Showing posts with label Year-in-Review. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Year-in-Review. Show all posts

Monday, December 19, 2011

My Top 10 TV Shows of 2011

I'm really hoping that with the new year, my zest for, well, anything really, will return, but until then, this blog is going to be pretty sparse. It's not that there isn't plenty to talk about TV wise (the fact that Once Upon a Time just killed off one of the few characters I liked is currently irking me and the fate of Boardwalk Empire sans Jimmy looms large), but I just can't seem to care enough to type. Venting to the kiddies at work is my current outlet. I highly recommend everyone get their coworkers hooked on all the same shows.

Anyhow, in spite of my apathy, I couldn't not put together a top 10 list of the best television programs of the year, and then some significantly pettier, dorkier lists as well. Without further ado, and in no particular order...

MY TOP 10 SHOWS OF 2011

JUSTIFIED
My love for this show knows no bounds, and the fact that it's been rather conspicuously absent from my schedule since March is kind of maddening. That said, the show is finally starting up in about a month and I can't wait. FX has been re-airing the first season and even though I've already seen it at least twice, I couldn't help but watch again. What's more, it didn't even occur to me to fast-forward through the boring or annoying parts because, well, there aren't any. It's not a crazy, fast-paced, explosion a minute kind of show or anything, but I find that I'm simply riveted from beginning to end. While season 1 was fantastic, season 2 brought something even more amazing to the table: Mags Bennet. When you have a cast of characters that includes the likes of the Crowder clan, it's hard to imagine someone stealing the spotlight, but Margo Martindale was electrifying. My one quibble with the show in general is that female characters tend to play the damsel, but the addition of Mags (and Loretta for that matter), balanced the scales in all the best ways. Oh sure, we started the "Oh, for hell's sakes, Winona!" drinking game during her tenure as the dithering damsel with sticky fingers, Mags was there to temper the gender gap. She was layered and warm and terrifying and ruthless and caring, oftentimes all at once. I'm incredibly sad that Mags won't be back for season 3, and her loss, coupled with the loss of Helen and Loretta, the other tremendous female characters on the show, means that we're left with Winona and Ava. If any show has the power to turn them into more than moronic damsels and fluttering love interests, it's Justified, but their treatment of these two thus far gives me pause... That said, the promos have Raylan and Boyd seemingly teaming up, so there's only so much I can worry about.

BREAKING BAD
Once upon a time, when television aficionados would herald the greatness of the medium or defend it against the slings and arrows of critics defaming it as pulp, they would call on The Wire to justify their cause. Now they call on Breaking Bad. This show is just so, so good. This is one of the few shows that I've actually addressed in fair measure lately, so I'll keep this short. Maybe. While it's been a powerhouse of awesome and artistry since day one, I think this most recent season might have been their best yet. The brilliance with which the writers balanced so many different factions, agendas, mental and emotional priorities, political concerns, and kingpins is nothing short of amazing. At any given time, I found myself pulling for someone different, condemning characters I once loved, and exalting the baddest of the bad. Then it would all change in the coming week. The best part of all is that these shifts in my loyalties were not based on the most ostentatious or sensational of events. By contrast, with Breaking Bad, it's the quiet moments that shed the most light and send me reeling. Which isn't to say that the show is lacking in big, insane, WTF moments or anything. There are certainly plenty of those. It's just that with Breaking Bad, a scene with a few guys sitting around a table talking (or a scene with no talking at all) is just as gripping and terrifying as the deadliest shootout, the biggest explosion, or a mass poisoning. This season saw the end of Tio Salamanca (ding! ding! ding!) and Gus Fring, two irreplaceable powerhouses, but I have every confidence that next season will see the introduction of even fiercer, quirkier baddies. In a lot of ways, I think the season 4 finale could have served well as the series finale, but I'm sure glad it wasn't.

REVENGE
Going into every fall pilot season, I have shows that I'm excited about, shows that I know I'll hate, and shows that I'm willing to give a shot, but fully suspect I'll drop them in a couple of weeks. Revenge definitely fell into the third category. Little did I know it would quickly turn into the sudsiest, juiciest, most delectably addictive soap opera to hit TV in years. The first few episodes had me a little worried that I was headed for a revenge procedural, with Emily dispatching of one of her father's foes each week, all wrapped up in a nice little bow. Much to my delight, those early episodes were only setting up the tangle web to come. This show is a soap opera, which is generally used in the pejorative, but there's not guilt in this pleasure. With any genre, there are going to be good ones and bad ones. For genres like "chick flick", "rom com", "soap opera", and "crime procedural", the bad so often outnumber the good that the genre as a whole gets a bad wrap. Well, Revenge may be a soap, but it's a bloody good one. The story-telling is lightning fast, but there's also a long con that sweeps maliciously from episode to episode, tying things tighter and raising the stakes. The characters are surprisingly layered and complex, giving the writers plenty of room to explore not just the outlandish soapy plot elements, but the more intriguing character elements as well. The cast in general is very strong, but my heart belongs to Nolan (which, given my propensity for siding with the smart, snarky game-changer should come as no surprise). Revenge is truly a watercooler show, even in an age when everyone seems to watch shows at different times. With Revenge, you simply can't afford to risk missing it or you'll be subject to 45 minutes of heated discussion without you. I'm not sure where the show is headed in the long run (although I hear a move to New York is in store for season 2), but I'm definitely along for the ride.

BEING HUMAN (UK)
Although the US version tries desperately to keep pace with it's British predecessor, it's an incredibly high bar that it will never surpass. The most recent season of the British version ended many months ago, but it was still one of the first shows to come to mind when compiling this list. Being Human, on paper, has one of the most absurd, campy, tween concepts in town. And yet, the writers brilliantly explore the human condition through werewolves, ghosts, and vampires. Indeed, by looking at what humans are when they aren't human at all, it sheds light on humanity as a whole. This most recent season was brutal and beautiful and heartbreaking. The writers had a plan from day one, plotted and executed it perfectly, and ended right where they should have, even if that was the most devastating place possible. It's months later and I still can't believe Mitchell is truly gone. As the season began, and it was foretold that he would be killed by a werewolf, fans couldn't help but wonder if that werewolf would be George. Against all inclinations to the contrary, as the season concluded, it only made sense that George would end Mitchell's life. It had to be done, I knew it had to be done, but it was devastating for all involved. No matter what Mitchell had done, no matter in how many ways his inhumanity wreaked havoc, he wanted so desperately to be a good person, but it just never happened. Until the bitter end. The wolf-shaped bullet ending his life was, in its own way, the most human thing to have happened. I honestly don't know where the show will go without his handsome mug, but even if it falls apart, I can always remember last season as being something truly special. The US version can try and try all it likes to match the darkness, the brutality, the hilarity, and the humanity of its predecessor, but I can't really fault it for falling short.

SUITS
Last year, almost all of USA Network's line-up got a nod in my "Best Of" list, but this year, only their newest show garners a spot. While one-time favorites slumped, fell by the wayside, or decreased in quality, Suits arose as the banner show for the network. I assumed this would be yet another "blue skies" procedural for the network, taking the exact same principles and elements of their other shows and wrapping them in the guise of "lawyer show," I was very pleasantly surprised to find the network's most adult offering to date. It has "lawyer show" elements, of course, but it's more of a serial than I've ever seen on USA, it takes more chances narratively, and it even adopts the standards and practices for foul language that networks FX and AMC have employed for years. The occasional "shit" may not seem like much, but it marks a shift in terms of tone and audience. I recently noticed that Covert Affairs has taken a similar tack, so I'm hopeful that as the network takes more chances, the quality and originality would follow suit. Don't get me wrong, I've always enjoyed the "blue skies" approach taken by the network, but after a few years, it starts to wear on you with its sameness. For various reasons, USA's other options haven't retained their luster, but the sameness is one of the main factors. Burn Notice has played the same hand for the past three seasons, needing a reinvention sooner than later, In Plain Sight got pregnant and ruined the show, Covert Affairs is somehow surprisingly boring, seeming to have lost its narrative thrust, its sense of direction, and its understanding of its own characters, and Psych is... well, it's Psych. If you've seen one episode, you've seen them all. (White Collar is really the only other show on the network that has upped the ante and kept me totally enthralled.) Suits (oh yeah! we're talking about Suits!) bucks the trend of sameness in the best ways possible. It takes the best elements of the network's shows and adds so much more. Suits isn't afraid to have heroes that do bad things, characters that are unlikable, and real tension. All of this is undercut with an incredibly charming bromance, a lot of laughs, and several ongoing storylines to keep the show from stagnating or stalling. In the best surprise of all, they have crafted characters that are layered and intriguing in surprising ways for this network. Indeed, the show's lead, Harvey Spector, isn't particularly likeable on a number of levels, but that's what makes him so special. He's not the kind of character I usually latch onto, but I'm completely enamored. This kind of connection with characters, and the knowledge that they won't always do what you expect them to, makes for a surprising ride where I genuinely don't know what's going to happen every single minute of every episode. It's a lovely change of pace for USA and one that I hope continues. I can't wait for Suits to come back and have spent the downtime re-watching this year's episodes.

GAME OF THRONES
It honestly took me about half of the first season to really get invested in this show, but once I did, I found myself really looking forward to it week-to-week. Even if it weren't my kind of show, the size and scope and scale of the production should garner it a spot on most lists. My initial qualms with the show stemmed from the seeming marginalization of the female characters. Based on the time and setting, it made sense, but that didn't mean they deserved to be afterthoughts. As the season progressed, however, I was very pleased to see the female characters taking center stage and becoming substantive movers and shakers in the narrative. As the season drew to a close, my qualms were fully assuaged. Rumors of storylines to come have also bolstered my confidence. It's not the easiest show to jump into if you haven't read the books, but I think the writers and producers did a nice job of paring down the cast and explaining who was who in a mostly non-oppressive manner. I have always appreciated a show that's willing to kill people off (as long as it makes sense for the story and isn't to the clear detriment of the show... *cough* Once Upon a Time *cough*), and Game of Thrones does not hold back. I had heard that the characters who start off the series are not the ones you end up with in the end, but this didn't truly hit home until Ned was beheaded. That takes balls. As much as I enjoyed Ned, killing him off was true to form and turned the narrative on its head. That's the kind of storytelling that keeps me on my toes and genuinely surprises me. When all bets are off, there's a terrifying sense of the unknown that I absolutely love and dread with equal measure. For someone who watches as much television as I do, it's not easy to quash my expectations, so when a show manages to achieve such a feat, it gets rewarded with a place on this list. Game of Thrones wasn't perfect, but it came close enough. I'd tune in just for Petyr "Littlefinger" Baelish alone, but Robb Stark and Jon Snow don't hurt either. Now that the show has it's legs and a better grasp of how to turn this story into a series, I'm very hopeful that season 2 was be even more sensational that season 1. It'll certainly be just as expensive to produce. Wow, HBO knows how to loosen the purse-strings and I can't thank them enough.

COMMUNITY
No top 10 list would be complete without the best comedy on TV. No, not Modern Family. Indeed, while Community continues to push the boundaries and have me rolling in the aisles for new and surprising reasons each week, Modern Family seems to get more and more boring. I used to really enjoy the show, but more and more, I find myself smiling on occasion, and almost never laughing out loud. This is most delightedly not the case with Community. Most shows on TV can be likened to other contemporaries or predecessors, but Community is genuinely unlike any other show. In any given week, the show somehow manages to combine hilarious gags, clever jokes, erudite allusions, and a hell of a lot of heart with a willingness to play with form and narrative unlike any other show. You truly never know what exactly to expect from Community, whether it be a Spaghetti Western, a musical, an homage to an obscure movie, a parody of an entire genre, a more conventional comedy episode with a splash of anime, or anything and everything in between. They play with storytelling in a way that makes me smile every time. All the while, the show maintains its warmth and heart. The show isn't too cool for school, and it embraces it. Indeed, this collection of characters is probably the most endearing family on TV. Other comedies find themselves hitting the same beats again and again, what with comedy being a genre where true character growth and development is difficult to manage, but Community throws out the rulebook, giving it's characters real journeys to follow all the while making me crack up. I'm heartbroken that NBC has shelved the show until who-knows-when. I realize that the ratings are bad, but so are the ratings of every other show on the network. I don't want to live in a world where dreck like Whitney and dumbass shlock like Two and Half Men survive, but Community gets put on hiatus. Oh, America. You make me sad sometimes. I do hope that NBC keeps sucking just long enough for Community to get another season. They're only about a season away from being able to be sold into syndication, so hopefully NBC will take that into consideration. Come back, Community! Come back!!!

THE VAMPIRE DIARIES
The CW doesn't often get a lot of love when it comes to critical acclaim, but more and more, even the hold-outs have had to admit that The Vampire Diaries is one hell of a show. No longer mistakenly thought of as a Twilight rip-off or True Blood lite, The Vampire Diaries has set itself apart as a kickass supernatural thriller. It's storytelling is tight and compelling, giving viewers a thrill-a-minute, tantalizing cliffhangers, and a surprising amount of depth and character advancement. Sure it has its flaws, but ounce for ounce, it's one of the best shows out there. While the last part of season two got a bit muddled with the moonstone and the curse, season 3 has been its best yet. Two of the best aspects of the show are that it's willing to kill off important and beloved characters and if a character doesn't need to be in an episode he/she isn't in it. True Blood could learn a lot from TVD in this regard. TVD blazes through story at a breakneck pace, introducing new characters and killing off others in near equal measure. This keeps the cast from spiraling out of control the way that True Blood has. What's more, the storytelling is tight and interlaced among the characters. While True Blood has about 87 different storylines going at once, half of which have nothing to do with the others, TVD brings everything together in the most tantalizing of possible ways, ending each episode (if not each segment) with a jaw-dropping cliffhanger. There's an insane amount of character history and supernatural mythology that has been doled out over the past two and a half seasons, but somehow the show makes it all work (well, mostly). When Rebekah revealed the history of her family, the origins of werewolves, the original vampires, her brother as a hybrid, the sun and the moon curse, and everything in between, it... actually made a lot of sense! Sure there are certain things that we just kind of ignore, but for the most part, the writers put it altogether in a way that worked. No small feat, that. The show also manages to impart all of that history and mythology in a captivating way. Seriously, where most shows put me to sleep with plot exposition and info dumps, TVD makes those some of their best episodes. Seriously, in a recent episode, the entirety of the actual action that took place was Elena talking to Rebekah while Damon and Stefan hung out. Sounds like a snooze-fest, but it was exciting, revelatory, and fabulous. Best of all? Elena and Stefan, who used to be on the bland and boring side, have become interesting and badass in their own ways. Evil Stefan is even better than I would have guessed and Elena has finally taken some control over her life. Now if we can just kill off Bonnie and Matt, we'll be good to go!

THE GOOD WIFE
This is one show that has received a fair bit of press on this blog (more so than the other deserving entries on this list), but I promise, it's still not enough. That this is one of the best dramas on TV goes against so many factors. The show airs on network TV, said network is CBS of all things, the show features actual adults, it tackles sensitive issues like religion, politics, and money in just about every episode, it's been moved around on the schedule, and it skews older in terms of demographic (for some unknown reason). And yet, it survives. This show is smart and sexy and has more than a few serial elements to it. In a network viewing landscape that has seen the success of one crappy crime procedural after another, The Good Wife bucks the trend. Thank god! Season 2 was absolutely amazing. Seriously, the last 5 or 6 episodes could each have served as the jaw-dropping, gut-wrenching season finale, but they just kept piling on the awesome, episode after episode, culminating in one of the best season finales I've ever seen. So good, in fact, that had the show been unjustly axed after season 2, it could have served as one hell of a send off. Season 3 hasn't quite kept pace with the insanity of the last half of season 2, but it's building slowly and surely. One of the most heartbreaking factors of season 2, Kalinda and Alicia's falling out, reverberates through season 3 in a very real, restrained way. One of the things I've always loved best about the show is that the female characters are allowed to have layers, agendas, and a well-rounded presence on the screen. They're also allowed to be friends. On most shows, women are invariably pitted as sexual rivals. On The Good Wife, as with the real world, women are friends, they support one another, and form complex bonds and relationships with one another. Seeing Kalinda and Alicia, the best of friends, fall apart was devastating, but seeing the slow easing of tensions over season 3 has been incredibly rewarding. This show knows how to hit all the right buttons and it doesn't casually forget about things that have happened before. I'm constantly amazed at how a person, an event, or a piece of information comes back many episodes later like a lightning bolt. This show has an amazing cast, an enviable list of guest stars, and Eli Gold to boot. Alan Cumming is completely magnetic as Eli, but this is so good that even when he's not in an episode, I don't notice until long after the show is done. As with The Vampire Diaries, The Good Wife knows how to economize storytelling. If they don't need a character, they don't have that character. Case closed. (Heh, get it? Case closed? They're lawyers? I'll shut up now.)

SHAMELESS

Any and all US imports of British shows are met with extreme scrutiny and prejudice from this humble TV watcher. The same goes for animated shows being adapted to live action. In general, I simply don't see the point. In most cases, the original is by far the superior and a remake or adaptation seems unnecessary and counter-intuitive. It's with this bias in mind that I'm surprised at how much I grew to love Showtime's US adaptation of Shameless, a raunchy British program that I was honestly not too familiar with. To this day, I've only seen a couple of the episodes of the British series, but to my delight, the US adaptation took the principles of its predecessor, made the show its own, and made it really damn good. It took me a couple of episodes to really invest in the show, finding William H. Macy's character to be more of a hindrance than a celebrity draw, but as the show settled in and found its feet, it managed to craft interesting, complex characters whose interdynamics sucked me right in. At its heart, Shameless is about a family. For all of its dysfunction, and there plenty to go around, at the end of the day, the burdens and traumas they suffer makes them one of the closest knit families on TV. When you're that poor, that desperate, and that downtrodden, all you have is each other. The family simply has to work together just to survive. On a less dire level, I can relate. My family was by no means as bad off as the Gallagher clan, but it was very clear to all of us from a very young age that we don't have the luxury of bickering or fighting or holding petty grudges. We're all in this together, and a lot of the time, that's all we have. In speaking with other people, I'm constantly amazed at how well my family got along, how close we all were (and are), and how willing we are to give relatives money without any expectation of repayment. I always assumed all families were like that when I was a kid, but as it turns out, we were in the minority. Anyhow, with the Gallaghers, this hits home in a number of social, psychological, and financial ways. It was so heartbreaking to watch Fiona, the eldest daughter turned mother, trying to break free of all the responsibility, only to find that she simply couldn't. The last few episodes of the season were tremendous and showed how this kind of close-knit dependence on one another has its wonderful aspects and also its insidious underpinnings. Her siblings want her to go, they know she's paid her dues, but she just can't leave them. What started out as a raunchy dramedy that was trying too hard to be shocking quickly morphed into a searing character piece with the family unit as a whole being the most important single character of all. It's been gone for entirely too long and I can't wait for season 2 to premiere early next year.

**HONORABLE MENTIONS**


Alphas
It's a genre show, but it genuinely managed to put a new spin on an old routine. Most importantly for any genre show, it focused on the characters as much as the storyline, so that helped turn it into quite a quality program by the end of its first season.

The Chicago Code

Gone, but not forgotten. I'm not a huge fan of cop shows, but this one was excellent. It's ratings weren't spectacular, but they were steady and decent. This show really had Fox's once chance at any kind of dramatic critical acclaim, but they opted for poorly crafted CG dinosaurs and a bickering family that just refused to get eaten by them instead. Boo.

Nikita
Season 2 hasn't quite had the same focus or narrative drive as season 1, but this show is still a solid genre show that knows how to craft a spy thriller. Covert Affairs should take notice. This show is 15 times more entertaining and exciting on 1/10th the budget. Where Covert Affairs is so bland this year the background is more interesting than the story, Nikita takes what it has and makes the most of it.

Hell on Wheels
I'm... not entirely sure why I'm enjoying this show so much. Nothing... really... happens. But, I find I get swept up in whatever is happening on screen and I don't seem to mind that over the course of several episodes, we've basically built 10 feet of railroad and... ridden some horses? Whatever the reason, I'm digging it.

Boardwalk Empire
If my list above were a top 11, this would have made the cut. It made last year's list, but their second season took a lot time to really get me enthralled. I got several episodes behind because I just didn't feel very invested anymore, but once I got caught up, I could appreciate that in a number of ways, it was better than ever.

White Collar
Aside from Suits, this is really the only other USA network offering that I'm excited about. This last year the show hit quite a stride, and while there were some casting decisions I still can't believe, on the whole, this is a light, fun caper with enough depth to keep me eagerly anticipating its return next month. And then, of course, there's Matt Bomer, so it may as well be a freeze-frame for 42 minutes and I'd be just as pleased.

Aside from my overall top shows of the year (and well-deserving honorable mentions), there were some other odds and ends and categories that I just had to include in my year-end review as well. Here are some random judgments and dubious distinctions...

Shows that Showed Signs of Recovery Only to Flatline Once Again:
  • Glee
    After the craptastic second season, I had pretty low expectations for season 3. When the season started off and seemed to have gained a slight grasp of continuity and storytelling, I was ready to put this in the Most Improved Show category... Until a few episodes ago when it all got shitty again. Seriously, that Christmas episode was even more painful than usual.

  • How I Met Your Mother
    Started off a bit better than expected, but then Lily and Marshall got pregnant, then Robin got pregnant, or didn't... oh, who the hell cares. It was awful either way.

Worst Hair and/or Clothes:

  • Robin (How I Met Your Mother)
    Apparently barrenness leads to hideous hair and horrible wardrobe choices? That's all I can guess, because why else would they make her look that way?

  • The Entire Cast (Parenthood)
    Okay, maybe not the entire cast, but I think it's safe to say they hit critical mass about 3 characters back. When you hit 80%, is there any real reason to split hairs? (Heh, get it? Oh lord, that pun was almost as bad as Haddie's permed bangs... sorry about that.)

  • Dr. Reid (Criminal Minds)
    Not going to lie, he's the reason I started watching the show. His look and persona were a huge part of the draw. Now he has this unfortunate fuzzy, choppy something or other on his head and it just takes the charm away...

  • Rachel (Glee)
    The storytelling wasn't the only casualty during season 2...

Best Chemistry:
  • Damon and Elena (The Vampire Diaries)
    A lot of real-life couples fall flat on screen, but these two totally sizzle. Seriously, that (fully-clothed) scene where he ran his hand along her ribs was sexier than some of the most explicit sex scenes I've seen.

  • Eli and Kalinda (The Good Wife)
    They may not be sleeping together (that I know of... that would be kind of awesome, actually), but the rapport between Alan Cumming and Archie Panjabi is completely irresistible. Eli's chemistry with just about anyone is giggle-worthy and fabulous, but with Kalinda, he sees a true peer. He doesn't bullshit her the way he does other people and she doesn't try to manipulate him the way should would someone else. The professional courtesy is hilarious and undeniable.

  • Nolan and Tyler (Revenge)
    These two are both so conniving, so manipulative, and so driven that it's hard to know just what to make of them as a pair, but one thing is for sure, their chemistry is sexy as hell. Although Tyler might claim otherwise, I'm guessing they're both about a 3 on the Kinsey scale, so anything goes. Their couple portmanteau is "TyleNol" by the way, which is just about the best I've ever seen.

Speaking of Magnetism on Screen, Here are My Irrational TV Crushes of 2011:
  • Robb Stark (Game of Thrones)
    It took me a while to really connect with the show, but his presence among the cast was never an equivocal one.

  • Jesse Pinkman (Breaking Bad)
    Aaron Paul is such a tremendous actor that yes, I kinda sorta really adore a murderer/drug dealer. I mainly just want to give the guy a hug. He certainly needs one.

  • Harvey Specter (Suits)
    As I mentioned above, I'm a little surprised by this one, but Gabriel Macht is just beautiful and he manages to make a slick, corporate, 1 percenter unbelievably sexy.

  • Johnny Iuzzini (Top Chef: Just Desserts)
    Love him. Aside from being talented, charming, and easy on the eyes, he's a bit of a gay icon and he's totally fine with that (even though he's straight). That wins him a hell of a lot of points in my book. Rather than being threatened by attention from the gay community, he embraces it. WIN.

  • Seymour Birkoff (Nikita)
    I know, I know, of all the beautiful people on that show, I'm in love with the snarky computer nerd. That's just how I roll. Not that Michael or Owen or Ryan or anyone else isn't a winner, but my heart belongs to Birkoff.

  • Nikita (Nikita)
    Okay, it belongs to Birkoff or Nikita. It's a toss-up. Maggie Q is amazing. She simply could not be any more fabulous. Or badass. Or gorgeous. Could I be her when I grow up? Pretty please? Ooh, or Kalinda!

  • Hardison (Leverage)
    It's a mid-level show, to be sure, but Hardison makes it all worth it. He's far and away the best part of the show and certainly the easiest to look at.

  • Mitchell (Being Human UK)
    Goddamn, he's beautiful. Yeah, yeah, he slaughtered a train full of people... Still beautiful. Sometimes, it's what's on the outside that counts.

  • Paulo (The Borgias)
    Okay, I admit his hair is not doing him any favors, but that's what you get when you're cast in a period piece. That said, Luke Pasqualino will always be Freddie to me and that's really all it takes. My darling Freddie (sob). Love him. Unfortunate historically-accurate haircut and all.

  • Nolan (Revenge)
    He may not be the most conventionally attractive guy on the show, but for me, personality, character, and intelligence count for about 80%. Being a 3 on the Kinsey scale certainly doesn't hurt either.

  • Tim Gutterson (Justified)
    His character is pretty much the exact opposite of what I would ever really want, but I just adore him. Seriously, a law enforcement officer with a history in the military? Yikes. And yet, his manner is so appealing and his demeanor so chill, I just can't help myself.

  • Jai Wilcox (Covert Affairs)
    Sure it took me an entire season to stop calling him Mohinder, but that in no way diminishes the pretty. It's a very attractive cast in general (you know, as opposed to all those shows with ugly people), but he takes the cake. Not that he'd be able to eat it, but still. It may be a boring show, but the scenery is nice.

  • Damon (The Vampire Diaries)
    No list of TV crushes would be complete without Damon Salvatore making an entry. It's a plain and simple fact that's beyond reproach or argument.

Well, kiddies, I think that's it for me this year. I'm hoping to be less of a slacker as the new year begins, but I excel at not giving a shit. We'll see. Happy viewing!

Thursday, May 19, 2011

Belated Finale Reviews: The Vampire Diaries and Nikita

Blogger! Way to finally stop sucking!

It suddenly occurs to me that railing against a service that I use absolutely free of charge is kind of like criticizing the low thread-count of sheets at the Salvation Army... Rant over.

The crux of the matter is that the finales for two of my favorite shows were nearly a week ago. I'm at my best the following morning when I've had time to digest what happened, but not so much time that I've seen 19 other shows already. Henceforth, rather than the epically lengthy discussion of thematic tropes and narrative denouements, I'm going to keep it simple and just put random thoughts about the shows. Hey, if I'm still pondering the implications a week later, they must be at least kind of important.

On with the show! Er, shows!

THE VAMPIRE DIARIES

...Geez, where to even begin? This show burns through so much story so fast that documenting my thoughts and feelings about something is kind of a moot point, what with that something probably getting its heart ripped out in the next episode. Remember Mason Lockwood? Uh, yeah, that was totally this season. Like, 12 episodes ago, rather than 12 years ago like it seems.

...Although this may seem like an odd finale for the show, I think it worked incredibly well. All conventional wisdom would suggest that the penultimate episode should have been the finale. The whole moonstone-soapdish-vampire-werewolf-kitchen sink-doppelganger-originals-jar of almonds-full moon storyline comes to a dramatic end and half the town gets killed in the process. Makes sense as the finale, especially for a show like this. That's actually the reason why I was so pleased to see the actual finale take a quieter, more character-based approach. At the end of the day, ritual sacrifices, deaths, and supernatural phenomenon are par for the course for these characters. Those are just the things that happen. When it all boils down, this is a show about people. It was lovely to see stirring character development as the big finish rather than just a whole lotta crazy going on. (Oh, don't get me wrong, it wouldn't be a TVD finale without the crazy, so there was plenty of that as well, but Damon, Elena, and Stefan were the real core here.

...As much as I hate to see Damon suffer (even if he looks damn good in the process--seriously, even all sick and sweaty and occasionally charred, um, yes please), having someone other than Elena at the center of all the peril was a refreshing change of pace. She's the damsel entirely too often and she isn't an interesting enough character for me to really care about her fate all that much. Damon, on the other hand, is someone whose fate I'm entirely invested in. Not that I thought for a second that he would really die or anything (I kinda sorta know how TV works, thanks), but with this show, all bets are off. Sure, he'll still be on the show, but in what capacity? I entertained notions of him being a ghost of some sort (which made it all the freakier when Anna and Vicki showed up later) or maybe some other kind of entity that Bonnie had somehow orchestrated.

...Speaking of Damon and his werewolf bite, I think this whole arc was established brilliantly and made for a rather satisfying pay-off in the end. So often with this kind of show, it seems like they're making stuff up as they go along. Here, viewers were made very well-aware of the horrifying ramifications of a werewolf bite with Rose, whose slow, agonizing death was as heartbreaking as it was unavoidable. It certainly raised the stakes for Damon, but again, I think we all knew they'd figure something out. With a show that has magic at its disposal, it's often way too easy and convenient to simply find a spell to fix whatever comes your way. This show isn't immune, but I think they manage it better than most. It actually made a hell of a lot of sense that Klaus' blood would be the key. It didn't feel lame or convenient. It genuinely made sense.

...Another story arc that paid off well was the Elena and Damon dynamic. This facet of the show has always been fun to watch in spite of the fact that Elena is about as interesting as the bowl of soaps that Damon genius-ly hid the moonstone in. Dear Damon, I realize you were going for a "purloined letter" kind of thing here, but it doesn't really work when it's in something that people will be touching. Constantly. Love, Viewers Who Still Can't Believe That Was the Best You Could Come Up With. Anyway, Elena has always been pretty damn dull as far as I'm concerned (through no fault of Nina Dobrev--Katherine is awesome afterall), so in terms of my "shipper" allegiances, I'm not irrevocably invested one way or the other. Quite frankly, I think Damon can do a whole lot better. The only reason it makes me happy to see Damon and Elena together is that it makes Damon so happy (I guess there's no accounting for taste... Heh, get it? Taste? Sorry.) Anyway, I have a point! The final scene between Damon and Elena was actually pretty lovely. Rather than the music swelling in some big dramatic swoon-worthy climax, it was a decidedly small, quiet moment. I'm sure there are many out there who would disagree, but I didn't find it to be a romantic moment at all, really. More than anything, it felt more like watching two dear friends, at the very end of their ropes, coping with the harsh realities of life. I really liked that they both looked so completely wrecked by that point. He was all near-death and sweaty and she was crying and sniffling. That was not a romantic screen kiss, which as far as I'm concerned, made it work all the better. It may not have been all that romantic, but it really does up the stakes for next season in terms of their relationship. Well done.

...Also upping the stakes, the fact that Stefan is off gallivanting around with Klaus. I think that made for a nice twist, but hasn't Stefan been drinking Elena's blood for a good long while now? Shouldn't he be fairly inured to the affects of blood? Maybe Stefan is playing him? Maybe he isn't as used to it as I thought? Whatever the case may be, it seems he'll be out of the picture for a while, so what's a girl to do? What she should have done ages ago. Picked the other Salvatore.

...So, apparently Alaric is Elena and Jeremy's new parental figure? I guess that makes as much sense as anything on this show. I really did like their scene together at the end though.

...Let me get this straight. With Jenna and Uncle John dead as a dead dead and Jeremy something supernatural now (finally!), the only humans left on the show are Alaric (more or less) and Sheriff Forbes? Oh, and Matt. Because you never know when you'll need someone to suck the fun out of a room. At some point humanity is really going to have to reconsider keeping Mystic Falls on their list of possible real estate.

...Ramblings aside, I can't possibly go on any further without mentioning the biggest twist of them all. Uh, Anna and Vicki?!?! AWESOME. Well, Anna's return is awesome. Vicki's? Meh. It's not so much the individuals that makes this stellar, of course, it's the fact that apparently Jeremy sees dead people now? No, just dead vampires? Only dead girlfriends? I don't know what this all means and I can't wait to find out! Maybe he actually did ingest some of Caroline's blood, but was brought back before he could transition to a vampire, so he's back from the dead and the undead, which means that he only sees dead people who are also undead people!? Yeah, I'm the one who wrote that sentence and I still got lost before I got to the end.

...As cheesy and obligatory as the festival, carnival, fund-raiser, school dance, town meeting, founder's day fill in the blank is, I really enjoyed the Gone with the Wind motif if for no other reason than it made from some beautiful shots of the characters with the movie playing in the background. It also affected the plot in a way that made sense, so that's always appreciated as well.

...Final thoughts: I'm very stoked for next season which has been hailed as the "season of the originals". Yes, please! Elijah became more than a little badass toward the end of this season and Klaus makes for a hell of a big bad. I long ago stopped worrying that they'd run out of stories to tell, but I do have one nagging concern for next season that I can't seem to shake. Kevin Williamson (and Julie Plec?) is one of the showrunners and he'll be doing double-duty next year. His new pilot, The Secret Circle, got picked up by the CW and will be a companion show to TVD on Thursdays. In theory, "Yay! We get another show from a writer I love!" In actuality, this scenario usually plays out in disappointing ways. The original show almost always suffers and the new project almost never rises to the level of the original. Only time will tell, and I'll be posting clips and whatnot from The Secret Circle in a few weeks, but from what I've seen so far, I'm less than thrilled.

NIKITA

...First and foremost, our girl Nikita got picked up for a second season! I only had a small handful of shows I was genuinely worried about, and Nikita was near the top of that list. (The Chicago Code was the top, and we all know how that turned out.) The bad-ish news? Nikita has been moved to Fridays. On any other network, that's where shows go to die, but on the CW, that designation can be applied just about anywhere...

...There's a lot that can be said about the finale, but I'm going to try to keep this quick (much quicker than TVD at any rate). At the top of my list, if you can believe it, I'm so happy that Birkoff survived the finale! (Not where you thought I was headed with that sentence, is it?) I had heard from reliable sources that Amanda would kill a series regular in the finale. After doing a little math and tapping into a little TV logic, the only viable candidates would be Percy or Birkhoff. In looking at the series as a whole, it didn't make a whole lot of sense for Percy to die (especially at the hands of Amanda), so I had a sinking feeling Birkoff would be biting the dust. I rather adore Birkhoff, so this was an unsettling conclusion to come to. Much to my delight, it was Alex who died. And only for 26 seconds. I should have known better than to take spoilers at face value.

...Speaking of Birkhoff (who, it just occurred to me, played Pyro in X-Men 2, which I had never realized before), it was unduly satisfying to see him working with Nikita and Michael instead of against them. I knew instantly that Birkhoff was the one who let Michael go, even if Michael was too bitter to notice. I can't wait to see what kind of a dynamic is struck next season. Birkoff is kind of held hostage by Division, so it's unclear where he'll end up. Double agent? Inside man? Double-crosser?

...Bigger question, who's running Division? I love Melinda Clarke, so to see her take charge was extremely satisfying. Let's face it, she's always been a hell of a lot more terrifying than Percy anyways. It's as though Lady Heather decided to work for a secret branch of the government (which is instantly the most promising pilot pitch I've heard in ages).

...I was a little afraid when Nikita and Michael got together that all the sizzle and intensity would be lost, but I'm still as invested as ever. The dynamic is certainly different, but there's still a certain tension there. With them seemingly on the run for next year, they're going to have a whole lotta time together to work out their issues.

...Not sure what to make of Alex at this point. I'm sorry, was anyone surprised for even one second that Nikita was the agent who killed her family? Didn't we all already know that? Have I just been assuming that was the case since day 1? How did it never occur to Alex? Regardless, I was glad to see that the writers opted for Alex to respond with a fair bit of logic rather than the usual narrative trope of, "You killed my family, you must die now!" Alex is pissed that Nikita didn't tell her. She understands that Nikita was doing a job, just as Nikita understands that Owen was doing a job when he killed Danny. I half expected this to be one of those ever-frequent TV set-ups for the character to become a basket case and completely forget about context. Thankfully, that's not the case. Alex may not want to work with Nikita, but she doesn't want her set on fire either.

...Character I never realized I adored until the finale? Agent Ryan. "You break me out of prison the minute you get the chance, okay?" Ha! So great. I quite appreciated that Nikita kissed him on the cheek. Aside from a truly dazzling display of badassery, it was a nice reminder of how fond she is of him. The viewers didn't forget about that and neither did the show.

...Finale thoughts: This show isn't perfect and this season wasn't perfect, but it made for a hell of a ride. I think the set up for next season opens a lot of doors for the story and I'm quite confident it'll be stronger than this season. There were a lot of narrative constraints on this show, based largely on the concept of the show, but now those barriers have largely been removed. That should make for more cohesive storylines with fewer repetitive elements. It'll be weird to not have it paired with TVD, but hey, I'll take a solid Friday viewing option any day. Oh, and it'll be on opposite Chuck, so you know, zero competition. ;) Seriously though, if you can only watch one show at 7 on Fridays, make it Nikita. Trust me.

Thursday, December 23, 2010

My Top 10 of 2010

With the end of the year upon us, retrospectives and top [insert random number here] lists have been cropping up all over the place. I don't usually do a top whatever list, but I've seen some pretty crazy-ass entries on some lists lately and felt the need to make my own preferences clear. Seriously, Huge? You're kidding me, right?

Here are my picks... (They're numbered, but there really isn't any particular order. I just picked ten and plopped them in there wherever.)

MY SCRIPTED TOP 10 (ish)

1) The Good Wife
I'm sure you're all sick to death of hearing about my love for The Good Wife, but what can I say? It really is the best show on network TV and can hold its own against cable. It does a better job balancing its elements than just about any other show on air, taking what could have been a standard legal procedural and turning it into a captivating drama that borders on a serial. When the show was first pitched, they aimed for 60% courtroom A-plots, 40% serial B-plots. I heard in an interview though that those values were ultimately reversed, and I think that's the key to its excellence (and probably a bit of why its ratings aren't where they should be). Your average middle-American apparently doesn't like to have to remember anything about anything week-to-week, which is why straight-up procedurals do so well here. Well, I hate procedurals, as you'll probably notice from their scarcity on this list. Give me a good serial any day, thanks. The Good Wife has it all and delivers every single week. Kudos, CBS, for doing something right for once.

2) Terriers
Yet another show you're probably sick of hearing about, but its warranted. I'm bummed beyond belief that this true gem won't be back for a second season, but I commend FX for airing the entire season in spite of dismal ratings (the show would have been pulled from network TV after 1 episode) and for manning up and telling us it was canceled right after the finale, rather than casually pretending the show had a chance until the last minute. Funny, dramtic, touching, intriguing, and addictive, Terriers will go down in TV history as one of the very best shows to be cut down in its prime. Assuming it makes it to DVD, I suspect this is a show that people will discover all too late. Here's hoping Donal Logue finds another project that showcases his true acting chops the way this one did.

3) CW Thursdays (The Vampire Diaries and Nikita)
Who'd have ever guessed that the CW, the little network that usually can't, would be the place for must-see TV on Thursdays (one of the biggest nights for programming)? These two series could easily have garnered individual spots on this list, but there's just something about having them back to back that makes the experience of each even richer. TVD hasn't experienced a sophomore slump at all (amazingly, given how fast they burn through story), and Nikita has been the surprise winner of the fall pilot season. Indeed, I think it's about the only network show I kept this year (what with Lone Star getting canceled and all). Hats off to the CW, where little shows with little followings can actually succeed.

4) Justified
Man alive, I'm so excited for this one to come back (February 9th)! Season 1 seems like ages ago. This show isn't quite like anything else on the air right now and somehow managed to make the western cool. It's a great serial with a stellar cast that has a very different flavor that most other programming. It's a breath of fresh Kentucky air (yeah, yeah, I know it isn't actually filmed there) that helps add something different to my slate of shows. From what I'm hearing, season 2 looks to be just as engaging and awesome as the first, so if you haven't checked this show out yet, you have about six weeks to get crackin'.

5) Community
I wanted to make sure to include at least one comedy on this list, and while Modern Family is incredibly well done, its second season hasn't been as hilarious as its first, whereas Community has reached new levels of awesome in its sophomore year. Henceforth, Community makes the cut. It really is the best comedy on air right now and is deserving of much better ratings than it gets. Seriously, people, it blows The Big Bang Theory out of the water and is a much better (and funnier) way to spend an evening.

6) Boardwalk Empire
A lot of people were ultimately underwhelmed by the narrative (even if they were blown away by the visuals), but I really got sucked into this one. I'm a little surprised at how much I enjoyed this one given my general lack of caring about gangsters. It's pacing was slower than most people would have preferred, but I found the slow burn captivating. There were elements that were underwhelming, I grant that, but overall, it's one of the most accomplished and expertly executed shows out there. Also, the fact that it airs on HBO and isn't in any danger of cancellation certainly helps get me invested in a show. I'm more willing to give a show time if I know it'll actually be around next week.

7) Nurse Jackie
Yet another show that feels like it's been gone for ages, Nurse Jackie has been on my favorites list since I saw the first 10 minutes of the pilot. Showtime has built an empire around quirky leading ladies, but Edie Falco tops them all. Sharp, funny, dark as hell, and incredibly dramatic, somehow Nurse Jackie manages to weave everything together in a seamless way, and in only 26 minutes. Here's hoping season 3 keeps the excellence ball rolling. What can I say? I've missed Jackie's style of justice lately and I can't wait to see how her intervention from the finale is going to play out in the coming season. Life really is full of little pricks, and Jackie is just the person to deal with them.

8) Doctor Who
I love British television. It was hard to pin down which of their stellar shows to include on this list, but my first venture into the wonderful world of Doctor Who takes the cake. Being Human got a little soapy and uneven in its second season, otherwise it also would have made the cut. I had only had a smattering of experience with the Doctor Who franchise until now, but I truly got sucked into this one. Matt Smith is charming and delightful as the Doctor and his chemistry with his companion Amy Pond was cheeky and exciting from beginning to end. Every episode had something special to offer, even in their less successful outings (which were still better than a lot of shows' best episodes). Adding international fare to your line-up is a great way to add something new and fresh and Doctor Who succeeds in spades. It's a hell of a lot of fun, but has some serious drama to boot. Cheers!

9) Castle
I really enjoy this show, but I had to really think about putting it on this list or not. It's a fun slice of escapism, but at its core, it's a procedural... and we all know how I feel about procedurals. Granted, this one is a lot better than most, but it still doesn't have the appeal of a good serial for me. I ultimately put it on this list because I genuinely look forward to it each week, even if it has a fair bit of fluff. The show doesn't take itself too seriously and knows how to have fun, which, after looking at some of the heavier options on this list, I really need from time to time. Plus, anything with Nathan Fillion has to get a mention somewhere (well, maybe not Drive, but who's splitting hairs?).

10) USA Network Programming
(Well, most of it anyway. Specifically: Burn Notice, In Plain Sight, White Collar, and Covert Affairs)
It's at this point that you should be crying foul because I clearly have more than 10 on my top 10, but I don't care. USA has a formula for success, and all of these shows follow that format to a certain degree, ergo, they get the same spot on this list. Burn Notice is clearly USA's most accomplished and aberrant program, deviating from the lighter than air elements of its cohorts with some serious drama. The season finale was off the hook fabulous and if I had to choose one show to put on this list, Burn Notice would easily take the cake. I really do enjoy the other shows listed as well, however, and wanted to give them some props. As a network, USA has created a brand that appeals to the masses without being completely devoid of quality and they deserve some recognition for that.

*Honorable Mentions*

Modern Family
"Don't bite my head off, Mitchell. I'm not a pack of batteries!"

Lone Star
I hardly knew ye... It's hard to know where this show would have ended up if I had seen more than two episodes, but after only those two, I was invested hook, line, and sinker. Here's hoping we get to see the rest of the taped episodes someday...

Southland
I'm actually pretty excited for this one to come back. Who'd have guessed?

Glee
This show is hit or miss, but when it's hit, it's one of my favorites.

Dexter
Not their best season, but it's still a hell of a show.


MY REALITY/COMPETITION TOP 5
1) Top Chef
2) So You Think You Can Dance
3) Work of Art: The Search for the Next Great Artist
4) The Next Food Network Star
5) Top Chef: Masters

And no, Project Runway did NOT make the list. I don't like to reward bad behavior, and crowning what's-her-face (Gretchen) the winner of anything is simply inexcusable.


MY REALITY/OTHER TOP 5
1) I Shouldn't Be Alive
2) Hoarders
3) Mystery Diagnosis
4) Intervention
5) Locked Up Abroad


There are a lot of other categories out there that should probably be explored, but when I started compiling a list, it became pretty daunting. There is one more honor that has to be bestowed, however, and it's something that I like to think had a hand in garnering a top ten finish for the show...

MOST IMPROVED HAIR

Kate Beckett (
Castle)
If I never see that mullet of hers again, I'll be a happy, happy viewer. Way to grow out the "business in the front", Kate. It was that or lose the "party in the back"... Either way, something had to be done.

Saturday, May 23, 2009

You can say that again. And again. And again. :)

Another year, another 743,622 crazy things that happened in a Josh Schwartz production. Much like The O.C. before it, only insanely awesomer, more stuff happens in a couple of episodes of Gossip Girl than happens in three or four seasons of any other show. And with a storyline success rate of about 96%, that's a whole lot of awesome in a relatively short amount of time.

Awww, eases the pain.

Unlike some shows that experience your typical "sophomore slump" in their second season, GG started off strong, got even stronger, then hit a bit of a snag, then ended back at awesome. From a show like this, it's exactly the kind roller coaster I'd expect.

It's truly difficult to comprehend that it was only a few months ago that Blair was dating a British lord, Little J was homeless, and Serena has mysteriously grown attracted to greasy hair and scraggly goatees. Aw, memories. Although overall this show kicks just as much ass as ever, some storylines were more successful than others. It's honestly hard to quantify so much information...

Over the course of the season, I think you'd be hard-pressed to find many viewers who weren't the most invested in the trials and tribulations of Chair (or Bluck--neither portmanteau really works for them...). Chuck and Blair have long been my favorite characters and they're the primary reason I tune in every week. Unlike the insanely dull and eventless back and forth of Dan and Serena (which Leighton Meester calls "Derena" and says it sounds like some snack food--you know, "I could sure go for some Cool Ranch Derena right about now..."), the every changing relationship of Chuck and Blair was never dull, never prosaic or overdone, and even in their briefest and most seemingly humdrum of interactions, the pair was always a joy to watch and squee-worthy at every turn.

Leighton Meester and Ed Westwick somehow manage to imbue every scene with a whole lot more than you'd ever think possible. They have always had great chemistry, no matter how their relationship was defined at the given moment. Chuck and Blair make for devilish enemies, passionate lovers, the most loyal of friends, and ruthless competitors, and they do so all at once. It's really quite impressive. Their feelings and motives in season 1 were usually veiled and only occasionally naked and honest, but in season 2, with the unremitting horribleness that happened to them both, they each had to shed the facade more and more often, in spite of their desperate attempts to keep the charade going. I think Gossip Girl herself hit it on the head during graduation when she labeled Blair a weakling (which belies her ruthless, unrelenting Queen B routine), and Chuck a coward (who has built himself up as this amoral playboy who isn't afraid of anything). Chuck's father dying threw a wrench into the game they play (you know, the "you say it first" nuclear assault they'd been engaged in for so long). Chuck fell apart, and Blair quickly followed. After going through something so traumatic, it's hard to think they could put the masks back on, but that's only mode in which Chuck and Blair know how to operate...

Which brings us to the season finale where Blair, once again, tells Chuck how much she loves him, and he's too much of a coward to handle it. Being the spoiler hound that I am, I had it on good authority that it wouldn't end like that again, but it was still damned distressing to watch. The revelation that Blair had hooked up with Uncle Jack didn't play out how I had anticipated at all. In fact, it's pretty clear that the writers decided to seriously overhaul the storyline before it had all played out. Back during the episodes with Jack, there was a promo that aired with Chuck confronting Jack about Blair saying, "Blair wouldn't touch you."



That scene never aired in the actual episode. It would seem that Chuck was supposed to have found out ages ago, but they decided against it. In fact, even the nature of Blair's and Jack's New Year's secret seems to have been revamped (or else Blair simply isn't providing the horrible details--which is definitely a possibility). If you watch the scene at the opera where Jack tries to assault Lily in the ladies room, you can hear Blair's voice yelling/commanding/almost screaming for Jack to stop (see below, about 4 minutes in).



I think in it's original incarnation, Jack was to have raped or assaulted Blair in some manner and she agreed to keep her mouth shut if he brought Chuck back. Although that would have been a much more powerful story arc, I'm kind of relieved they scrapped it. Blair has quite enough horrible in her life without adding that to the mix. After it was clear that the writers had tossed out that idea, I was still certain that it would be revealed that she had slept with Jack as a means of persuading him to go get Chuck. I was sure when it was all revealed, Blair would have told Chuck that it was the only way Jack would go get him, or something like that. Alas, the big secret, although still damning, barely caused any waves at all in the finale. I really enjoyed that Blair likened her tryst with loathsome uncle Jack to Chuck's dalliance with Vanessa though. Heh.

Anyway, as a final note on Chair, I have to admit that the closing scene of the finale was delightful. I'm not of the opinion that they should stay together as a happy couple for long (we all know how boring that is), but it's nice to see them happy once and a while. There are fans out there who want nothing more than for the two of them to live happily ever after, and I just don't understand that at all. How dull would that be? Ugh. Chuck and Blair are at their best when they're at odds, and fortunately, for a show like this, it shouldn't be long for that to be the case once again. :) If it makes the Chair-shippers happy, I'm supremely confident that they can be at odds even more effectively while they're together than when they're apart. So really, it's a win-win (like goose grease). It was only fitting that the closing scene of the season had Chuck finally tell Blair that he loves her. It hasn't been a secret for ages and ages, but that he got up the gumption to admit it to her was fun to watch and extremely satisfying after all we've been through. I especially liked that Blair asked him to say it again. And again. Even when she finally gets what she wants, she likes to hold the reins. It's just so very Blair it's delightful. At first I thought that the scene should have been set in a more intimate space, but after thinking about it, out in the open was much more meaningful. Chuck really had been a coward, heretofore, and telling Blair he loved her in public was a lot braver.

As much as I would love for Chuck and Blair to be the entire show, there actually are other characters to keep track of. Sadly though, they are generally the aspects of the show that led to some less-than-stellar storylines (the 80s weren't quite as awesomely 80stacular as one would have hoped, for example). Serena's fling with Aaron Rose was unpleasant, don't get me wrong, but her back and forth with Dan got very old, very fast. Part of the reason for Serena hooking back up with Dan for the 87th time was that the writers decided to write Aaron off the show well before his story arc was supposed to be over. The fans hated him, the storyline wasn't really working, and the actor they had cast was about as unappealing as possible. As such, while Aaron was supposed to come back from Argentina with Serena, the writers just decided to leave him there (and I can't says I blame them). I think the problem with Aaron mostly came down to unfortunate casting. He was just bland, unkempt, and charmless from beginning to end. Anyway, curtailing that storyline left a void the ultimately led back to Dan. Again. They only mostly worked for me as a couple the first (and possibly second) time around, so this was overkill that really dragged for a few episodes and was clearly a patch job with the overall arc.

Another storyline that didn't really work out was Rachel Carr. I'm confident in saying the episode titled "Carrnal Knowledge" was my least favorite of the series (not season, series). Although her character served an important purpose, the way it all played out fell a little flat. I was glad to see the writers wrap that up as soon as possible and send her back to Iowa or wherever she was from. But, once again, cutting one storyline short led to some sloppy recovery. Add to that the fact that the brass at the CW ordered 3 additional episodes out of no where, and the writers were left with fewer stories to fill more episodes. Henceforth with the filler... Not that I don't enjoy the filler in a way, but it all just detracts from more important things. There were a few episodes toward the latter quarter of the season that were fun and all, but didn't have a whole lot of substance in the end. I was glad to see the show really rein things in at the very end and wrap up a lot of loose ends and terminate a lot of filler storylines.

Among the stories that didn't really work for me were the Eyes Wide Shut escapades in which Chuck inexplicably found himself mired. Elle was never really established as a real character, so she came across as a random obstacle between Chuck and Blair. As lackluster as the arc was, I thought they wrapped it up quite well. A lot of guys have a savior complex where the thought of rescuing some poor damsel (read: hooker) from the depths is appealing, and to see that Elle was the one taking the advantage the whole time really put Chuck in his place. He was being played by the very person he was trying to save, and the whole fantasy just fizzled as a result. It smacked him in the face with a few realities that he had been too stubborn to acknowledge which was something that needed to happen, one way or the other. I have to hand it to the show that even the most frivolous of storylines have a purpose, and even if they aren't executed brilliantly, they're almost never true throw-aways and always seem to matter (even if they only matter in so much as they lead characters to something that actually matters). Clear as mud, eh?

Peeps on the web had a whole lot of anger to express about Blair and Nate getting back together, but I was generally okay with it. That's not to say that I like them together as a couple (I'm not sure it would be possible for a pair to have less spark), but in terms of the characters, it felt more organic and natural than I was expecting. Nate's always just kind of along for the ride, looking pretty and staring off into space, so when Blair comes up with a plan, it makes sense to me that they would both fall into it. Again. They were both totally lost and nothing was turning out as it should, so why wouldn't they happily jump back into a setting that was safe and comfortable. I also quite enjoyed the dynamic it made between Nate and Chuck, with Chuck trying to be the friend, but presented with a situation that he genuinely cannot be objective. Not that I was sorry to see them break up, but I seem to have enjoyed that little detour more than most.

In any season of any show, there will be things that worked and things that didn't. This season had a good few that didn't really do it for me, but overall, the goods outweigh the bads by a significant margin. Little J's fashion line turned homeless train wreck was completely awesome (and it was a sheer delight to see a former O.C.er on board), Cyrus Rose (unlike his son) is inconceivably delightful and exactly what Blair needed in so many ways, Chuck's odyssey to the brink, beyond the brink, and back again made for the most powerful and devastating story arc of the series so far, and the Chuck and Blair emotional arms race was riveting from beginning to end. Even Lufus van der Humphrey turned into a more interesting plot twist than I would have expected. I think we all knew there was no way he was dead from the very beginning and had to assume he'd be making his way onto the show eventually, but I genuinely don't know what his motives are at this point, and quite frankly, can't wait to find out. The Lily and Rufus relationship lost all of its spark and interest over the season (at least for me), but I'm intrigued enough with their long lost son that it kept me going.

Lufus was just one of the many twists the finale had to offer. Front and center, the kiddies try to unmask Gossip Girl. Quite frankly, I'm kind of surprised they never did this before... Especially after being completely demolished with her gossip, I think I'd be trying to nail down who GG was, how he/she came to know what he/she knew, and where I could hide a body. I guess it speaks to the nature of the conceit that they never really pursued this in the past. Rumors, gossip, and intrigue form the basis of their little cutthroat society. Gossip Girl acts as more of a framework for how people interact with one another than as a person. Plus, as Gossip Girl points out, everyone on the show is Gossip Girl. They are the ones sending tips; they are the ones spreading and receiving rumors. They aren't just subject to the machine's wrath, they are the machine. They keep it going. It's a burden and a tool. A social structure and a menace. They love it, and they hate it. And it seems that only when Gossip Girl decides to make some truly incisive and accurate assessments does anyone stop to think of Gossip Girl as a person. No one sent Gossip Girl a tip saying that Chuck is a coward, Blair is a weakling, Nate is a whore, Dan is the ultimate insider, and that Serena is irrelevant. That wasn't a function of the machine at work. That was someone firing a shot across the bow, independent of the tipsters and gossip-mongers. All those monikers are accurate and that's what makes them powerful. I thought each assessment was perfect, correct, and just the thing to say to set each of those people off. The only person who would really worry about being an insider is Dan, who has pretended to be the lonely outsider for the past two years, even though he's been right in the middle of everything. Nate's moniker is just obvious, but still packs a punch. Blair's and Chuck's were addressed earlier and Serena's, while it likely won't actually happen, it's one of Serena's biggest fears. Does Serena matter if there's no Gossip Girl to write about her? Does she have anything to offer besides tabloid fodder? She doesn't really know, and that scares her to death. The finale had its weak points, but the titles doled out by Gossip Girl did a really nice job of boiling down who these people really are at the end of the day (or at least who they're afraid they are).

This show is based on perceptions, facades, secrets, reveals, and masks, so having Gossip Girl out everyone on everything leaves everyone dazed, confused, but ultimately... free. For the moment, anyway. I really loved the scene where Gossip Girl got them all to go to that bar only to realize that they are all cogs in the machine, but that for the moment, the machine isn't running. All the gossip there was to tell has been told. And in spite of Gossip Girl's assurance that she'll be following them to college, for the moment, no one really knows what to do with themselves. For the first time, they can just relax. There's no threat of nuclear attack, no worry that your darkest deepest secret will be revealed. For once, they're all out of nukes and secrets. It's a nice moment. And it sets up a clean slate for next season, although not without some teases...

The big finale set up a fair set of little cliffhangers, but nothing insanely huge, much like last season. The show is good at leaving things up in the air so that they can go just about anywhere with it. Serena and Carter (whom I hated at first, but after watching Kings, really quite enjoy him now) are apparently off to look for Keith van der Woodsen, Georgina made an awesome return to tie up the Ponzi scheme storyline (yet another that peeps had a lot of issues with, but that I thought worked pretty well) and will apparently be rooming with Blair next season (!), Lufus may or may not be up to no good, I'm still not sure where some people are going to school, Lily and Rufus got engaged, but under dubious circumstances (or shall I say, "doobie-ous"), and Little J took over the high school (!!). I, for one, can't wait. I don't know where season 3 will take us, but it'll surely be somewhere crazy. :)

Count. Me. In.