[some] finales

[allchildren]

Spoiler space between cuts! Also, a coupla gifs because hours have passed now and uhhh it was important okay.


EDIT, COURTESY LIZZEN:



/that happened

WELL.

I am sad! I'm so friggin' sad about Olivia. You guys, she came to save Peter (still not 100% on why Peter's life was in danger or how the whatever "symbiotic" Iron Man suit was supposed to work and why everybody was so sure it would destroy everything) and made this fantastic declaration to him and they had this great kiss where he kept one hand in his pocket which for some reason was really quite sexy and then -- LEFT BEHIND??? BECAUSE IT OCCURS TO NOBODY AT ANY POINT TO GO "just a tic, are you our Olivia or theirs"? Have... you guys never seen TV? Ever? (PETER I KNOW YOU'VE SEEN STAR TREK IT IS CANON OKAY) At no point when Ourlivia was with the group did anyone think to make up a password so that Theirlivia couldn't do exactly what she did? And it bugs me too that we didn't get to see her reaction to being LEFT BEHIND in order to service this cheap "twist" which, the moment Olivia woke Bell up, I could easily spot. Because I've seen TV before.

But mostly I am just really really sad for my girl Liv! Left behind! Noooo Doctor Who noooo :( I mean I imagine she will work on her cortexiphan powers until she becomes some kind of magical universe-crossing Hulk, and also at least she can hang out with Charlie (ugh I miss Charlie and Liv together so much, maybe she can bring Mirror Charlie home with her) but I'm super grossed out in anticipation of Peter not realizing Mirror Olivia isn't the woman he ~loves~ and people being clueless. Please don't be even more clueless, dudes. I'm asking you this now.

I have this really disproportionate-to-my-exposure-to-him strong love of Leonard Nimoy, and I also have some Feelings about William & Walter's relationship (o, that I were an ambitious writer ever so that I could have, before canon ruled it out, written the story inadvertently inspired by my dad wherein Mirror William was female and actually Peter's mother. Though that would still make a fucking awesome AU). I... I hope we continue to get information about what led Walter to ask William to lobotomize him. (Which, lulz, I had totally forgotten about because I am awful at remembering all Fringe "continuity" such as it is.) Also, do we know how William was able to cross back and forth so many times? I don't think we do but that seems like it could be helpful to know.

MAYBE MIRROR NINA WILL HALP OURLIVIA

Other:

- I can't believe they passed up this opportunity to give us even a glimpse of Mirror William With Goatee. And if Mirror William died as a young man we'll probs never get a flashback of Young William played by Zach Quinto :(
- Astridddd and Peterrrrr. They are not quite Charlie and Liv but I friendship them pretty hard a-and I can't say I never straight up ship them neither so I'll just be over here idly dreaming about them hooking up after they dispatch Mirror Olivia but don't get Ourlivia back because sometimes I have this love of sad second best ships :( Also can we have like a 70% increase in Astrid next season, please and thank you.
- Things about the Mirror Universe that delight me: nobody's ever heard of Andrew "Trail of Tears" Jackson and MLK is on the $20 bill instead. The West Wing is in its 11th season (lol random, you nerds). The Transamerica Pyramid is in New York now (STOP MOVING THE TRANSAMERICA PYRAMID, JJ). Old-age unassassinated JFK is apparently Walternate's boyfriend based on his prominent desk photo. The Red Lantern and the Red Arrow.
- oh, one more thing! I wish that instead of some rando Mirror Olivia were with John Scott. Dude is married to Anna Torv, it couldn't be that hard to schedule him in for the thirty seconds he was onscreen.

















I guess I don't actually need to say much because toastandtea and heathershaped covered why what happened with Britta and Jeff-as-prize was totes gross even if you enjoy Jeff/Annie and softestbullet pointed out how completely unfunny and transphobic (if y'all were not aware, "tranny" is an offensive slur. Yes, really.) the pageant thing was.

But... just... ugh! I tend to forget when I'm not watching the show that Jeff is the protagonist, because Abed is clearly the breakout character and I have such a crush on Dong Lover and I love Annie so much and I had to work through my issues with Britta and then she was an action hero suspiciously great at putting on Hello Kitty undies while holding a gun. (I never forget that Shirley isn't the protagonist and I wish she'd ever get the storyline to justify such a mistake.) (Pierce, on the other hand...) Jeff is how we access everybody else but I'm always kind of surprised when I watch the show and it's about Jeff. And that is my own mental blip, but in the actual show-about-Jeff it has so much been about him learning that he has been a douche. He comes onto Britta in the pilot and she calls him the fuck out for being a douche and I loved her instantly for that. He chases her and objectifies her ("hot blonde in Spanish class") and slowly learns to treat her with respect and friendship because his hottttness doesn't make him a whole or even desirable person, and so ... we end with all the ladies going "I'M SORRY, I WAS WRONG TO REJECT YOU" and competing for his attention?? WHAT? How about "now Jeff has de-douched enough to make an honest bid for Britta's affection" or Professor Slater's or Annie's or whatever but, you know, really anything that isn't all suddenly JEFF WINGER, YOU'RE PERFECT.

And something that isn't suddenly BRITTA PERRY, YOU'RE WILDLY OOC. [Blah blah characters can't be OOC in canon, thanks fandom, I heard it the first seven thousand times. Okay, how about Britta Perry, WHERE THE FUCK DID THAT COME FROM? And Community, where the fuck did your subtlety and cleverness go? We couldn't start out with an uncertain "I like you in a romantical fashion" (please see Parks and Recreation and we'll talk after class) As I said to Heather, Britta is based on Dan Harmon's ex girlfriends. So... that's gross.]

Last week's small Jeff/Annie moment at the end was perfect for me -- she wanted to be professorial cuz he did it to a professor, then they were awkward like in my very favorite J/A scene. And, you know, I don't hate the kissing! Nope, definitely can live with that and a summer hiatus of affairfic. Maybe I will even patch together something of my own! But that Jeff is all "lol commitment can't deal" in leaving TWOOOOO women pining for him and then goes and makes out with a third -- I just, what? How does any of this jibe with anything that has come before? And why must it be at Britta's expense? So fucking jarring and squeeharshing. :/

EDIT COURTESY SATURN



/dang

And in relation to the show's peers: I haven't watched 30 Rock yet, but I did see last week's and the fact that Jeff Winger, douchey protagonist, is having the exact same romantic dilemma as Jack Donaghy should be considered quite the embarrassment by the Community writers. And while I have enjoyed the show, I've found it quite inconsistent, particularly in the second half, sooo I was never going to say it was on the same level as Parks and Rec -- but damn, Parks and Rec came directly after this episode and blew it out of the goddamn water, emotional-arc-speaking aloooone.

















I've been thinking about and watching a lot of P&R in the last few days, in large part because The Master Plan was so fucking fabulous I couldn't not. And my thoughts are: this is such a wonderful show and what makes it special on a storytelling level is a practically unprecedented ability to see what works, emphasize it, and deep six the stuff that doesn't. Much has been made of the show's improvement from season one to two, which I maintain is a lazy critical narrative because even by the end of s1, "The Banquet" and "Rock Show" were both pretty much firing on all cylinders. Ron Swanson made a speech of facts, you guys. It is true that Marlene Griggs-Knope has received this award. But I am not going to disagree with the general truth that the show has gotten better and what really stands out is the organic growth of relationships.

Before the season began, Chris Pratt gave an interview where he said he hoped Andy would pine over Ann forever. But he and April turned out to play well off each other, so that developed. In the second episode of the season April noticed that there was something wrong with Ron, they had a deadpan-off, and now she's his assistant and they know each other's secrets and he taps her in comfort when he sees her upset. Ron started out as Leslie's aloof adversary and he has become her trusted colleague who will throw down everything for her. Mark was a bust, because he started out being a douche but this show isn't about jerks, it's about friendship and optimism and making things better, and he turned out to be really boring as a nice guy so he got less and less screentime. Tom started out as jerkier Jim Halpert but became a secretly-okay dork. Pawnee grew. Leslie and Ann's lady bromance continued ever on. And then they brought in Sam goddamn Seaborn because Mike Schur & Greg Daniel's original vision for the show was that it would be the sitcom version of The West Wing (you nerds). And all along it has been full of feminism and sunshine and women of color and competence. (Also Dave. How I miss Dave.)

And, just. This finale took all that growth, acknowledged it, and tied it into one big bow of perfect emotional narrative. Andy/Ann vs. Andy/April! IF ONLY I HAD A GIF OF THAT FRANKLY AMAZING KISS TO EDIT IN HERE. (Ann/Sam Seaborn!) Ron laying his job on the line for Leslie. Ron/Wendy omg!!1 Tom/Lucy <3! And the perfect send-off to Mark echoing the end of last season and showing how far we've come. ~*~LESLIE KNOPE~*~

God I want to punch whoever decided I'm not getting any new P&R until January in the head.