As always, I'm amazed at the wide breadth of grades it got
.
I want to be charitable to the staff who make the show, because I like the show. Thank yas all, for the show. I bitch cos I want the best for the show. With that acknowledgement, onto the finale.
Initial response at the final credits was sipping idly at a drink and blinking slowly at the screen.
Worst. Finale. In 6. Seasons. Did not come close to matching What You See, Charge, leagues from Snow Day, below Hostage (yep, u heard meh), and waving at Pay Up from afar.
All those who were asked to spout the same party line for how ridiculously awesome and shocking a television achievement this was to be. You want it? You got it. O. My. F*cking. Go0dness. Rly. :vulcan:
What PV should put on new teeshirts and distribute to the staff, if they're not sporting them already, plus one more available for viewers everywhere.
Guilt Is Useless.
Ignorance Is Bliss.
Are We Having Fun Yet.
The show doesn't seem to care about illogic in general. It's not that I'm unwilling to suspend my disbelief. But I'd like to do so in the service of a show's style along with an attempt at verisimiltude for its realm.
Bored. Was bored bored bored to f*cking tears. And here's why.
Spoilers had little to do with it. It's the way the arc was handled. We've known for freakin months that Shane was specifically targeting Danny. The writers were rigorously insistent, in all their own peculiar logic, in proceeding as if the team had not yet clued into that fact, and showing us how the pieces they discovered led to their grand Aha moment. But only in this ep with the scavenger hunt. All the preceding stuff, badge, dogtags, fingerprints, debit cards, prison escape and impersonation, meant diddly.
The thing is, we got half the chess game. We got bland hints in passing that Casey was out there. We got a hyping up of the return of Edward Furlong. We played the game of wondering what the hell it was gonna lead to. The show was doing exactly what I hoped it wouldn't, it was coasting on the S3 legacy of Casey as one of the show's best creations, and not being further innovative nor even matching what they'd previously achieved.
My point is, with the show having the team muddling along, that made me wish all the more for having Casey be more a Kaiser Soze, s/o not necessarily seen but who's presence was definitely felt. If you're gonna go the route that the target and his allies are unaware, while the audience yet already knows better, then
use it. Have the danger present & circling oblivious prey. Build anticipation, make the audience fret for knowing what they know while the characters struggle to catch up. There was
none of that, not in preceding eps. There was little of that in the finale. The team felt as keenly adept as M*A*S*H's Colonel Flag
.
I would have loved the initial capture to have felt not only like the NYPD had always been looking for their federal escapee, but lending a false sense of relief in eliminating the predatory danger. I wanted his escape to really feel like the stakes were high, that he was inadvertantly caught in the middle of his scheming, and wasn't about to go down without making every effort to finish what he was hellbent on. Cluing the team in even at the time of his re-capture woulda helped with that. Mighta shaken them for understanding what had been happening under their noses the whole time, that they'd had the little f*cker and let him go. Would have made them fallible, not idiotic. Woulda punched up the consequences of DA politicking even further.
I was also just shaking my head at the badge issue. In RL mebbe losing a badge isn't a big deal, but the show used it in a way that made it a big deal. It wasn't an anonymous cop who had theirs stolen it was Danny's. It was moreover stolen by another law enforcement officer who was being blackmailed. It wasn't reported, ...but if the consequences of doing so were "not a big deal" then why the hell wouldn't Danny have said anything. If Casey's prints had never been discovered related to the stolen items, the team's apathy and obliviousness might be a tad easier to swallow. Up until the badge was used in a prison break by the villain the show had been hyping for months. Gee, no. It's not a big deal. There's no fallout from that. No fall out but a "well earned vacation." F*ck the hell off.
I keep saying I like the layers that are added when the characters are allowed to be individual and have conflicting views on things, and butt heads on occasion. This is an occasion where it would have worked well not just as a character element but a f*cking logical plot element. "Take yer kid and take some time off, both of yas, ya shoulda come to me, shoulda said something, now the shit's hit the fan, and if we do suspect he was targeting you specifically, there is a conflict, you're not on the case, get out of town and let us deal with the mess." The end result is the same, an all paid stalker vacation in isolation, and a hunt for an already known villain, but less benignly blase. Was admittedly a little surprised that it turned out to be Danny who said "let's go, they got it covered," seemingly without any qualms at all. Doesn't anyone give a shit about any of this? Besides the viewers I mean?
But no, the ep wasted half it's time having the team discover what everyone's known for months, on the thinnest pretense of a motive that requires no explanation, mindless driven revenge. But Casey isn't mindless either, not with all the detail and time that woulda had to have been put into making all the prints and origami and scavenger-hunt trail of clues. Internal whiplash.
</venting>
. Sry.
I knew I wasn't gonna be wondering about the plot because Shane Casey was a foregone conclusion. I knew I wasn't gonna give a shit about the perilous peril factor cos I don't care about DLL. I knew I was gonna be frustrated by this episode for plot and logic, but was happy enough to take a chance it would at least be a good ride.
I was hoping Danny might get something to do, some revival. Not really. A fistfight atop a lighthouse. Ooah, what a character moment. I was hoping Lindsay might get something to do. Folding laundry, her Psycho Killer schpiel (qu'est-ce que c'est, fa fa fa faaa fa fa fa fah fah) and beach fingerpuppetry made me feel vaguely nauseas. I was hoping Shane Casey would get better material than in Redemtio, that he would get form equalling S3, but we pretty much got Casey as a cartoon character as indefatigable and bouncy as Roger Rabbit. I was hoping we would get a fun scavenger hunt, that the trail of clues would lead to finding Shane Casey, not to revealing what we already long knew of his intentions. The mystery wasn't "Where's Casey, our repeat escapee," it was "where's teh Messers." On a well-earned vacation. F*cksakes. Casey's scavenger trail had some great visuals and design, but felt irrelevant, and came across like someone had been inspired by a deck of trivial pursuit cards. Puzzles and urgency with a point? The Amazing Race it was not.
This ep woulda been on par for an anonymous season, but ya do want the show to up the stakes and the game for the finale. I hate cliffhangers in general, but this doesn't even bear speculating about. I mean, who gives a shit. Sorry Danny, but really. What. The only cliffhanger is wondering if Casey will finally hit that "worse than decapition" "well f*ck" "o my go0dness" height I've been waiting for. I will admit that the notion that he survived the plunge from the lighthouse of doom did lead me to roll my eyes and utter variants on the above, it wasn't exactly for the right reasons.
Worst of all. I was bored. It was a boring ep. Bored bored boring bored bored.
I thought the first five minutes were the best part of the episode. Yes, the show started with all the prototypical NY cityscape shots paired with ubiquitous fx, but I'd expect nothing less from a finale. (But ferdaluvafreakingad, the show really needs to revamp or expand upon its stylistic signature at this point).
The intro also had shoes on a wire and a hoody on a stuntman playing Casey's spiderman incarnation during an exciting staccato pursuit to start things off. It had chase, pace, flash, energy, a wee bit of grit, and a reasonably recognizeable face in guest star Danny Nucci as Henderson. Was capped by Flack taking Casey down by taking a big risk himself, and the line "you crazy sonuvabitch" could easily have been applied to both. It seemed to be setting the bar for the timbre of disbelief required to consume the episode, and the level of intensity that might permeate the whole thing. Or so I was hoping.
Will here also admit, that in my multi-season repeatedly dashed and exasperated hopes for Danny as a character, I could not help the flash thru my head of, hey, mebbe Henderson could be a new second tier cop to compliment Flack on the show, could be another precinct buddy. Sorry. But I'd be lying if I said otherwise. I think that's just credit to Nucci in easily stepping into a supporting role and blending right in to the feel of things.
The other early goings on were still pretty strong, if still plodding setting up the premise. RE Mac & Stella talking about the DA perp walk. Was a brief nod to politics while still also absurdly conveniently walking right outside the offices where Casey would make his grand leap out the window. Following all pretense of logic, I suppose.
I was amused to note Casey was an aries, and that he managed to keep his ciggie firmly clenched in his teeth thru the duration of adding to his body count. Using the body to land on felt a kind of 24ish/Bourne type moment, and that's not a comment good or bad, was what it was, but it was visually great. I also liked the sequence with the hostage and the bus zipping by to reveal him ...gone. See? Kaiser Soze. ("...and just like that... *poof* ..he was gone..."). Was a sequence where disbelief was required, but was also snarky and edgy and stylized in a way I'd wished had permeated the rest of the episode.
I also liked Nucci/Henderson getting another scene. I liked the different agendas bristling against each other. Why there can't be more of that within the team instead of just generically within the NYPD is beyond me. I liked that the differences weren't simply along departmental lines, but personal, character related ones that became swept up in the case. Was a good notion. Henderson popped up in other scenes too, which was nice, he kinda became part of the realm, helped broaden that to a wider context.
Lotta coinkidinks in this ep. The latest one? Of all the bars in all the cities on all the islands of the world...
.
The rest of the chronology was plodding and predictable. Each chapter was very orchestrated. Overly orchestrated. I was an impatient viewer, just wanting the show to catch up on itself and get on with things.
Act I had Casey escaping and the Messers departing for unknown shores, and the parallel hunts beginning.
Act II had the n(e)rd squad in action, the irrelevant Gantz, code breaking and clue deciphering that would befit a gameshow for the audience wanting to shout out the answers at the players, and the team *finally* grasping that Casey was after Danny. That was halfway thru the ep. Took half their time getting to that point. Good freakin lord.
I was so bored by Act III. At least there was Sid. Was wondering why, if they could get into the building to both listen in on phone calls with hi-tech gear and do a low-tech theft of laundry, why they didn't just hit teh Messers right at home. And how many loads of laundry did Casey hafta sit thru to find the one with the academy teeshirt, :lol:. Talk about dedication. The ball peen hammer as a ramrod managed to elicit a minor "ew" from me. We also got more trivial pursuit, on several levels, a satellite ping to locate the lighthouse, and the eyerolling revelation of motive, "my belief was stolen." Act III ended with "So, are we having fun yet?" My answer was ...no. Honestly? No.
The final chapter was the lighthouse of doom, the fistfight of doom, the plunge of doom and variant slow motion hugs after surviving doom. Extraneous tacked on scenes to generate the cliffhanger. Very ploddingly orchestrated, very very linear, filled with fluff and things I woulda nixed to make better use of time.
Things I liked. (Yes, there were things I liked
).
- moments of character interaction. Mac & Stella had some decent scenes, Adam and Stella had some decent scenes, Sid always has great scenes. Adam, Stella, and Sheldon as teh N(e)rd Squad had some fun moments. I enjoyed Stella's QWERTY theft from Adam, and also snagging a copy of the bill on the digital viewing table from in front of him.
- moments of humor. The above provided some, but Flack easily and typically won out on that front again, with his sarcasm, not just "this guy was five nuggets short of a happy meal" but the second half of that, "...now he's got a code of morals?" If only they could share that kind of snappy writing around more.
- I liked the skull origami. I liked the dolla dolla bill mods and origami as a motif in general. More than that, they also provided some of the best visuals in the ep.
- I liked certain aspects of Furlong's performance as Casey. His initial confrontation atop the lighthouse was solid. Will also acknowledge that Lindsay and Danny held their own and were believable in the situation, with Lindsay sticking by until pragmatic sense with regards to Lucy won out and she backed off and away. But Furlong's "Byyyyyyyeeeee" was chilling there, and hinted at his S3 form, before the Rant of Ebil began.
- wait. dude died of ...crabs? well, that's a first. Ooooh. Ah. Origami crab. Stuffed with a ball peen. Ouch. But intriguing, keptin.
Things Meh I wish I'd been more engaged by.
- the scavenger hunt. WTF was the point. It was fun. It provided some pretties. It provided opportunities for character interaction. But it led to what we already knew.
- Casey's motive and obsession, selective lunacy versus selective devious manipulation. Dude seemed far more random in his method of madness this time around.
- Casey as one of the Incredibles, bouncing off rocky shores, and presumably swimming all the way back to Manhattan.
- the more plodding investigative elements. Processing Messer's building. The video conferencing and all the onerous exposition. Wondering why Casey, so hell bent on getting to Messer, wouldn't have done so sooner. But eh. The show needed to give him time to do all his printing and origami and herring divertive trail leaving, cos he wouldn't want the science club to be bored.
- lighthouse light musta been mighty hot. I mean, NY had a body cooked on a spotlight in an ep in earlier seasons. But go ahead and engage in fisticuffs in front of it. No wonder they were trying to escape over the side.
- the cliffhanger. Honestly do not care. So unengaged by the ep I don't care who gets shot, or who is required to shoot whom.
Things prompting utter exasperation, outright lolz, and occasional destruction of personal property out of sheer maddening frustration.
- DL overload. Way. To. Much. Teeth. Aching. Stomach. Aching. Head. Aching. Far more than was needed to establish what was at stake with a loony psycho on the hunt. Rammed down our throats with a ball peen mallet.
- "earned a few days off." Just. Cannot go over this again without sustaining more damage of personal goods. F*ck teh hell off.
- Exasperation. Lindsay. You're not funny. AB. Your levels of acting within what was supposed to be a pseudo, mockingly serious element to contrast and create a humorous moment, played on exactly the same level as your S3 trial sequence.
- Understanding but still Impatient: the editing to cut Lucy in on that sequence. Slow. Overdone. Cute kid tho.
- DL fingerpuppetry. Felt seriously ill and raging. WTF was I watching. A CSINY finale? Really? Was tempted to check the listings to make sure. (BTW. Where were the sandcastles? Was looking forward to the sandcastles. Not even one...? Dang, thwarted again. Alas. )
- ongoing low-level twitching at NY's fx on cuts and cityscape shots. Stylistic signature needs a makever.
- lol'd at the sdfx during the lighthouse fistfight
- lol'd at Casey's Scooby Doo Villain moment. "...yeeeeewwwwww, and yer leetle science club friends..." Blasted kids, :lol:. Also a mallet line using teh uber villain to remind everyone it took more than regular cops to bring him down
- lol'd huuuugely, at Night Falls In Manhattan. Well, Long Island. DLL leave the beach and finger puppetry to scamper atop teh picturesque lighthouse while still the sun shone, late afternoon/early evening at latest. Would be exceedingly generous to have called that dusk. At the top, they were immediately met by Casey waving his gun and inquiring as to whether they were enjoying their vacation. >>> ...I can only think that Casey's Rant of Ebil was far longer and more self involved than I'd thought, cos alluva sudden, it was absolut!nuit, dark is dark outside :lol:.
(Where's George Carlin when ya need him. "Forecast for tonight: dark. Continued dark overnight, with widely scattered light by morning." Or, Good Morning Vietnam, "You got a window? Open it.") It was all just so conveniently timed that the team could hop into their transporters, or helicopters, or onto Fay's winged dragons, to arrive as the magical calvary, and shine a mighty beam into the Lighthouse of Doom to save Danny from his peril just in the nick of NY's peculiar brand of Time.
- indulgent eyeroll at slow-mo post lighthouse sequence filled with hugs and moody piano music.
- loud impatient sigh at more DL and one last thwarted flicker of hope to close teh ep. And Lindsay's doubts seem easily placated, btw. Foreshadowed or not. Bleh. Dashed? Had a brief glimmer of "ohwait, what, Danny's woken up in the middle of the night, could he possibly be having post traumatic stress and actually affected by what happened to him and his family???" No, was to lead to...
- Gunshot on black to end it fer real. Dun dun dunhhhh.
...Dunnnnnnhhh.
DUUUNNNNNNNNHHHH.
One more dramatic punctuative chord for good measure, cos, it's, like, a cliffhanger:
DUUUUUUUUUUUNNNNNNNNNNNNHHHHHH. HHHHH. Hhhh. H. HH. H.
So.
Anti.
Climactic.
This I'm supposed to wonder about all summer and eagerly await the onset of S7, following the show to a new timeslot just to see what happens? F*cksakes. Go ahead and shoot somebody. At least something will have happened. This whole thing was a poor tease.
The eps leading up to the finale were far more interesting to me than this was. About as I expected in that regard.
Sorry NY. I do luv ya. But this was not one of your best. I hope some off-season tinkering can push things into new and better territory next season. Rest up. I mean, you've so Earned Some Time Off...
Just don't be surprised if I steal your "Guilt is useless/Ignorance is bliss" teeshirt from the laundry while you're away. I'll see ya one way or another inna few months.
Grading this required red ink. Call it hanging by it's fingertips from a D- looking at the waves crashing over the F below.
