my moral standing is lying down

Nothing really comes close to a) the joy of S1 Arthur/Merlin, and b) rageprufrock's DRP.

Merlin S2 made me go 'eh', but I have actually enjoyed quite a bit of S3. They seem to actually be moving the plot along a bit now. There are still some (a lot) of elements that frustrate the hell out of me, particularly the treatment of Morgana and the fact that Merlin and Arthur's relationship NEVER SEEMS TO EVOLVE. I don't want to say more for fear of spoiling you if you do watch it. It *is* the season of Merlin and his many boycrushes, though. Much amusement.

astolat wrote a heap of gorgeous Merlin fic, but it's mostly non-AU (well, set in the BBC's random version of the mythological 6th century, anyway.) On the AU front, I loved paperclipbitch's We're a Storm in Somebody Else's Teacup.