Finale season has started.
Yeah, I know Supergirl has yet to wrap it up, but Arrow, The Flash and dare I say, Lucifer, have had their season finale and I just felt I had to talk about it already. I used to have Lucifer as a Series Issues mainstay so I’m sad to see that series go, but as much potential as they had this last season has been off and on for me. Let’s start with the heroes first.
Arrow did manage to find its mark a couple of times. The idea of bringing the human shield to impersonate Tommy Merlyn wasn’t half bad. They literally gutted the team up to bring it together at the last minute. There was a sacrificial lamb for the end, and it ended up being Quentin Lance. The Lance family has always been in the bad end of the the arrowhead since day one, and Quentin has suffered too much. It has been nothing but heartfelt performances every time by Paul Blackthorne. It also illustrates how dark the series has gone that season finales just bring more suffering than victory.
Even The Flash has adopted that same suffering model. Casual and light not only used to be the flags of this show but also bright and FUN. Sorry, not even Cisco’s pun save this series from being overly dramatic sometimes. The final battle with The Thinker ends up happening in his brain, very a-la-Matrix in more aspects than one. Marlize Devoe ends up siding with Team Flash. It was all a little too much power-of-friendship rally and not enough tactical. Yes, I am still pissed that we didn’t even get Killer Frost. The Thinker was boring as hell, the whole face-swapping deluded the identity of the enemy we’re supposed to love to hate and the dull voice of DeVoe was putting me to sleep.
You know how Hugo Weaving made his voice intentionally patronizing and drone-like as Agent Smith in The Matrix? It had an annoyance and superiority to it that you couldn’t help but hate, but it also was a sarcastic tone that parodied that teacher-parent-priest-grownup tone that all teenagers could make fun of. Imagine someone trying to make that tone believable and still sound smart. That was Clifford Devoe. Agent Smith was the entertaining over the top parody, The Thinker was the actually boring AF tone that makes you want to jump out the window. At least we know who Mystery Girl is, or more exactly, we know her name. Obviously the story behind her will have to be explained next season.
Lucifer had a great thing going up until the moment they decided to bring in Tom Welling as Lieutenant Marcus Pierce. You know in the Simpsons when the producers of Itchy and Scratchy decide to reinvigorate the show by bringing in Poochie, a “cool” new character? I think Pierce is Poochie. Then something went haywire with the writing as characters dynamics would change from one scene to another. Maze would hate Linda, Amenadiel went from wise to comic relief, Charlotte went from being interesting to becoming the woman in the fridge. The finale had Charlotte being killed by Pierce and suddenly we’re back in high tension drama again – one episode before the finale.
If Pierce is the big bad in the end, wouldn’t it have made sense to establish him as such for more than a few episodes? If the relationship between Lucifer and Chloe was supposed to be that strong in the finale, shouldn’t have they patched things a while ago? I think the show deserved a lot better writing than this. It’s like everyone suddenly realized they had two episodes to the season finale. I’d Lucifer back, but I also want properly crafted storylines.
I really watch TV for fun. Some drama does add expectations when it’s well written. You know what I hate nowadays about superheroes? The way that everything in their lives has to be turned upside down by the villain. In Arrow, Oliver loses his secret identity, his job, his life, his freedom, all his friends at one point, his secret lair and so forth. Who wants to be a superhero then? Is The Flash going the same route? Perhaps once shows grow up, they believe happy endings are no longer in the cards. I think they should reconsider. Just make sure you’re telling me a good story.
That will do for now.
Never Think Impossible 