IMHO "Merlin" (1.12 and 1.13): It's the season finale and I'm only realizing NOW that Bradley James is hot?

Okay, this is a little embarrassing, but NBC aired the season finale of Merlin last night, and I realized for the first time just what an incredible hottie Bradley James, who plays Arthur, really is.

I remember seeing him for the first time during the pilot and thinking, "That's who they cast as Arthur? That's one half of the couple all these British hoyay-lovers are going crazy over?"

From the start I thought that Colin Morgan as Merlin was geek-lectible, but when it came to Bradley, I was decidedly underwhelmed.  

"Oh, well," I thought. "Maybe the British have different standards of television beauty."

I know others have mentioned this in the comments, but when exactly did he become such a god? Is it just me, or did he go through some kind of medieval mid-season make-over? (Try saying that three time fast!)

Anyway, NBC burned off the last two episodes of Merlin last night, including the finale, and I have to say, I was pretty satisfied.

The things I liked about the finale were all the things I liked about the 13-episode season:

• Hoyay or not, the magical and emotional bond between Merlin and Arthur was fresh and interesting. They are “two sides of the same coin,” the dragon said, and they often influenced each other in interesting and unexpected ways.

• The series and its other characters had what seemed to be well-planned-out plot arcs. For example, unlike in many TV shows, the characters responded to events that had come before. In addition to the deepening relationship between Merlin and Arthur, Morgana eventually became fed up with Uther (and vice-versa), and we learned interesting things about the pasts of Uther, Gaius, and Nimueh.

• I loved the moral ambiguity of the dragon. He clearly knew the future, but was he an ally or an enemy? For him, the end always seemed to justify the means — which is, of course, perfectly in keeping with a being who does know the future and always sees the big picture. After all, what’s one life when the whole world is at stake? And the series left the dragon on the perfect note, with Merlin finally coming to understand that he is not to be trusted — but by spurning the dragon, Merlin also created a powerful enemy for season 2.

• Gaius was a terrific character played by a fantastic (and openly gay!) actor, Richard Wilson.

What didn’t I like about the season?

• The female characters were embarrassingly thin, especially Gwen.

• Despite being played by Anthony Stewart Head (who I adore), the character of Uther was one-note and often over-the-top. His hatred of magic was eventually “explained,” but it was almost always boring.

• Merlin’s magical ability was infuriatingly ill-defined, expanding or contracting based on the needs of the particular episode (and sometimes the particular scene!). In the finale, Nimueh was at first able to brush aside Merlin’s magic with a shrug … and then, after getting a little angry, he proceeded to destroy her with the same magic. WTF?

• Several of the episode scripts were ridiculously bad, especially “Valiant” and “A Remedy to Cure all Ills,” and some of the plot resolutions, such as Merlin’s sudden ability to kill Nimueh with his “magic”, were contrived and disappointing.

Given the show’s low ratings on NBC, it seems very unlikely that the show will return for a second season on that network (despite the fact that they’re co-producing the show with the BBC). But a second season is currently being filmed in the U.K., so I hope that the episodes end up on the SyFy Channel (which is owned by NBC Universal).

It may not be a show for the ages, but even so, I’m looking forward to seeing more.

And did I mention that I wouldn't mind more of Bradley James (especially shirtless!)?