(no subject)
So, yes, in addition to everything else I do (and watch) I do tune in to see one or two, or three in this case, shows on my actual television set that don't run on BBC America. I know, it's a shocker, but what can I say? I'm really just as shallow as everyone else.
Or maybe not, because if my distaste for two of the three finales I just tuned into is the exception rather than the norm, perhaps my depth of character has been reasserted. Because, DAMN. Talk about contrived. And unnecessarily so.
The three finales I speak of are the "Numb3rs" season finale, the "NCIS" season finale, and the "House" season finale. The first two failed. Painfully. The last one did not, so I wanted to look at why it didn't while they did.
The rest of this entry will be LJ-cut to avoid an extremely long post, as well as to preserve the sensibilities of viewers who don't want to read incredibly spoilerific ponderings. Those who just want to read my thoughts on one episode, I think I've marked them out well enough that you can just find the one.
"Numb3rs"
Okay, so let's start with "Numb3rs", which to me is sort of the middle ground between the pain of the "NCIS" finale and the greatness of the "House" finale. "Numb3rs" didn't suck, per se. It was just irritating.
Okay, I'll admit, I have a problem with any story-line dealing with Muslim terrorists. It's been done to death, and whether it's the conservative line that "they are terrorists! Eeek!" or the liberal line that "we're persecuting them" both feel cliched. Because in one they're the persecuted minority that the white folk need to come in and save, and in the other, they're evil. Both to me are cookie-cutter story-lines with no depth and no real discussion about the Muslim lifeway or condition either here or abroad. I know I'm biased. I've lived in Jordan now and again for digs. I've spent time immersed in the Muslim world in a way that few people in America are, and I have to tell you: it's a rich and fascinating place to be. People are hospitable, kindness comes from unexpected and wonderful corners. There's social injustice, and a woman I knew was working as a cleaner because she earned more money than as a teacher. Vendors hawk their wares and the airports are filled with cigarette smoke. Cab-drivers are boisterous, traffic is the perfect definition of a working anarchy, and it's a real, bustling, crazy place to be.
So writers of America, before you put pen to paper about the Muslims, whether they be terrorists or persecuted minorities, spend some time in their world. Go to a place like Jordan or Dubai or Saudi Arabia and get to know the culture, but more importantly start to get to know a few people. Your janitor. A cabbie. Some nice man on the street who lives in England and is thrilled to come back to his homeland for a visit, but is even more pleased to take a group of Canadian and American archaeologists out for dessert and a ride around Amman. Why? Because talking to you is lovely, and as he's a native and you're not, he'll give you some hospitality to go along with the conversation. That's the sort of thing that writers need to know. That's the reason I hate story-lines on American TV that deal with Muslims, because they always get it wrong.
But enough of my high-horse! Suffice it to say, "Numb3rs" is in the "persecuted minority" fan club. The brothers Eppes go head-to-head on a case in which one of Charlie's colleagues gets arrested for sending his research to other colleagues in Pakistan. Charlie, in an act of defiance, ends up sending the rest of his research on as well. And getting arrested for his troubles, and losing all his clearance. Oh yeah, and Megan leaves the show somewhere in there.
So, aside from the irritation of yet another terrorist story, what else didn't I enjoy? Well, Megan's departure after three seasons with us was barely a footnote, and a flat one at that. No good reactions, no "dealing with the departure of a well-loved colleague on top of everything else we have to deal with", which stunk. She deserved better, as a character an and actress than one lame send-off scene with no repercussions.
And then there's Charlie's actions. I get them. As someone in a field where research is getting harder and harder thanks to American tanks parking their bulky asses on Babylon, I get them. The thing that irks me was the clear "cliff-hanger" ending with him getting hauled off to jail on the tail of the last finale, which saw another character on the show dragged off. Inevitably, it will all be cleared up in the first episode in the next season, and that just kills the suspense for me. Because there is no show without Charlie Eppes, and the writers, not having lobotomies, know that. Last season, it was effective, because Colby really could have been a spy. He could have betrayed them and he could have left the show. That sort of jeopardy really made it a great finale, along with Charlie and Don having to reverse their roles for an episode. It was great!! This was dull. And predictable. And ick. Sad.
"NCIS"
So, that leads us to our second finale of the week, "NCIS." I love this show. The humor is wonderful, the characters sparkle off the screen and when this show is on, IT'S ON! And it has David McCallum in it, which makes me love it even more.
But tonight's episode was off. Two hours of shrug. They killed off a main character, and still . . . shrug. It started well. Good opener with the two kids stumbling across a body and the cloak-and-dagger stuff at the funeral, and then the scene that was, for me, the high point of both episodes: McGee walking in to find his office taken over by the Bizzaro World versions of his colleagues: Ducky as Tony, Abby as Ziva, and best of all, Jimmy Palmer as Gibbs. I was laughing my way through the scene, particularly Ducky getting caught like DiNozzo but reacting in such a Ducky way to the whole thing. And the "Probie" line had me in stitches. As usual, this show works best when it brings that funny.
And then there was no more funny. There was Jenny getting ready to go all Wild Bunch on random-ass baddies from Russia, there was Gibbs' old partner Mike there to lend a grizzly presence. Gibbs runs off to do his own thing, Tony and Ziva are doing their own thing, no one is working together (boo) and then you've got the gun-battle. And Jenny dies, as do the Russians, and only Mike walks away.
You knew someone was going to die, and it was obvious within the first ten minutes of the episode it would be Jenny. Which is fine. My least favorite character, and the one who adds least to the group dynamic. So when she went down I didn't cry. She got a good death. Going down in a Wild West hail of bullets instead of succumbing to whatever disease had been eating at her, as Ducky said, it was better. So I didn't cry. Even as Tony got angry at himself and Ziva was shell-shocked and Gibbs went off to avenge Jenny, I didn't cry. Because none of those reactions felt like the gut-punch reactions from Kate's death. Those I felt, each and every one. And I cried my eyes out. This felt . . . hollow. All around, a hollow reaction to a character's death. I may not have liked her and she may have gotten a better departure than Megan did on "Numb3rs", but damn.
No, I lie. There were two reactions that got to me. The first was when Gibbs told Ducky on the phone. What separates David McCallum from the rest of the cast is his subtlety of reaction. While everyone else has those classic "grief" reactions, all we get from him is that little gasp, and a look like he's just been aged ten years. Because he's the one who has to tell Abby and McGee, and he's the one who'll be cutting into Jenny in the not too distant future. And you see all of that in a three second reaction shot. And he got me. Despite my apathy, I think I teared up a little for Ducky.
Abby's reaction in the lab was much the same. Her first gasp at the end of Ducky's scene was terrible. Not her fault, but the editor's for cutting her off. Had she been given a few more seconds of time to fall apart, she could have gutted me, but as it was, it felt silly coming on the tails of DMc's fabulously quiet reaction. But the lab scene when she drops the cds and then falls down after them was beautiful and heart-felt.
But the rest of the episode was all a write-off. I didn't care about the contrived Russian spies, nor about Gibbs, who I usually like, but his Dark Avenger stuff bored me. Yeah, he's dark. Yeah, he covers up everything for no real reason (it wasn't like the whole thing wasn't done in self-defense!), so? Still not caring.
And of course there was the big "cliff-hanger" ending, which, just like "Numb3rs" didn't feel so much like one because they will inevitably work it out within the first few episodes of the next season. They wouldn't ditch half the cast. Yeah, given Vance's character, it makes sense that he would feel the need to cut Gibbs off at the knees and put in new agents loyal to him, but it was so obvious an end-of-season ploy that it grated.
"House"
But there was one bright spot in all of this, and that was "House." "House" that I hadn't watched for almost a season. A friend watched and kept me up to date, but this week, Zircon insisted I watch and catch up on "House's Head" to start with. So I did. I watched "House's Head" and "Wilson's Heart" back to back. And it broke me.
I've been trying to work out what makes this finale different from the other two. Like "NCIS", we were faced with the death of a major character. Like "Numb3rs" we had the confrontation of two main characters over something. So why was this devastatingly wonderful while the other two fell flat? Because despite what could have been a contrived plot to jerk our tears at the end of the season, it never felt that way. Because the writers and the actors and the design crew pulled together to create a piece that was half-real, half in House's mind, and all gorgeous. Because Hugh Laurie and Robert Sean Leonard both deserve Emmy's for their performances here.
And because in the end, these two episodes were not about the mystery, which got wrapped up a good fifteen to twenty minutes before the end of the second episode. The first part was the mystery, played out in flashbacks and dreams, and that was great. But the second part was not about finding out what happened, but rather the fallout that comes after. It was about the characters, rather than some "super exciting season finale" plot. That's what gave it the resonance it had. They were very different episodes, but dove-tailed beautifully. Because these episodes were not really about the bus crash or the mystery. They were about House's Head and Wilson's Heart and how both end up broken. And that's the sort of finale I can love. No twist at the end. No huge declarations. Just a gliding little finish with quietly personal scenes for everyone, and then credits.
So that's my run-down of finale week. Two bombs, and a gem. I'll end with some speculation for the next seasons of the first two, and what I hope comes of some seriously silly plots:
"Numb3rs" can use this to its advantage to get the Eppes brothers really working together. Not just on a case, but to first spring Charlie from jail and then to get his clearance back. This could be both a reckoning and a learning experience for both. I don't want either to be "right", I just want them to have to come to terms with the other. That's the way we could salvage this ending.
And then there's "NCIS." Best possibility, some good, solid, funny episodes to kick things off right in which Gibbs and his only two remaining allies, Ducky and Abby, get to play the most unlikely game of espionage and trickery ever to get Tony, Ziva, and McGee back. It could be a riot if done right. Lots of disguises, improbable meetings and passing off documents. The humor is what "NCIS" excels at, and what makes it more than your average procedural, so BRING IT, WRITERS! Give us a great, funny, silly, but ultimately rewarding way of regaining lost team members through the schemes and brilliance of one pissed-off special agent, one elderly British ME, and one uber-goth forensics specialist.
This is my hope. Let it not be in vain.
Or maybe not, because if my distaste for two of the three finales I just tuned into is the exception rather than the norm, perhaps my depth of character has been reasserted. Because, DAMN. Talk about contrived. And unnecessarily so.
The three finales I speak of are the "Numb3rs" season finale, the "NCIS" season finale, and the "House" season finale. The first two failed. Painfully. The last one did not, so I wanted to look at why it didn't while they did.
The rest of this entry will be LJ-cut to avoid an extremely long post, as well as to preserve the sensibilities of viewers who don't want to read incredibly spoilerific ponderings. Those who just want to read my thoughts on one episode, I think I've marked them out well enough that you can just find the one.
"Numb3rs"
Okay, so let's start with "Numb3rs", which to me is sort of the middle ground between the pain of the "NCIS" finale and the greatness of the "House" finale. "Numb3rs" didn't suck, per se. It was just irritating.
Okay, I'll admit, I have a problem with any story-line dealing with Muslim terrorists. It's been done to death, and whether it's the conservative line that "they are terrorists! Eeek!" or the liberal line that "we're persecuting them" both feel cliched. Because in one they're the persecuted minority that the white folk need to come in and save, and in the other, they're evil. Both to me are cookie-cutter story-lines with no depth and no real discussion about the Muslim lifeway or condition either here or abroad. I know I'm biased. I've lived in Jordan now and again for digs. I've spent time immersed in the Muslim world in a way that few people in America are, and I have to tell you: it's a rich and fascinating place to be. People are hospitable, kindness comes from unexpected and wonderful corners. There's social injustice, and a woman I knew was working as a cleaner because she earned more money than as a teacher. Vendors hawk their wares and the airports are filled with cigarette smoke. Cab-drivers are boisterous, traffic is the perfect definition of a working anarchy, and it's a real, bustling, crazy place to be.
So writers of America, before you put pen to paper about the Muslims, whether they be terrorists or persecuted minorities, spend some time in their world. Go to a place like Jordan or Dubai or Saudi Arabia and get to know the culture, but more importantly start to get to know a few people. Your janitor. A cabbie. Some nice man on the street who lives in England and is thrilled to come back to his homeland for a visit, but is even more pleased to take a group of Canadian and American archaeologists out for dessert and a ride around Amman. Why? Because talking to you is lovely, and as he's a native and you're not, he'll give you some hospitality to go along with the conversation. That's the sort of thing that writers need to know. That's the reason I hate story-lines on American TV that deal with Muslims, because they always get it wrong.
But enough of my high-horse! Suffice it to say, "Numb3rs" is in the "persecuted minority" fan club. The brothers Eppes go head-to-head on a case in which one of Charlie's colleagues gets arrested for sending his research to other colleagues in Pakistan. Charlie, in an act of defiance, ends up sending the rest of his research on as well. And getting arrested for his troubles, and losing all his clearance. Oh yeah, and Megan leaves the show somewhere in there.
So, aside from the irritation of yet another terrorist story, what else didn't I enjoy? Well, Megan's departure after three seasons with us was barely a footnote, and a flat one at that. No good reactions, no "dealing with the departure of a well-loved colleague on top of everything else we have to deal with", which stunk. She deserved better, as a character an and actress than one lame send-off scene with no repercussions.
And then there's Charlie's actions. I get them. As someone in a field where research is getting harder and harder thanks to American tanks parking their bulky asses on Babylon, I get them. The thing that irks me was the clear "cliff-hanger" ending with him getting hauled off to jail on the tail of the last finale, which saw another character on the show dragged off. Inevitably, it will all be cleared up in the first episode in the next season, and that just kills the suspense for me. Because there is no show without Charlie Eppes, and the writers, not having lobotomies, know that. Last season, it was effective, because Colby really could have been a spy. He could have betrayed them and he could have left the show. That sort of jeopardy really made it a great finale, along with Charlie and Don having to reverse their roles for an episode. It was great!! This was dull. And predictable. And ick. Sad.
"NCIS"
So, that leads us to our second finale of the week, "NCIS." I love this show. The humor is wonderful, the characters sparkle off the screen and when this show is on, IT'S ON! And it has David McCallum in it, which makes me love it even more.
But tonight's episode was off. Two hours of shrug. They killed off a main character, and still . . . shrug. It started well. Good opener with the two kids stumbling across a body and the cloak-and-dagger stuff at the funeral, and then the scene that was, for me, the high point of both episodes: McGee walking in to find his office taken over by the Bizzaro World versions of his colleagues: Ducky as Tony, Abby as Ziva, and best of all, Jimmy Palmer as Gibbs. I was laughing my way through the scene, particularly Ducky getting caught like DiNozzo but reacting in such a Ducky way to the whole thing. And the "Probie" line had me in stitches. As usual, this show works best when it brings that funny.
And then there was no more funny. There was Jenny getting ready to go all Wild Bunch on random-ass baddies from Russia, there was Gibbs' old partner Mike there to lend a grizzly presence. Gibbs runs off to do his own thing, Tony and Ziva are doing their own thing, no one is working together (boo) and then you've got the gun-battle. And Jenny dies, as do the Russians, and only Mike walks away.
You knew someone was going to die, and it was obvious within the first ten minutes of the episode it would be Jenny. Which is fine. My least favorite character, and the one who adds least to the group dynamic. So when she went down I didn't cry. She got a good death. Going down in a Wild West hail of bullets instead of succumbing to whatever disease had been eating at her, as Ducky said, it was better. So I didn't cry. Even as Tony got angry at himself and Ziva was shell-shocked and Gibbs went off to avenge Jenny, I didn't cry. Because none of those reactions felt like the gut-punch reactions from Kate's death. Those I felt, each and every one. And I cried my eyes out. This felt . . . hollow. All around, a hollow reaction to a character's death. I may not have liked her and she may have gotten a better departure than Megan did on "Numb3rs", but damn.
No, I lie. There were two reactions that got to me. The first was when Gibbs told Ducky on the phone. What separates David McCallum from the rest of the cast is his subtlety of reaction. While everyone else has those classic "grief" reactions, all we get from him is that little gasp, and a look like he's just been aged ten years. Because he's the one who has to tell Abby and McGee, and he's the one who'll be cutting into Jenny in the not too distant future. And you see all of that in a three second reaction shot. And he got me. Despite my apathy, I think I teared up a little for Ducky.
Abby's reaction in the lab was much the same. Her first gasp at the end of Ducky's scene was terrible. Not her fault, but the editor's for cutting her off. Had she been given a few more seconds of time to fall apart, she could have gutted me, but as it was, it felt silly coming on the tails of DMc's fabulously quiet reaction. But the lab scene when she drops the cds and then falls down after them was beautiful and heart-felt.
But the rest of the episode was all a write-off. I didn't care about the contrived Russian spies, nor about Gibbs, who I usually like, but his Dark Avenger stuff bored me. Yeah, he's dark. Yeah, he covers up everything for no real reason (it wasn't like the whole thing wasn't done in self-defense!), so? Still not caring.
And of course there was the big "cliff-hanger" ending, which, just like "Numb3rs" didn't feel so much like one because they will inevitably work it out within the first few episodes of the next season. They wouldn't ditch half the cast. Yeah, given Vance's character, it makes sense that he would feel the need to cut Gibbs off at the knees and put in new agents loyal to him, but it was so obvious an end-of-season ploy that it grated.
"House"
But there was one bright spot in all of this, and that was "House." "House" that I hadn't watched for almost a season. A friend watched and kept me up to date, but this week, Zircon insisted I watch and catch up on "House's Head" to start with. So I did. I watched "House's Head" and "Wilson's Heart" back to back. And it broke me.
I've been trying to work out what makes this finale different from the other two. Like "NCIS", we were faced with the death of a major character. Like "Numb3rs" we had the confrontation of two main characters over something. So why was this devastatingly wonderful while the other two fell flat? Because despite what could have been a contrived plot to jerk our tears at the end of the season, it never felt that way. Because the writers and the actors and the design crew pulled together to create a piece that was half-real, half in House's mind, and all gorgeous. Because Hugh Laurie and Robert Sean Leonard both deserve Emmy's for their performances here.
And because in the end, these two episodes were not about the mystery, which got wrapped up a good fifteen to twenty minutes before the end of the second episode. The first part was the mystery, played out in flashbacks and dreams, and that was great. But the second part was not about finding out what happened, but rather the fallout that comes after. It was about the characters, rather than some "super exciting season finale" plot. That's what gave it the resonance it had. They were very different episodes, but dove-tailed beautifully. Because these episodes were not really about the bus crash or the mystery. They were about House's Head and Wilson's Heart and how both end up broken. And that's the sort of finale I can love. No twist at the end. No huge declarations. Just a gliding little finish with quietly personal scenes for everyone, and then credits.
So that's my run-down of finale week. Two bombs, and a gem. I'll end with some speculation for the next seasons of the first two, and what I hope comes of some seriously silly plots:
"Numb3rs" can use this to its advantage to get the Eppes brothers really working together. Not just on a case, but to first spring Charlie from jail and then to get his clearance back. This could be both a reckoning and a learning experience for both. I don't want either to be "right", I just want them to have to come to terms with the other. That's the way we could salvage this ending.
And then there's "NCIS." Best possibility, some good, solid, funny episodes to kick things off right in which Gibbs and his only two remaining allies, Ducky and Abby, get to play the most unlikely game of espionage and trickery ever to get Tony, Ziva, and McGee back. It could be a riot if done right. Lots of disguises, improbable meetings and passing off documents. The humor is what "NCIS" excels at, and what makes it more than your average procedural, so BRING IT, WRITERS! Give us a great, funny, silly, but ultimately rewarding way of regaining lost team members through the schemes and brilliance of one pissed-off special agent, one elderly British ME, and one uber-goth forensics specialist.
This is my hope. Let it not be in vain.