Season finales serve a purpose - to provide you with a hook that will get you to watch the next season. They also exist to complete certain storylines and to begin others. Generally speaking, season finales are big episodes - secrets are revealed, mysteries are solved, that couple you really want to get together finally gets together - or they break up. And usually, there will be some cliffhanger - that hook to get you to continue watching.
How did some of the year's most popular and successful shows fare? I'm giving
Gossip Girl, Desperate Housewives and
Grey's Anatomy a report card. Let's see how they measure up.
1.
Gossip Girl Episode Overview: The gang graduates from high school. At the ceremony, Gossip Girl sends out one last blast, targeting Nate, Serena, Blair, Chuck and Dan. Serena swears revenge but when she tries to out GG, GG takes another hit and announces she'll be following them throughout college. Meanwhile, Rufus and Lily get engaged, Blair and Chuck get together, Jenny is designated as next year's Queen Bee, Georgina manipulates her way into becoming Blair's roommate at NYU, Nate and Vanessa decide to go backpacking through Europe, Lily and Rufus's son meets Dan and Serena finds out where her father has been living all this time.
Level of Predicitability: 2.5/5. A lot of things were somewhat surprising, but I could smell the Blair and Chuck reunion a mile away. Plus, I knew GG would never be revealed and I figured Georgina would be back in the picture. Again.
Shock Factor (out of five): This and LoP go hand in hand, but are also seperate. 1.5/5. True, there were a lot of things I didn't see coming, but pretty much all of the surprises were incredibly contrived and came out of nowhere. You'd think that this would be a good thing, but all of the "shocking moments" felt ridiculous. Like the whole Serena's dad thing - if there had been any build-up in any episode, ever, this might have been interesting. But as it stands, it just felt like the writers were scrambling to come up with a cliffie and that was the best they could come up with.
Hanging by the seat of your pants level (out of five): 0/5. There were no intense or dramatic moments to be seen.
Emotional Punches? Not really. I knew Blair would tell Chuck she loved him and that he would reject her. Again.
Writing better than average for this episode? No. It wasn't any worse, though.
Re-Watch Value (out of five): 3/5. It's not an episode I'd skip over if watching the entire season, but I don't want to immediately go back and watch it again.
Amount of build-up for next season? Some. I like the show, obviously, and of course I look forward to the next season, but I don't have the feeling of "oh my god, I can't
wait for September to get here!"
Instant Classic Moments? For me, none. Chuck telling Blair he loves her will be a big moment for a lot of people, but personally, I don't like them together. Or rather, I don't care for them all that much. Plus I'm sure they'll break up and get back together in the near future, so...yeah.
General impression of the episode: It wasn't bad, but it could've been placed at any point of the season. In other words, there was nothing that really seperated it from your average episode - and to be honest, there were other episodes that were better than this one.
Episode grade: C
Additional comments: A big disappointment, actually. This whole season has been a mess of storylines that GG's blast against Blair - revealing she'd slept with Jack - was something I'd forgotten had happened. As a result, its reveal didn't have the impact that I'm sure the writers were hoping for (that coupled with the fact that I knew Chuck and Blair would get back together). I really hope the writers can get it together next year.
2.
Desperate Housewives Episode Overview:
*Gabby and Carlos's teenage niece moves in and is the younger version of Gabby herself.
*Bree wants to divorce Orson, but finds herself in Karl's arms.
*Lynette discovers she's pregnant with twins.
*Susan and MJ are taken by Dave into the woods. Susan discovers that Dave is really David Dash, and he tries to kill them. His plan is foiled when Mike offers to let Dave kill him instead. Dave plots to get Mike to smash into Dave's car and kill MJ, but Dave can't stop picturing his daughter in MJ's place, and lets MJ out of the car. Mike hits Dave, but the impact isn't fatal. Dave is in a mental facility. Mike and Susan kiss.
*Katherine and Mike plan to marry, but Mike sees Dave's video confession before they leave. He leaves Katherine at the airport to save Susan and MJ's lives and she is unaware why he left.
*Mike is seen at the end of the episode marrying a woman whose identity is not revealed.
Level of predicitability (out of five): 2.5/5. I saw the Bree/Karl thing coming, I knew Mike and Susan would kiss/reunite, and I knew that Mike would come save the day. I did not, however, see the Lynette pregnancy coming at all, and I didn't know exactly how the Dave thing would play out.
Shock factor (out of five): 3/5. The pregnancy (twins!) was surprising, and I didn't know how Bree would react to Karl.
Hanging by the seat of your pants level (out of five): 3.5/5. I knew that the Dave situation would work out favourably, but I wasn't sure how it would go down exactly.
Emotional Punches? Yes, some. I felt bad for Susan when she was trying to save herself and MJ, and you know what? I felt pretty darn bad for Dave by the end. The poor guy. It's not excuse for what he's done, but the guy really did lose everything.
Writing better than average for this episode? Not really, but the writing is always pretty solid.
Re-watch Value (out of five): 3/5. Not one of my favourite finales from the show, but it was a good watch.
Amount of build-up for the next season? Some, but not as much as in the past. We usually get a big cliffhanger, or a clue about the next mystery, but not so much in this episode. Though I'm really looking forward to the Bree-Karl storyline, and I want to know who Mike married!
General impressions of the episode? Above average, but also disappointing. On its own, it's a great episode, but it was a bit of a let-down. The show took a different direction this season in that there wasn't much of a mystery. We knew early on that Dave was out to get revenge - it was a matter of time and wondering
how it would go down. As a result, there was no big twist or big reveal like there usually is. I was hoping that we'd get a last-minute twist, but that's not the case. The season was slightly disappointing in that sense, but I guess that's because I still think that my original prediction was awesome: Dave was George Williams's brother coming back to get revenge on Bree. But, no. Have it your way, Marc Cherry.
Episode grade: B. Entertaining, if not what I was expecting.
Additional comments: I totally thought Felicia Tillman was the nurse at the very end. That woman needs to come back to Wisteria Lane, ASAP.
3.
Grey's Anatomy Episode overview:
Derek realizes he can operate on Izzie's tumor, but the surgery may cause her to lose her memories, so she must choose between getting the surgery or hoping for the best. She eventually decides to get the surgery, but signs a DNR, against Alex's wishes. The doctors meet an army kid who inspires George to become a trauma doc over in Iraq. The next day, Izzie wakes up from surgery only to discover that her short-term memory is gone. The crew is shocked and upset when they find out that George is leaving them and decide to stage an intervention to get him to stay. They are distracted when a John Doe comes into to ER, suffering from massive injuries after being hit by a bus in order to save a stranger's life from the same fate. Derek and Meredith sort-of get married, and Bailey elects to stay in general surgery despite getting into the peds program. She decides to leave her husband because he gave her an ultimatum: choose general surgery or he'll leave her. She tells the chief that she left him because of this, and she's only doing general because it will give her more time to be a single mom. Cristina and Owen share a steamy kiss and realize they love each other too much to stay apart. Mark asks Lexie to move in, but she isn't ready, so he decides to buy a house without her. Their relationship may be in jeopardy. Later, Izzie's memory comes back, but as she and Alex start celebrating, she passes out and flatlines. Alex, Cristina, Bailey and the chief try to save her, despite her DNR. At the same time, Meredith realizes that the John Doe is actually George, and as he is rushed into surgery, he flatlines as well. We see a fantasy/alternate reality (heaven, maybe?) that mirrored a scene in the season premiere, with Izzie on an elevator wearing her season two prom dress. The elevator door opens, and there is George in his uniform. They share a smile, but both look a little uncertain. Back on earth, both teams of doctors scramble to save Izzie and George. The episode ends with both of them still flatlining.
Level of predicitability (out of five): 1/5, but only because of media reports of rumours surrounding the show. I figured Cristina and Owen would reunite, but we don't know if they actually do. Everything else - I had no idea it was coming.
Shock factor (out of five): 5/5. Holy. Effing. Eff. The ending was...I just...I...there are no words.
Hanging by the seat of your pants level (out of five): 5/5. The entire episode was a nail-biter.
Emotional punches? Hell yes. I pretty much spent the entire episode in tears, except for the end when I was screaming my head off in a horrified kind of way.
Writing better than average for this episode? I think so.
Grey's is pretty consistent in their writing, but this episode was a little better than others. It was just "more" - more dramatic, more emotional, more suspenseful. They really kicked it up a notch.
Re-watch value (out of five): 5/5. One of those episodes you
want to watch again, mostly for the John Doe/George twist to see the clues you missed the first time around.
Amount of build-up for next season? Maximum. Uh, hello, two of the main (and most beloved) characters' lives are in danger! Of course people are going to tune in.
Instant classic moments? Yup! The Mer-Der "wedding" with Post-It notes was cute, Izzie and Alex saying a possible good-bye before her surgery - and of course, the last five minutes. The John Doe/George big twist reveal will go down in
Grey's history.
General impressions of the episode? Frigging amazing.
Episode grade: A+
Additional comments: Probably the best season finale they've done, even beating out the dead Denny finale (which I thought would never happen). This episode will completely change the history and course of the show. And quite honestly, it's what finales should be. Plus, incredible acting all around.
So, there you have it.
Gossip Girl and
Desperate Housewives may have been a bit of a disappointment, but
Grey's Anatomy surpassed everyone's expectations. To all the people who said
Grey's has jumped the shark: dream on.
