2012 Finales – Let
the Summer of Speculation Begin!
It is that time of year again when the flowers begin to
bloom, leaves can be seen on all of the trees and our favorite shows end their
season or series run and leave us with a summer full of speculation and
theories that will not be satisfied until the new chapter in the story beings
in the fall. This year the shows that I
have kept up with religiously have been Once Upon a Time, Glee, Revenge, Grey’s
Anatomy and Fringe. Let’s start with the
first – Once Upon a Time.
**SPOILERS ARE AHEAD – PROCEED AT YOUR OWN RISK**
Once Upon a Time
From the writers that brought us the best show on television
– Lost – Once Upon a Time was taking a big risk by asking viewers to watch a
show every Sunday night about the fairy tales that we grew up with. The season finale was no exception; it
introduced the Snow White sleeping potion, a fire-breathing dragon, (in 2
different realms), a kiss that can bring back the dead, and the possible return
of all things magic to a small town in Maine.
From the minute the finale started, it was a freight train with full
steam ahead. Within the first 5 minutes,
Emma finally gave in and believed in all things magic and ousted Regina as the
evil Queen behind everything that was happening to her and Henry. Within that same 5 minutes, I was baffled
that the show would make the reveal so quickly instead of dragging the viewer
along for the next season. This was like
Lost revealing the smoke monster or all of the hatches across the island at the
same time and at the end of the first season.
I am slightly skeptical as to what the new “problem” will be in the
second season – I am excited but still skeptical because I feel as if all of
the magic that made this show what it was in the first season is gone. The anticipation isn’t there anymore. But
then again, there is new anticipation brewing – what will Mr.
Gold/Rumplestilskin do to Regina now that he knows Belle was never dead just
locked away and used as a pawn? What
will happen to Henry now that everyone and everything seems to have magic again? What will happen to Emma? And does all of this magic come down to
choosing a side – Queen Regina or Rumplestilskin? As I said, theories are the theme of the
summer and I will have lots of them for Once Upon a Time.
Fringe
Fringe has had a shaking 4th season. No one knew if Fox would bring it back for
what everyone knew would be a 5th and final season. The 4th season was supposed to
bring back more of the science fiction and fringe stories and move away from
the love stories that had made season 3.
I was hoping that when Peter returned there would be a better
explanation than he never left his universe, his timeline – everyone else just
simply forgot. Towards the end of the
season I got very excited when they flash forwarded to 2036 and we met Olivia
and Peter’s daughter, Etta and found out the Observers had taken over the world
in order to save it (sounds like a familiar story line). But then that was it. It was one episode and the story came back to
present time and the future wasn’t acknowledge – until Olivia found out she was
pregnant (with Etta most likely) and September showed up in Walter’s lab and
told him “they are coming.” With the 13
final episodes coming in the fall, Fringe has to go out with a bang and I am
hoping they have something up their sleeve because that is the only way they
are going to please their cult fan base – including myself.
Grey’s Anatomy
I may never watch this show again. In all the seasons I have watched Grey’s
Anatomy, I knew there was going to be something huge, some big event that
happened and threatened the lives of the majority or all of the doctors at
Seattle Grace. I was prepared for the
plane crash (that reminded me of Lost) but what I wasn’t prepared for was the
death of one of my favorite characters, Lexie.
Why did the creators and writers have to kill off the one person who
needed love and needed comfort more than anyone on the show? Why did they do
that to Mark who sincerely loved Lexie more than any woman he had met before?
It was a sad night and I cried throughout the whole finale because of that
death and how mad I was and still am at the show. I will probably watch the season premiere
just to see the resolution of the plane crash but the show lost a part of me that
night. And on a creative note – the
creators really couldn’t think of anything else besides a plane crash to make
the finale big? They need to come up with new material or they needed to not
have used their Trump card of bomb in body so soon in the series.
Glee
When did Glee turn into the Rachel Berry show? That was the
message at the end of the 3rd season finale that out of all the
graduates, she was the only one that mattered.
Mercedes gets a record contract as a back-up singer and the episode
seemed to push her aside as if Rachel going to NYADA was more important. The audience is left wondering where season 4
will take us – will we be going to New York with Rachel or are we staying in
Lima with the Juniors who are now Seniors as they take on the Glee Club without
Kurt, Rachel, Finn, Puck, Mike, Santana, Mercedes, and Quinn. So many options and of course we won’t know
what will happen until the fall. Insert sad face. This season finale – and even this season to
a degree – was not the show’s best. Many
of the episodes were rushed through and when it was done the audience was left
wondering, what did I just see? The 2
episodes before the finale – Props and Nationals – were getting back to what
the show was good at – meshing a great storyline with music flawlessly. Then the finale came around and it seemed as
if the writers were trying to pack in way too much in a 60 minutes episode. It
was all over the place never settling on anything in particular until the last
10 minutes with Finn’s dramatic – and hands down the best performance of the
season – “break-up” with Rachel in the car at the train station. It was sad to watch because you realized at
that moment as much as you hoped that Rachel loved Finn more than stardom, she
really didn’t. She does love Finn and probably always will but her first love
was being a star and Finn knew that and didn’t want her settling for him – no
matter how much he loves her. The last
10 minutes were the best of the season. I 100% cried my eyes out and I will
never be able to listen to Roots Before Branches again without crying. That is what Glee is about – pure emotion and
music. Hopefully that can carry through
to season 4 and the juniors.
Revenge
As Nolan said, “OMG.”
That sums up the 1st season finale of my favorite show,
Revenge. To recap, Emily is at the breaking point of her plan. She is going to
kill the man who murdered her father in prison and put a spotlight onto the
Grayson’s and their part in the terrorist attack and framing of her father. Of
course nothing goes smoothly and by the end of the episode, Emily and Daniel
are broken up, Fauxmanda has returned and is pregnant with Jack’s child,
Victoria is presumed dead in a plane crash that destroyed all of the evidence
linking the Grayson’s to the terrorist attack (so Emily is not happy), Charlotte
has overdosed on pills (but Conrad is there to help her), and Nolan made a copy
of all of the evidence unbeknownst to Emily. When they watch it, Nolan tells
her to pay attention. Victoria is seen
telling Conrad and the white-haired man (her father’s killer) that she has a
secret of David Clarke about his presumed dead wife. The last lines of the episode are said by
Emily – “Let it play.” One thing that
won’t happen is Victoria Grayson being dead.
She is less expendable than Daniel Grayson and they kept him alive. The show wouldn’t be Revenge without Victoria
especially with the fact that she knows that Emily’s mother might still be
alive. So everyone you can stop worrying
about that one. The break-up between
Daniel and Emily seemed very sudden and short.
But then again Emily’s demeanor changed rapidly in the last 2 episodes
and that might have been her plan all along to dump him when she had the
evidence she needed. She loves Jack and was going to go tell him so but
Fauxmanda changed everything and screwed up her happiness – but then again
Emily did that herself by involving Fauxmanda in the first place. So Revenge has its Season 2 plot – finding
out if Emily’s mother is really alive and who she is. And Emily still has some revenge up her
sleeve with Victoria for so many reasons.
The show is edgy, suspenseful, terrifying and drama-filled. What a good show should be.
For the majority of the season finales this year, they were
disappointing. I don’t mind cliffhangers
– I accept them because they are inevitable in television shows that are
returning. What I didn’t like about many
of the finales was a combination of rushing storylines and lack of
imagination. Once and Revenge are
exceptions; their freshman seasons were spectacular and I have high hopes for
their sophomore seasons. Let’s just hope
I don’t give myself an ulcer coming up with all of the different scenarios that
could happen to each character in the fall.
At least I will have White Collar to watch during the summer!
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