YMMV / Merlin (1998)

• Alternative Character Interpretation:
  • Did Queen Mab act selfishly, fighting a war and giving up any vestige of morality to save herself from being forgotten? Or are her motives more sympathetic; it could be argued her entire plot was only an answer to the prayers of an ordinary British human woman who prayed for the Old Ways to come back?
  • Was Merlin right to oppose Mab, providing justice for the countless innocent people she was killing in her desperation to survive? Or did Merlin spend the entire miniseries on a vengeance quest to destroy an entire religion for the crimes of one goddess even though he knew that the other members of the pantheon were good? Did he save hundreds of lives by helping Uther conquer Tintagel, or did he fail to live up to his own moral standards by becoming a knowing accomplice to a rape by fraud in order to help achieve his goals?
• Big-Lipped Alligator Moment: The cutaway scene of Queen Mab and Frik laughing and dancing like delighted children over their latest scheme bearing fruit. You might expect it from Frik, and there is some grounding in myth for The Fair Folk acting like this, but seeing stoic Ice Queen Mab indulge in it too is downright bizarre, and neither character ever acts like this again.
• Hilarious in Hindsight:
  • Just look at the costume◊ Martin Short wore as Frik, and consider that Morgan is played by Helena Bonham Carter.
  • This isn't the last time Lena Headey would play a queen cheating on her husband with one of his knights. It's also not the last time she would appear in something relating to the Arthurian mythology.
• Jerkass Woobie: Morgan le Fey grows up insecure about her lisp and drooping eyelid. She witnesses Uther rape her mother via Bed Trick, then murder her father and his men, all because Merlin let him. Later, she's used as a pawn by Mab and Frik, and eventually her son Mordred completely stops caring about her in preference for a surrogate, "Auntie" Mab, who kills her in the end. On the other hand, her reaction to the childhood trauma is bitterness and eager complicity in the plot to screw over Arthur, and she probably has a lot to do with Mordred's poor character.
• Magnificent Bitch: Queen Mab is a goddess suffering a decline in followers of the "Old Ways" that would entail her kind's demise. Unlike her sister, the Lady of the Lake, who contented herself with letting destiny pass its course, Mab sought to survive at all costs. She conceived a half-human son, Merlin himself, to groom into a leader of the Old Ways. When he eventually rebukes Mab after her Accidental Murder of Ambrosia, Mab manipulates Vortigen to be her new champion. When he is killed by Uther Pendragon, who later fathered King Arthur to lead a kingdom unfavorable to the Old Ways, Mab offers compassion to an ostracized Morgan, obtaining a contingency against Arthur. Mab later serves as a treacherous influence to Mordred, the result of Morgan and Arthur's tryst. Through him and an enchanted enclave keeping Merlin occupied, Mab indirectly succeeds in toppling the Pendragon kingdom from behind the scenes. Desperate to keep the Old Ways and thus herself alive, the devious and powerful Mab remained a step ahead of everyone for almost the entire miniseries.
• Moral Event Horizon:
  • Vortigern casually referring to having killed men, women, and children simply for insolence, or deciding to sacrifice Nimue to a dragon simply because it was most convenient.
  • For Mordred, this moment is probably when Mab kills his mother Morgan le Fay, and he responds by laughing about it and complimenting her on it. “That was very clever.”
• Narm: Morgan le Fey's Elmuh Fudd Syndwome works decently at first as part of her general insecurities in her appearance...except then she still has it after Frik's glamour spell. It's implied by her death that it was just a glamour like what Frik does. It didn't actually change her physically but was just an illusion, unlike Merlin's version which is more a time reversal.
• One-Scene Wonder: When Mab arrives at King Vortigern's castle, she's accompanied by a retinue of eerie women who share her otherworldly countenance and fashion sense. Whether they're her human acolytes or fellow fae taking human form isn't clear, and they're never seen again.
  • The Mountain King, a sentient mountain whom Merlin requests to hold Excalibur till a good man worthy of it appears. He's voiced by the legendary James Earl Jones, and he is a timeless being who will be around no matter what changes occur.
• Retroactive Recognition:
  • Guinevere is played by Lena Headey, better known today for 300, Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles and Game of Thrones. Or, as some viewers may find it: "Hey, it's Cersei Lannister. She's queen, again. And unfaithful to her husband, again. With the best knight at court, again. And the king, of course, is unfaithful to her, again. And oh, look, everything's brought crashing down by the resultant psychopathic incest-baby...again."
  • Headey isn't the only future Game of Thrones cast member to appear here. Roger Ashton-Griffiths, who plays Sir Boris, would go on to play Mace Tyrell; Joseph Mawle, who plays Benjen Stark, also has a tiny role as a villager.
• Spiritual Successor: To John Boorman's Excalibur, with its focus on Excalibur, Merlin and mysticism; both draw on Malory's Le Morte d'Arthur and generally hit the same story beats, but some like Morgana/Morgan Le Fay's seeing through Uther's disguise prior to his seduction/rape of Igraine, Uther wielding Excalibur prior to Arthur, a belligerent enemy lord convinced to recognise Arthur's kingship after Arthur hands Excalibur to him, a literal circle of people inspiring the construction of the Round Table, Morgana/Morgan Le Fay dying devoided of her beauty due to magic, Mordred's Rapid Aging and the exact way Arthur kills Mordred are specific to both. Trevor Jones composed the soundtrack to both productions, too.

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