Everybody Loves Saturday Night

Lost: That's what I'm talkin' about!

It occurred to me halfway through last night's spectacular season finale that the reason Lost has gotten so good again is that the story returned to its "omg wtf creepy!" season 1 roots. Actually, I would include most of Season 2 in that as well, since we were introduced to new people and Dharma and, of course, Henry/Ben, whose "Got any milk" line still gives me the shivers. The first half of Season 3 was so lame because hello, it was all familiar. We knew these people. We knew the island had issues. We didn't freakin' care about Jack's freakin' tattoos. We just wanted to know what the hell was going on, and those answers kept getting delayed. It's hard to watch TV the way you would read a book, but I am now very appreciative of the narrative structure of the show. What I can glean of it, anyway. We're not going to be able to see it until the show is really done. And I am OK with that. I am fully committed to the relationship I have with this show. That's how satisfying the finale was for me.

In particular:

-- The flash forward. It had to be that and not a flashback this time, and my mind knew that as soon as it couldn't place that (horrible) beard on any past timeline, but I couldn't accept it emotionally, since it would have meant such a departure from the show's normal plan of attack. So I didn't really cotton to the flashforward until Jack's in his place surrounded by maps. Holy crap, dude. Does that mean S4 will focus on the futures of everyone who gets off the island?

-- So who died in the future? Sawyer? Or is Sawyer the guy Kate needed to get back to? (That seems awfully tidy, though) Locke? Juliet? Ben? Notice (and I went back to check) that at no time is the gender of the person who died revealed. Nicely done, that.

-- Hurley saving the day in the van and the subsequent "Come in, Others!" on the walkie talkie.

-- I like how dark Sawyer's gotten since he killed Cooper. It's chilling, but it makes sense. I was sorry to see him kill Tom, though. M. C. Gainey, you will be missed.

-- The Ben smackdown.

-- The Alex/Rousseau reunion.

-- Charlie. Oh, Charlie. Loved that the code came from "Good Vibrations," because it made me think of the electromagnetic forces at work on the island. Loved that we got a glimpse of Penny telling Charlie that Naomi doesn't work for her and that's not her boat. Love that Charlie gets that message to Desmond.

-- So if Naomi's not with Penny, then who's this Minkowski dude on the freighter? Was Ben actually telling the truth about something?

-- Waaaaaaaaaalllllllt! I love that I recognized Locke's *eyeball*, dudes.

-- Me to Patchy: Why won't you die?!

-- Season 4 needs to have at least one flashback: for Richard. I need to know the backstory of the so-called "natives" of this island.

-- I thought the whole concept of Oceanic handing out Golden Passes to everyone who survived the 815 crash was *hysterical*.

So no new Lost until February 2008, which is cruel. But it does make me look forward to getting S3 on DVD and having a marathon viewing session.

Heroes Jumps the Shark

I was there with them.  I was loving how everything tied together!  Parkman saved Molly!  Micah fixes the election!  Nicki's whole annoying existence was justified when she gave Peter her powers and he kicked the shit out of Sylar and then started to go nuclear!

And then... LAME.  As of the moment Nathan showed up to save the world, this show is dead to me.  Even Hiro in the past is not enough.  I'm done.

House: You are boring the shit out of me.

Remember, back in the day, when SNL was actually worth watching, how sometimes they had really really unbearably funny skits?  But then they would make the MISTAKE of deciding that those skits should be dragged out twice as long as was funny until they became totally stupid and unfunny?  (Or even worse: making them into an even longer movie!)

Yeah, that's how I feel about House.  They have dragged out the "will he, won't he" on Foreman leaving so long that it's just stupid.  Who cares that House might secretly want Foreman to stay and sabotage him leaving?  WHO CARES.  They have dragged this storyline out so long it's just BOAR-RING.  Chase wants Cameron, he reminds her "every Tuesday" (how fortunate for them that's what day the show is on ha ha ha), and yet there is NO movement in any direction on that scenario either.  She moves neither closer nor farther away.  House/Cuddy = going nowhere as well.  Wilson = doing nothing, going nowhere.

Boar-ring.  Boring.  BORING.

The Office vs. Grey's: Season Finales

Grey's:  Horrible. Sucked.  Everything that could go wrong, in every relationship, does go wrong.  And frankly, gave me no reasons to want to watch next season at all.

The Office: Awesome. Rocked.  Some things went so hilariously wrong, and some things went so wonderfully right.  Yay!!!  CanNOT WAIT until this Fall!!!

Verbose, aren't I.  What did you think?

Veronica Mars Canceled.

If they had canceled it after the brilliant, funny, awesome Season 1, I would have been Misery Herself.

If they had canceled it after the uneven, sometimes very good but sometimes very bad Season 2, I wouldn't have been miserable but I would have missed it.

Since they are canceling it after the suckass horrible travesty that was Season 3, I can't say I am either surprised or disappointed.   Wasn't going to watch it next year anyway!!

The Office: Awesome on both counts.

Count one: Hilarity.  Awesome!  Doing things like this is my worst work nightmare and I know people who've been forced to do them on crazy team-building weekends!!!  When Dwight winds up crawling on the coals? And Andy floating in the river in the sumo costume?  My ribs hurt from laughing so hard!

Count two: Jim/Pam/Karen, a.k.a. ROMANCE.  Finally some movement!  Yay!  You go, Pam!

FNL Renewed!

Whew.  Now you all can catch up with the free episodes online and be ready to boost the ratings next season!

Grey's: No more please

Your regular Grey’s commenter is suffering a profound revulsion of the soul after the past 5 or 6 episodes and I can’t blame her. When a good show goes bad, it is a heart breaker and this past very special episode (6 special episodes in a row?) continues the downward spiral.

What I have are impressions mostly. The biggest one being – I know you are struggling with off air personality problems but people, get a grip on your goals for this show. Do you have any anymore?

Alex and Amnesia Girl are worth watching – but the progress of his character is totally undermined - and stupidly undermined, which is worse -by the fuck-and-dump of Addison and I know it is all about the new show, but badly done. I guess I think I shouldn’t have to be so AWARE of the EXTERNAL demands on the writers.  And it would have been really amazing if they let Addison walk away not because of another mistake with a man, but because she recognized that the environment she was in was hothouse and unhealthy.

Bailey is fantastic as always and it would be great to see her get to be more than acidic window dressing to the free-floating angst of the show. I wanted to marry her when she sent George and Burke to waste each other’s time instead of hers.

And that stupid resident – the fill in the chief called (was that this episode or the previous one) – even she use to have a character – remember the awesome put down she gave Christina/Burke during the flesh eating bacteria leg surgery? Now she's just a bouncy kiss-ass.

I could make a list of all the characters who USED to be something. Callie, George, Burke, Izzy…all thrown away.

Let's talk about Izzy – used to be tough and interesting as well as pink and sweet and now she’s just an idiot. In three weeks (approximately) she’s gone from mourning Denny in quite a moving way to Being In Love with George in this awful, unbelievable, destructive, selfish way. Which I could maybe see as a grief mechanism, but they aren't approaching it that way. And still treating Callie like dirt, which I never understood – you don’t make your friends choose when they have a bad girlfriend. Or a bad wife – which isn’t even a for sure yet.  The Izzy that was knew this about people.

Callie and Izzy should be friends – the outsized sexiness and the way that they are not what other people expect ought to make them natural allies since they aren't alike enough to compete for the same oxygen – and wouldn’t that be an interesting storyline, unlike this stupid manufactured sex triangle?

Derek’s need to caretake could be interesting, if they took the time to look at it, relate it to the end of his marriage even, maybe why Addison cheated in the first place.  Because he isn't a White Knight, he's a man trying to be a White Knight.   Meredith and Derek learning to see each other as whole people could be really interesting, if they took the time to look at it. Meredith could be interesting if they stopped torturing her long enough to let her have a character instead of just an expression. Though she really is an oblivious person.

I cannot even speak about the new death in Meredith’s family. Stupid. Wasted dramatic arc. Ridiculous in every way.

I can’t believe I am saying this, but could this be about something OTHER than sex and love and marriage. Could we have some medicine please? Not disease of the week medicine, but bread-and-butter hospital work?

Remember when the show was structured around the lessons of medicine and surgery and the challenges these people were facing as they worked to become highly skilled professionals? Their competitiveness and insecurity and desire were fun to watch.  And if that’s the focus, nobody has to have a new sex partner every week to keep things lively. Romantic woes and the death of loved ones are NOT the only ways to grow as people. Really cheesy. And not very interesting. Seriously.

Buffy 4:3 It's like we're back in high school; Angel 1:3 Crossover! Yay!

Buffy: Wow, with Harmony, Spike and Anya all reappearing, it's like we're back in senior year all over again.  The first sighting of Buffy's neck scar. So cool, and the hilarity of blaming it (and Willow's bite) on an "angry puppy." ;)   Parker plays the "Dead Father" card, Buffy falls for it....only to find out he's no Angel, he's a jerk!  Oh!  Buffy: "So I am wondering, does this always happen? Sleep with a guy and he goes all evil?"

Great Anya quote: "You're funny and you're nicely shaped and frankly it's ludicrous to have these interlocking bodies and not interlock. Please remove your clothing now."

Angel: OK I am not sure I have ever loved a scene more than Spike up on the roof doing the old Kung Fu/mystery science theater commentary:  "Evil's still afoot and I"m almost out of that nancy boy hair gel I love so much..."  Ouch! Spike tells Angel about Parker using Buffy!  Ouch! Torture! Ouch, catching on fire!!! 

Loved both of these!!!!!!!!!!!  They really fooled me tho!  I totally thought that Buffy finding that ring, and then sending it to Angel would be the way they would have him get around LA in the sun: using the ring as the excuse.  But no!  :)

Bones makes me smarter. No, really.

Altho Bones is so much more lighthearted than the other forensics shows, there are still all these cool facts and analysis.  I loved all the stuff about bone density in space, and the dude trying to use coral to regenerate it.  There is such a teeny tiny part of science lover in me, TV has the perfect amount!  As to Hodgins/Angela.  Hmmm.  Not sure what the hesitation is.  He certainly "did it right" this time (oh and if you read the FOX discussion boards - which I swear I never have before - apparently there was an episode skipped due to its similarity to real events (will the TV people never get over doing this. come on. we can deal!) where presumably the first "wrong" proposal took place).  But at least if she keeps saying no, that keeps the romantic tension alive, doesn't it.  :)  Loved the final couple minutes. I am down with the Bones/Booth harmonies.