Mom:
In it's freshman season, this series managed to make me laugh or cry in nearly every episode. Allison Janney is genius and perfectly cast. Ana Faris has her moments, but honestly I watch for Allison. In the finale we have Christy's daughter Violet give birth to her child of which she is giving up for adoption. And with that came a slew of emotions as she couldn't decide whether to keep the baby which would then devastate the adoptive parents, or give the child up for a chance at a better life. After a few back and forth moments, she finally decided on the adoption, and it couldn't have been a more tender moment to watch her say goodbye to her baby. In the meantime, Christy's long lost father who isn't so lost anymore has had a heart attack and has his own room in the same hospital. This is where we learn that Bonnie still has a thing for her ex, which I think will bring some pretty good comedy come next season. Overall I give this finale an A-.
Parenthood:
I love this show so much. There isn't an episode that doesn't make me cry. The writing is so well done, and so is the acting. And even though it's one of the best shows on TV, NBC still doesn't have the faith it should in the show. Every season it's on the cusp of being canceled, and every season so far we are pleasantly relieved to see that it's been renewed. And we just learned that it will be back, but for a 13 episode final season. This show should honestly run for a long time, and should not get the treatment it does from NBC. But then again we really can't be surprised, because NBC doesn't treat any of their shows with much respect unless your show name starts with Law & Order.
Anyway enough of the tangent, and on to the review. This season's finale unfortunately had all of the climax stolen from it by the previews. Meaning that the previews for this episode gave everything exciting and shocking away, so when it came down to watching the actual episode it left little to get excited about because you knew what was coming. It kind of bothered me, because there wasn't any real necessity to show as much as they did in a preview a week prior to airing the finale. I guess this is another example of NBC not treating their shows right, or respecting their viewers. With this said, the episode still brought tears to my eyes. Haddie has a girlfriend (about time we get a gay character), Amber is dealing with the aftermath of Ryan's injuries and subsequent move back to Wyoming with his mother, Zeke and Camille have sold the house, and there may be some hope yet for Joel and Julia. I feel there is a lot left to resolve, so please NBC don't cancel Parenthood, it's one of the best shows you've got. I kind of need to know how Adam is going to handle finding out about Haddie. Christina did surprisingly well. I'm also intrigued to see Zeke and Camille's new home. And Joel and Julia need to reconcile! Overall I give this finale an A-.
Resurrection:
If I were a real critic, I would call this the break out show of the season. There was everything intriguing about this show. People come back from the dead. From the dead. Ok I'm being dramatic, but seriously, how weird would that be were it to really happen? You think population is bad now, just imagine when you've got all the dead coming back. And then are they intelligent zombies? Ghosts? With this show we don't entirely know that answer yet. All we know is that their bodies are still in the ground, yet they're not. Basically they're duplicating. We have one girl who's died twice, so now there are two dead bodies and one alive. What is happening?? So with the finale, we are left where now the resurrected are being treated as second class citizens out of fear. They are being held in a facility like prisoners. But that's not going to be tolerated by everyone in the town, and so a diversion is created, and a good half escape. Agent Bellamy has stuck around town to help solve the mystery, and is left to save little Jacob (the first to return) who's being hunted, because his scared uncle thinks he's a threat. He's a kid dude. So Bellamy is trying to go on the run with the kid, but at the very end gets halted by the government. And what do we find out? That he's possibly a resurrected too! His parents were slaves we found out and had lost track of their little boy. And Bellamy is that little boy! There's no way he's 30 like he looks, so he's got to be a resurrected too, and isn't aware. So now I need to know things! Overall I give this finale an A.
Once Upon a Time:
Snow White and Prince Charming had another baby! And after defeating the Wicked Witch of the West, they get to keep their baby, and hopefully raise it this time. Poor Emma. But everyone can't rest easy just yet, because by Rumple killing the Wicked Witch, it still managed to open the time portal. And it's not going to close until it sucks someone in. Unfortunately Emma and Hook don't get the message to stay away until it's too late and they are sucked in and taken back in time and to the Enchanted Forest to boot. When they get there, they realize they've landed at the exact moment when Snow and Charming first meet, but something happens, and everything goes wrong. So now Emma and Hook have to fix what's gone wrong so that her parents still meet and she continues to exist. After some serious struggles, they manage to make it happen, and also find their way back to Storybrooke, where they find out that not too much has changed due to their interference. They did happen to bring someone back with them, because she was supposed to have died by the hand of the Evil Queen, but Emma couldn't let it happen. And it turns out that this person she saved is Mary, the wife of Robin Hood who happened to be courting Regina. So now Emma is on Regina's bad side again. Of course. We will find out next season just how badly this affects Regina and if all her hard work to be good will go to waste. I feel that we might be having a repeat of history with Regina next season. Snow betraying her trust and ultimately getting the love of her life killed is what sent Regina over to the evil side, and now Emma taking away her true love by bringing his wife back, could very well take her right back. Oh and then this whole jumping on the Frozen bandwagon kind of irritates me. For one it's too soon and two I'm pretty sure I'm not the only one who cringed when they saw Elsa and thought "for real?". Overall I give this finale an A-.
Arrow:
Gah this show! Every episode is better than the last. It's my favorite show to watch right now (when Doctor Who isn't airing). And if you're not watching this, you should be. So this season we've had a lot happen. Tommy's death affected everyone, we thought Malcolm Merlyn was dead too, but were wrong. Thea is Malcom's biological daughter, Moira is imprisoned for helping Malcolm with the undertaking, we find out Slade is super pissed at Oliver and wants to kill him. We find out why, and then Slade kills Moira in revenge, and Sarah's alive. That's just the big stuff! I may want to mention that Slade is pumped full of Mira Kuru which either kills the person when they're injected with it, or makes them have super human strength and rage, but they don't turn green. So we found out on the island that Oliver had a tough task of choosing between Sarah and Shadow on who should live. At the last minute he chose Sarah by instinct and Shadow was killed. Slade finds this out and vows revenge for Shadow's death. Slade kinda loved her. So Slade decides to take everything away from Oliver that is important to him. His family, friends, money and even the city. Slade builds a Mira Kuru army, and the finale takes us to the big fight. A cure has been made and now Oliver and crew are tasked with taking out the army by shooting them with "cure arrows". It starts working, and Slade even gets an arrow full of the cure. He's caught and put in a prison deep underground on the island where it all began. Thea upset with everyone in her life lying to her, is convinced to go with Malcolm in the end. So we shall see what comes of that. I feel like she's very impressionable, and Malcolm will turn her into his little evil machine. Oh and Oliver and Felicity need to happen. The teasing moment we had there was just mean. Overall I give this finale an A+.
Vampire Diaries:
This show literally almost killed me with it's finale. Ok not literally, but emotionally for sure. The series has had its good moments and bad moments. And this season is not to be left out. I feel like it's been all over the place, with dopplegangers on top of dopplegangers (please let's be done with this). And then the introduction of traveler's which are kind of like witches. We found out Damon was imprisoned and experimented on in his past and he made a friend whom he thought had died when they escaped. And then he actually died, and we got this whole "other side" storyline which honestly confused me a lot of the time. But when it came down to wrapping it all up, we end up having just about everyone die to stop the traveler's from taking over the town, and then they all come back from the other side, except for Damon and Bonnie, who are then sucked into oblivion. I don't much care about Bonnie, honestly her character has bored me for a couple years now, but Damon being gone? That messed with me big time. Not because he can't be with Elena (I'm pro Stefan and Elena), but because he can't be gone! Alaric's back, and he needs his bestie, not to mention where are we going to get the sassy bad boy we need every episode? Frankly Enzo just isn't going to cut it for me. After the episode ended, and I stopped crying, I went and immediately found an interview with the creators of the show and found out that Alaric and Enzo will be regulars now (yay for Alaric!) and that Damon and Bonnie aren't gone from the show, but that they will be around, we just don't know how. So that helped a little, but I'm dying for a resolution already! Just on the emotions alone and not the storyline, I will give this finale an A-.
Big Bang Theory:
Penny and Leonard are engaged!! Ok now with that out of the way, this episode didn't disappoint on bringing the funny. Actually the entire season brought the funny. I think this season has been one of the best. I have laughed so hard at every episode, and that's something I wish could happen all the time with all comedies. So with Penny & Leonard getting engaged, this brings on some changes that are bound to happen, and Sheldon doesn't like it. This means that Sheldon will either have to move out, or find a new roommate. Either scenario is not ok with Sheldon. And on top of things, Sheldon isn't allowed to change fields of study at work, which upsets him even more. So Sheldon decides he's going away for a while. We don't know where, and it took some convincing from Penny to get Leonard on board. So we shall see if this is a good thing for Sheldon to be on his own and also find out where he goes. Meanwhile Howard's mom is still laid up from being injured, and they are struggling to find a caretaker that will last more than a few hours. That is until Stewart's comic book store burns down leaving him homeless and jobless. Howard offers Stewart the job and magically it works out! Stewart doesn't have very high standards. Which is sad, but good for Howard. Oh and Raj had sex with his girlfriend. So there's that too. Overall I give this finale an A.
Greys Anatomy:
We had to say goodbye to Christina, and I do have to say is was a good send off. A few episodes earlier we got to see Burke! And he made Christina an offer she couldn't refuse. So with that she made the rounds of goodbyes, but not before stalling for a week or so. Meredith basically had to kick her out the door, but she made it off and took Ross with her (woot! Not a Ross fan). Meanwhile back at the hospital, Callie and Arizona silently decided by discussing it with their eyes that they are going to go the surrogate route to have another baby. Meredith decided that she isn't going to go to D.C with Derek, so I have no idea where that leaves them. They need something to shake them up, they've been the happy boring married couple for too long now. Jackson and April are finally happy at the same time about their new bun in the oven. And the Chief has a love child with Meredith's mom! Yeah I'd like to know how that's going to go down. Especially since she's replacing Christina at the hospital. Should be interesting! Overall I give this finale an A for the farewell.
Grimm:
We had a wedding, which almost got ruined because Adalind is a psycho. Albeit you can't really blame her for wanting her child back and going to all lengths to do it, but to mess with Nick's relationship and strip him of being a Grimm? That's low. I'm happy for the newlyweds though even if they won't get to celebrate right away. And Trubel didn't help the situation, but you can't blame her either since she was just trying to save Nick. And the Captain being shot was a surprise I didn't see coming. So now to find out if he will live or not. I hope he does. Even if I have mixed feelings about him, I do want him to stick around. This show is another I get excited for every week, so I will be waiting with baited breath to find out how they will get Nick back to being a Grimm. It has to happen. And I hope Monroe can celebrate his honeymoon with his bride sooner than later. Overall I give this finale an A.
The Mentalist:
I think I may have been one of the last people on board for the Lisbon/Jane thing. Mainly because I just didn't catch on to the implications until I think last season. I don't know why, I'm usually so good at these things. Anyway, the past few episodes Lisbon has been dating a fellow FBI agent, who has been promoted and has to relocate to D.C. He has invited Lisbon to join him, and then proposes to her. Lisbon has been hesitant about saying not only yes to moving, but yes to the proposal. She's been concerned about how Jane would take it, but after speaking with him, she decides to move. No yes on the proposal yet though. Jane decides that he doesn't want her to go, but can't come right out and say that. Well not seriously enough. So he devises a plan that includes opening an old murder case and gets Lisbon to join him before she leaves for good. Lisbon soon learns that it was all a rouse, and gets upset and leaves for the airport. She calls her boyfriend and says she will marry him. Jane goes after her, gets himself onto the plane (illegally) before it takes off and professes his love to her. She isn't very receptive and he leaves in handcuffs. While waiting for Abbott to show up and release him from custody, Lisbon shows up and tells Jane she loves him too and they kiss. They kiss! I didn't know I was shipping this thing until they kissed. And now I'm fully on board! I can't wait to see where this goes next season. Thank goodness there's another season! Overall I give this finale an A+. It was a really entertaining episode aside from the kiss.
Bones:
Ok so this episode had me freaking out from the beginning, all I could think is "if you bloody kill off Booth, so help me..." And what I mean by this is that the episode begins with Booth being rushed into the hospital with multiple gun shots and it's looking like he may not make it. Then we flash back to a few days before and play out what happened up to that point. A lot of shows are doing this now, where they give you the almost end result first and then take you back to how it happens. Can we stop doing that now? I would rather have what happens be a surprise. So anyway, there was this small arc this season where Booth finally kills Pelant, but right before, Pelant tells Bones that there's another serial killer out there. The elusive "Ghost Killer". The only thing is that no one really believes it other than her. Well eventually it plays out to be true, and in this episode we learn that the Ghost Killer (now dead) is part of a bigger picture, and conspiracies against their own government begin to boil. Booth gets too close, and his career is basically killed, and then he is almost killed to shut him up. We end the episode with Booth living, but has been taken into custody, and Bones gets arrested too. So now we have to wait and find out what it's all about. What did they get too close to, and how are they going to get out of it, and will Booth be given his job back? The episode was super intense at the end and felt very theatrical with the shootout in their house. The only thing I could think of though is damn, they just finished that house not too long ago. That's me for ya! Overall I give this finale an A.
Modern Family:
Cam and Mitchell got married, and it was adorable. Fourth time was a charm too. Their final walk down the aisle had me in tears, and everything that led up to that did too. Just a different kind of tears. Poor Cam and Mitch tried so hard to have the wedding of their dreams. And the first try had a forest fire keeeping them from having the fairytale moment, and the second try they stole a venue from another couple and had to leave. The third try they attempted it at their own house with everyone crammed in, but decided they just couldn't do it that way. The fourth try was perfect. Jay finally came around and made up for his pig headedness by providing the perfect venue for their wedding. And with that, Jay and Gloria walked Mitchell down the aisle which made me cry, and Cam's parents walked him down the aisle which made me cry more. This show has it's moments where I'm not sure if it still has the charm it had in the first season, and then episodes like this happen and I'm reminded why I still watch. Overall I give this finale an A.
And now on to the forced series finales otherwise known as the canceled shows:
Gone too soon. RIP.
The Neighbors:
It's no secret that the critics don't really love this show, nor does their own network really. This season brought The Neighbors from Wednesday nights to Friday nights, and the writers of the show didn't miss a beat making sure the network knew how they felt about that change. Everybody knows that Friday night is the place to kill a show. And to add insult to injury, up until the airing of the finale, they didn't know if the show would be back next season. And so with that unknown, the writers again didn't miss a beat to let the network know how they felt about that. Which is fine, this show is one of the few allowed to "break the fourth wall" in essence.
Now to talk about the actual episode. The Zabvronians are preparing to move back to their home planet and leave Earth. Larry Byrd's brother DJ Jazzy Jeff has come to Earth to help the group back home, due to Larry's father thinking him incompetent and unable to complete the mission given to him. We later find out the real reason Larry has willingly decided to go back home is because he's pregnant, and how would they explain the back bump? As weird as it sounds, I love the fact that they pull no punches when it comes to this show. Every episode is basically ridiculous, but so fun to watch. And this one was no different. The final decision for the Byrd-Kersee's to stay on Earth and raise their little one, while the rest of the Zabvronians go home, poses for a really intriguing season next year. And the DJ & Steve (Full House) cameo was the icing on the cake to a pretty good and entertaining finale. Unfortunately the show has since been canceled and it makes me really sad because now I don't get to know what a baby Zabvronian looks like, or how the birth happens. Priorities. Overall I give this finale an A.
Warehouse 13:
I was a late bloomer to this show, but man it fell into my heart fast. And when I heard that it was ending for good this spring, my heart sank. I had just found it a year before and now I already have to say goodbye. With that being said, the finale was very well done, and so damned emotional. By the end I was bawling like a baby. The season only consisted of I believe six episodes which I feel cheated over. Syfy just isn't what it used to be, and cancels their really good shows too soon (Eureka).
Moving on to the episode; the warehouse has been set to be closed, and Warehouse 14 will soon take over. So the gang gathers to watch their most defining moment during their time at the warehouse. Pete is really upset at the idea of the warehouse closing and having to move on, but everyone else seems to accept the fate for the most part. During Myka's defining moment, it was made clear to her that she's in love with Pete (Pete had figured out a couple episodes previous that he loved her), and so she decides the present is no better time to express her feelings to Pete with a kiss(!). Pete responds back saying he loves her too, and it's beautiful. Claudia is hesitant about giving her life to the warehouse and becoming the new caretaker, but at the very end we shoot forward in the future, and Claudia has taken on the roll and is performing it as magically as ever. Oh and we found out that Artie has a kid! It really was a great final episode full of big revelations. I wish we could have gone at least one more season and watch Myka and Pete's relationship grow. But alas, we can't, and I will deal with that eventually. Overall I give this finale an A+.
A few other notable Gone-Too-Soon's that I will mention, but not go into detail for sake of not making you have to read any more of my rantings than you already have:
Suburgatory
Trophy Wife
Almost Human
The Carrie Diaries
The Crazy Ones
Friends With Better Lives
Growing Up Fisher
You will all be greatly missed.
