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On The Precipice of Mediocrity, Teetering

Wednesday, May 24, 2006

Finale Wrap-Up: Week 2  

A little later than I was planning (here's part 1), but a little thing called a Vegas vacation got in the way (more on the trip later). Anyway, this week to was insanely huge, I might just miss a few...

West Wing - Admittedly, I got into West Wing late, but it will go down as one of my favorite shows ever. Great acting, crisp dialogue, important topics. This last season has been really exciting, as I'm a fan of how politics works... and the fact Josh and Donna *finally* got together was totally worth it. The finale was fairly subdued, a believable passing of the torch, and it left me wanting to know where all these characters end up in the future, which is both a great sign of a series finale, as well as incredibly frustrating. Was sad Tobey didn't make an appearance, but his story's end was fitting. B

Grey's Anatomy - Truth be told, Grey's isn't a favorite of mine. I've hated the lead for a long time (only recently starting to warm to her), I find Sandra Oh overrated, and the show employed the Big Fat Obnoxious Fiancee. Still, George, Izzie, and Alex were great characters, and it was a show I could watch with Night Nurse. The finale, however, made me a complete fan, easily one of the strongest of sweeps. Izzie's actions were mind-fuckingly annoying, but amazingly believable for her character; George's 'apology', while I believe un-called for, was a great scene; Cristina's breakdown in front of the head doc was just awesome; and even Mere's actions didn't make me completely hate her, which is saying alot. Great ending with the loss(?) of a strong character, and makes me look forward to next season. A

Medium - Talk about anti-climactic. I was pretty excited to see Kelsey Grammer as the Angel of Death, only to find the episode dealt with insurance fraud. Ho-hum. Honestly, don't know why I watch this show... there's been barely any character growth, the effects are week, and the stories are predictable. It's gotten to the point where I tape the show and watch CSI: Miami instead... just sad. C

Prison Break - Probably my favorite new show of the season, it meandered a bit after the hiatus, but quickly started rolling strong to the finish in the past month. The finale was strong, and definitely had me holding my breath at points, trying to guess who was gonna make it, and the sight of the plane flying away at the end was a jaw-dropper, as it certainly appears as if the escape is gonna fail. And I found it ironic that the two escapees who "made it" were the two Team Escarpara abandoned. I'm excited to see the second half of this two-season show, it was certainly ambitious, and the characters are all strong (if somewhat cliche). As always, the suspension of disbelief has to be turned up for this show (much like 24), but it's totally worth it. B+

NCIS - Not an outright favorite show of mine, but I love the characters and humor the ensemble brings to the table. The two-parter was a bit more ambitious, requiring the supporting cast to step up in the absence of lead Mark Harmon, which appears to be permanent for next season. Not sure if the show can survive without him (think CSI w/o Grissom), but I have faith in the cast that they'll be able to pull it off. Overall, the finale worked for me, especially the idea of an amnesiac marine finding out about 9/11 again for the first time. Pretty powerful stuff. B+

Bones - Like Medium, another show that I watch more out of habit than of enjoyment. The leads are good, but the supporting cast is very weak... hope that improves next year. Anyway, ending the season on a "personal" story dealing Brennan's dead mother made the episode a bit more melodramatic than I'd like, but it surprisingly worked well. As a fan of Buffy & Angel, it's been great to see Boreanaz grow as an actor over the years, and he does a good job here. Sadly though, you can tell the show is gonna fall into the Moonlighting problem, and fall apart completely once his character and Deschanel hook up... hope it's not for a while. B-

Law & Order: SVU - Speaking of shows with wary-inducing sexual chemistry, it's truly impressive the show waited until the end of season 7 to add a possible romance between their two leads. In fact, for a L&O show, I'm impressed the actors have hung on this long. Honestly, I could go either way in the thought of Benson and Stabler getting together. The two obviously love eachother, but I find it a more believable that they will never be able to act on it, be it because of the fact they're partners, or the fact they deal with the most fucked up shit imaginable they'd never be able to let it go. The finale predictably pushed 'em back together after an "trial separation", and seeing as they were able to nail Tom Cruise's ass to the wall as well, all the better. It is kinda scary, though, to think high school students are having gang bangs in the school bathroom nowadays for kicks. What the hell ever happened to nervousness on who'd invite you to the Sadie Hawkins Dance? Sheesh! B

Invasion - This show got off to a shaky start, stretching out the mystery far too long for our ADHD culture to follow, which is too bad, because around the halfway mark the show got really good. Sad to see it go away from ABC's lineup next year... fingers crossed The CW sees the genius in picking up a sci-fi show with a built in fan-base. Anyway, the finale was frickin' amazing, especially the opening 10 minutes. Seeing army-garbed hybrids pushing a bunch of humans in the water was a chilling sight. I found the family-hostage plot a bit thin, but the shooting of the prego-wife, and the eventual turn-her-to-save-her gambit was cool. A-

CSI -The Brass-shooting storyline.. eh, I can do without it, except for the fact it brought back Teal Redmann (also from Gilmore Girls) back as his daughter. Mreow. Anyway, the case was ho-hum, obviously the big development is Grissom and Sara finally getting together. Despite what some would expect, I didn't find this too squee-worthy. Sara's always been my least favorite character on the show, someone who needed to gain a drinking problem to be interesting. I always found Gil's relationship with Sofia Curtis the better route, but oh well, the fans have been wanting the two of them together since S1, so who am I to argue? Nothing groundbreaking, but enjoyable. B

Part three will see my thoughts on the finales of 24, Alias, Lost, and maybe a few I missed...

posted by Holz | 2:16 PM | Rant & Rave, Bitches! (1)

1 Comments:

I wonder when "Part 3" will be written??
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By Anonymous Anonymous, at 6/02/2006 4:39 AM  


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Right Now I'm Probably...
Watching:
Lost, Heroes, 24, Criminal Minds
Listening:
Brobdingnagian Bards
Reading:
The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman
Playing:
Final Fantasy XII
Eating:
Healthy...er
Doing:
Running... hopefully
Wishing:
My Amazon.com Wish List
Comic Quote of the Week
"It's trying to end the suffering of everything. Do you want to discuss our options? Maybe together we can, you know, workshop?"

"Okay, best way to stop a ten-story godlike monster from destroying existence? I'm gonna go with hitting, you have anything?"

"You took mine."


Wesley and Angel, Angel: After The Fall #15



Who Am I?
Name: Holz
Home: Sonoma County, California
About Me: I'm a comfortador.
See my complete profile

AKA:
Ozymandias, DrOzymandias, Darth Angelus, Darque Feonix, Trip McNeely
Kicking ass for:
29 years
Job:
UWing Systems Design Specialist
Walking Theme:
Believe It Or Not by Joey Scarbury
Most watched movie:
The Princess Bride
Most read book:
The Dark Tower Series by Stephen King


Where Do I Go?
Blogs I Will Most Likely Steal Ideas From
The Past
Some of My Favorite Entries
"Let a man get away with fuckin' you once, you stay bent over so's he can fuck you again whenever he damn well pleases. An' if one man can do it? Another will too. An' another, an' another still. So's being fucked, that's yer life. 'Til who you were, you ain't. 'Cause all you are is an asshole."
100 Bullets #42