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May. 20th, 2013 09:39 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shadowkatArrow's season finale was better than expected. Although I do have quibbles with it...
As you may already know, Tommy Merlin was amongst my favorite characters and I was enjoying his sane relationship with Laural Lance. So I'm a bit annoyed when he is killed off in heroic fashion.
I understand why of course, the writers wrote the character into a corner. And had no clue where to go with him. And while I'm glad the writers chose not to sustain the romantic love triangle of doom past five episodes, I'd have preferred they find another way of ending it.
Maybe have Oliver move on and leave Laurel with Tommy. Or better yet, have Sarah pop up.
She still could - her body was never found. And this is fantasy after all. Stranger things have happened.
At any rate - I found it a tad cliche to have him die the way he did and a bit too neat. Malcolm Merlin's just deserts is to have his only son die in the Glades because of his actions. But it would be more rewarding to have Malcolm Merline survive and Tommy despise him. Then to have Tommy die and Malcolm have to live with it or have both die. Seems a bit too neat and abrupt for my taste. But it is a comic book, what do I expect?
I rather loved John Barrowman's performance as Malcolm. He did a good job of showing Malcom's mixed feelings. And dismay when he discovers Oliver Queen is Green Arrow. He clearly never intended some of collateral damage that resulted from his actions - but it is too late now, he can't go back. Malcolm Merlin in some respects is a cautionary tale for Oliver Queen and even Tommy Merlin - who tells Oliver he fears that he is like his father.
But nothing could be farther from the truth. Tommy is as horrified if not more so by his father's actions as he is by Oliver's. He realizes his father's grief and anger over his mother's death has driven the man insane - so insane, he doesn't even care that much about his own son's welfare. Malcolm truly believes that destroying the Glades will restore peace and harmony in his city and avenge his wife's death. Barrowman gets the conflicting emotions across well, making me actually care about his character - also his fight with Oliver is believable.
I liked the fact that Tommy doesn't become another Lex Luther, but rather attempts to save Laurel Lance simply because he loves her and can do nothing less. And his friend, Oliver attempts to save him, but is too late and devastated by it.
The actor playing Tommy was quite good - actually better in my opinion than the one playing Oliver, I will miss him. But at least Detective Lance is still alive, Laural's father, who I still adore.
And go Walter for divorcing Moira Queen. She reaped what she sowed. Almost lost both kids in the bargain. Put them in greater danger through her actions than she would have if she hadn't been involved.
It was a bit abrupt though the explanation or rushed. Which is my problem with Greg Berlanti's series - they always feel rushed and the flashbacks often come without warning, jarring the viewer. Had the same difficulty with Political Animals.
Other than that? An entertaining and suspenseful ending. The series works in part because I love all the players.
I'm so listless right now, I've little energy to debate things. MD wanted to debate "Mists of Avalon" after church on Sunday. I don't even remember Mists of Avalon. I remember trying to read it and getting bored...about 20 years ago. It may be a mood thing. You can change your mind about books, by the way. Perfect example? My father recently re-read a classic that he last read in high-school, at that time he thought it was boring and dry and overrated. Now at the age of 76 he just finished re-reading this classic novel and thought it was amongst the most brilliant books he's ever read. Depends on where you are in your life and where you are in your head and what you are doing. Plus, we don't think the same way, process info the same way, or view things the same. It's not a one-size fits all world. Why can't people understand that? Actually they probably do, they just don't want to.
As you may already know, Tommy Merlin was amongst my favorite characters and I was enjoying his sane relationship with Laural Lance. So I'm a bit annoyed when he is killed off in heroic fashion.
I understand why of course, the writers wrote the character into a corner. And had no clue where to go with him. And while I'm glad the writers chose not to sustain the romantic love triangle of doom past five episodes, I'd have preferred they find another way of ending it.
Maybe have Oliver move on and leave Laurel with Tommy. Or better yet, have Sarah pop up.
She still could - her body was never found. And this is fantasy after all. Stranger things have happened.
At any rate - I found it a tad cliche to have him die the way he did and a bit too neat. Malcolm Merlin's just deserts is to have his only son die in the Glades because of his actions. But it would be more rewarding to have Malcolm Merline survive and Tommy despise him. Then to have Tommy die and Malcolm have to live with it or have both die. Seems a bit too neat and abrupt for my taste. But it is a comic book, what do I expect?
I rather loved John Barrowman's performance as Malcolm. He did a good job of showing Malcom's mixed feelings. And dismay when he discovers Oliver Queen is Green Arrow. He clearly never intended some of collateral damage that resulted from his actions - but it is too late now, he can't go back. Malcolm Merlin in some respects is a cautionary tale for Oliver Queen and even Tommy Merlin - who tells Oliver he fears that he is like his father.
But nothing could be farther from the truth. Tommy is as horrified if not more so by his father's actions as he is by Oliver's. He realizes his father's grief and anger over his mother's death has driven the man insane - so insane, he doesn't even care that much about his own son's welfare. Malcolm truly believes that destroying the Glades will restore peace and harmony in his city and avenge his wife's death. Barrowman gets the conflicting emotions across well, making me actually care about his character - also his fight with Oliver is believable.
I liked the fact that Tommy doesn't become another Lex Luther, but rather attempts to save Laurel Lance simply because he loves her and can do nothing less. And his friend, Oliver attempts to save him, but is too late and devastated by it.
The actor playing Tommy was quite good - actually better in my opinion than the one playing Oliver, I will miss him. But at least Detective Lance is still alive, Laural's father, who I still adore.
And go Walter for divorcing Moira Queen. She reaped what she sowed. Almost lost both kids in the bargain. Put them in greater danger through her actions than she would have if she hadn't been involved.
It was a bit abrupt though the explanation or rushed. Which is my problem with Greg Berlanti's series - they always feel rushed and the flashbacks often come without warning, jarring the viewer. Had the same difficulty with Political Animals.
Other than that? An entertaining and suspenseful ending. The series works in part because I love all the players.
I'm so listless right now, I've little energy to debate things. MD wanted to debate "Mists of Avalon" after church on Sunday. I don't even remember Mists of Avalon. I remember trying to read it and getting bored...about 20 years ago. It may be a mood thing. You can change your mind about books, by the way. Perfect example? My father recently re-read a classic that he last read in high-school, at that time he thought it was boring and dry and overrated. Now at the age of 76 he just finished re-reading this classic novel and thought it was amongst the most brilliant books he's ever read. Depends on where you are in your life and where you are in your head and what you are doing. Plus, we don't think the same way, process info the same way, or view things the same. It's not a one-size fits all world. Why can't people understand that? Actually they probably do, they just don't want to.
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Date: 2013-05-21 01:44 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-05-21 01:49 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-05-21 04:38 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2013-05-21 10:48 pm (UTC)The problem with the Oliver-Laurel-Tommy tangle is they clearly had no idea what to do with it. Laurel kept bouncing between the two. "Oh today I love Tommy because he's willing to change and be with me, and tells me he loves me while Ollie says he could care less. No, wait, I'll be with Ollie, who tells me he still has feelings for me and actually loves me, while Tommy has left me because he thinks I still love Ollie." Granted it wasn't for that long, this may actually be the shortest love triangle of doom in network history. I give the writers a lot of credit for that. I hate the love-triangle-of-doom story thread. It's like watching an endless game of tic-tack-toe or catch.
Unfortunately I was sort of shipping against the story-thread, in that I preferred the Tommy/Laurel, Ollie/anyone else and Tommy:Ollie relationship to the Ollie/Laurel. But I knew that.
Other than the romantic entanglements, it was really good.
And no, I don't think Walter will be returning, unless he decides to do it for the kids while Moira does prison time? Assuming Moira does prison time.
They wrapped up a lot of loose storythreads in those last three episodes - will give them that. Also opened up a bunch of new ones. That's the way to do a season finale. I wanted more after that finale episode, yet felt satisfied at the same time.
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Date: 2013-05-21 01:42 pm (UTC)I definitely think that the timing of one's reading is critical especially for omnivorous readers like ourselves - I read Anna Karenina when I was in high school because I thought it was about a doomed romance, and ... I really disliked it. I've read it every decade since, and each time I love it more and more because my understanding of it deepens. And for far more trivial stuff, I've definitely picked up books, started them, put them down, and later come back to them and loved them, and vice versa where things I once loved turned out to be disappointing on a re-read. Our tastes in food, music, art, clothing all change, so it makes sense that our tastes in books would too, right?
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Date: 2013-05-21 10:37 pm (UTC)I remember struggling to get through it and finally giving up. I have a rule - if I'm bored, hate the book, frustrated by it, or it is putting me to sleep - I won't continue. It will be put aside. If it's a notable book or classic, something people have raved about? I might pick it up again and continue. If it's something no one likes or cares about? I'll give up completely and return it or give it away. (Unfortunately most books fall under the first category. Mists did.)
Yes, being an omnivorous reader not to mention incredibly moody one..makes timing critical. What I love one day, I'm bound to hate the next. That's why I find debating the merits of these things mildly amusing...because I will most likely contradict myself at some point down the line.