Techtite.com Editorial : My Two Bits, V2

Obviously, this editorial has "spoiler alert" written all over it. However, there were a lot of BIG season finales in the past several weeks, and that makes for good editorial fodder. So, if you're one of those folks who waits until the DVD release to see the finales of, say, Heroes, Lost, 24, or The Sopranos, stop reading now. If you did see all the above, ask yourself: which finales worked, and which finales, well...failed?

This may seem like a "late" editorial for all of the above, sans one: Sopranos. In all fairness, this is the finale that had the toughest job, because it wasn't just a season finale, but a series finale. They had all but a few episodes to tie up all loose ends (or close enough) and deliver a finale worth remembering. That's hard for any show, and for most shows, the attempt crashes and burns. Remember how Seinfeld left the gang in jail? How about St. Elsewhere revealing that the whole series was a daydream by a young autistic boy? There have been some really bad ways to end a series. I'm not apologizing for the (admittedly) abysmal Sopranos finale. I'm just saying; I've seen worse.

Which brings us to what will (perhaps) forevermore be known as the "Don't Stop Finale." Tony chooses what will be the final song ever heard in Sopranos lore: "Don't Stop Believing," By Journey. In comes Anthony and Carmella, as they all have some onion rings. Meanwhile, Meadow tries again and again to parallel park her car. At this point; every viewer has the same thought: Tony's whole family gets whacked, except for Meadow, who wasn't at the table in time. It's just a matter of when: not "if." Then when that scene might have transpired...nothing. The bell above the door rings as Meadow enters, Tony looks up, and the whole screen goes black: The End. Seriously! So abrupt was the ending; many felt their cable service had gone out. Others contacted HBO directly, to see if the "error" was on their end (like, say, a faulty master tape of the episode). Nope; that's the actual ending kids. Egad.

This is a far cry from the sort of finales this series delivered in earlier seasons. Take the freshman year for Heroes, which is in all fairness was a first season finale. If this was a comparison between the Sopranos first season finale, the 24 first season finale, and the Heroes first season finale, this editorial would be far more debatable. Yet if you ask me, for its freshman finale, Heroes kicked butt. For one thing they actually resolved the first season story, not unlike 24 each season, or perhaps Buffy the Vampire Slayer (where each season's "big bad" is defeated in time for a true blue season finale). Yet the way they did so was excellent. Nathan gets a conscience and flies his brother into the sky, where his uncontrollable "exploding" power could not harm anyone. Best of all: Hiro tore Sylar a new one with his sword, while Nikki/Jessica got a few good punches in as well. That was cool...!

[Oh, and one more thing: Peter Patrelli is not dead. This is strictly "IMHO," though here's why: It was already proven that Peter could survive an explosion, thanks to his healing abilities. Some think he's dead since his brother flew him "into space" where there's no oxygen and he'd burn up on re-entry. I disagree. Look at the clouds when the explosion occurs. They clearly move away from the blast, signaling that the explosion was not in space, but near cloud-level. That's pretty high in the air, though not so high that Peter would not fall to the ground in some form and heal...well, eventually. So yeah; he may crash pretty hard though he can still heal from pretty much any broken bone or bruise so IMHO; he's still alive.]

Again; Heroes is a first-season show, with its freshest material to work with. Regardless, the truth hurts: none of the other finales this season were any good. Take 24, for example. Fanboys need not read the bitter truth that follows in the next four simple words: this season totally sucked. The majority of the season was a shameless rip-off of The Siege; a B-grade "thriller" that's been airing endlessly on cable TV these days. Terrorists cause paranoia. The president doesn't want to fight. The vice president does. They have a spat. They have another spat. The president's aides have a spat. They and the president and the vice president have a larger spat. The president gets a boo-boo. The vice president takes charge. He and "his" new cabinet ---you guessed it--- have a spat. Gab, gab. Whine, whine. Blah, blah, blah.

Then there was Lost. It's an old joke by now, but, man; how "lost" are the viewers of this series after this finale? Suddenly we are shown that the finale's "flashback" was a flash-forward, of Jack and Kate back home. Apparently they're safe and sound, though at a cost of life that is leaving Jack a pill-popping neurotic mess. Who lived, and who died? Enough to have Jack obsessed with going back to the island; that's how many. Aside from a hint that Kate is sleeping with someone else (apparently "he'll" wake up soon and wonder where she is), and that someone died and nobody went to "his" funeral; there isn't much to go on here. All I can hope for here is summarized in one word: Desmond. It's clear he can change the past. So, have Jack hunt down Desmond and he'll alter the past, right?

Perhaps not...! Ain't it Cool News hinted that they had heard the next season of Lost will include "both" flashbacks and flash-forwards. This would appear to mean someone watched The Nine, which slowly told us what happened at an ill-fated bank robbery...days after it already happened. Look; I really liked that series though I must admit; the premise of the show was not unlike telling someone they had just missed a big party, though don't worry; once a week, they'll tell you one thing that happened at that party. While this is a uniquely interesting storytelling method; the series was cancelled in less than eight episodes. Need hints much, Lost? It's one thing to keep the excitement in the "present" and show us bits and pieces from the castaway's past. Do not place the series into the future, long after all the excitement has already happened, and expect fans to wait as you slowly explain what happened. Don't. Do. It!

So, what can we say of the past TV season? Well, we were given Heroes, and, well...that was it. In fact; of all twenty "most intriguing" fall shows listed here on Techtite.com last fall, only half of them survived. Here are just a few of the shows that looked promising yet didn't make the cut for a sophomore season: 'Til Death, Smith, Standoff, Vanished, The Class, Daybreak, Justice, Studio 60, Big Day, The Nine, 6 Degrees, and Kidnapped. Some shows were surprising cancellations; others, not so much. Just when we thought we'd seen the saddest "return" attempt at comedy when Ted Danson starred in Help Me Help You, along comes Twenty Good Years, which placed Jeffrey Tambor and John Lithgow in what is perhaps the worst sitcom idea of either comedian's careers. Ouch.

I guess the most optimistic conclusion here is that: even in Sopranos' case, things could have been worse. Some shows don't even see the light of another day...or season, as it were. Even the most intriguing show concepts often suffer because of poor scheduling or even poorer publicity campaigns. In that light, all the above season finales succeeded in one small way: at least each respective series was able to have a season finale at all.

Agree? Disagree?

...or perhaps just agree to disagree? Feel free to give your own "two bits," via Techtite's Letters page. Editorial Submissions are also allowed. Editorials do not have to agree with the views of other editorials at Techtite.com, though they must be relevant to entertainment topics of this web site (movies, TV, games).

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My Two Bits
(The Editorial with one-quarter byte!)

Season Finale Reactions: '07

My Two Bits (The Editorial with one-quarter byte!)

Season Finale Reactions: '07

My Two Bits
(The Editorial with one-quarter byte!)