Ugly Betty, Glee
Midweek in fandom:
Glee
I have such a weird relationship with this show. There are things it does terribly, and things it does brilliantly, and it's not like there are hugely up and down episodes; all the terrible and all the brilliant is always mixed in together and thrown at you at high speeds. I find that I love the brilliant stuff enough to put up with the terrible.
On the side of brilliant: Sue (ALWAYS), Figgins, a Neil Diamond song having the power to cut out multiple hearts, the combo of Brittany and Santana, the final version of "Hello, Goodbye" and Jesse St. James, who is so hilariously deadpan that I would happily turn over the whole show (sans Sue) to him in an instant.
On the side of terrible: Relationship continuity (they had Finn and Rachel's romance between off-camera? Really?), making Emma a virgin (would be different if I thought they were going to get very thoughtful about it, but I doubt this) and casting Idina Menzel as anybody in the entire universe besides Rachel's birth mother -- because the resemblance between them is so striking I actually found it distracting.
While I felt that both Finn and Will's lapses from grace in the wake of their breakups and rebound relationships were fairly realistic, I am not really watching "Glee" for the realism, you know?
However, I would happily crawl into the Sue Sylvester version of "Vogue" and live forever.
**
"Ugly Betty"
Well, I liked it, and there were things about it I liked a lot, but I had expected this to either be a HUGE payoff or a HUGE crusher, and it wasn't either. The finale was seriously rushed, and it showed, because a lot of things that ought to have had more emotional weight (Amanda's feelings about Betty leaving, Hilda, Bobby and Justin moving out of Ignacio's house, Daniel's choice to leave MODE, Wilhelmina's whole coma situation -- by far the most slapdash of the lot) sort of skittered by. And Daniel accepted Tyler as his brother off-camera too? What is it this week, with shows leaving enormous emotional moments to take place during commercial breaks? I guess I don't have any problem with anything that happened, but I feel like I read the TV Guide synopsis of a really great finale instead of watched one.
A couple things I didn't like: First and foremost was that Wilhelmina not only got MODE but had this enormous change of heart. Insofar as Marc went, I bought it and could go with it, but I didn't want to see Willie tamed. I wanted to see her triumphant! We all know Wilhelmina isn't quite as wicked as she presents herself, but I never wanted her to admit it. Another was the constant Betty/Daniel tension throughout the episode for so little payoff -- and I'm not talking about the shippy stuff here, at least not only. The two scenes I really liked for them were the first one, when they are editing in a way that seems half-date; and the one in which Daniel finally signs the form and is clearly torn up about it, with his voice almost breaking. Besides these, there was a whole episode of teasing whether Betty and Daniel would talk -- and a couple minutes of them in London, with Daniel apologizing for not talking earlier! Either have the big emotional moment (romantic, friendship or otherwise) or don't tease it, because real estate in this episode was scarce and every second counted. I'd rather have had two fewer minutes of Betty talking to Daniel's voicemail and two more minutes, say, explaining just how Connor got out of jail, or whether anything of substance might happen for Marc and Troy. (What I'd really rather have had is something more explicitly emotional with Betty and Daniel, whether shippy or not; their relationship, regardless of its nature, always was the core of the show. It was the core of the finale, too, but in a way designed to be vague rather than meaningful. While I realize why the creators went this way, I think there was room for them to provide more without tipping the scales too far in either direction.)
Things I loved nevertheless:
* The fact that Daniel has moved to London, certainly not only to be near Betty but not coincidentally either, and he asked Betty out on a date at the end, and she said yes. This leaves my shipper heart free to construct mushy endings. And possibly fic. I make no promises.
* Claire being shippy in my stead. I heart you, Claire.
* Amanda's reunion with her father, which IMHO was totally solid.
* Also, Amanda's grieving process for Halston, complete with his final appearance in Betty's freezer.
* Ignacio being the one to open the car door for Betty when she leaves for the airport -- beautiful moment -- and his speech about how he and her mother left their home country once too.
* Wilhelmina getting make out with Connor again, b/c they always were amazingly hot.
* Daniel's hilarious attempt to be bad-ass burning the paper, and its immediate backfire, complete with Betty bandaging his hand.
* Marc's devotion to Willie, both in the hospital and afterward; while I didn't buy HER giving into the light side of the Force, I bought him urging her toward it.
* Daniel turning MODE over to Wilhelmina just because she deserved it.
* The scene with Justin and Betty on their back steps, which was a nice shout-out to the scene between them in the pilot. (Which, btw, is worth rewatching if you want to feel ANCIENT, because Justin was, like, fetal.)
* The fact that the UGLY vanished from the credits at the end. It's just Betty now.
All in all -- it's a good ending to the show, but it fell short of what it could've been. I'm not unhappy with it, but slightly deflated all the same. But that's fandom, folks.
Glee
I have such a weird relationship with this show. There are things it does terribly, and things it does brilliantly, and it's not like there are hugely up and down episodes; all the terrible and all the brilliant is always mixed in together and thrown at you at high speeds. I find that I love the brilliant stuff enough to put up with the terrible.
On the side of brilliant: Sue (ALWAYS), Figgins, a Neil Diamond song having the power to cut out multiple hearts, the combo of Brittany and Santana, the final version of "Hello, Goodbye" and Jesse St. James, who is so hilariously deadpan that I would happily turn over the whole show (sans Sue) to him in an instant.
On the side of terrible: Relationship continuity (they had Finn and Rachel's romance between off-camera? Really?), making Emma a virgin (would be different if I thought they were going to get very thoughtful about it, but I doubt this) and casting Idina Menzel as anybody in the entire universe besides Rachel's birth mother -- because the resemblance between them is so striking I actually found it distracting.
While I felt that both Finn and Will's lapses from grace in the wake of their breakups and rebound relationships were fairly realistic, I am not really watching "Glee" for the realism, you know?
However, I would happily crawl into the Sue Sylvester version of "Vogue" and live forever.
**
"Ugly Betty"
Well, I liked it, and there were things about it I liked a lot, but I had expected this to either be a HUGE payoff or a HUGE crusher, and it wasn't either. The finale was seriously rushed, and it showed, because a lot of things that ought to have had more emotional weight (Amanda's feelings about Betty leaving, Hilda, Bobby and Justin moving out of Ignacio's house, Daniel's choice to leave MODE, Wilhelmina's whole coma situation -- by far the most slapdash of the lot) sort of skittered by. And Daniel accepted Tyler as his brother off-camera too? What is it this week, with shows leaving enormous emotional moments to take place during commercial breaks? I guess I don't have any problem with anything that happened, but I feel like I read the TV Guide synopsis of a really great finale instead of watched one.
A couple things I didn't like: First and foremost was that Wilhelmina not only got MODE but had this enormous change of heart. Insofar as Marc went, I bought it and could go with it, but I didn't want to see Willie tamed. I wanted to see her triumphant! We all know Wilhelmina isn't quite as wicked as she presents herself, but I never wanted her to admit it. Another was the constant Betty/Daniel tension throughout the episode for so little payoff -- and I'm not talking about the shippy stuff here, at least not only. The two scenes I really liked for them were the first one, when they are editing in a way that seems half-date; and the one in which Daniel finally signs the form and is clearly torn up about it, with his voice almost breaking. Besides these, there was a whole episode of teasing whether Betty and Daniel would talk -- and a couple minutes of them in London, with Daniel apologizing for not talking earlier! Either have the big emotional moment (romantic, friendship or otherwise) or don't tease it, because real estate in this episode was scarce and every second counted. I'd rather have had two fewer minutes of Betty talking to Daniel's voicemail and two more minutes, say, explaining just how Connor got out of jail, or whether anything of substance might happen for Marc and Troy. (What I'd really rather have had is something more explicitly emotional with Betty and Daniel, whether shippy or not; their relationship, regardless of its nature, always was the core of the show. It was the core of the finale, too, but in a way designed to be vague rather than meaningful. While I realize why the creators went this way, I think there was room for them to provide more without tipping the scales too far in either direction.)
Things I loved nevertheless:
* The fact that Daniel has moved to London, certainly not only to be near Betty but not coincidentally either, and he asked Betty out on a date at the end, and she said yes. This leaves my shipper heart free to construct mushy endings. And possibly fic. I make no promises.
* Claire being shippy in my stead. I heart you, Claire.
* Amanda's reunion with her father, which IMHO was totally solid.
* Also, Amanda's grieving process for Halston, complete with his final appearance in Betty's freezer.
* Ignacio being the one to open the car door for Betty when she leaves for the airport -- beautiful moment -- and his speech about how he and her mother left their home country once too.
* Wilhelmina getting make out with Connor again, b/c they always were amazingly hot.
* Daniel's hilarious attempt to be bad-ass burning the paper, and its immediate backfire, complete with Betty bandaging his hand.
* Marc's devotion to Willie, both in the hospital and afterward; while I didn't buy HER giving into the light side of the Force, I bought him urging her toward it.
* Daniel turning MODE over to Wilhelmina just because she deserved it.
* The scene with Justin and Betty on their back steps, which was a nice shout-out to the scene between them in the pilot. (Which, btw, is worth rewatching if you want to feel ANCIENT, because Justin was, like, fetal.)
* The fact that the UGLY vanished from the credits at the end. It's just Betty now.
All in all -- it's a good ending to the show, but it fell short of what it could've been. I'm not unhappy with it, but slightly deflated all the same. But that's fandom, folks.