I should have known...
BLASTED MONK! WHY MUST IT RUIN ALL OF MY HOPES AND DREAMS? WHY? All this episode really did was remind me how much I abhor Sharona/Disher. Like, they are one of those horribly written ships that make my skin crawl and are just completely pointless and thrown in there last minute to offshoot the people who are shipping a ship that the writers don't want you to ship, and just... UGH. UGH UGH UGH. And the Disher/Sharona shippers were the rudest bunch of shippers ever (not really, but I was young, so everything was more dramatic to me back then), so the fact that they get the satisfaction of going "Na na na na naaaaaa na" is just... UGH. MOST HORRIBLE THING EVER. DAMN IT, MONK! WHY CAN'T I QUIT YOU? YOU JUST KEEP HURTING ME. I am glad this is the last year. GLAD GLAD GLAD. Bastards. On top of that, they had Sharona say that she divorced Trevor AGAIN, and this is the man that she left Monk for without even bothering to say goodbye, and that is just even more of a rub in the face to Sharona fans. Annnnd, this episode took bitchy!Sharona and turned her up so many notches that she just wasn't the Sharona I fell in love with. And while the show tried to say that Sharona and Natalie are equally great assistants, they just made Sharona look kind of terrible. Worst of all, they never addressed Monk's feelings on Sharona leaving him without warning. I mean, surely he has some bitterness about that, right?
That being said, I did love Monk's flustered state. He was so torn on who to be loyal to, and he was back to his adorable lovable self with Sharona around. I guess Sharona's bitchiness made Monk seem less rude? I don't know. But he just seems so much sweeter when Sharona's around. Anyway, I love that he never once showed any more love for either Sharona or Natalie. He loves them both, just in different ways. Monk/Sharona was turbulent and bickery and intense and tender and challenging and right, while Monk/Natalie is very calm and accommodating to Monk and... well, a great deal more peaceful than Monk/Sharona was (which is probably why Monk/Natalie tends to bore the crap out of me, to the point where I wasn't even enjoying Monk's scenes anymore, but, technically speaking, Natalie is right for him). But anyway, with all the icky Sharona/Disher going on, I was seriously fearing that we wouldn't get any Monk/Sharona closure, but then Sharona admitted she loved him and my heart melted, and then, oh god, that epically long hug at the end. THE HUG! It was so, so beautiful and understated and perfect and Monk LEANED INTO IT and he SMILED and he SMELLED HER HAIR and OMG IT WAS BEAUTIFUL. And... then it was ruined by Disher. UGH. DISHER. NOW I REMEMBER WHY I USED TO HATE YOU. Oh, I'm sorry, Disher, I don't mean it. You have brought me joy for many years. But seriously, I used to hate you. A lot. Especially when you're with Sharona. Oh, how it kills me that the writers brought back that storyline. Why couldn't she have just stayed happy and married to Trevor? Why? Why bring back Disher's ridiculous crush on her? They know how ticked off a lot of the fanbase was at that ship. UGH. This show lives to burn me. And you know what? Since I absolutely despise the idea of Monk and Natalie ever turning romantic, the show will probably totally go there, because it's EVIL. I am hoping though that Monk gets to stay happily devoted to the memory of Trudy. It may be selfish, but I really don't want him to fall in love with anyone else. Monk/Trudy has become so epic over the years that it would kind of kill me. Unless, of course, he ends up with Sharona, but obviously that's not gonna happen, never was gonna happen despite the oodles of subtext in seasons 1 and 2. *huff*
---------------
White Collar! This show was utterly delightful and totally slash-worthy. I predict that Neal/Peter is going to have a Shawn/Lassiter-sized following at the very least. They are obsessed with each other, enemies turned partners, hot young guy with hot-ish older fellow, cop show. A SLASHER'S PARADISE. Of course, they aren't related, nor do they cry a lot, and neither one is an angel, so... I don't know.
--------------
The Thorn Birds. OMG, I freaking love this miniseries. WHERE HAS IT BEEN ALL MY LIFE? Someone mentioned to me that Uther/Morgana reminded them of The Thorn Birds, so naturally I had to check it out. Naturally. And it is like this thing was made for me. I think I remember my mom watching it when I was little? Maybe? I know she had a thing for Richard Chamberlain, and somehow the only thing I've ever associated with him is Thorn Birds (though I think I may have associated him with the Thunderbirds, too). Anyway, dudes. This story. OMG. It is beautiful and intense and crazy and kind of cracky. The entire first hour and a half or so is this priest fellow and this 12 year old girl being madly in love and making googly eyes at each other. And, I mean that in an innocent way, but not really, because their love was intense and soulmatey right from the get-go, but, you know, she was a child, so he didn't see her in that way until she got boobs, but even then he was like, "OMG, I must pretend that I don't notice the boobs. I'm a priest, damn it!" So, it is very angsty and epic and beautiful and painful and I am loving it like crazy. I only have one episode left, but I am guessing that it ends tragically, because no one seems to get a happy ending in this miniseries. Also, the discs are double sided, and I didn't realize that, and so I went from episode 1 to episode 3 and didn't even realize it until episode 3 was over. I kept wondering where certain characters were and how things had moved so fast. *sigh* Oh well, it didn't seem to impede my enjoyment. Meggie and Ralph were barely together in the second episode. Anyway, Meggie/Ralph. Epicness.
That being said, I did love Monk's flustered state. He was so torn on who to be loyal to, and he was back to his adorable lovable self with Sharona around. I guess Sharona's bitchiness made Monk seem less rude? I don't know. But he just seems so much sweeter when Sharona's around. Anyway, I love that he never once showed any more love for either Sharona or Natalie. He loves them both, just in different ways. Monk/Sharona was turbulent and bickery and intense and tender and challenging and right, while Monk/Natalie is very calm and accommodating to Monk and... well, a great deal more peaceful than Monk/Sharona was (which is probably why Monk/Natalie tends to bore the crap out of me, to the point where I wasn't even enjoying Monk's scenes anymore, but, technically speaking, Natalie is right for him). But anyway, with all the icky Sharona/Disher going on, I was seriously fearing that we wouldn't get any Monk/Sharona closure, but then Sharona admitted she loved him and my heart melted, and then, oh god, that epically long hug at the end. THE HUG! It was so, so beautiful and understated and perfect and Monk LEANED INTO IT and he SMILED and he SMELLED HER HAIR and OMG IT WAS BEAUTIFUL. And... then it was ruined by Disher. UGH. DISHER. NOW I REMEMBER WHY I USED TO HATE YOU. Oh, I'm sorry, Disher, I don't mean it. You have brought me joy for many years. But seriously, I used to hate you. A lot. Especially when you're with Sharona. Oh, how it kills me that the writers brought back that storyline. Why couldn't she have just stayed happy and married to Trevor? Why? Why bring back Disher's ridiculous crush on her? They know how ticked off a lot of the fanbase was at that ship. UGH. This show lives to burn me. And you know what? Since I absolutely despise the idea of Monk and Natalie ever turning romantic, the show will probably totally go there, because it's EVIL. I am hoping though that Monk gets to stay happily devoted to the memory of Trudy. It may be selfish, but I really don't want him to fall in love with anyone else. Monk/Trudy has become so epic over the years that it would kind of kill me. Unless, of course, he ends up with Sharona, but obviously that's not gonna happen, never was gonna happen despite the oodles of subtext in seasons 1 and 2. *huff*
---------------
White Collar! This show was utterly delightful and totally slash-worthy. I predict that Neal/Peter is going to have a Shawn/Lassiter-sized following at the very least. They are obsessed with each other, enemies turned partners, hot young guy with hot-ish older fellow, cop show. A SLASHER'S PARADISE. Of course, they aren't related, nor do they cry a lot, and neither one is an angel, so... I don't know.
--------------
The Thorn Birds. OMG, I freaking love this miniseries. WHERE HAS IT BEEN ALL MY LIFE? Someone mentioned to me that Uther/Morgana reminded them of The Thorn Birds, so naturally I had to check it out. Naturally. And it is like this thing was made for me. I think I remember my mom watching it when I was little? Maybe? I know she had a thing for Richard Chamberlain, and somehow the only thing I've ever associated with him is Thorn Birds (though I think I may have associated him with the Thunderbirds, too). Anyway, dudes. This story. OMG. It is beautiful and intense and crazy and kind of cracky. The entire first hour and a half or so is this priest fellow and this 12 year old girl being madly in love and making googly eyes at each other. And, I mean that in an innocent way, but not really, because their love was intense and soulmatey right from the get-go, but, you know, she was a child, so he didn't see her in that way until she got boobs, but even then he was like, "OMG, I must pretend that I don't notice the boobs. I'm a priest, damn it!" So, it is very angsty and epic and beautiful and painful and I am loving it like crazy. I only have one episode left, but I am guessing that it ends tragically, because no one seems to get a happy ending in this miniseries. Also, the discs are double sided, and I didn't realize that, and so I went from episode 1 to episode 3 and didn't even realize it until episode 3 was over. I kept wondering where certain characters were and how things had moved so fast. *sigh* Oh well, it didn't seem to impede my enjoyment. Meggie and Ralph were barely together in the second episode. Anyway, Meggie/Ralph. Epicness.