I have watched the first 3 episodes. The acting and dialogue are pretty bad for the most part. The plots are incredibly simplistic. I am not sure I even like the main character honestly. The CGI is laughable but I don’t really care about that. Does the series get any better?
I saw some later episodes… or at least one. The acting is AWFUL in what I saw, and I can’t imagine how anyone would enjoy the show. I mean, it’s just laughably bad.
You do realise that it’s aimed at children?
It does get way better. The acting doesn’t improve any, but the characters develop well, the structure solidifies into a great adventure serial, and it is a lot of fun to watch. But this is in the same league as Primeval, or Robin of Sherwood. Not as good as Doctor Who, not as bad as The Sarah Jane Adventures.
There’s a new UK series started called Sinbad. It’s certainly not very good so far, but I’ll give it room to improve.
The acting is poor to mediocre, the plots remain pretty stupid and transparent. And I found the initial premise totally off-putting. I don’t mind re-interpretations of famous stories, but this is “re-interpretation” to the point of ludicrous.
Quartz, I didn’t realize that children are the target demographic. That explains the simple plots.
No. But I still enjoy it on a mindless level- it lets me do other things at the same time without missing anything. I’m a huge Arthurian buff, though, so YMMV.
The first two seasons were pretty bad. Shallow characters, silly plots with large holes, monster-of-the-week, etc.
From season 3 on, the characters suddenly had some depth and the dialogue was markedly improved. I remember mentioning this to my hubby when it happened. The plot was a bit less silly, and we started caring about the characters. (Except for character X who became a badly acted arch-enemy.)
Also, it had various kinds of cute guys.
We just watched the final, final episode a couple of days ago, and it wasn’t bad.
I think that’s about the highest praise anyone ever gave Merlin.
I can see it on the front of the final season box cover now!
“…it wasn’t bad!” -Heracles
I don’t see how “children’s show” and “depth” cannot coexist.
And then I’ll sue because my review didn’t contain an exclamation mark. 
My kids are liking it, especially my son. I’m not sure how long I can tolerate the show though. The characters spend a lot of time being dumb and that annoys me. It is how Grimm lost me. I’ll give it a few more eps.
It is simplistic, but I generally enjoy it and have been watching for a few seasons now. Mindless, but entertaining, IMO, but then I might just have a crush on Merlin… he’s such a cutie.