TV show finales

Lost had its huge series finale last month, which was a big enough deal that I discussed it in its own post. The rest of the shows that I've been following this season I decided to lump together into one season finale post. While most shows ended several weeks ago, Glee was the late finisher, concluding only this past week. So now I finally get to do my finales post.

As you might have guessed, each section contains SEASON FINALE SPOILERS for its respective show.

V

V started off strong last November, but after only four episodes it went on a long hiatus, coming back in the spring with many fewer viewers and, in my opinion, worse writing. I was disappointed by a number of things this spring, and Tyler and Chad really got on my nerves. Still, I was overall satisfied by the season finale.

There were a couple weak points. I thought the whole situation of Ryan's wife giving birth on the V ship was ridiculous: obviously they were going to kill her--Ryan even expected as much--so why would he let them shuffle him out of the room as she was giving birth?! Even human hospitals, primitive as their technology is compared to V technology, can handle people in the room with a woman giving birth. That room on the V ship was very spacious! He couldn't have been in anyone's way. Seriously, he believed them when they told him he had to leave? Dumb, dumb, dumb. I also thought it was kind of unrealistic that, after Joshua told Chad about the bad things the Vs were doing to the live-aboard people, Chad was able to just wander down the hall, unhindered and unnoticed, to the secret rooms where the weird experiments were going on. I'm glad he's finally on the side of the resistance, but it was a little silly that it was so simple.

Luckily, there were enough cool things that happened in the finale to satisfy me. Erica has successfully infiltrated Anna's circle of trust: Anna is rather pleased with herself that she has recruited Erica for her side to help in the investigations to bring down the Fifth Column, but, ha ha ha, Erica is the Fifth Column. Sweet. And Lisa has now officially chosen sides, and she has chosen the Fifth Column. Yay for her. I like her character a lot. Lastly, when Anna flipped out when she saw that almost all of her soldiers had been killed? So freaky. So cool. So satisfying.

The show has been renewed, though it won't be returning until midseason. Another long hiatus. Hopefully things will continue to get better when they come back.


Fringe

I love this show. The characters had a fascinating foray into the "Other Side", and they met up with Leonard Nimoy who made a fitting exit. I find it a little hard to believe that no one noticed they had the wrong Olivia at the end there, though I guess they were in a hurry. Still, if it takes Peter more than one episode to realize she's the wrong one I will be very upset. It leaves a very interesting setup for the next season. Will Other Olivia (Fauxlivia? She's not really "faux"--that would be more like one of the shapeshifters taking her form--but it has a nice ring to it) realize the error of her ways and help to set things right? How will Our Olivia cope on the other side? The look Walternate gave her as he observed her in her cell was chilling--he wasn't looking at a person there. But will have to be some developments on that side, as well. She can't just stay isolated in that cell until the others come to save her.

I'm definitely looking forward to this one coming back next season. I can't wait to see where they take it. We'll see whether I get used to Olivia's new hair. I think I liked it better before.


FlashForward

So many characters with so many flash-forwards to cover. I was really impressed with how all the flash-forwards panned out. All of them were pretty close to how they were "supposed to be", but some with little twists. Olivia and Lloyd in the right place, but not exactly how their flash-forward had pictured it. Benford finally figures out the message on his mosaic board just in time to...do nothing about it. Janis's baby is fine but--*gasp*--it's a boy! (After stressing that she wanted that exact baby so much, did it turn out she did the wrong thing?) Tracy is OK! Bryce and Keiko find each other (aw!). Nicole was actually saved from drowning! The coolest part, I thought, was the stuff that happened at NLAP. First, how Janis got from there to the hospital where she needed to be while helping the others gain access was clever. Second, the two characters at NLAP, Demetri and Simon, happen to be our two main characters who didn't have flash-forwards, which is good because that would have been the most spoiler-y place for a flash-forward. Nice planning there.

This show had some rocky moments, but I think it's a shame it didn't make it to a second season. Luckily the season (and now series) finale cliffhanger wasn't too bad. I mean, everyone had a new flash-forward, but we only got to see one, so it's not like we had multiple cliffhangers taunting us. It would have been nice to see where the story was headed, but I'm not too tortured by the open ending.


Glee

First, I have to say we had some great episodes recently. I loooved the Joss Whedon episode. Neil Patrick Harris is awesome, as always. Artie finally got to get up and dance. And Shelby is Rachel's mom! Whose idea was it to cast Idina Menzel as the birth mother of Lea Michele's character? Perfect! I also liked the Lady Gaga episode. I've never been a fan of Lady Gaga, but the Glee girls and Kurt doing "Bad Romance" was awesome. I thought Santana was a standout in her part there. I wasn't sure about the "Poker Face" duet. OK, it was an interesting arrangement, but I couldn't believe that the song that Rachel had always been longing to sing as a duet with her long-lost mother was..."Poker Face". Some people really liked it--the Housemate said he got choked up during it--but I wasn't convinced. I got choked up during the part with Kurt's dad defending him. Aw. And Finn at the end in that red dress? Great.

Now the finale. I thought it was awesome. The numbers were great, and I was happy to hear them break out "Don't stop believing" again. Vocal Adrenaline doing Bohemian Rhapsody was very cool, and it worked surprisingly well as a soundtrack for giving birth. Though, while it is a long song, it's still probably not as long as it would take for someone to give birth the first time (ah well, it's TV, what can you do?). I can't help but try to figure out how the judges' voting must have gone, since Josh Groban seemed to like New Directions and we learned that Sue put them first, but whatever. It was good that they didn't win their first year (or else how could they improve, and still feel like underdogs worth rooting for next year?), though of course they had to find a way to keep the glee club together or else there would be no show. I loved Sue's development in the judging panel--when she is no longer the meanest, most successful person in the room, she finds her heart and identifies with the glee club. *Sniffle*. And Shelby adopting Beth was a nice touch.

A very strong first season for Glee. I hope they can keep it up and find ways to keep it fresh.

Final comment about the Glee finale. You know how at the end Will Schuester plays the ukulele and sings "Somewhere over the rainbow" Iz style? Well, I sing and play that song on the ukulele, too! It was the first song I learned (it's easy--five chords that change at regular, long intervals). I even sing it with the traditional (aka "right") lyrics just like Will did, because unlike Iz's mix-up, they actually make sense. So you may understand why I got way more excited about this song than probably most people did. And I can confirm that Matthew Morrison's fingerings on the uke are correct.