Glee and House season finals
May. 24th, 2011 10:20 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shadowkatQuickly, assuming I can write anything quickly on this thing, but bed does beckon. I think I put it off, because I dread work tomorrow. Not always. Just at the moment.
*Glee - season finale was rather good in places, the focus on the Rachel Berry and Finn romance still isn't working that well. And how they wrapped up a few plot-lines did not make much sense.
*Why was Finn kissing Rachel at the end of that song such a flop? It worked for me. And worked as an ending to the song. Not like it was at the end of a non-romantic song. That song begged for it. I fail to understand the reaction. Also this is the first year that we don't get to see inside the Judges room. Missed that bit of satire, although admittedly there's not much more they can do that hasn't been done already.
*The best bit was Kurt and Rachel's duet. I still think they are the strongest singers of the group and should have performed the duet. Now if they had kissed - it would have been odd. Granted - not crazy about the song they sang - it's a number that felt off to me when I saw the musical Wicked as well. But felt their singing of it - worked beautifully.
*Best new romance - Sam and Mercedes by a mile.
* Why did Mr. Shue give up Broadway...I thought he was planning on doing it during the summer to see where it leads? I guess he decided if he did it, he'd never come back to Glee. This didn't work for me entirely.
*Anyone else miss the old Vocal Adrenaline coach - Idina Mendzel - Rachel Berry's mother?
*Show, if you are going to have amazing singers like Jesse (Josh Groff) or Patti Lupone guest star - let them sing.
* They filmed it in the Times Square Marriot Marquis where I hung out this weekend. Actually, I felt a bit like I was watching a slide show of my own weekend in Manhattan.
*Great riff on It's A Wonderful Town.
* Anyone else miss Sue Sylvestrie? The advisory at the end was not enough.
* Girls doing Hip Hop in toga white fluffy dresses...so doesn't work. Too jarring. I'm guessing it was supposed to be funny? I was cringing.
*Why can't they place or win for once? While having them come in dead last the first two seasons made sense...it's starting to get old. Granted it does continue to push the point that awards are meaningless and winning not a big deal, it's doing your best that matters. Also notably, the only people who seemed to be upset about it were oddly Santana and Finn. Everyone else got over it rather quickly. I can see why Kurt did - not like he was a part of the Glee club most of the year, and Rachel clearly had other things on her mind, but what about everyone else? And...they could have at least placed. It's starting to get predictable.
Overall? Last year's finale was much better. I think they are running out of ideas and are doing stunts - like shooting on location in NYC or doing big guest shots to make up for it. The focus should be on the music. Also, I'm not crazy about the original songs - they don't quite work.
It's more fun to listen to them do renditions of pop numbers.
Rating? B- (last week's episode was much better) Overall Season Rating? Also B-/C+ - again very uneven. Too much dependence on stunt casting, and not enough on songs and performances - which is why the vast majority of the audience actually watches it. Also the writers suck at portraying heterosexual relationships in either a sympathetic manner or a realistic one - slipping too often into cringe-worthy satire. Hopefully, now that Rachel and Finn are together again, with everyone else more or less out of the picture, we can move away from the annoying triangles.
House - season finale.
While last year's House season finale blew me away, I loved it. This year's was the polar opposite. Actually the whole season was a bit lack-lustre in the writing department. Several episodes either jumped the shark or came very close to it. Doris Egan? Who knew your departure after last year's season's finale would have this big an effect. Egan was co-executive producer and show-runner last year, she left to do other things. And boy did we notice.
Each episode leading up to the finale, with the possible exception of the episode that focused solely on Amber Tamblyn's character - Master's departure, was increasingly uneven and jarring.
Culminating in an angst ridden finale that ...while it made sense to a degree, was difficult to watch and at times cringe-worthy. Kudos to Hugh Laurie, Robert Scean Leonard and the gal who plays Cuddy for making it mildly watchable. If it weren't for Hugh Laurie - I'd have given up on the series five episodes ago.
The season finale picks up where the last episode left off, with House still a patient in the hospital. Cuddy and her daughter spent most of the night with him - saving his leg. House had experimented on himself in the hopes of healing his leg, and instead gross and malignant tumors sprouted in it - which had to be removed immediately. He attempted to remove them himself and
well did it in his own bathtube and almost killed himself. Called everyone he could think of, no one answered, but poor Cuddy. Cuddy rushes him to the hospital and manages to convince the surgeons not to cut off his leg. That was last week's episode. This week, House is trying to solve a case from his hospital bed, checks himself out before he should, fights with Cuddy and Wilson - who keep picking at him, trying to figure out why he's being so self-destructive and trying in their equally inept and co-dependent ways to help him. All they end up doing is enabling his behavior...which up until now they've managed to justify. Meanwhile we have the case about a performance artist with a tumor, who needs radiation to remove it - or something like that, but it will make her fuzzy and harm her art. After some floundering, she chooses to undergo it - in order to save her life and to keep the relationship she has with her husband. House is pissed at her decision. She gave up her career, her mental capacity for him. He is pestered by Cuddy - who wants her hairbrush back (seriously, she can't buy a new one?) and Wilson visits him and pesters him to go to a bar and chat. House relents and picks up the hair-brush to stop by Cuddy's on his way there. When he gets to her house - through her dining room window he sees that she's entertaining her sister, her sister's husband, and a new boyfriend. Infuriated. He throws the brush at Wilson.
Insists Wilson get out of the car. And then plows the car into Cuddy's dining room window - apparently not caring who if anyone he hurt in the process. We see it happen in flashback, because interspersed throughout the episode are bits with the police talking to Cuddy and Wilson. Asking Cuddy if she'll press charges against her abusive ex-boyfriend. She says if he comes near her or steps foot in her hospital again - she'll send him to jail. Wilson states he's probably in the darkest, dingest bar on the planet. No, House, we discover has managed to hop a plane to some tropical paradise far far away. My suspension of disbelief flew out the window so long ago ...that I've lost track of it.
While House's actions make sense from a character perspective, the writing was so far over the top and out there - that it was jarring. Subtle thrown out the window.
Hugh Laurie's performance saved it - but barely. He showed House's slow burn towards rage and desire to do something so horrible that people wouldn't follow him and he could burn all his bridges to smithereens.
Overall rating: C (B+/A for Hugh Laurie's performance and the acting, which was brilliant as always, D- for the writing which has dipped to an all-time low.)
House has been renewed for next year, but I don't know if I'll continue watching.
*Glee - season finale was rather good in places, the focus on the Rachel Berry and Finn romance still isn't working that well. And how they wrapped up a few plot-lines did not make much sense.
*Why was Finn kissing Rachel at the end of that song such a flop? It worked for me. And worked as an ending to the song. Not like it was at the end of a non-romantic song. That song begged for it. I fail to understand the reaction. Also this is the first year that we don't get to see inside the Judges room. Missed that bit of satire, although admittedly there's not much more they can do that hasn't been done already.
*The best bit was Kurt and Rachel's duet. I still think they are the strongest singers of the group and should have performed the duet. Now if they had kissed - it would have been odd. Granted - not crazy about the song they sang - it's a number that felt off to me when I saw the musical Wicked as well. But felt their singing of it - worked beautifully.
*Best new romance - Sam and Mercedes by a mile.
* Why did Mr. Shue give up Broadway...I thought he was planning on doing it during the summer to see where it leads? I guess he decided if he did it, he'd never come back to Glee. This didn't work for me entirely.
*Anyone else miss the old Vocal Adrenaline coach - Idina Mendzel - Rachel Berry's mother?
*Show, if you are going to have amazing singers like Jesse (Josh Groff) or Patti Lupone guest star - let them sing.
* They filmed it in the Times Square Marriot Marquis where I hung out this weekend. Actually, I felt a bit like I was watching a slide show of my own weekend in Manhattan.
*Great riff on It's A Wonderful Town.
* Anyone else miss Sue Sylvestrie? The advisory at the end was not enough.
* Girls doing Hip Hop in toga white fluffy dresses...so doesn't work. Too jarring. I'm guessing it was supposed to be funny? I was cringing.
*Why can't they place or win for once? While having them come in dead last the first two seasons made sense...it's starting to get old. Granted it does continue to push the point that awards are meaningless and winning not a big deal, it's doing your best that matters. Also notably, the only people who seemed to be upset about it were oddly Santana and Finn. Everyone else got over it rather quickly. I can see why Kurt did - not like he was a part of the Glee club most of the year, and Rachel clearly had other things on her mind, but what about everyone else? And...they could have at least placed. It's starting to get predictable.
Overall? Last year's finale was much better. I think they are running out of ideas and are doing stunts - like shooting on location in NYC or doing big guest shots to make up for it. The focus should be on the music. Also, I'm not crazy about the original songs - they don't quite work.
It's more fun to listen to them do renditions of pop numbers.
Rating? B- (last week's episode was much better) Overall Season Rating? Also B-/C+ - again very uneven. Too much dependence on stunt casting, and not enough on songs and performances - which is why the vast majority of the audience actually watches it. Also the writers suck at portraying heterosexual relationships in either a sympathetic manner or a realistic one - slipping too often into cringe-worthy satire. Hopefully, now that Rachel and Finn are together again, with everyone else more or less out of the picture, we can move away from the annoying triangles.
House - season finale.
While last year's House season finale blew me away, I loved it. This year's was the polar opposite. Actually the whole season was a bit lack-lustre in the writing department. Several episodes either jumped the shark or came very close to it. Doris Egan? Who knew your departure after last year's season's finale would have this big an effect. Egan was co-executive producer and show-runner last year, she left to do other things. And boy did we notice.
Each episode leading up to the finale, with the possible exception of the episode that focused solely on Amber Tamblyn's character - Master's departure, was increasingly uneven and jarring.
Culminating in an angst ridden finale that ...while it made sense to a degree, was difficult to watch and at times cringe-worthy. Kudos to Hugh Laurie, Robert Scean Leonard and the gal who plays Cuddy for making it mildly watchable. If it weren't for Hugh Laurie - I'd have given up on the series five episodes ago.
The season finale picks up where the last episode left off, with House still a patient in the hospital. Cuddy and her daughter spent most of the night with him - saving his leg. House had experimented on himself in the hopes of healing his leg, and instead gross and malignant tumors sprouted in it - which had to be removed immediately. He attempted to remove them himself and
well did it in his own bathtube and almost killed himself. Called everyone he could think of, no one answered, but poor Cuddy. Cuddy rushes him to the hospital and manages to convince the surgeons not to cut off his leg. That was last week's episode. This week, House is trying to solve a case from his hospital bed, checks himself out before he should, fights with Cuddy and Wilson - who keep picking at him, trying to figure out why he's being so self-destructive and trying in their equally inept and co-dependent ways to help him. All they end up doing is enabling his behavior...which up until now they've managed to justify. Meanwhile we have the case about a performance artist with a tumor, who needs radiation to remove it - or something like that, but it will make her fuzzy and harm her art. After some floundering, she chooses to undergo it - in order to save her life and to keep the relationship she has with her husband. House is pissed at her decision. She gave up her career, her mental capacity for him. He is pestered by Cuddy - who wants her hairbrush back (seriously, she can't buy a new one?) and Wilson visits him and pesters him to go to a bar and chat. House relents and picks up the hair-brush to stop by Cuddy's on his way there. When he gets to her house - through her dining room window he sees that she's entertaining her sister, her sister's husband, and a new boyfriend. Infuriated. He throws the brush at Wilson.
Insists Wilson get out of the car. And then plows the car into Cuddy's dining room window - apparently not caring who if anyone he hurt in the process. We see it happen in flashback, because interspersed throughout the episode are bits with the police talking to Cuddy and Wilson. Asking Cuddy if she'll press charges against her abusive ex-boyfriend. She says if he comes near her or steps foot in her hospital again - she'll send him to jail. Wilson states he's probably in the darkest, dingest bar on the planet. No, House, we discover has managed to hop a plane to some tropical paradise far far away. My suspension of disbelief flew out the window so long ago ...that I've lost track of it.
While House's actions make sense from a character perspective, the writing was so far over the top and out there - that it was jarring. Subtle thrown out the window.
Hugh Laurie's performance saved it - but barely. He showed House's slow burn towards rage and desire to do something so horrible that people wouldn't follow him and he could burn all his bridges to smithereens.
Overall rating: C (B+/A for Hugh Laurie's performance and the acting, which was brilliant as always, D- for the writing which has dipped to an all-time low.)
House has been renewed for next year, but I don't know if I'll continue watching.
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no subject
Date: 2011-05-25 03:17 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2011-05-25 04:12 pm (UTC)Talk about taking a character to rock bottom, here they took him so far that I'm not sure it's even possible for him to come back again.
no subject
Date: 2011-05-25 03:41 am (UTC)The Glee finale had a nice snap to it, but it's far beyond my ability to suspend disbelief to believe that they could write original songs in a day and do well on stage. It's not, I know, a realistic show by any means -- but it's just too silly sometimes. Why Schuster didn't take the CrossRhodes gig is anyone's guess.
I did find the Finn/Rachel kiss placement awkward to be honest -- so I understood it going over badly. It didn't seem like a choreographed kiss, but a kind of personal, messy one.
no subject
Date: 2011-05-25 03:43 am (UTC)Oh, I liked the reference to Woody Allen's Manhattan in the beginning -- with the Rhapsody in Blue.
no subject
Date: 2011-05-25 04:20 pm (UTC)No worries. I don't either and can't edit my responses...I just add to them.
obviously I had the same problem last time they did original songs, but at least there it felt like there was some acknowledgment that original songs were risky; everyone was very blase about it this episode.
Agreed it was almost as if it didn't even matter.
Regarding the kiss? It felt anti-climatic. Jesse had more or less broken up with Rachel. Quinn and Finn were through.
I guess the placement was a bit awkward...but it wasn't that bad.
no subject
Date: 2011-05-25 04:17 pm (UTC)Thirteen's arc isn't bad, a little cliche in places perhaps, but
actually sort of satisfying in others. The Chase/Thirteen sections of the second to last episode are by far the best.
The Glee finale had a nice snap to it, but it's far beyond my ability to suspend disbelief to believe that they could write original songs in a day and do well on stage.
Eh...Glee jumped past my suspension of disbelief a long time ago - it's almost too satirical to be taken remotely seriously.
(The kids are being played by adults.) But I agree, it has gotten very silly this season, what with Sue's insane antics,
and the Holly guest shots.
no subject
Date: 2011-05-25 04:04 pm (UTC)Anyway: I agree w/you 100% on House. It is like they are trying to jump the shark and Hugh Laurie's acting skills (just barely) manage to save them. But I'll tune in next year just to see him... and what they do with this mess.
But I disagree about Glee, I would rate it a little higher than you.
I do agree that the mash up/up-dated arrangement of 'It's a Wonderful Town' was brilliant (Gene Kelly & Frank Sinatra would have been proud!),
and I totally agree that it would have been way better if Idina Mendzel had been with her kids, and if April (I was expecting to see Kristen Chenowith!) had met up with Will, and Sue Sylvester should have had a role.... but then it would have needed to be a longer show. It would have been perfectly wonderful, but I get that they needed to stick to an hour.
They obviously could have cut the the white girl's Hip Hop number with the fluffy white dresses, but I think they wanted to show how REALLY wrong most schools do this (our heroes didn't come in dead last, they came in 12th out of a field of at least 50... maybe more, since ties seemed to be allowed).
I agree that the kiss worked in the show... but I guess on stage in a High School competition it came off as too personal a moment.... regardless, they wanted an excuse for our guys to lose (although I do think that original songs were enough reason to lose... just saying), because winning would have taken away a lot of the motivation for next year's show... when I'm sure they will win. At least I hope so (but a lot of brilliant people do lose, a lot).
Actually I'm betting that the really real reason for original songs is that they are trying to find ways to avoid paying royalties on every episode for all time... clearly this show is going to end up syndicated in reruns, and that gets expensive (cuts into profits, not only with every airing but also every DVD sale). Or maybe they want to promote record sales without it all being covers....
On Glee
Date: 2011-05-26 01:26 am (UTC)Best moment? When sad!Quinn basically told Santana "sorry, I don't swing that way"... made Santana's fears about coming out seem really arbitrary. Also, I made up my own flashback of Santana teaching all the Cheerios how to french-kiss and it was awesome.
Next season? I want a little sophomore to idolize Rachel and follow her around with a planner. Why this hasn't happened yet, I'll never know. Rachel is too talented to not have a fan club. (I also have scenes scripted in which the younger girl brings Rachel and Kurt coffee to their lockers.)
Best new romance - Sam and Mercedes by a mile.
Word.
no subject
Date: 2011-05-26 06:35 am (UTC)If so, then it was a clever kind of bookend that in the last episode House caused a building-- or part of one, anyway-- to collapse.
I liked this season more than you did, I suspect. I was hoping thst the Cuddy/House ship would crash and burn, because what could happen otherwise, and be true to the characters? And so it did. Also really liked the whole Amber Tamblyn arc, she was great.
Not as good as last year, but I am really psyched to see where in the world they go from here. I mean, how the hell is he going to come back from that last stunt?
Maybe he'll be in jail and Thirteen will be there when he gets out...