Television Season Finale Thoughts
Jul. 15th, 2014 01:32 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
Based on my highly scientific poll from a few weeks ago, it seems that My Thoughts on TV Finales is one of the posts y'all are interested in seeing. So here it is!
Note: I still haven’t seen the last two episodes of Once Upon A Time’s, so please don’t talk to me about them. I’m relatively spoiler free, and would like to stay that way until I eventually get around to watching them.
Castle-I accidentally saw an interview with Nathan Fillion on Letterman (my parents went to bed and left the TV on whatever channel, and I didn't realize it was on some show I never watch until Nathan showed up and then I watched it) where he said that the Castle season finale was going to be lighter than usual, because the second to last episode had been so intense. However, because Castle’s season finales are usually cliffhangers, I was only cautiously optimistic. And as soon as I saw the camera angle on him in the car, I was like, “What’s going to happen? The camera is really close and only showing him and it's being shot from the side, what is going to happen?!” Then when he was checking his hair in the mirror I was convinced that he was going to get in to a car accident (because he wasn't looking at the road, and some car was just going to come out of nowhere) and so when they showed the SUV I was like, “Shit. I knew it, I KNEW something was going to happen!”
-But, as I said to Andrew, surely he isn't dead, because ABC just isn't that stupid. And I read an interview with the writer/director/producer/someone that seemed to indicate Castle will be fine, and Nathan is signed on for next season.
But besides the ending, I greatly enjoyed this episode. I liked the levity, and the Kate backstory, and how Castle and Beckett always believe in each other and hold each other up when necessary. It does worry me a little that every big wedding I see on TV seems to go to shit, because mine is going to be big, but hopefully nothing THAT bad will happen. I wasn't sad to see Kate's first dress go though, I can tell you that. Her mother's dress was much better.
Agents of Shield-Again, although this episode made me EXTREMELY nervous, I liked it overall. Several episodes before this one, as soon as I became convinced that Ward was really evil, (I kept holding out hope that he was just playing Garret, alas), I was like, “May needs to kill him. If anyone is going to kill Ward, it HAS to be May, because she can and she would.” Even though she didn't quite kill him, MY WISH CAME TRUE. God, I was so happy, I literally had to pause the TV and squee about it for a few minutes, and then go back and watch her flying squirrel leap on him again, because it was AWESOME. SO AWESOME. “You were never on top.” LOL FOREVER, MAY. YOU FUCKING TELL THAT TRAITOR BASTARD. <3 <3 <3
-I could have done without Ward's backstory. It didn't make me like him any more (and I liked him fine before he was a traitor) and it was so dumb and obvious and sappy. Ugh. It just made him seem like such a loser, rather than a man of conviction, albeit the wrong conviction, like he’d seemed before. Though maybe that was the point; that Ward was a follower, and he just followed the wrong man for the wrong reasons? In any case, I felt like Ward’s story was emotionally unresolved, and I’m hopeful that it will come up again in future seasons. Like, they kept showing him waffling about hurting his 'friends', but not really, but he loves Skye (for no real adequate reason) but knows that she hates him, but that doesn't make him love her any less, and she does hate him, but she won’t kill him, but I feel like she totally would have let May kill him, and it was all very confusing and rushed. On the other hand, I’m so done with him and his bullshit. We can talk about him, but I don't really need to see him again.
-Why on earth didn't Simmons kiss Fitz when he was confessing his undying love for her? If he’s about to die, the least you can do is mack on him a little, right? Also, the only thing I didn't like about this episode was Fitz’s ambiguous fate. Obviously they did that on purpose, but that doesn't mean I have to like it. He had better be all right, that’s all I have to say. At least Simmons did the thing I said she should do, which was drag Fitz up with her instead of leaving him down there to definitely die.
-I literally cheered when Fury showed up. I’m impressed that Sammy J was on the show for that length of time, honestly, and it was SO AWESOME. I love Nick Fury, now, forever, and always. Plus, there's nothing better than when the good guys have a plan, especially one that outsmarts the bad guys, and their plan was brilliant and perfect. Fury and Coulson’s banter at the end, where they were totally not taking Garret seriously AT ALL was beautiful perfection and I saved the episode on our DVR so I could watch it again. <3
-How dumb was it of HYDRA to be blackmailing people into doing their evil work? I mean, obviously the flaw in that plan is exactly what happened: someone frees the people you’re holding hostage, and you’re done having staff. Plus, why did they keep the hostages in the same building? (Or were they just somewhere nearby?) Stupid, HYDRA, really stupid. It was AWESOME to watch Skye and May take it down, however. :D And awesome to see Coulson use the gun from The Avengers and go, “I know what it does.”
P.S. How awesome was Coulson blowing up Undead!Garret at the end? Perfect.
Arrow
-Things I liked: The canary being brought up, Laurel being awesome, Diggle and Lyla not taking Waller’s shit anymore, Slade being imprisoned on the island (LOL GOTCHA), and OLIVER AND FELICITY’S PLAN, OMG. For half a second I was like, “Nooooo, show, do not pair them up! One of your unique strengths is the friendly relationship between Felicity and Oliver, how she’s not just there as a potential love interest, how she has a crush on him but nothing more, and you have been obnoxious about this all season. DON’T DO IT.” And then Oliver said, “Do you understand?” with the meaningful tone of meaningful-ness, and I knew that it was all a clever ruse and it totally was and everything was wonderful. And Felicity saved the day, yet again, because she is AMAZING. I also liked the end of Blood’s arc (though I’m not sure what his plan was in the first place… Save the city from Slade and be mayor forever out of gratitude? Hire the Blood Army as his mayoral cabinet? Use the threat of said army to get the city to give him more power?), Roy getting a mask, and Felicity joking with Oliver about him being poor now and having to get a job. <3 Bless, Felicity, never change.
Note: I still haven’t seen the last two episodes of Once Upon A Time’s, so please don’t talk to me about them. I’m relatively spoiler free, and would like to stay that way until I eventually get around to watching them.
Castle
-But, as I said to Andrew, surely he isn't dead, because ABC just isn't that stupid. And I read an interview with the writer/director/producer/someone that seemed to indicate Castle will be fine, and Nathan is signed on for next season.
But besides the ending, I greatly enjoyed this episode. I liked the levity, and the Kate backstory, and how Castle and Beckett always believe in each other and hold each other up when necessary. It does worry me a little that every big wedding I see on TV seems to go to shit, because mine is going to be big, but hopefully nothing THAT bad will happen. I wasn't sad to see Kate's first dress go though, I can tell you that. Her mother's dress was much better.
Agents of Shield
-I could have done without Ward's backstory. It didn't make me like him any more (and I liked him fine before he was a traitor) and it was so dumb and obvious and sappy. Ugh. It just made him seem like such a loser, rather than a man of conviction, albeit the wrong conviction, like he’d seemed before. Though maybe that was the point; that Ward was a follower, and he just followed the wrong man for the wrong reasons? In any case, I felt like Ward’s story was emotionally unresolved, and I’m hopeful that it will come up again in future seasons. Like, they kept showing him waffling about hurting his 'friends', but not really, but he loves Skye (for no real adequate reason) but knows that she hates him, but that doesn't make him love her any less, and she does hate him, but she won’t kill him, but I feel like she totally would have let May kill him, and it was all very confusing and rushed. On the other hand, I’m so done with him and his bullshit. We can talk about him, but I don't really need to see him again.
-Why on earth didn't Simmons kiss Fitz when he was confessing his undying love for her? If he’s about to die, the least you can do is mack on him a little, right? Also, the only thing I didn't like about this episode was Fitz’s ambiguous fate. Obviously they did that on purpose, but that doesn't mean I have to like it. He had better be all right, that’s all I have to say. At least Simmons did the thing I said she should do, which was drag Fitz up with her instead of leaving him down there to definitely die.
-I literally cheered when Fury showed up. I’m impressed that Sammy J was on the show for that length of time, honestly, and it was SO AWESOME. I love Nick Fury, now, forever, and always. Plus, there's nothing better than when the good guys have a plan, especially one that outsmarts the bad guys, and their plan was brilliant and perfect. Fury and Coulson’s banter at the end, where they were totally not taking Garret seriously AT ALL was beautiful perfection and I saved the episode on our DVR so I could watch it again. <3
-How dumb was it of HYDRA to be blackmailing people into doing their evil work? I mean, obviously the flaw in that plan is exactly what happened: someone frees the people you’re holding hostage, and you’re done having staff. Plus, why did they keep the hostages in the same building? (Or were they just somewhere nearby?) Stupid, HYDRA, really stupid. It was AWESOME to watch Skye and May take it down, however. :D And awesome to see Coulson use the gun from The Avengers and go, “I know what it does.”
P.S. How awesome was Coulson blowing up Undead!Garret at the end? Perfect.
Arrow
-I know that no one but me watches this show, but HOT DAMN. I was worried, because they'd killed off Moira, which shocked the hell out of me and Andrew said that Steven Amell posted a picture of Felicity on FB that said, “Sometimes in war there are casualties,” and despite all my arguments to myself I was afraid that Felicity would die too. But she didn't and it was all good.
-The things I didn't like were 1. Sarah going back to the League of Assassins without it being made clear whether or not she was going to have to be an assassin again. She was all about not having to be a killer and being a hero and choosing her own fate and all that stuff, but then she went back? I mean, obviously Nyssa loves her and all, but before she was willing to KILL HERSELF rather than be an assassin again, so what was that? Is she only going to kill bad people like Slade now or something? I need more info, Arrow! 2. Detective Lance's health status left open, but the last scene on the island being clearly later enough that Oliver should have heard about how Lance was, but it wasn't brought up again. I mean, not that I want him to be dead, but the way the cliffhanger was done was poor. 3.Summer Glau’s death. That was stupid, why bring her back just to kill her again? Pointless. 4. No more Roy/Thea. I really liked them together, so am sad to see them broken up, but at the same time I love the idea of Thea as Merlin’s daughter and possibly a villain. She was really starting to annoy the fuck out of me in the latter half of the season, so this is a new and intriguing development.
-The things I didn't like were 1. Sarah going back to the League of Assassins without it being made clear whether or not she was going to have to be an assassin again. She was all about not having to be a killer and being a hero and choosing her own fate and all that stuff, but then she went back? I mean, obviously Nyssa loves her and all, but before she was willing to KILL HERSELF rather than be an assassin again, so what was that? Is she only going to kill bad people like Slade now or something? I need more info, Arrow! 2. Detective Lance's health status left open, but the last scene on the island being clearly later enough that Oliver should have heard about how Lance was, but it wasn't brought up again. I mean, not that I want him to be dead, but the way the cliffhanger was done was poor. 3.Summer Glau’s death. That was stupid, why bring her back just to kill her again? Pointless. 4. No more Roy/Thea. I really liked them together, so am sad to see them broken up, but at the same time I love the idea of Thea as Merlin’s daughter and possibly a villain. She was really starting to annoy the fuck out of me in the latter half of the season, so this is a new and intriguing development.
-Things I liked: The canary being brought up, Laurel being awesome, Diggle and Lyla not taking Waller’s shit anymore, Slade being imprisoned on the island (LOL GOTCHA), and OLIVER AND FELICITY’S PLAN, OMG. For half a second I was like, “Nooooo, show, do not pair them up! One of your unique strengths is the friendly relationship between Felicity and Oliver, how she’s not just there as a potential love interest, how she has a crush on him but nothing more, and you have been obnoxious about this all season. DON’T DO IT.” And then Oliver said, “Do you understand?” with the meaningful tone of meaningful-ness, and I knew that it was all a clever ruse and it totally was and everything was wonderful. And Felicity saved the day, yet again, because she is AMAZING. I also liked the end of Blood’s arc (though I’m not sure what his plan was in the first place… Save the city from Slade and be mayor forever out of gratitude? Hire the Blood Army as his mayoral cabinet? Use the threat of said army to get the city to give him more power?), Roy getting a mask, and Felicity joking with Oliver about him being poor now and having to get a job. <3 Bless, Felicity, never change.