Season Finales

Well, it's that time of the year again and the writers strike has left all of my shows in an odd quandry; faced with less time to resolve this season's plot points, some shows featured thrown-together finales that rushed to pre-determined plot points and left us feeling a little cheated! (Okay, mainly "Gossip Girl." Most of the other shows were about the same quality, strike or no. And I promise, this is likely the last time you'll have to hear about "Gossip Girl" until next fall. Probably...)

THE COMEDIES:
In the positive column, the comedies didn't seem to suffer as bad. "How I Met Your Mother" resolved the Ted/Barney standoff with relatively little contrivance (if you don't include TWO car wrecks involving major characters in one episode, which I don't) and they also managed to sneak in the adoring BARNEY LOVES ROBIN shot! I am such a sucker for the bad boys who turn out to have super-soft, gooey cores (Logan Echolls, Spike, Chuck Bass, etc.) because there's nothing better than watching a jackass twist because he can't admit he's in love! At least for me.


"The Office" also suffered few setbacks. The Toby departure and Pam/Jim impending engagement both seemed a little quick, but also in character, so their being foisted upon us didn't really bother me. Because it bears repeating, the "mentally challenged" Kevin and new HR rep Holly storyline was so wonderful, well-written and took advantage of Kevin's particular character history. Excellent! And, as I think we covered on Heather's blog, the finale actually felt like good ol' vintage season 2 and 3 "The Office." That's quite an accomplishment! Finally, the secret's out on Dwight and Angela! Can't wait to see the fallout!



GOSSIP GIRL:
Of all the shows I love, the chief casualty of the strike seems to be "Gossip Girl." After a truly excellent freshman season (including 16 well-executed, character building, organically developing episodes) the last two episodes were in a bit of a tailspin. But it was all the strike, I think. Rather than have 9 episodes to close out the big, bad Georgina/Serena killed someone! arc, the show had to make do with only 5. Four episodes is a lot to lose when you're still planning on ending the season at the originally determined plot points.


Good about the finale?: First up - the title was "Much 'I Do' About Nothing" which rocks on so many levels! Also, Serena and Dan needed to break up. I was glad the Lily/Bart union actually happened so Chuck and Eric still get to be step-brothers! Yay! Nate and Chuck made up and are finally best gay friends again! As it should be! And the bestest? Although too rushed, Chuck was all kinds of awesome, helping out Nate, admitting he loved Blair, using his best man toast to win her back and kissing her on the dance floor. Even his reversion back to sleaze in the final minutes was tinged with tragic sadness and acted to perfection by Ed Westwick! Love him! And check out his and Leighton Meester's (Blair) amazing chemistry in the photos below. So hot! (Sorry, will stop indulging my inner fangirl now....)


Bad about the finale?: The scene of Blair finally taking down the much-despised Georgina Sparks was shockingly short, easy and lacked a real confrontation with Serena, the girl she's been stalking, blackmailing and torturing. That's wrong. Even though he was kinda in the right, Dan came off as even more a sanctimonious ass than usual. Chuck's relationship stalemates with both Nate and Blair were solved with only a few lines of dialogue. Rufus and Lily finally had the sex, but seemed to decide not to be together in a scene we didn't get to see!!! Also, while I like where the one week flash-forward has left all the characters (everyone's poised for new relationship drama next season) we didn't get to see Nate/Vanessa break-up (or find out why), we missed all of Chuck's romantic overtures, and the realistic behavior of Chuck in the last 5 minutes seemed wrong because of how it was written. However, I attribute almost all the flaws to the shortened and tampered time frame, because I like all these developments, just wish they were dealt with more gradually. Damn writer's strike!


GREY'S ANATOMY:
That was a lovely season finale! After some other storyline atrocities committed in Season 3 and the first part of this season, if was refreshing to see some actual character development, some happiness, and lot of smooching. Keeping up an impressive streak of good acting from it's guest stars, this week's patients included a boy who had encased himself in cement, and two young kids in love, both addled with the same brain tumor. Really good acting from all of them - got me crying.

Amongst the main characters, Callie finally recognized her feelings for Hahn, and at Mark's prodding, laid a big ol' lesbian kiss on her that was actually kind of sweet and hot. Oh, Mark. I hope next season the writers give you your own love story because Eric Danes is quickly becoming one of the best reasons to watch this show. Justin Chambers rocked as Alex had to deal with hell from Rebecca, but Izzie was there to hold him as he cried. So great to learn some of his shitty childhood backstory, finally! George talked the Chief into letting him retake his intern exam, yay, and had Lexi to thank for helping him rejuvenate his moxie. Lexi was a little annoying, but mostly cute, and George kept up his recent streak of cuddly, snuggly adorableness. And last but not least, Meredith made great strides in therapy, realized she didn't want to let Derek get away, and made a big romantic gesture. Derek did a little growing of his own (baby steps, people) and was on board with the Mer/Der reunion. Now writers, just keep them together from now on, please.


I lied. The most awesome was, of course Bailey. Chandra Wilson continues to own both this character and this show. In the finale she got to give great speeches to both cement boy and Izzie, decided to put her family ahead of her career, and impressed everyone with her knowledge of Star Wars factoids. She is a wonder.



I don't know if I'll be back to talk about the most likely amazing two-hour finale of "Lost" next week, but there may be a second edition of Season Finales. Be prepared.