The Mentalist. Because some sort of post about 6.22 was inevitable.
Let's talk about the Mentliast, shall we. I am in the odd position (for me, for this show), of really loving the underlying and overarching narrative, but not being absolutely 100% on some of the details.
To start, let me just state that I absolutely adore the ending. I also absolutely adore the declaration itself. I adore that the show went there. I love that the show essentially went, "Yeah, okay. The fans may have been right on this one. J/L really should be endgame." They even poked fun at previous statements made by the show-runner about the status of the J/L relationship.
I adore the overarching story that centres around these two. That they found each other. That after Jane finished iwth his revenge quest (and the less said about how *that* was resolved, the better), he worked through it, and figured out what was left, and what was really important. And the what, or rather the who, was Lisbon. What the reboot has done very consistently, and very well, is demonstrate that Jane absolutely adores Lisbon; he loves being in her company. He considers her his partner. She is the one person he doesn't want to live without. He's just terrified of admitting it.
But he also made some assumptions in isolation on his island. And she constantly throws his assumptions back at him when he's back in her life And he tries to be better.
Then comes Pike. Because Lisbon is trying to take back her life, and figure out what she wants. And Jane is certainly not sending out any clear signals. Pike is basically a good guy (I mean, he's passive-agressively manipulative in some ways, with his insane pushing of Lisbon to move to D.C., culminating in that terrible, terrible marriage proposal - a lot of that can be explained away by him being super into Lisbon, but not quite all of it). The key point is, Jane was not expecting there to be a Pike.
I love that Pike exists. I love that Lisbon got a life outside of Jane. I lovet hat Jane realized that unless he gave a little, he wasn't going to get what he wanted. That he had to essentially relearn how to start a real relationship. I love that idea. And I love that she was the one who forced him to confront that idea. That she forced him to recognize that he couldn't *always* expect her to be the one to bend. That he doesn't have RJ to essentially hide behind anymore, or to excuse his more insane behaviour.
I love that Lisbon yells at him for his manipulation. And the constant manipulation is what almost breaks them apart. Because Jane screwed up. Badly. And he needed to be told that. He still needs to be told that. He will probably always need to be reminded that he can be the world's biggest jerk from time to time. I love that Lisbon is doing that more and more. I love that she decides, you know what, I'm not going to wait for him to get his act together. I'm going to try to be happy. If he wants this, he can act. He can bend. He can tell me how he feels. I'm sick of limbo.
I even love that Janee seriously had to have his back pushed up against a wall to act. He had to realize that he was a hair's breath away from losing what was most important to him.
And I really like that in the end, all he did was put the information out there, and let her choose. There was no pressure. One of my favourite things about that last scene on the plane, the declaration, is when Lisbon tells him he's too late, and he's all, "Yeah, maybe. But I need to say it anyway." I mean, obviously he wants her to stay. But I think a lot of it is just neading to tell her. I love that. A lot.
I also adore the actual words. Every one. Every word he said to her on the plane was fabulous. I love how he's out of control. I love how he's emotional. I love how much it obviously means.
And I REALLY LOVE: "The woman in 12B, I love her. You take good care of her." Oh, show, my show. SHOW, MY SHOW. As romantic declarations go, that one is aces.
Then she stays. And she goes to see him in custody. As she always does. And she asks him if he meant it. And he doesn't side-step. He doesn't side-step at all. And when she asks him to say it again, and he tries to play her (because it's Jane, let's face it), she just gives this little eyebrow raise of, "OH NO SIR, THAT IS NEVER GOING TO WORK AGAIN. BECAUSE I CLEARLY OWN YOU." And he kisses her. Which, yes. (And his FACE right before he does it.)
And they both can't stop smiling in that whole scene. And RT's voice in that scene is fabulous. I love when her voice goes into those soft tones.
Also, ABBOT. OH ABBOT. Honestly, had you told me in the finale RJ episode that Denis Abbot woud become my favourite character of the reboot, I would have laughed in your face. But he is amazing. And he gets more amazing every episode. I choose to believe that he was a stand in for the audience in this episode in particular. When he's talking to Cho, and Cho is all, "I do not understand why she's so upset." ABBOT, and ABBOT's FACE. I love how Abbot just starts drinking wine, and is all, "SRSLY? SRSLY? Between you, Jane, and the lovebirds, how the HELL did Lisbon manage to keep her sanity at the CBI? MUST ASK HER AT SOME POINT (BECAUSE SURELY Jane will be smart enough to fix this and she will be staying). MOAR WINE." And then later Cho's all, "But I thought they were like brother and sister." HEH. Way to poke fun at yourself there Bruno Heller. I approve.
I love how Abbot clearly ships J/L. In fact, I'm chosing to believe that in the previous episode, his weird remarks to Lisbon about how he'd "hate to see her jeopardize her amazing opportunity," in the weird tone of voice, was to make her question, not only where she stands with Jane, but just how great that opportunity really was. Given that Pike essentially engineered it. Seriously, it makes the most sense, given Abbot's other actions.
And then, when Abbot runs in to save the day, and finds out Jane really is just that stupid, and Lisbon's at the airport, he just hands Jane his car keys. To his car with a siren. HEE. AMAZING.
Abbot is the best.
I also kind of like this slight shift in how to interpret Cho's character. So, he's really analytical, and really cause and effect. That's obvious. And he picks up on a lot of interpersonal cues, particularly if they're blatant (Rigsby and VP, for example). But he also takes a lot of other inter-personal interactions entirely at face value. He's seen no evidence of obvious romantic intent beween J/L, so obviously their love is sibling-esque. And neither of them has shown much inclination for relationships, supporting his conclusion. Also, I've been thinking about this, and let's remember, J/L are alone for a lot of the bigger moments between them. "I'll always be there to save you, Lisbon." "Good luck Teresa. Love you." Lisbon with the bomb. Lisbon taking Jane to his house to get his memory back. Lisbon and Jane on the beach. Even a lot of Jane with amnesia, or Jane under the influence of hallucinogens. They're alone. Now obviously, Rigsby and VP made the correct conclusion, but they're both romantics (in slightly different ways, but still). Cho really isn't. And in hindsight, I don't think he always gets the subtleties of how people are feeling when they don't say it. It actually, in a weird way, makes me feel better about his actions in Blood In, Stupidity Out (aka my least favourite Mentalist episode). He doesn't get why what he's doing is wrong. Because he's all about cause and effect. He's catching a killer. Lisbon should appreciate that. And she ALWAYS deals with the political stuff. Why should this be any different? It kinda works. (And it adds credence to my headcanon that Abbot is starting to figure out just how much Lisbon was doing to wrangle that team.)
The finale was a lot of amazing. Never getting over that it's a relief for Jane to finally say that he loves her and not take it back. I love that he breaks the law to do it (oddly appropriate). I love that their first kiss is while Jane is in custody, because OF COUSE IT IS. I love the little smiles and eyebrow raises. Favourite of favourites. I love Jane's FACE when she walks down the stairs in that dress. (Had to pause the episode for five minutes after that, for composre reasons.) I love that Jane's (idiotic, manipulative, and over-complicated) romantic scheme gets thwarted. But I love how he goes overboard with the charming romantic offensive, even if it's misguided. I love how they try to be cheerful and friendly for their last case. I love how cute they are in their banter. I love that Lisbon yells at him and throws water in his face (though a punch in the nose would have been the coup de grace). I am still all smiley about that ending.
Let me say, I have been watching this show for six year. I started watching from the pilot. I fell absolutely in love with the show in 1.02. I've stuck with it through it's highs and lows. And my frustrations with S2 and S4. This is a million times more than I ever thought I'd get (honestly, I was hoping for both of them alive, not in jail, and not married to other people). I love that it only happened because Baker and Tunney have amazing chemistry.
But I still might quibble with a few things, mostly to do with the details of the arc as a whole.
1. The fight. I love that it happened. I really do. I just wish it had happened in hte episode before this one. Mostly because I wouldn't have minded if they'd been on slightly better terms for the finale. I don't know, I didn't want them working their "last" case, mad at each other. I get that narratively it was needed to get Jane in gear, but it's not how I would have gone (more on this later).
2. The Pike arc-quibble. I still feel like it went a step too far. I think it was one episode too long. There was a lot of Pike. And I'm still not sure I wanted Lisbon to decide to go to D.C. If they were going to go the fight route, I could see that prompting the decision to leave (in the same way that it prompts her decision to accept Pike's proposal), but I'm still not wild about her choosing to transfer out. Simply because now I'm sitting here thinking about the practicalities. Did she ship furniture? (although knowing Pike, he probably picked out all new stuff. Things she'd like) Did she cancel her lease? Can she just cancel a job transfer? (I mean, obviously Abbott wants to keep her, but....). I do think this episode and the last one put Jane and Pike in more direct competition. And Pike's reaction to Lisbon's accepting his proposal brought that to light. He reacted like he'd "won." Which I wasn't wild about. My headcanon for Pike, by the way, is that he pushed her so much, because he knew she was in love with Jane and wanted to secure her. Which is kinda blegh. I dislike stpid!Pike a lot after that proposal.
3. I really don't like public declarations. With few exceptions. This wasn't one of them.
4. Even apart from the public declaration part, the location was SO cliched. Did it have to be on a plane? REALLY? Because honestly, there's no separating that from the "I got off the plane," a la the Friends finale. Did the decision have to be that last second? This goes back to, did Jane have to be pushed into this *that* much. It required Herculean amounts of denial from him. I think I would have preferred the arc if the triggers had just been a little subtler.
5. I wish we'd gotten more than two minutes of them happy together. This is somewhat mitigated by the magical 7th season, but still. I wish the pacing of this arc had been different. If Pike had been condensed half an episode or a whole episode, and maybe the fight was in the previous episode, or at the start of this one. And if the actual resolution had been a bit subtler.
I mean, don't get me wrong, these are quibbles. I mostly love it. I love the story arc. I love the endpoint. I love Abbot. I love the kiss (god, his face before he kisses her). I love her smiles. I love the emotion from both of them. I even love clueless!Cho. It's just not how I would have chosen to get to this endpoint. Not entirely.
Although...
The woman in 12B, I love her. You take good care of her.
In other news, I watched "It's About Time" this weekend with my parents. It's a movie about a guy who can travel through time. Among other things, it's a love story. It ha narrative isses. Mostly, I just think it's all over the place, and there was no real central narrative thread. My mother thought that it was probably just impossible to tell a good love story involving time travel. "Because people like things that are realistic." My head exploded a little. And my brain started yelling, "To say Nothing of the Dog!" Over and over again. Best love story involving time travel ever.
I was too tired to have the argument then, but that is the sort of thing that just makes me a bit sad.
This may be my last update pre-vacation. So I shall see you in a couple of weeks, or so.
To start, let me just state that I absolutely adore the ending. I also absolutely adore the declaration itself. I adore that the show went there. I love that the show essentially went, "Yeah, okay. The fans may have been right on this one. J/L really should be endgame." They even poked fun at previous statements made by the show-runner about the status of the J/L relationship.
I adore the overarching story that centres around these two. That they found each other. That after Jane finished iwth his revenge quest (and the less said about how *that* was resolved, the better), he worked through it, and figured out what was left, and what was really important. And the what, or rather the who, was Lisbon. What the reboot has done very consistently, and very well, is demonstrate that Jane absolutely adores Lisbon; he loves being in her company. He considers her his partner. She is the one person he doesn't want to live without. He's just terrified of admitting it.
But he also made some assumptions in isolation on his island. And she constantly throws his assumptions back at him when he's back in her life And he tries to be better.
Then comes Pike. Because Lisbon is trying to take back her life, and figure out what she wants. And Jane is certainly not sending out any clear signals. Pike is basically a good guy (I mean, he's passive-agressively manipulative in some ways, with his insane pushing of Lisbon to move to D.C., culminating in that terrible, terrible marriage proposal - a lot of that can be explained away by him being super into Lisbon, but not quite all of it). The key point is, Jane was not expecting there to be a Pike.
I love that Pike exists. I love that Lisbon got a life outside of Jane. I lovet hat Jane realized that unless he gave a little, he wasn't going to get what he wanted. That he had to essentially relearn how to start a real relationship. I love that idea. And I love that she was the one who forced him to confront that idea. That she forced him to recognize that he couldn't *always* expect her to be the one to bend. That he doesn't have RJ to essentially hide behind anymore, or to excuse his more insane behaviour.
I love that Lisbon yells at him for his manipulation. And the constant manipulation is what almost breaks them apart. Because Jane screwed up. Badly. And he needed to be told that. He still needs to be told that. He will probably always need to be reminded that he can be the world's biggest jerk from time to time. I love that Lisbon is doing that more and more. I love that she decides, you know what, I'm not going to wait for him to get his act together. I'm going to try to be happy. If he wants this, he can act. He can bend. He can tell me how he feels. I'm sick of limbo.
I even love that Janee seriously had to have his back pushed up against a wall to act. He had to realize that he was a hair's breath away from losing what was most important to him.
And I really like that in the end, all he did was put the information out there, and let her choose. There was no pressure. One of my favourite things about that last scene on the plane, the declaration, is when Lisbon tells him he's too late, and he's all, "Yeah, maybe. But I need to say it anyway." I mean, obviously he wants her to stay. But I think a lot of it is just neading to tell her. I love that. A lot.
I also adore the actual words. Every one. Every word he said to her on the plane was fabulous. I love how he's out of control. I love how he's emotional. I love how much it obviously means.
And I REALLY LOVE: "The woman in 12B, I love her. You take good care of her." Oh, show, my show. SHOW, MY SHOW. As romantic declarations go, that one is aces.
Then she stays. And she goes to see him in custody. As she always does. And she asks him if he meant it. And he doesn't side-step. He doesn't side-step at all. And when she asks him to say it again, and he tries to play her (because it's Jane, let's face it), she just gives this little eyebrow raise of, "OH NO SIR, THAT IS NEVER GOING TO WORK AGAIN. BECAUSE I CLEARLY OWN YOU." And he kisses her. Which, yes. (And his FACE right before he does it.)
And they both can't stop smiling in that whole scene. And RT's voice in that scene is fabulous. I love when her voice goes into those soft tones.
Also, ABBOT. OH ABBOT. Honestly, had you told me in the finale RJ episode that Denis Abbot woud become my favourite character of the reboot, I would have laughed in your face. But he is amazing. And he gets more amazing every episode. I choose to believe that he was a stand in for the audience in this episode in particular. When he's talking to Cho, and Cho is all, "I do not understand why she's so upset." ABBOT, and ABBOT's FACE. I love how Abbot just starts drinking wine, and is all, "SRSLY? SRSLY? Between you, Jane, and the lovebirds, how the HELL did Lisbon manage to keep her sanity at the CBI? MUST ASK HER AT SOME POINT (BECAUSE SURELY Jane will be smart enough to fix this and she will be staying). MOAR WINE." And then later Cho's all, "But I thought they were like brother and sister." HEH. Way to poke fun at yourself there Bruno Heller. I approve.
I love how Abbot clearly ships J/L. In fact, I'm chosing to believe that in the previous episode, his weird remarks to Lisbon about how he'd "hate to see her jeopardize her amazing opportunity," in the weird tone of voice, was to make her question, not only where she stands with Jane, but just how great that opportunity really was. Given that Pike essentially engineered it. Seriously, it makes the most sense, given Abbot's other actions.
And then, when Abbot runs in to save the day, and finds out Jane really is just that stupid, and Lisbon's at the airport, he just hands Jane his car keys. To his car with a siren. HEE. AMAZING.
Abbot is the best.
I also kind of like this slight shift in how to interpret Cho's character. So, he's really analytical, and really cause and effect. That's obvious. And he picks up on a lot of interpersonal cues, particularly if they're blatant (Rigsby and VP, for example). But he also takes a lot of other inter-personal interactions entirely at face value. He's seen no evidence of obvious romantic intent beween J/L, so obviously their love is sibling-esque. And neither of them has shown much inclination for relationships, supporting his conclusion. Also, I've been thinking about this, and let's remember, J/L are alone for a lot of the bigger moments between them. "I'll always be there to save you, Lisbon." "Good luck Teresa. Love you." Lisbon with the bomb. Lisbon taking Jane to his house to get his memory back. Lisbon and Jane on the beach. Even a lot of Jane with amnesia, or Jane under the influence of hallucinogens. They're alone. Now obviously, Rigsby and VP made the correct conclusion, but they're both romantics (in slightly different ways, but still). Cho really isn't. And in hindsight, I don't think he always gets the subtleties of how people are feeling when they don't say it. It actually, in a weird way, makes me feel better about his actions in Blood In, Stupidity Out (aka my least favourite Mentalist episode). He doesn't get why what he's doing is wrong. Because he's all about cause and effect. He's catching a killer. Lisbon should appreciate that. And she ALWAYS deals with the political stuff. Why should this be any different? It kinda works. (And it adds credence to my headcanon that Abbot is starting to figure out just how much Lisbon was doing to wrangle that team.)
The finale was a lot of amazing. Never getting over that it's a relief for Jane to finally say that he loves her and not take it back. I love that he breaks the law to do it (oddly appropriate). I love that their first kiss is while Jane is in custody, because OF COUSE IT IS. I love the little smiles and eyebrow raises. Favourite of favourites. I love Jane's FACE when she walks down the stairs in that dress. (Had to pause the episode for five minutes after that, for composre reasons.) I love that Jane's (idiotic, manipulative, and over-complicated) romantic scheme gets thwarted. But I love how he goes overboard with the charming romantic offensive, even if it's misguided. I love how they try to be cheerful and friendly for their last case. I love how cute they are in their banter. I love that Lisbon yells at him and throws water in his face (though a punch in the nose would have been the coup de grace). I am still all smiley about that ending.
Let me say, I have been watching this show for six year. I started watching from the pilot. I fell absolutely in love with the show in 1.02. I've stuck with it through it's highs and lows. And my frustrations with S2 and S4. This is a million times more than I ever thought I'd get (honestly, I was hoping for both of them alive, not in jail, and not married to other people). I love that it only happened because Baker and Tunney have amazing chemistry.
But I still might quibble with a few things, mostly to do with the details of the arc as a whole.
1. The fight. I love that it happened. I really do. I just wish it had happened in hte episode before this one. Mostly because I wouldn't have minded if they'd been on slightly better terms for the finale. I don't know, I didn't want them working their "last" case, mad at each other. I get that narratively it was needed to get Jane in gear, but it's not how I would have gone (more on this later).
2. The Pike arc-quibble. I still feel like it went a step too far. I think it was one episode too long. There was a lot of Pike. And I'm still not sure I wanted Lisbon to decide to go to D.C. If they were going to go the fight route, I could see that prompting the decision to leave (in the same way that it prompts her decision to accept Pike's proposal), but I'm still not wild about her choosing to transfer out. Simply because now I'm sitting here thinking about the practicalities. Did she ship furniture? (although knowing Pike, he probably picked out all new stuff. Things she'd like) Did she cancel her lease? Can she just cancel a job transfer? (I mean, obviously Abbott wants to keep her, but....). I do think this episode and the last one put Jane and Pike in more direct competition. And Pike's reaction to Lisbon's accepting his proposal brought that to light. He reacted like he'd "won." Which I wasn't wild about. My headcanon for Pike, by the way, is that he pushed her so much, because he knew she was in love with Jane and wanted to secure her. Which is kinda blegh. I dislike stpid!Pike a lot after that proposal.
3. I really don't like public declarations. With few exceptions. This wasn't one of them.
4. Even apart from the public declaration part, the location was SO cliched. Did it have to be on a plane? REALLY? Because honestly, there's no separating that from the "I got off the plane," a la the Friends finale. Did the decision have to be that last second? This goes back to, did Jane have to be pushed into this *that* much. It required Herculean amounts of denial from him. I think I would have preferred the arc if the triggers had just been a little subtler.
5. I wish we'd gotten more than two minutes of them happy together. This is somewhat mitigated by the magical 7th season, but still. I wish the pacing of this arc had been different. If Pike had been condensed half an episode or a whole episode, and maybe the fight was in the previous episode, or at the start of this one. And if the actual resolution had been a bit subtler.
I mean, don't get me wrong, these are quibbles. I mostly love it. I love the story arc. I love the endpoint. I love Abbot. I love the kiss (god, his face before he kisses her). I love her smiles. I love the emotion from both of them. I even love clueless!Cho. It's just not how I would have chosen to get to this endpoint. Not entirely.
Although...
The woman in 12B, I love her. You take good care of her.
In other news, I watched "It's About Time" this weekend with my parents. It's a movie about a guy who can travel through time. Among other things, it's a love story. It ha narrative isses. Mostly, I just think it's all over the place, and there was no real central narrative thread. My mother thought that it was probably just impossible to tell a good love story involving time travel. "Because people like things that are realistic." My head exploded a little. And my brain started yelling, "To say Nothing of the Dog!" Over and over again. Best love story involving time travel ever.
I was too tired to have the argument then, but that is the sort of thing that just makes me a bit sad.
This may be my last update pre-vacation. So I shall see you in a couple of weeks, or so.