]], and just when she's about to become queen, some random half-brother she's never heard of turns up to take her place, despite being an immature and unqualified teenager). The fact that fans ''still'' root for her after she goes so far as ''raping her brother'' is, needless to say, disturbing.

* CryForTheDevil: Morgan Pendragon in her ''very first'' scene (and the first scene of the entire show, no less), to the point where some viewers felt so sorry for her they ended up rooting for her over Arthur in spite of her evil actions. Morgan's [[AbusiveParent abusive father]] killed her mother so he could marry his mistress, Igraine, then sent her away to a nunnery. When she returns years later to try and make things right between them, Uther violently rejects her and [[IHaveNoSon refuses to acknowledge her as his daughter,]] prompting her to [[AssholeVictim poison him]] so she can take her rightful place as his heir and get revenge on him for his cruelty towards her and her mother. However, just as she thinks she's about to get back the life and inheritance that was taken from her, Merlin suddenly produces Arthur, a half-brother she never even knew about and declares him the new monarch - mostly because he's Uther's ''[[HeirClubForMen son]]'', rather than any actual leadership qualities he posesses; he's also the son of the stepmother Morgan despises, who replaced her murdered mother, did little to stop Uther from mistreating her and is now supplanting her with her own child. Though it doesn't excuse her actions, it's not surprising Morgan snaps. She also discovers that [[spoiler: Igraine]] was the one who urged Uther to send her to a nunnery, because Uther had originally been intending to ''[[OffingTheOffspring kill her]]'' to get her out of the way (which [[spoiler: Igraine]] never mentioned for some reason).

* TheyWastedAPerfectlyGoodCharacter: King Lot (Creator/JamesPurefoy), Uther's greatest rival and Arthur's challenger to the throne alongside Morgan who allies with him and becomes his lover for their mutual convenience, [[spoiler:dies in just the second episode in a MutualKill with Ector (Creator/SeanPertwee), when both men and Lot especially could have been kept around longer to better develop the show's characters and worldbuilding.]]

* HilariousInHindsight: Creator/JosephFiennes is Merlin while his brother Creator/{{Ralph|Fiennes}} is [[Film/HarryPotter Voldemort]] -- and they're both bald for the role.

* DesignatedHero: Arthur is a SpoiledBrat who is introduced to us while he's ''' ''sleeping with his brother's girlfriend.'' ''' He becomes king primarily because of Merlin's manipulation and plotting, rather than any merit on his own part. His character develops a little over the episodes but, as seen below, he ended the season pretty much as unpopular as he started.

* RomanticPlotTumour: Arthur/Guinevere and the consequent LoveTriangle with Leontes was generally considered boring and shallow, particularly since Arthur/Guinevere's attraction was based almost solely on lust (occurring on the basis of ''one'' dream, ''two'' short conversations, and sex in a cave on her wedding day to another man).

* WhatTheHellCastingAgency: Arthur is played by Jamie Campbell Bower, who often played evil or jerkass pretty boys. While that might not normally be a problem, the fact that he's the main character makes it hard to root for him, though to be fair this is an a issue with the writing as much as if not more than the casting. Some feel Arthur might have come across as more sympathetic with a different actor playing him, and some also feel that Arthur and Kay's actors and characterizations should have been switched, since Kay looked and acted more like the conventional hero they wanted Arthur to be, and the traditional Kay was indeed somewhat of a jerkass in the later romances. Some even feel that Bower had the right look and bearing for ''[[BigBad Mordred]]'', but he was playing Arthur.

* FanPreferredCouple: In keeping with the lukewarm response to Arthur, some fans were bewildered that Guinevere was so interested in him when she already had [[http://www.teensreadandwrite.com/2011/06/are-you-jace-lover-hater-or-skeptic.html Leontes]].

* FoeYay:
** Oh, it's definitely there between Morgan and Arthur. Doesn't matter if they're related.
** It's there between Morgan and Merlin, too.

* MemeticMutation: "Camelot" as a term for US President UsefulNotes/JohnFKennedy's administration stems from an interview given by his First Lady and widow [[UsefulNotes/JacquelineKennedy Jacqueline]] shortly after his assassination, where she referred to his love for the musical, particularly the line "Don’t let it be forgot, that once there was a spot, for one brief shining moment that was known as Camelot". She added, "There'll be great Presidents again [...] but there'll never be another Camelot again". Ever since then, "Camelot" has become shorthand for the JFK administration, particularly in the sense of it being mythologized as a time of idealism which was tragically cut short, akin to the legendary Camelot.

* MemeticMutation: "Camelot" as a term for US President UsefulNotes/JohnFKennedy's administration stems from an interview given by his First Lady and widow Jacqueline shortly after his assassination, where she referred to his love for the musical, particularly the line "Don’t let it be forgot, that once there was a spot, for one brief shining moment that was known as Camelot". She added, "There'll be great Presidents again [...] but there'll never be another Camelot again". Ever since then, "Camelot" has become shorthand for the JFK administration, particularly in the sense of it being mythologized as a time of idealism which was tragically cut short, akin to the legendary Camelot.

* DesignatedHero: Arthur is a SpoiledBrat who is introduced to us while he's ''' ''sleeping with his brother's girlfriend.'' ''' He becomes king primarily because of Merlin's manipulation and plotting, rather than any merit on his own part. His character develops a little over the episodes but, as seen below, he ended the season pretty much as unpopular as he started. Which is incredibly jarring, when you consider that the fandom loves Morgan, who commits ''rape'' and murder to achieve her goals. TheUnfairSex much?
* DracoInLeatherPants: ''Morgan''. Well, she may be an unrepentant, self-righteous villain who goes so far as to [[MoralEventHorizon rape her own]] ''[[MoralEventHorizon brother]]'' at the end, but she's so ''hot'' and her backstory is so ''sad''! [[SarcasmMode Surely that justifies every one of her atrocious crimes, right?]]