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2015: My TVpocalypse

“Everything I love is ending!” – me in January

After 6+ years of devoted watching (or scattered addictive 2 week binging) 2015 saw (or will see) the end of 4 of my favorite shows on television: Parenthood, Parks & Rec, Justified, and Mad Men. Those are a lot of favorites to lose in quick succession. 3 of those shows rank in my pantheon of all time favorites (sorry Parenthood, you mostly just helped fill a Friday Night Lights sized hole in my heart). I’ve often been one to connect big life changes to the end of  TV shows close to my heart first 90210 ended the year I graduated from my long-time K-8, Buffy when graduated from high school, Veronica Mars was canceled the year I graduated from undergrad, and Breaking Bad ended shortly after I finished law school and took the bar exam– I mean seriously what major life change will accompany this TVpocalypse? I’ve been away from the writing about TV game for a while but I felt the pull to return to commemorate these endings, especially as I prepare to say goodbye to the show that has probably meant the most to me in adult life (Buffy probably still holds that whole life slot but it ended when I was 17): Mad Men.

I obviously don’t know how Mad Men will end. I have no theories. I’m not even sure there’s anything I particularly need to see happen, more final Peggy-Don and Sally-Don scenes would be nice but not even necessary after scenes for earlier in the season. I have no solid expectations, but somehow I know it’ll be satisfying. I might’ve been super frustrated by depressed waitress and early episodes in the final (2nd half?) last season, but these last 3 episodes have shined and provided the fitting goodbyes and touchstones that I so needed from this show. Don and Peggy’s “My Way” slow dance in “The Strategy,” Bert Coopers ultimate astronaut’s death in “Waterloo,” Roger on the organ, Peggy’s IDGAF tentacle porn, Sally’s rejection of her parents’ way, Joan finally siding with the feminists (even if she lost the battle), “the King ordered it!,” Betty’s dying with dignity, and Don’s return to the “Hobo Code.” Mad Men seems to be going out the way it lived, full of symbolism, poetry, and mystery. Every scene this season has had a tinge of finality, a winking knowledge that this is the end. 

This is in a way fitting with 2015, a year of satisfying goodbyes. 2015 had seen no WTF Lost purgatory endings or How I Met Your Mother series ruiners, not even divisive Sopranos cut to blacks. Instead 2015 has provided us with near perfect grace rooted deeply in character and with the greatest form of closure flash-forward epilogues. If Mad Men joins the path of Parenthood, Parks & Rec, and Justified in showing us where Draper and Co. end up in the 80s, 90s, and nows you won’t find a complaint from me. All these shows may be different beasts requiring different endings, but 2015 endings so far have been happy, maybe fan servicey (hey it’s cool not to piss off people who spent years watching), but ultimately satisfying.

1) “We dug coal together.” Has there ever been a final line that so perfectly encapsulates an entire 6 season run as Justified’s final line was able to?That final scene between Raylan and Boyd was so perfect that the rest of the finale could’ve been an utter mess of Crowes (which with the exception of 4-kidneys Dewey are the worst) and I still would’ve gone “that was a good finale.” But (thankfully) the rest of the finale was solid stuff, with the core trio (and eternal cockroach Wynn Duffy!) all somehow, for better or worse, leaving Harlan alive. None of them got the seemingly perfectly happy endings of Parks & Rec or even Parenthood (those would’ve made no sense on the bloody sarcastic Justified), but everyone seemed to get the endings they deserved. Raylan finally made it to Miami to be reunited with his one true love, vanilla ice cream, and be an actual father to genetically blessed Willa (in my dreams she will attend all the same local catholic schools as me), but he lost his beloved hat and Winona along the way. Ava finally got away from Harlan and the criminal life she proved ill suited for but had to give up millions and end up scraping by on the run from the law, constantly looking over her shoulder in middle of nowhere central California, all while raising the biggest reminder of her past a pint sized Boyd Crowder look alike who enjoys digging and buttoning up shirts all the way to the top. Boyd, betrayed by the love of his life, with an unknown offspring in the world, was back in prison doing what he always did best, preaching to a flock of followers and at least just briefly shooting the shit with his fellow miner/shadow-self/soulmate lawman. Loretta Mcreedy inherits the land, and it was all as perfect as I could ever wish for. 

2) Burt Snakehole Ludgate Karate Dracula Macklin Demon Jack-o-Lantern Dwyer Ludgate. Like Justified, the nearing end injected the final season of Parks & Rec with new life. The final episode took the season’s big time jump to even bigger heights, showing us where every single character (even Craig) ends up through out the years of their lives. All of them got near perfect happy endings, but would we want anything else from the Pawnee Parks crew? We needed to see all these people we came to love so much having love, success, family, and warm fuzzy feelings because that was Parks & Rec. I’m pretty sure a Knoppe-Wyatt White House is the future salvation this country needs.

3) Amber and Jason Street forever. A baby, a wedding, a death, a baseball game, and a future of graduations, Christmases, family dinners, and even more Bravermans together and seemingly happy. Some of it may have been too neat, too sappy, too Parenthood? It was a finale true to the show. And like everything that came before it made me cry like a colicky baby.

The TV landscape feels a bit empty now. Yes there’s still Game of Thrones, but I’ve read the books and that show is getting less and less fun (if it was ever fun). The Americans is a masterpiece but it’s so heavy and, at least for me, hard to watch. There is none of Mad Men’s strange brand of surrealistic humor (that could often make that show the funniest TV of week, or at least the most memorably amusing: Roger and Peggy’s recent vermouth fueled organ playing-roller skating party for instance) or have Justified’s delicious use of language. I still love what Louie is doing but it’s not laugh out loud funny most of the time and will never give me the feels of Parks & Rec. Jane the Virgin is a beautiful piece about a family that at least through language, culture, and setting actually resembles my own (although I’d argue that Parenthood’s Bravermans were probably Cuban based solely on the amount of relatives that showed up to every event and hospital waiting room) but it’s yet to produce the emotional catharsis that Katims the tear collecting demon could. Instead, the 2 (both “new”) shows I get most excited about are also 2, like Parenthood, that through at least creators are closely related to shows in my all time pantheon: the second-coming of Veronica Mars that is iZombie and the Breaking Bad prequel Better Call Saul. Now I guess that means Weiner, Yost, Schur, and Katims need to get back to making that TV for me (wouldn’t complain about Saul like spinoffs centered around Sally Draper, Loretta Mcreedy, April and Andy, and Amber Holt either).

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Emmy 2013 FYC: Best Actress Drama

Tatiana Maslany as Sarah Manning, Alison Hendrix, Cosima Niehaus, Helena, Katia Obinger, Beth Childs..., Orphan Black (BBC America)

In a fair world Tatiana Maslany would not just be getting one Emmy nomination but several nominations scattered across the lead, supporting, and guest actress categories for the same program, Orphan Black. Distressingly, this isn't a fair world and despite a well deserved Critics' Choice win, TCA nomination, and performance(s) that fall nowhere short of brilliant chances are the Maslany will go ignored by the academy because she performs her mastery on a (horrors) sci-fi low-rated low-budget foreign co-production that airs on a "non-prestige" little watched cable network. 

If as predicted Maslany goes ignored by the Emmys it may be one of the biggest travesties the travesty-laden awards commit. On Orphan Black Maslany is giving 4 to 9 of the best performances on television. Not only is the technicality in her playing of 4 to 9 characters/clones, that often share screen time and interact only with each other, some sort of masterful witchcraft (and probably makes her the hardest working girl on television), but the distinctiveness, depth, and humanity she imbues in each variation is awesome in the truest sense of the word. 

Individually as Sarah, Alison, Cosima, Helena, etc Maslany consistently knocks it out of the park  with nautralistic performances that mark each different character through small nuances and distinct physicality that never appear over the top. However, its in those moments where one of Maslany's characters/clones impersonate another that her true mastery appears. It shows the way you can tell when Alison is Alison or when its Sarah as Alison because the imitative qualities are spot on without being unbelievable or over the top, or the way that Sarah's British accent (not Maslany's own) slips through when she's startled or stressed while impersonating Canadian Beth. 

Public take notice, Emmys should really too, Tatiana Maslany is the next big thing and she's giving some hellishly great performances on Orphan Black. In the hands of a lesser actress this show would utterly fall apart into an unwatchable mess (see Ringer), but Maslany brings it and more. In fact, Maslany's work has left this fan wondering what would've been if she'd been the lead of Whedon's Dollhouse instead of Eliza Dushku-- I'm thinking that show (which towards the end especially was already pretty good) would have come close to a masterpiece. 

Episodes Ripe For Submission:

(really every episode probably) 

"Variations Under Domestication"- Maslany's comical side gets to show up and have a ball every time we get to spend some time with Alison in the suburbs, and when Alison's paranoia spins out of control and Sarah and her drama join the party the hijinks rampant up resulting in the most entertaining of results. But its suggested submission  comes because of Maslany's work as Sarah being Alison. Standing side-by-side, not talking, barely moving, looking nearly identically (ie: little make-up or wardrobe aid at differentiation) its still clear which is truly Alison and which is merely Sarah impersonating Alison, merely by posture and stance-- a technical wonder really. Moreover, Maslany nails the imitative tics Sarah would have playing Alison without ever going over the top.

"Unconscious Selection"- Helena, Helena, Helena somewhere along the way Maslany took what seemed like the most problematic character, the Ukrainian (accent troubles) homicidal religious nut clone, and turned her into someone insanely watchable and strangely endearing. Also this episode features a fierce show of emotions from Maslany as Sarah after daughter Kira has been struck by car, a crushing break-up scene as betrayed Cosima, and some comical repression and rage as interventioned Alison. Also, those Alison-Felix scenes are pure joy to watch.

"Endless Forms Most Beautiful"- Add yet another clone, yet another accent, yet another hairdo to the mix: icy pro-clone Rachel Duncan with her posher English accent and perfect blonde bob, and more heartwrenching emotional beats for Maslany to excel at: Helena finding out about their science-y birth and twinsieness (creepiest: "sestra"), desperate Sarah being questioned by Art, Allison going over the edge as she stands by and lets Aynsley die in a moment tinged with dramatic irony of a later reveal, Helena failing to act as Sarah, Sarah and Helena's emotional face-off (talk about acting against yourself), Cosima's face when she realizes that they're considered property, or Sarah's desperation when she finds Kira gone-- the episode is literally bursting with great moments showing the range and power of Maslany. 

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Here's my $35, Every Bill Says "Veronica Mars is Smarter Than Me"

The second I saw the announcement of the Veronica Mars Movie kickstarter this morning I gleefully opened up my wallet, or Amazon account, and pledged the $35 I, a broke ass law student, could afford. I did so without thought, pause, or hesitation. I didn't even stop to notice the wonderful video on the project page or read Rob Thomas’s lovely description or even fully read through all the potential donation rewards (albeit by that point the $10k pledge speaking role reward was already taken). Throughout the day I watched with delight as the fundraising ticker began to rise, to $1 million within five hours of the posting and currently, as of 7:30pm EST, to nearly $1.8 million.

My enthusiasm about seeing Veronica Mars actually come back stopped me from thinking about the possible icky reality of what this all meant—that we, as fans, are essentially putting up the risk money for a multi-billion dollar corporation, Warner Brothers, to reward off. Yes this project is wonderful in that we as fans are actively participating in making something we want that otherwise would not be getting made. However, it also poses a potentially dangerous precedent where studios may be perversely incentivized to refuse to take a risk funding projects fans are passionate about but will have no hesitation reaping the rewards off of the risk those passionate fans put in. Because make no mistake, this is not a DIY project. For Rob, Kristen, and the rest of the cast this may be a labor of love they're putting their time into on the cheap, but for Warner, all they see is returns without risk.

Yet at the same time I still think this is a great worthy exercise. Why? Because the bottom-line is that this is the only way this thing is likely getting made. Its taken this long and no one has bitten. Warner Brothers has not itself backed the Veronica Mars Movie yet because it just was not willing to take the risk, and all our yells are not going to convince it that this small but cult adored failed show is worth resurrecting. We needed to put our money where our mouths were if we ever hoped to see Mars crack another case and check in on epic LoVe. 

On the flip side of the preserve incentives this project could create, it also has the chance of putting a dent into the studio grip and/or mentality over/about what gets made. While this time our efforts might well go into making Warner richer (although its doubtful it’ll be that much richer, we’re not talking The Avengers here), it is also the audience taking control in actively choosing what is being produced and damn it if that doesn’t excite me. This is another step beyond “saving” Fringe or Friday Night Lights or whatever from cancellation or getting Netflix to resurrect Arrested Development, this is fans saying “this is something I want to see so much I’ll make it happen myself.” That is a prospect that is in and of itself thrilling.

Audiences have always taken the risk the studios reward off in a sense, you buy tickets they cash in. This may be a grander version of that, however its also placing more control in our hands into what that goes into funding. Unlike your ticket money your kickstarter pledge isn't going into funding the next Adam Sandler movie you never want to see, its going into giving you what you actually want. Who’s got the power? We got the power. It may not be independent in the traditional way we think kickstarter projects should be, but it reeks of the independent spirit of telling the studio “don't tell me what I want to see, let me tell you!”

Veronica Mars the Movie along with Joss Whedon’s self-funded passion project Much Ado About Nothing pose exciting prospects for those of us who actually want to see good stuff continue being made. The rich will get richer regardless, at least in this case we’re actually being given something we want out of the screwed up social arrangement we have with the entertainment industry. This is the era of On Demand, and sometimes you just need to put in a little more work to get what it is you demand but at least this shows that we can and will get it.

I just hope any profits are delivered to Warner in the form of dollar bills that say “Veronica Mars is Smarter Than Me.”

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Let the speculating begin! Doppelgangers, cops, planes?!? What is this Fringe or Vampire Diaries? Whatever can't wait til April 7!

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The Vampire Diaries teaches us all how to make Atlanta look like New York, just hand an extra a Duane Reade bag. 

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My TV Valentines

7) Jesse Pinkman (Breaking Bad) 

No I don't have a thing for meth making loserish former addicts who’ve murdered, but I do have a thing for the wounded sarcastic. The ones who hide softness and pain behind tough verbal puffery. The ones who've been called "loser" "useless" "stupid" so much they believe it even if it isn't actually true. I like those boys on TV that have been beaten down, called not good enough, even when they've shown time and again they are (see also Pacey Witter, Tim Riggins, James Sawyer, Wade Kinsella, Spike), Jesse may be the most extreme example of this type but I love him for it nonetheless, also Aaron Paul's looks don't hurt the cause. Ok, so maybe this is 75% attributable to Aaron Paul, I'm only human. Plus who can resist Jesse's child-like enthusiasm about seemingly everything? Odd enthusiasm maybe my all time favorite trait of anything. 

6) Deacon (Nashville)

Mysterious, dark, wounded, healing, time bomb, emotionally unavailable (unless your name is Rayna Jaymes), pining his whole life away for a woman, and oh yeah he plays guitar and sings pretty songs… hello where do I sign? See this entire list and beyond for my type distilled: emotionally wounded, destructive, devoted, tendencies to fall into deep hopeless love they kinda never fall out of, oh yeah and usually handy with a tune. If Deacon were more sassy and sarcastic he’d be climbing closer to the near top of this list (Charles Esten is not Josh Jackson so that’ll always hold him back a bit).

4) & 5) Stefan Salvatorre and Klaus Mikaelson (The Vampire Diaries)

If there’s one show I am allowed to have multiple valentines it's the Vampire Diaries, it was hard enough choosing two (sorry Jeremy’s arms you almost made the cut). This show is too full of my type: handsome, brooding, sarcastic, devoted, dark, wounded, self-destructive men with chiseled jaws, soulful eyes, and toned physiques (and bitching flashback hair), who seem bad but are capable of extraordinary love to be able to be like “that one!” And on this show that “that one” is also constantly changing. If season 1-2 you would’ve told me that Stefan would be making this list over Damon I would’ve looked at you like you might have head trauma, a similar look would’ve been given if you would’ve told me that a character played by Joseph Morgan (who I back in my Hex fandom days referred to as “awful useless Troy the Lion boy”—sorry Joe you at the time had mad stupid hair and clothes and were sharing the screen with the eternal picture of perfection Michael Fassbender) would be making this list. Yet here we are at TVD season 4 and its not the piercing blues of Damon nor the torso of Tyler that I want to be mine this Valentine’s day, but Elena-less Stefan and Caroline-pinning Klaus. Getting rid of Elena and jumping in bed with Rebekah has done wonders for Stefan, and his whole new sassiness has made me do the opposite of his ex and ditch his brother for him. As for Klaus, I mean I get it Caroline is the greatest, and I am a softie for bad boys who’s tough exterior begins to chip for a girl as awesome as Caroline. Give me ironic DJ Stefan playing the Cure’s “lovesong” or teaching me the Breakfast Club slide or pinning monkeys to me. Give me Klaus drawing me snowflakes (and horsesies, though that was last season), serving up champagne, and feeding me his blood to save me after some rash stupidity. Elena can keep Damon’s creepy sire bond for herself.

3) Oliver Queen (Arrow)

Who doesn’t love a literally and nonliterally wounded reformed bad boy with mommy issues (Moira did recently shoot him) who’s turned to vigilante Robin Hood-ism and is gallantly pining from a distance for his former love who he’d done wrong to, letting her try to cobble together happiness even if with his bestie, and then having fun flirty banter times with a nerd/computer wiz? Not me that’s for sure. Throw in some being an amazingly perfectly sweet big brother, oozing charisma, and Stephen Amell’s abs (particularly when they’re shown off in weird gymnastics high bar routines) and I call this LOVE (bonus points for his flashback hair and taste in eyeshadow). Ollie, you have not done this city/girl wrong.

2) Wade Kinsella  (Hart of Dixie)

To paraphrase George Carlin “Fuck George Tucker, George Tucker sucks.” Season 1 made me red in the face screaming every time Zoe pinned after the boring pointless George Tucker while Wade was around being sexy, precious, and perfect. Ok maybe my definition of perfect is totally nonsensical because it involves the opposite of common perfection, lots of charming flaws. Yes Wade is very flawed, and some of those flaws may not be super charming, like the lack of cultural interests (really demolition derby for a date?), the man sluttiness, the lack of cash, etc. But have you seen his abs? Seriously have you? Also he has a huge heart, a ridiculous grin, and when the fiendish man slut is pinning after you, how does one resist that? Zoe made the right choice, and I will repeat it, Wade make me a whiskey based drink and be mine?

1) Pacey Witter (Dawson's Creek) Peter Bishop (Fringe)

The man can rock a peacoat (and I look good in winter wear too). I know Fringe is technically off the air, but it was on it a mere month ago so it totes counts as current, and how could I dare have a valentines list without some version of Pacey Witter Josh Jackson topping it? And not just because of the actor playing him, but Peter was a bit of a view into a grown up Pacey: a wanderer with some serious daddy issues, masking emotional wounds behind a gruff sarcastic exterior, who falls madly in love with an emotionally closed off lady who becomes his home and inspiration. Sure, there are things end of the Fringe run Peter did that could’ve jeopardize his place on this list, you know like implanting observer tech into his head and closing himself off from emotion and Olivia in the name of revenge, but the reason he did that stupid thing (for his baby Etta) and the way he ended it are what guaranteed him this spot. To me there is little sight better than that near final scene of Peter playing in the park with that fat cheeked adorbale baby Etta. Josh Jackson, put a baby in me!--- ermm, sorry, Peter Bishop be my valentine. 

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This Season So Far on the Vampire Diaries

So one of my friends apparently has a life that caused her to fall way behind on Vampire Diaries this season (so glad I don't have one of those) and asked me for a Gchat recap the transcript of which I now share with all of you potentially interested readers (mind you there are gaps ok, its by no means perfection, I'm going straight from memory...also she'd seen the early episodes of the season. Oh and Ieft out all mentions of April, because really, snooze).

you saw elena become a vampire right?

well she's the boringest 

and has turned Damon boring 

so i told you her and damon are together now?

but shes technically sorta "sired" to him ala the hybrids were to klaus (yes past tense important) 

caroline was the one who figured out elena was sired to damon 

cos you know shes all "TEAM STEFAN!"

and noticed that elena could only drink human blood cos damon said she should

and stuff like that whenever damon suggested something elena did it 

which is plain ol creepy 

but damon tried to break the bond, we're not certain it worked 

stefan is bitter 

and said this awesome thing the other day when elena was all "me me me, why are you acting like this? this isnt you" and he's like "yeah, you had just never seen me not in love with you"

shes also rly pissed cos stefan is sleeping with rebekah 

rebs is such a sad character, she just wants to be a normal teenage girl and human and find love, i love her 

so while all of this is going on 

there's this "vampire cure" legend 

and the map to the cure takes the form of invisible tattoos that appear on the body of  a "Hunter" (there's 7 of them at any time, when one dies another is called but until he completes his transition, aka kills a vampire, the vampire that killed him is tortured/driven crazy by visions/hallucinations) 

so elena accidentally killed a hunter (her one and only kill thus far) and was driven nuts 

until they figured out that low and behold Jeremy was a potential hunter

so they had Jeremy kill one of klaus's hybrids and voila (also he tries to kill Elena, has to roomie up with Matt, they train in a cabin with Damon and its all very homoerotic)

but that hybrid killing thing widened the chasm btwn caroline and tyler

bc tyler and this werewolf hayley were helping all the hybrids break their sire bond to klaus and theyd form kinda a pack (tyler is the alpha, he's really stepped it up as hero boy this season to devastating results)

and caroline was the one who convinced klaus to sacrifice one of his hybrids to activate jeremy 

so caroline and klaus were actually growing closer and have lovellyy flirt moments

that is until klaus found out about the mass unsiring of his hybrids at the hands of tyler and killed every last one of them (except tyler) and then to really torture tyler killed tyler's mom (town lost another mayor)...t was a rly fucked up scene set to xmas music no less

so backtrack the reason hayley was helping tyler unsire the hybrids (12 of them) and then sold them out to klaus for killing was that she was working with this creepy shady professor shane 

who is coaching bonnie in magicks

cos he wants to rise this old immortal witch, silas, who is mystically buried with the cure

so in order to do so he needs bonnie at full magical strength (gotta be a bennett witch)

so he tapped into these dark magicks called expression 

which required 12 humans to be scarificed (the town council that blew up in the premiere, he was behind that) 

and now bonnie's got sick powers

and is kinda dark, just in time for her dad to show up (as interim town mayor) and actually play parent on this show

meanwhile, kol not wanting to rise silas (cos hes terrified of him, says he'll bring the end of the world, while shane just says silas will raise the dead, hence his interest, his wife and kid died) 

compelled damon to kill jeremy 

so damon got locked in the dungeon 

and jeremy killed kol (in a brilliant elena plan that oddly worked thanks to bonnies dad putting vervain in the town water suppy) 

and so because that led to sooo many vampires dying, jeremy's full hunter tattoo revealed itself-- MAP!

(ps it was a hilarious ridic moment where he tore off his shirt hulk style)

and now theyre off to find the cure 

also klaus is locked in a mystical cage in the gilbert living room after going into a rage attack when jeremy killed kol.

But you know he has to be let out before April (the month not the awful character who I left out of this recap cos she's pointless) when the backdoor pilot for his spin-off, Originals, happens and likely Elijah comes back, praise the heavens moarrr Elijah!

the endish-- tonight they go hiking/camping in search of the that cure 

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Alias Reunion! I wonder if they'd invite Vartan to the televised scripted version? Come on Abrams this should take precedence over Star Wars.

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FRINGE - Thank You (by FoxBroadcasting)

I still haven't been able to express my feelings on last week's finale, except to say that it made me cry more than a spoiled toddler and the more I think about that very last image the more I think I absolutely love it. Peter and Walter's little tape scene may have broke my heart, and this little "thanks/goodbye" tape from the cast isn't helping mend it. I'll miss them. BRING JOSH JACKSON BACK TO MY TV ASAP! (cue an "I don't wanna wait" joke).

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Get ready for me running around screaming "DRAPER ME!" cos Mad Men returns April 7th! And with the times all a changing and these promo picts prominently featuring my favorite Sally Draper too, I couldn't be more excited. 

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Its So Hard to Say Goodbye, Let's Remember the Really Good Times

Here we are, Friday January 18, 2013, mere hours away from the final 2 hours of Fringe. Letting go of this powerful weird sometimes frustrating usually beautiful little show is going to be hard, and plenty of tears will be shed a long the way. However, while we may mourn the fact that our Fridays will no longer involve trips to alternate universes, lessons about psychadelic drugs, sidetracks into animation and song, and spending quality time with the Bishop clan and their peoples, let's also take a moment to reflect on how lucky we were to have had 5 seasons, 100 episodes, to fall in love with these people and these worlds. Lets not forget all ever constant looming threats of cancellation, the low ratings, the move to Fridays, the benching, so we can appreciate that Fox gave this odd odd show the chance to properly come to a plan end (this style of thinking also lessens the pain about the fact that its ending at all). Lets be glad we were given a chance to  fall in love with Fringe. I will forever cherish this show that crawled under my skin like a genetically mutated worm, despite not thinking much of it at first glance, abandoning for a bit, only to come back when it was close to wrapping its second season to discover it had turned into something marvelous. So to say goodbye, I'm taking a trip down memory lane (no LSD or sensory deprivation tank required), recalling my favorites of Fringe's prior 98 episodes.

19) "One Night in October" (Season 4, Episode 2)

What mark do people leave on us? Can one person truly change your life? Fringe was a great show because its mysteries didn't just make us think about the world of the show but our own. And one of its finest moments was introducing us to two men, two very similar men, with the same background, upbringing, and looks, some may say the same man in 2 different universes, one ended up a serial killer, the other did not. Why did he not? Because of one night in October when a woman name Marjorie indelibly changed his life. 

18) "Black Blotter" (Season 5, Episode 9)

This could be in here for that trippy out of nowhere monty python animation scene alone, that made you question if you were on acid. But what makes this episode truly spectacular is one marvelous final scene where Walter stares down past, as scenes from "Peter" are beautiful project on the walls of the room around. The fact that John Noble will remain Emmy-less at the end of all of this is the biggest crime of all. 

17) "Everything in its Right Place" (Season 4, Episode 17)

  We lose one Lincoln Lee, but another finds his place in this crazy multiverse. All while asking how the littlest things make us who we are.

16) "Short Story About Love" (Season 4, Episode 15)

Yeah a love wizard did it, and you know what? I love that. Fringe's is giant heart has maybe never been gooier than it was here, but that heart is one of the things that always set this show apart and made it extra special. So yeah some people, like JH Wyman, want to fill the world with silly love stories, well what is wrong with that? (oh yeah and a guy makes perfume from lovers' skins).

15) "Letters of Transit" (Season 4, Episode 19)

Back to the future, and its 2036 and the world is run by Observers. There's an intrepid blonde Fringe agent doing things, but she ain't Olivia Dunham. Why was Walter in amber? Where's Peter? Where's Olivia? Who's this Etta? What? Huh? I kinda don't care this is fantastic. Worlds meet Henrietta "Etta" Bishop Dunham, yeah those are her parents.

14) "There's More Than One of Everything" (Season 1, Episode 20)

BAM there's another universe! Hello Olivia, yeah you're meeting the enigmatic William Bell (Leonard Nimoy) and you wanna know why it was so hard to score this face to face meeting? HE DOESN'T LIVE IN THIS UNIVERSE. Oh yeah and you can travel there because of those experiments Walter did on you as a kid in Jacksonville. And in one shot of the twin towers this show went from being CSI with monstrous to something truly epic. 

13) "Entrada" (Season 3, Episode 8)

  "He fell into her vagenda." 

12) "Subject 13" (Season 3, Episode 15)

1985 was a great year, not just because I was born, but Olivia and Peter met in a field of white tulips. I don't mind being ret-conned into this encounter.

11) "Worlds Apart" (Season 4, Episode 18)

"The universe is change. Our life is what our thoughts make it." -- Marcus Aurealis speaking through Walternate. It was oh so hard to close the bridge and say goodbye those once interlopers we grew to love. Missing them more than we could ever know.  

10) "The Plateau" (Season 3, Episode 3)

Artificially hyper intelligenced man calculates all possible futures and bests the super skilled and resourced Fringe Division? No not Season 5, just a day for OurOlivia playing Bolivia on the otherside, and what a day. Someone not being who someone imagined and not knowing protocol can change everything. Humans, we're such variables. 

9) "Brown Betty" (Season 2, Episode 19*/20)

A noir musical, yes please. Setting off the trend of weird wacky Fringe 19th episodes (albeit wackily in the technically 20th episode due to some scheduling funk) in the best possible way: featuring singing corpses.  

8) "An Origin Story" (Season 5, Episode 5)

Peter did a bad bad thing. The sins of the father become the sins of the son, only slightly different. Oh what grief does to us. 

7) "The Firefly" (Season 3, Episode 10)

Choice, action, responsibility, letting go, sacrifice, theses are the lessons Walter Bishop must learn in order to make amends for his past destructive actions. Actions that not only destroyed the universe, but caused others to hurt in very similar ways he had when he first undertook those actions. And great guest performance from Mr. Back to the Future himself.

6) "The Bullet that Saved the World" (Season 5, Episode 4)

Goodbye Etta Bishop, we hardly knew you. Worse yet your parents hardly knew you. And really it was noble for the world for you to sacrifice yourself like that (you are Olivia's kid, ugh) but really couldn't you stop and think about how your parents had been through enough? Like really you met your dad, did you think he was just gonna go on trying to save the world after you died? This the same man who almost got killed just to get you a stupid jewelry chain you broke, and then said it was worth it. Or your oh so damaged mother who was finally accepting that you were real and she could love you? Damn your death hurt me, probably because how it hurt them. At least we got to see Broyles again. Windmark, considered yourself marked for a slow painful death.

5) "And Those That We've Left Behind" (Season 4, Episode 6)

What would you do to have more time with those that you love? How much destruction would you cause? Do our memories make us who we are? Is someone the same person you loved even if they cannot remember you or your time together? These are the questions at the heart of Fringe, and never have they so beautifully been asked in one episode via some marvelous freak of the week guest stars, Stephen Root and his real life wife Romy Rosemont. 

4) "Over There Parts 1 & 2" (Season 2, Episodes 22 and 23)

Zepelins in the sky, JFK reaching old age, Red Lantern, Dodgers in New York, welcome to not here. And meet your doppelgangers! Walternate, Bolivia, AliveCharlie, Austrid, Capt. Broyles, and that guy. Wait who are you fringe guy we've never met before? Oh hi Lincoln Lee nice to meet you, sorry you burn up, oh its cool you recover. Damn otherside your environment may suck and the world may be crashing down on you but damn your technology is good, probably thanks to the fact that nerd culture is like apparently super strong there. Also Peter and Olivia kiss. Bell sacrifices himself. And Fauxlivia replaces OurLivia. 

3) "White Tulip" (Season 2, Episode 18)

You wanted a sign that this show was destined for greatness? That it would continue down the line "Peter" had taken it into something entirely different than a monster freaky procedural? Well here's your white tulip. 

2) "Marionette" (Season 3, Episode 9)

In its 5 seasons Fringe gave us some truly creepy bone-chilling images, but none stuck in my mind so strongly as that mad sad Dr. Frankenstein-esque man reviving the dead ballerina he had fallen for. Fringe's freak of the weeks always worked best when they acted as a mirror for Walter: brilliant sad damaged people who did bad things without being motivated by truly bad intentions (be it love, grief, etc). But "Marionette" didn't get this spot for having a great freak of the week, a solid tie to the overarching themes of the series, and some really creepy images, instead its primarily here at #2 because of one knock-out performance from Anna Torv. Poor Olivia returned from the otherside to find out that not only did her absence go unnoticed but that Peter shacked up with her doppelganger and liked it (despite admittedly noticing and consciously ignoring signs that she wasn't OurOlivia), and Torv perfectly played the emotion in such a way that one grimace on her face made you actually feel the crippling pain from Peter's gut punch revelations.

1) "Peter" (Season 2, Episode 16) 

Although "Peter" came towards the end of Season 2 of the series it is truly where the series I love truly began. Where Fringe shed its procedural binds, and dared to dazzle us with a breathtaking masterstroke of a flashback episode, featuring stunning performances from John Noble and Orla Brady (Elizabeth Bishop), that should go down as one of the best hours of television in past 5 years. The story of Fringe really did begin in 1985 when the brilliant scientist Dr. Walter Bishop, stricken with grief over the loss of his son Peter, decided to console himself by observing his doppelganger from an alternate universe, Walternate, work on the cure for his Peter, stricken by the same illness that claimed this universe's Peter. Walternate found the cure, but did not know it due to being distracted by our curious Observer hero September. September wanted to watch the important moment, but it was our Walter who did not miss it and decided he would open a door to the otherside in order to make sure at least one Peter survived in the multiverse. Walter's well-intentioned move resulted in much badness as not only did he end up kidnapping the other Peter but also the door weakened the fabric of the worlds (or something) making physics go kreflewy. The move on our side allowed science to be messed with a crazy levels creating our "fringe invents, and severely damaging the otherside brewing a war between the worlds. All because some boy (possibly Peter) "must live."  

[thewatcherscouncil7-blog-blog]

This season on the Amazing Race: species of all kinds team up to find a cure for vampirism.

Team I Want Your Sword, I Want Your Hunter (aka Team Lovestruck aka Damon and Klaus) or Team Sad (aka Team Emily Throne aka revenge seekers Rebekah and Stefan, Rebefan if you will), I can’t choose. I’m definitely not rooting for Team Expression Requires Human Sacrifice, but it’s Totes NOT Dark Magicks (aka Team dumbass Bonnie and Prof McShaderson). Fuck it, are Matt and Jeremy their own Team Homoerotic? If so I’m rooting for them.

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Last Fringe Friday. Last chance to use this brilliant gif that has brought me so much joy. Last outing with the Bishops. It's just gonna be #AlltheTears tonight isn't it? Fringe wouldn't let us go any other way and I wouldn't want it to. The end's not near its here, and oh how bittersweet that is.

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There are some super advanced anti-aging treatments on the otherside. If Peter was more season1 like he’d bring some of that shit over here and make a killing. You made the right universe choice Lincoln Lee, I don’t think there was an observer invasion on your side, it seems like you got the girl with the now fab feathered hair (as opposed to the one with the flat hair who looks like she’s been steamrollered over), and it doesn’t look like either one of you have been traumatized by the horrifying murder of your daughter who you'd been separated from for over 20 years. Otherside wins. I’m sure the otherside gets Fringe for like another 3 seasons too, ugh they just get to have it all.

[thewatcherscouncil7-blog-blog]

XoXo Lonely Boy

I'm not gonna get too far into the hilariously awful yet oddly really satisfying Gossip Girl series finale, mostly because I don't have time and having quit the show ages ago (only half keeping up by reading those great Vulture recaps) I don't think I'm qualified to say much on it anyhow. But here's a light image-heavy recap/review, highlighting my favorite moments of that terribly awesome finale. 

My favorite moment of course was that crazy weird montage that preceded the revelation that none other than the ultimate insider* Dan Humphrey was Gossip Girl. But of course I wasn't gonna accept any revelation that didn't involve the best character in the short history of the CW channel, Veronica Mars, and I wasn't let down. Kristen Bell's cameo, with an assist from Rachel Bilson, was a thing of beauty.

(*umm wasn't it Gossip Girl who called him that too? Talk about self-involved, and you know self-loathing with the "lonely boy" and self-sabotaging every relationship in his life and and wow he has issues, no wonder S married him) 

Ya, you read right DAN. 

(I choose to believe that Dan Humphrey hired Veronica Mars to do the dirt digging and keep up the Gossip Girl site for him, she really needed the cash to pay back her Hearst student loans, the FBI isn't that lucrative folks and Logan's trust fund is dwindling in part thanks to all those room service buffalo burgers and you know he's unemployed)

My second favorite moment came at the very end, when 5 years into the future Dan apparently marries Serena. Not that the wedding is what matters but I really kinda loved Serena's dress so here's a picture: 

(*OF COURSE she'd wear gold, I'm just surprised her legs are covered, not even a slit on that. Also just me or how much does Blake Lively look like a younger more spruced up Anna Torv? Like more than creepy Etta) 

Ok back to my second favorite part that involved the Dan-Serena marriage. No, sadly it was not an appearance by the half-sibling that they grossly share, although I so wish he had been there. Unlike Jenny and Eric who I couldn't care less about, seriously I may care less about Eric than I do about him when he's living above a bar in the Hamptons going by the name Declan Porter. But you know who was at the wedding that I absolutely cared about?!?

  LISA LOEB Humphrey!!! That's right kids Lisa Loeb is the 3rd or 5th or I've lost track Mrs. Rufus Humphrey! And it was awesome.

Oh yeah also Georgina found her true love in Jack Bass, and they were oddly adorable.

And RELAX Chair happened. Yes Chuck and Blair got away with murder AND got married in Central Park. It was all very romantic, ending in handcuffs (formal photography provided by Serena's iphone):

AND five years later they had released a Satanic spawn on the world: 

Poor Darota will never get out of her indentured servitude arrangement. 

Oh yeah and Nate got a jet and people apparently wanted him to run for mayor and shit.

That reminds me Bloomberg also made a cameo in the Dan (LOL still not over it) as Gossip Girl reveal, along with Bilson, Bell, and the female cast of Arrow (yes I get that Kate Cassidy and Willa Holland were both prevsies UES-ers Juliette and Agnes respectively, I actually hadn't given up on the show yet turning their tenures).