Thursday, May 14, 2009

Some thoughts on the finales this week...

So most of the finales I want to talk about aired tonight (Um, MASSIVE SPOILER ALERT), but I would be remiss if I didn't also mention Tuesday's closing episode of Fringe--which closed nothing but opened up all kinds of new possibilities.  Yay Fringe!  I just absolutely adore this show.  It is silly and completely unrealistic and yet still fun and smartly written and well acted and creative and engaging.  Even if what the show makes me think about is how unlikely the phenomenon of the week may be, it never fails to make me think at least for a little bit.  Plus, Joshua Jackson, yum.  And there's a cow.  Who doesn't want a cow in their workplace?  My husband works in the Fort Worth Stockyards, and one of the best parts about visiting him for lunch is getting to see all the cows hanging out back of his building (I kid you not).  That, plus the kitties.  There are lots of kitties there too.  

Where was I?  Oh yes, Fringe finale.  Anyway--I for one loved this.  Okay, yes I am not someone to avoid spoilers unless they are on a show that I just don't care about/will never watch, or if it's somehow a show that will really be ruined for me if I don't have an inkling...so, I saw the spoiler that the gravestone Walter visits in the episode was very important--as soon as he went to visit it in the episode, knowing also that we would find out what the "big weird" about Peter was in this episode, I put two and two together and realized that the Peter we know and love is not the Peter from this dimension, because the Peter from this dimension died as a kid.  So, yeah.  Not really a surprise.  It did not, however, diminish my enjoyment of the reveal.  I will admit I was hoping for a bit more Nemoy, but the fact that they finally told us we've never seen him up until now is because he actually lives in another world/dimension was pretty sweet.  Plus, he's signed on for at least a few more episodes next season and has been quoted as saying he's up for continuing to do the show as long as he's having fun with it.  

Also, there's already some controversy surrounding the final shot--revealing that in the alternate world where Bell hangs out, he does so in the still intact Twin Towers.  There are people screaming that this is inappropriate and insensitive.  To which I reply, wow, really?  You get one shot to show just how "alternate" this other world really is--I think showing that the Twin Towers still exist is a really good way to do so.  We are talking two different worlds here.  Certainly there are inappropriate and insensitive ways to stick the Towers into something but I don't think that happened here.  That's all I'm saying on that.

Okay, on to tonight's gala of season enders.  

Bones.  Wow.  Well, I feel much better that they didn't completely ignore the fact that last week Booth had a freaking tumor removed from his brain.  While I felt that the idea of the episode was a little too high concept, and while it was fairly obvious (to me at least) from the beginning that this was either someone reading Booth a murder mystery while he was in the hospital or a dream he was having in recovery or something--I still really enjoyed the episode.  It was fun to see them take the events and mythology of the entire series (at least from season two on--we were missing the original boss man) and rearrange them into a different setting.  (Have I mentioned that when I was deep in my fanfic phase, alternate realities were my absolute favorite?)  As enjoyable as the episode was though, I was starting to feel a little bit disappointed towards the end--just because it seemed to be such a one-off episode, with no payoff to get us to next season and no real wrapping up of this season.  Granted this season didn't really have much of an over-arcing story or anything, other than the revolving interns (and we learned last week that Cam is down to three of them and just has to choose one).  Still, after last season's rushed finale, I was hoping for something a little more cohesive--right up until the last minute when we realize that Booth may have woken up from his coma (which thankfully we didn't actually have to endure), but it appears it may have come with a case of amnesia.  It's something of a cliche season finale cliffhanger I guess, but at the same time it ties together something that has been going on all season and gives us a starting point for next season.  Also, we had Zack back.  Yay, Zack!  So...yeah.  I liked it.  I wish they would actually have Booth and Bones hook up and not hit a reset button, but they are doing a decent job of not letting the tension between the two of them overwhelm everything else in the series or distract from the stories, so I am prepared to be patient for that to happen.  

Next up, Grey's Anatomy.  Good golly.  Okay, I will admit that in my last post I may have sounded like last week's was the season finale--which is because I am a doof and completely forgot there was still an episode left.  I don't even know where to start on this one, there was so much packed into the two hours...but okay, let's see--my favorite moment was when Arizona confronted the Chief--crying in anger all the while.  That was adorable.  I love her.  I am super glad to hear that they are in talks to make her a full cast member next season.  There was a lot of relationship going on in this episode (of course).  As much as I feel for Bailey, I am glad that they are finally resolving the issues with her marriage, even if it sucks and means she's getting a divorce.  I am also glad that she told the Chief that after his ultimatum she was leaving him because if the marriage had gotten to that point it was clearly over.  Good woman--he told her to choose him or her career and she chose herself, I approve.  Arizona and Cally had a nice little moment as well--we get to learn more about Arizona right along with Cally and we get to see that they are willing to accept their differences of opinions.  I loved Sloan getting shot down by Lexie as well--I definitely want them to stay together but it is too soon for them to move in together and it is good for Sloan to realize that just because for the first time in his life he's in a serious relationship that doesn't mean he has to jump into the fast lane straight away.  Poor Alex--he got put in a bad situation.  It is always good to get to see his more sensitive side, whenever he has to care for a woman in his life that comes out.  I just hope he doesn't get completely broken by tonight's events--he's got potential.  This character has seen some real and actually believable growth over the course of this series and I think he's still got room to go a long way.  Very good to see Owen and Christina trying to move forward together.  I think these two can be really good for each other.  And last on my list--Meredith and Derrick.  Okay, what the heezy?  They didn't get married.  Writing your "vows" on a post-it note does not equal marriage.  I know that they're weird and crazy busy, but dude, take the three hours to go to City Hall and get it over with.  I am annoyed because I will not put it past Shonda to just leave it at that for like the next four seasons.  Bleah.  

But aside from all of that relationship hoopla, we had the two big character arcs--Izzie's brain tumor and George enlisting.  I honestly thought that at least one of them would survive and go on to just leave Seattle Grace.  While I admit that we obviously don't know for sure that either one of them is dead, it seems pretty clear that they both died at the end, at the very same moment (creepy).  While it was definitely a little evil to see Izzie finally get her memory back only to then fall over dead (I was starting to think maybe she would be the off-screen character that was still around, like Tino or Heather Sinclaire--she would be off-screen having all of Alex's babies and not practicing medicine any more), I am still glad that she's gone cuz if the actress wanted out that badly they needed to let her go.  And we got some really good material for Alex to build on down the road.  But George, man, George.  His farewell just sucked.  And by that I mean it was completely appropriate for that character's story arc.  He decides to enlist, tells like three people, and then the Chief sends him home--only to get hit by a bus saving a stranger and end up back in the hospital and unrecognizable to his friends and colleagues.  Said people who then find out (while he's in the room no less) that he signed up, get all indignant and bitch about it (around the poor unidentified and semi-conscious patient), and think of ways to keep him from going, not realizing that all the while he's dying under their very eyes.  Poor George.  At least they let him go out a hero.  I wish that actor all of the best.  

So after all of that drama, I needed me some silly and keyed up My Name is Earl in my DVR.  I have to say, this show has been so uneven of late, though as I said to my husband the other day, at least Earl isn't in a coma anymore.  But with this episode they were finally back on track.  Of course it was the last of the season, so no more till fall, sorry.  But seriously, we got Earl addressing his list, which has been missing of late.  We also got some really interesting info to set up for next season, if there is one, I honestly don't know if this is coming back or not, I keep forgetting to check.  On any other show, the end of episode reveal that Earl actually is Dodge's real father while Darnell is not, in fact, Earl Jr.'s father would just be too much, but it is perfect for this series.  So all in all I have to say I liked this season ender.  Of course now I am once more conflicted about whether or not to get the new season on DVD when it comes out.  Sigh.  

But yeah, so crazy night.  And now I think that only two shows I watch have any episodes left this season--so bring on the summer series!  I am so ready for Psych and Burn Notice and The Closer to come back.  

Anyhoo, now it is past my bed time, so I am going to skedaddle.  I'm planning to take myself to see Angels and Demons tomorrow, so I will probably have my thoughts on that for you this weekend.  And if not, I've got this lovely little Star Trek v. Wolverine debate going on on my head I may figure out how to write down one of these days.

Take care y'all.  Have a super weekend!

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