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The Bones season has been over for a couple weeks. At the beginning of the season I was pretty sure that this was would be the last season. Then suddenly about the middle of the middle of the season the episodes were better than they'd been for years, the ratings stayed up and it's surprisingly going to be back. The season finales on Bones, though, are something else. The year to year plot has changed over time, but the finale still basically boils down to someone or something trying to ruin or at least change their personal lives so much that the team will break up. The current show bugaboo is a sadistic criminal computer genius who is so smart and so wicked he can get away with just about anything he pleases. He's been popping up for several years now. About all he serves to do any more is shake up the cast or make adjustments to relationships on the show. Bones finales have been bad for years and the current one is no exception. The guy's sadistic plot this year was to keep Bones and Booth, who've been living together for sometime, from getting married yet. Seesh!
Castle has been uniformly good over the years, but the last few episodes this season have me wondering. Castle has never been bashful about stealing ideas especially ones that have passed through Bones. But generally the writing has been of such a level that it didn't matter much. The second to last episode this year, however was a feeble flashback episode, something that used to be common when a TV season had more episodes and which had thankfully more or less disappeared from TV in recent decades. The finale was pretty strange. The idea they borrowed/stole this year was that the woman gets an opportunity for a new job that she's wanted all her life, and she has to decide between the guy she loves and her future career. The problem with this happening on Castle is that it has been repeatedly been made clear that Becket had plenty of opportunity to do other things from the time she was a new college graduate onwards, but always chose what she was doing to help people who needed exactly the kind of help she never got when her mother was murdered. Now in a fit of temporary amnesia, she decides shes always wanted to be a big shot in the Federal Justice Department doing who knows what, but very likely not what she's dedicated her life to doing. Why? So she'll have to think twice about accepting the long awaited marriage proposal from Castle! It doesn't take much risk to guess she'll turn down the job in Washington. Why fire 2/3rds of the cast just to have Castle follow her to DC? My guess is she'll also turn down Castle with an "I'm not ready yet.' Why? Because TV these days can't think of any way to keep people together any more once they've gotten married. Which is exactly the same crap going on on Bones. Seesh!
Arrow's finale thankfully didn't follow the pattern of the other two. I'm not sure whether it was good or just weird. Mr Merlin looked like the perfect arch-villain for the run of the show however long that might be. Suddenly though, in the next to last episode Merlin discovered The Hood is Oliver, which meant his future on the show probably was going to be very short. No surprise Mr Merlin dies in the finale. Not really necessary developments, but not that bad either. However in the next to last episode we also have this sequence of events. Tommy and Laurel have a serious spat over whether she and Oliver are becoming an item again. Oliver tells Laurel to forget about him for the umpteenth time. Oliver tells Tommy to get back together with Laurel. Oliver tells Laurel he's always loved her and still does. Tommy on his way to make up with Laurel sees Oliver and Laurel making out... With friends like Oliver who needs enemies, right? In the finale Tommy doesn't tell Oliver to go **** himself. Instead he listens to Oliver tell him his father (Mr Merlin) is going to destroy a big chunk of the city. Oddly after the nonsense in the last episode over Laurel, Tommy doesn't believe Oliver. Tommy goes to his father and basically asks, "Hey, Dad, is there any truth to the rumors, you're criminally insane?" Dad replies "Yes, and even you can't stop me!" hitting Tommy with just enough force that he'll be knocked out till Oliver shows up to try to stop Dad. The real plot twist is that despite getting killed, Dad's evil plot succeeds. Once that happens you're not all that surprised that the only other major character to die is Tommy. He does get a chance to save Laurel and tell her *he* loves her. Poor Laurel has got guys standing in line to save her, only to have them die or apparently worse, break up with her for reasons they refuse to discuss with her. Arrow's a comic book so it's easy to forgive a lot of it's faults, and it is a good comic book!
Castle has been uniformly good over the years, but the last few episodes this season have me wondering. Castle has never been bashful about stealing ideas especially ones that have passed through Bones. But generally the writing has been of such a level that it didn't matter much. The second to last episode this year, however was a feeble flashback episode, something that used to be common when a TV season had more episodes and which had thankfully more or less disappeared from TV in recent decades. The finale was pretty strange. The idea they borrowed/stole this year was that the woman gets an opportunity for a new job that she's wanted all her life, and she has to decide between the guy she loves and her future career. The problem with this happening on Castle is that it has been repeatedly been made clear that Becket had plenty of opportunity to do other things from the time she was a new college graduate onwards, but always chose what she was doing to help people who needed exactly the kind of help she never got when her mother was murdered. Now in a fit of temporary amnesia, she decides shes always wanted to be a big shot in the Federal Justice Department doing who knows what, but very likely not what she's dedicated her life to doing. Why? So she'll have to think twice about accepting the long awaited marriage proposal from Castle! It doesn't take much risk to guess she'll turn down the job in Washington. Why fire 2/3rds of the cast just to have Castle follow her to DC? My guess is she'll also turn down Castle with an "I'm not ready yet.' Why? Because TV these days can't think of any way to keep people together any more once they've gotten married. Which is exactly the same crap going on on Bones. Seesh!
Arrow's finale thankfully didn't follow the pattern of the other two. I'm not sure whether it was good or just weird. Mr Merlin looked like the perfect arch-villain for the run of the show however long that might be. Suddenly though, in the next to last episode Merlin discovered The Hood is Oliver, which meant his future on the show probably was going to be very short. No surprise Mr Merlin dies in the finale. Not really necessary developments, but not that bad either. However in the next to last episode we also have this sequence of events. Tommy and Laurel have a serious spat over whether she and Oliver are becoming an item again. Oliver tells Laurel to forget about him for the umpteenth time. Oliver tells Tommy to get back together with Laurel. Oliver tells Laurel he's always loved her and still does. Tommy on his way to make up with Laurel sees Oliver and Laurel making out... With friends like Oliver who needs enemies, right? In the finale Tommy doesn't tell Oliver to go **** himself. Instead he listens to Oliver tell him his father (Mr Merlin) is going to destroy a big chunk of the city. Oddly after the nonsense in the last episode over Laurel, Tommy doesn't believe Oliver. Tommy goes to his father and basically asks, "Hey, Dad, is there any truth to the rumors, you're criminally insane?" Dad replies "Yes, and even you can't stop me!" hitting Tommy with just enough force that he'll be knocked out till Oliver shows up to try to stop Dad. The real plot twist is that despite getting killed, Dad's evil plot succeeds. Once that happens you're not all that surprised that the only other major character to die is Tommy. He does get a chance to save Laurel and tell her *he* loves her. Poor Laurel has got guys standing in line to save her, only to have them die or apparently worse, break up with her for reasons they refuse to discuss with her. Arrow's a comic book so it's easy to forgive a lot of it's faults, and it is a good comic book!
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I thought this was a dumb way to end the season. I don't know why most people watch the show, but for me it's mostly Nathan Fillion bantering with people. Everything they do lightly works, but most everything they try to do serious doesn't. I was pretty happy with them hooking Beckett and Castle up because their relationship angst didn't do much for me. A lot of shows feel the need to make major changes, but this one should mostly just do more of the same. But again, I'm not a regular viewer and probably not who they aim storylines at.
Arrow, I thought, did pretty well. The love triangle didn't always work, but it's succeeding on showing "What makes a hero?" themes...
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