Monday, May 21, 2007

To be continued...


It's season finale time.

Season finales are so important to a show's longevity because it's a long way between episodes and you have to have a reason to remember to tune in for the season premier when the summer is over. It also has to resolve at least one major issue from the season so we feel rewarded for tuning in (Hello, final five Cylons).

Unless you're Lost. Then you can just keep fucking with people.

So I'd like to give a shoutout to Supernatural for continuing to be awesome. The finale, which must have taken a lot of extra clams thanks to all that CGI, was a perfect way to end a season. They have long had a major mission on the show: kill the yellow-eyed demon. This season the boys had to deal with their father's death. And on top of that, what the hell is up with Sam's psychic powers?

SPOILER WARNING

In the finale last week, they killed the demon and dealt with Dad's death seemingly for good and answered several questions about Sam's abilities. They also simultaneously created a worldly goal of stopping the new demon invasion and a more personal goal of how to figure out a way to save Dean's soul (Here's a suggestion: Two hours of Dean alone with Emily would definitely go a long way toward that last goal) So I already know what next season's mission is and therefore have a reason to tune in, but I have closure on the previous two so I feel like I was rewarded for paying attention. But now I want to know how the hell Dean will get out of his pact demon pact, since I don't think sexy fun time with me will be involved in any way.

END SPOILERS

Buffy had some great season finales. Remember wondering how they were going to handle her death? Or what the hell was up with Spike getting his soul back? Or Alias. What the hell happened to two years of Sydney's life? A major portion of the third season was dedicated to answering that question that was asked in the season two finale, just like so much of season six of Buffy dealt with her coming back from the dead.. Then there's the legendary Farscape "to be continued..." endings. That usually works only if your next season is garaunteed, but the folks at Farscape had big brass balls, so good on them because it mostly worked out.

But the most effective season finale for me was Veronica Mars' first season ender. It answered the major question of who killed Lily and gave us a new question to ponder over the summer. It drove me nuts all summer long.

Who the hell is at the door? I demanded as I watched the Logan - Veronica first kiss scene over and over like a teenage fangirl. You bet your ass I was there with bells on for the premiere of season two. Unfortunately they haven't been able to match it since, kind of like how Pearl Jam has never quite been able to match Ten. It's tough to make people happy when your first outing is so incredibly awesome.

Speaking of incredible first seasons, tonight is the Heroes finale, and things look promising. We get to see how our crew saves the world - if they save the world. Maybe we'll get some answers and a new mission. I just hope they're ready to pay it off in season two.

In the meantime over on Fox, Jack Bauer will finally be allowed to use the bathroom.

7 comments:

  1. Hey! Did you just give away the end of 24? Supernatural gets a spoiler alert but not what happens to Jack Bauer? Come on!!

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  2. Anonymous12:45 PM

    Have to disagree with Pearl Jam. They may've changed their approach, and style. But they've repeatedly matched, and on a few occassions surpassed, the brilliance of Ten. My opinion anyway.

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  3. I agree with Matt. I challenge you to go back and listen to No Code from beginning to end and see if it doesn't satisfy you as a complete human being.

    I will never take anything away from the masterpiece that was Ten (except Oceans, blah!), but it was supreme intensity from beginning to end. No Code employs nuance that years of coping with instant stardom, ticketbastard and unrealistic expectations could only teach. It met me right where I was at when it came out.

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  4. I'm a huge Pearl Jam fan. I have all the albums and a lot of recordings most people haven't heard of. But I feel like the genius of Ten was so great that even though subsequent albums have been very good, none has ever matched the brilliance of that first release. Including "Oceans".

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  5. Anonymous2:33 PM

    Vitalogy is a perfect record. No Code, Vs., and Pearl Jam are all right up there. Again, I agree that Ten is perfection as well.
    Also, if there is a Pearl Jam recording, I have heard it.
    Glad to see you're a big fan though.

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  6. My post about season finales appears to have been hijacked by a debate between Pearl Jam fans over which album was the best.

    Interesting.

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  7. OK, to continue the hijack ...

    You are right Ten is undoubtedly their greatest album, but I think you would be remiss to ignore the importance each composition that each subsequent album has provided for their catalogue.

    I had a mediocre return to series finales to unhijack the topic but I couldn't get it to mesh at the end :)

    (Something like first seasons and first records being alike and without growth the rest of the series/music will have a hard time comparing. ... meh.)

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