Vella

Oof. This season was a lot of too much, too much, too much and not enough. Too much money, episodes too long, plot too thin, too much plot and not enough character development. So many characters got next to no character development. How many times did Will just stand there in a scene? Dustin, despite his screen time and lines, really got nothing either. Mike got very little, so did Lucas. Jonathan goes with nothing. There was so much that didn't happen. So many opportunities to have characters TALK to each other but instead it was just plot focused so much of the time. It's utterly pathetic that Will and Jonathan were in EVERY episode together but didn't have a relevant conversation with each other until episode 9. That Mike and Nancy couldn't get 15 seconds to reunite and hug each other. That Lucas and Erica didn't get a moment after everything even though she was in Max's hospital room when Lucas was reading out loud. Why not have Lucas finish and before everyone else arrives, they take 2 minutes and connect? Why didn't anyone but Dustin get to react to Eddie's death? Why did it take 9 episodes before Argyle became useful? Why was the El/Hopper reunion so flat? DH/MBB have a great dynamic, so how was that not given the time and energy it deserved? Eleven should have been thunderstruck by his reveal, it should have been way more monumental and emotional. Despite having all these supersized episodes, character content was either not there or squeezed into a tight frame. The Russia plot was easily the biggest drain and entirely pointless. They could have cut half the time, had Hopper, Joyce and Murray stateside by episode 5. The Salt Lake City divergent could have been cut completely and just had the dying agent tell the California crew the coordinates. Jason and the jock squad could have been cut. Yuri could have been cut. The bullying could have been cut. I think Matthew Modine is great, but Brenner should have stayed dead and only used for flashbacks when Eleven was remembering her past with Owens helping her. The wall of videos was right there! The Duffers clearly need someone to steer the ship. Someone to say "cut this down" or "cut this completely" or "bring them back together sooner" or "this is taking too long". They need to go back to the tightness and control of Season 1 and 2. Season 3 is where things started to get out of hand, and it's just gotten worse with Season 4.

It's not, and yet, Natalie didn't just brainstorm that show either. She took the failure of Joplin and simply plugged in elements that would make the taste clusters happy. Keeping the kernel of the mother/daughter concept but making the setting more appealing (Joplin for NYC) and turning it from a gripping, down to earth drama about real family issues into a silly comedy full of wacky hijinks and canned laughter in a cute cupcake shop. Which is fine, except for Sally, Joplin was HER LIFE, it was about her, her identity and self-worth. She spoke so many times about how much the show meant to her and how much was based on her real life. And Natalie KNOWS THIS. That's why Sally is so infuriated. That Sally's own life story is not valued or recognized as having any worth, it has to be put through a grinder and turned into a happy, vacuous, empty thing that might actually be successful.

I have honestly found this season to be the weakest of all 4. Supersizing the episodes has not paid off in the way one would hope. There's been no character growth of any real kind for any of the characters. Max, a bit, and Lucas a bit. Most others just seem to be spinning their wheels and El just seems to be perennially stuck being infantile and victimized by the writers. I am so tired of Eleven crying or whimpering or cowering or having everything about her revolve almost exclusively around her powers. Moving to California for a fresh start and losing her powers could have been a real opportunity for El to grow and start to really find herself. Who is she without her powers? Who is she without living in fear or isolation? Instead, the writers seem to see her only for her powers and little else. Oh, Mike's clingy girlfriend too. Driving her back to Brenner and spending so many episodes reliving her blocked past so she can unlock her powers again was tedious. A lot of the plotting was just tedious and repetitive. Again with the spinning wheels. It's obvious they focused more on the plotting than the characters, but even the plotting was watered down and mostly dull. Nothing very creative or interesting going on, so stories would go off on a tangent to deliberately delay a resolution simply because it was clear that THIS was all the writers planned. Hopper in Russia is a clear example. What should have taken, at best, 3 episodes to resolve instead took 7 supersized episodes to resolve. This was excruciating to watch. The California stuff, oy, was bad. El getting bullied, Jonathan and Will being characters of no real weight again. Joyce disconnected from the kids again before she runs off. Boring. Argyle who seems to only exist to shout incoherently, say dude and drive. The only story of any real interest is the one the writers were obviously the most invested in, the Vecna/Hawkins story. Even though I found the writing for the characters disappointing, the story itself was strong and deepened the lore of Hawkins being a cursed town. Episode 7 connecting One, Vecna, the lab and Eleven was great. It was tight, tension filled and interesting so I have to wonder, why were none of the other stories even remotely as intriguing? Overall, supersizing the episodes was a massive mistake and drawback. Had the episodes been forced to keep to a tight 45-60 minutes, I have a feeling it would have been much stronger. Eddie and the Satanic panic of the 80s was a nice idea, but it really went nowhere. We spend time in a town hall where Jason makes and speech and then...nothing. So many scenes ran too long or should have been cut completely. It took far too long for things to happen. Less would have surely been more. I anticipate episodes 8&9 will be jammed with everything being brought back together, but whatever the result, I hope Season 5 goes back to being lean. The Duffers cannot handle supersizing.

Plus the show did make it clear that Molly is a 2nd chair only and that this is her first case where she's been given this opportunity. Personally, I really want a scene with Molly and ADA Arden where they're going over work and actually talk about the logistics of the case, in terms of what they do have, what they don't have and yes, the optics of the case involving prosecuting a black defendant when the victims are white. GH usually handles issues of racism in a cringey and clunky way, but it would be good for the show to at least acknowledge it.

THIS. He's obviously miserable with his choice, but it would work way better if he was actually secretly planning a double cross of Esme.

I get Molly publicly siding with the DA's position. That's her direct boss standing right there, talking to the defence attorney. Molly isn't going to say anything BUT the partyline, this is the first case she's been asked to 2nd chair in, she's not going to stupidly speak her mind and jeopardize that at all. But it would be really good if she had a follow up scene with TJ or Alexis where she talks about feeling conflicted and with Joss/Cam showing up to support Trina at the bail hearing, it really made her doubt what path the DA was going down.

I think my overall issue is that Joss seemed more in tune with fighting Esme than caring about Trina. I mean, she seemed energized by Trina refusing to come out, like it was something to use to throw at Esme. She was fired UP to go at Esme, it was clear she was scratching an itch she'd felt for a long time. So when the contact high (fighting with Esme) was gone, she just instantly becomes romantic? Cameron at least seemed somewhat upset. Joss was like "whatever, it's just the two of us now". She didn't think to try again with Trina. Also, why would Joss believe Esme about Trina being asleep (and how would Esme know?) when she'd called Esme all sorts of names? If Joss and Cameron actually cared about what happened to Trina (like they both claimed), they would have focused their attention on TRINA, not each other. What's romantic about your best friend being upset, potentially sick and alone in her room? And it wasn't like they got swept up in things, they actively made the choice that TONIGHT was the night. The night there was a huge fight, a friend they cared about left with his pissed girlfriend and their other friend was alone in another room after not feeling well and running from the room in tears. Time for SEX! It was just WEIRD. Especially when they spent their time talking about Esme, and not what Trina said about their friendship and how she felt when Cam/Joss started dating. They didn't even seem bothered by Trina's feelings at all.

God what a terrible, boring, letdown of a show. I've never read the graphic novel it was based on, but CHRIST, it can't be as painfully dull as this show is. The writing is just plain bad, I was just so disappointed that such a potentially interesting idea just goes for the blandest pot each and every time. Like, why can't we watch women realize that the power needs to be kept on (in a scene longer than 15 seconds) and that water needs to be clean and that heat needs to come on and then TRY to figure it out? Women who live on farms raising the alarm about needing to seed, calve, harvest etc? We see women walking around, talking in the background, making decisions but THEY aren't the story. Why not? Why is Kimber the shit disturber a focal point? Why are we spending even one second on a black hole like Hero? The amount of time WASTED on that stupid idiot and his fucking monkey was laughable by the 3rd episode. Like this is what time is spent on? Easily the most boring character in a sea of other boring characters? This is what they envisioned for a world with just women? This is the best that could be conceived? What a waste.

Overall, I really enjoyed it and burned through the episodes in 2 days. There were a few things that didn't quite gel though. There was a weird disconnect between Bosch/Jerry and Billets storyline. I just don't buy that Bosch, at least, wouldn't have offered his help to her. Considering how aware they were regarding the transfers to various areas and talked to her about it, it's odd that a direct attack on Billets would go unchallenged by Bosch. Also, the bit where Jerry slips and mentions the witness felt a bridge too far for me. First, the baddies had the USBs with the video recording. They would have discovered Maddie anyway. Second, it's a bit irritating that rock bottom for Jerry comes in the form of putting Maddie at risk. Not jeopardizing his relationship with HIS kids or HIS job, but rather exposing his partner's kid to danger. That's didn't work for me. Plus, it seems odd to me that Maddie herself didn't remember that she would be readily identifiable on the video. It seems even stranger that Robertson or Bosch didn't even think to ask Maddie if she was ever in the video, especially considering how important her testimony would become. Finally, I really hated how Donna Sobel was fridged. She was 100% brought back to have this barely there romance with Bosch and served ZERO purpose other than to get murdered to hurt Bosch and make him feel deep feelings about her death. I hate it when that happens and this was the only real sore spot for me. Like, she wasn't even allowed to try to be a hero? Try to save her own life? Realize they were going to the courthouse and make an attempt to crash the car and stop the hitman? Anything? Ack. I did enjoy the callbacks to previous supporting characters being brought back here and there throughout the season. That was really well done. I like that Maddie/Honey had bonded so much so that Maddie cried about missing her Mom. I always like the Bosch/Maddie bits, so these moments were great too. I loved his muted response to her application to joining the LAPD. I'm definitely going to watch the spinoff, and I like the idea of Bosch/Maddie working with Honey, but I'll miss seeing the regulars, especially Jerry.

Why is the writing for this show so bad, especially for Mare? I don't mind if someone is unlikable, but when she confronted Frank, she came off 100% like a jealous ex-wife. Why is she so bad at her job? Why can't she do ANY of it in a seemingly professional manner? Getting told extremely important information and then reacting so over the top that she's screeching at him 2ft from his daughter's ears, then invites said daughter into the fiasco and then 15 seconds later she somehow gets shamed back to her own house? He still lied! He was a cop's spouse for how many years but he lied to her face about how well he knew a teenage murder victim? But it's her fault for demanding the truth from him? Like, it's so infuriating how bad they write her. Bad at her job, bad at family, bad at grieving, bad at custody etc. Let me guess, she'll be the main reason Kevin went down the path that led to him committing suicide, and the family is worried she'll make the same mistakes with Drew. Because she's bad at that too.

Overall, I really enjoyed it, but at the same time, including Nina/Matthias and the Crows left the actual Shadow and Bone story malnourished. It basically seemed like the Crows and Nina/Matthias was built on the back of Shadow and Bone. So while the others benefited (for what I am assuming is a Six of Crows spinoff), the Shadow story withered. No real time for Baghra/Alina or Alina/Genya or Zoya or Darkling/Baghra or truly develop Mal/Alina and Darkling/Alina because they're only getting half the time to tell the story instead of ALL the time. Instead there's barely any breathing room to do anything but go from one plot point to the next. We never really get to know characters because there's no time and so all manner of subtlety goes right out the window. Also, Nina is supposed to be a big girl. It's very clear in the books that she's noticeably larger, so for a show that is stellar in just about all other casting choices, it was so disappointing to see Nina look like every other girl.

Well, that got stupid and soapy really fast. I have never understood why show runner after show runner in these carbon copy murder series never feel that the murder of a single person is compelling enough on its own. There must be 8 other nonsensical stories flapping around at the exact same time. I can only imagine how more focused the writing might be if there was no dead son (no blinking grandson or I WANT FULL CUSTODY mother) and no love interest(why does she need a love interest???). Even the writing for Mare, our protagonist and hero is uniformly lazy and trite. Mare comes to a crime scene, takes one picture, talks for about 15 seconds and SCENE. Like, that's it? It's where the body was found! Apparently it's more important for Mare to be shown being bad at death notification, bad at interviewing Dylan, bad at handling and interviewing Brianne, bad at her job period (sure, I have time to go to a party for a guy I barely know! It's just a murder, time isn't of the essence!" Oh, and I'll go to a doctor's appointment I don't need to be at too and get near tears talking about feeling like a bad mom!") Like, it's nothing NEW, it's been done a zillion times before, right down to the outsider detective not getting a handshake when he introduces himself to our hero scene until they 'start over'. Just once, I'd like to see writing that doesn't regurgitate the same stupid tropes that have been done before. Right down to the gasp! surprise twist at the end of the episode. I mean, of course I'm going to keep watching now that I know this is like the The Undoing but the poor, rural town version. A poor, rural town that has valet parking somewhere? Sure, why not?

I think the best moment of the entire episode was when Elliot whined about being profiled and Bell threw that bullshit back in his face SO fast. She was not having it and yet it is absolutely what a privileged, old, white male cop would say. The Olivia moments didn't work. First, please stop acting like old flames or that you broke up last year. I can buy that things might be awkward, but not "I've seen you naked" awkward. Second, why did Olivia just show up at Elliot's apartment building? It must have been close to 10pm and it seemed like she didn't call. Weird. And rude. I did kind of laugh at Elliot's semi-paranoid/frantic/panting confusion at her being there. Meloni did great there. Also, the music was kind of off. It felt like I was watching an old episode of the moody Equalizer or something. The whole tone of the show feels more grim than a L&O show.

That was a mess. A weird, nonsensical mess. Even if I believed that Olivia and Elliot didn't talk for 10 years, I don't believe that Olivia wouldn't have tried to talk to Elliot. She absolutely would have called, texted and come to the house. She would have called Kathy. Kathy would have reached out to Olivia too. There's no way Kathy wouldn't pick up on the abruptness of Elliot leaving SVU. She would have talked to Olivia. So Kathy being surprised they hadn't talked in 10 years was laughable. Kathy would have known. She cared enough about Olivia that she would have done the decent thing and tried to explain things from Elliot's POV, to try and ease Olivia's confusion, anger and pain at being left like that. THAT would have been an interesting beat, that Kathy was the one to help Olivia let Elliot go. I also don't believe that neither took any interest in what the other was doing for a decade. I don't believe Elliot wouldn't have, every year or so, quietly reached out to any of the zillion people he knew in the NYPD to find out how Olivia was doing. So he would have known about Noah and he would have known about her becoming Captain and he would have certainly known about Tucker. Maybe her getting a kid made him consider reaching out finally and maybe her relationship with Tucker made him decide against it because it meant Olivia had changed, maybe she wasn't the same person he knew. I don't believe Olivia wouldn't have kept tabs on Elliot, at least until Noah came into her life. At the very least, she would have stalked the Stabler kids social media. She would have realized they'd moved to Rome at some point. These two are detectives! They would have known! Which is why the Fin/Elliot conversation was so odd. It was odd that Fin is the one to tell Elliot about Noah, and it was super strange that Elliot didn't have a bigger reaction to the news. Elliot would have KNOWN how big a deal that was, how deeply it meant to Olivia to have a child of her own. Also, Fin wouldn't have talked about her romantic life, he would have talked about her becoming Captain and taking on leadership. It was weird to hear him talk about Olivia like she was Elliot's ex-girlfriend and it was weird that the only thing Elliot asked about wasn't her kid, but who the boyfriend had been. Also strange? That he didn't talk to Fin about....Fin and how he was doing. They were friends too. The whole episode was so weirdly wrapped around the idea of Elliot and Olivia being almost boyfriend/girlfriend and how they were SO good together that even in the hospital, Kathy brings up their perfect matching, despite not talking in a decade, instead of asking about where her kids were or wanting to see pics of Noah and bonding with Olivia over being a mom. The episode and writing acted like Elliot and Olivia had broken up a year ago and they were in the 'awkward exes seeing each other for the first time' phase of a non-relationship. Olivia should have been way more reserved and standoffish, there was no reason for Elliot and Olivia to have their breakup talk. That could and should have waited. Olivia and Elliot were not star crossed lovers kept apart by circumstance.They were great partners, who both strayed into the emotional affair zone who's partnership and friendship abruptly ended ten years ago. Ugh. It was a mess. A weird, boring mess.

THIS! My mouth dropped when Monica said that line. What?! No, Wanda CREATED their pain and misery. She kidnapped them and tortured them, and even though it began without her knowledge, by the time she kicked Geraldine/Monica out of the Hex and then left the Hex and threatened SWORD, a part of her KNEW and continued to put Westview through misery. I mean, even when people were begging Wanda to kill them rather than go back to being under control, or how Dottie was willing to go back if only she could be with her child, even THEN, Wanda refused their pain and their suffering. So Wanda didn't sacrifice ANYTHING. She ended the misery and suffering SHE created. That was easily the worst line of the entire series, because it completely undermines Wanda's behaviour. Yes, she was feeling enormous grief and trauma, but she was STILL THE VILLAIN. She still created the nightmare and only ended it when she couldn't deny it any further. She doesn't get a gold star here. So the show trying to downplay it was super frustrating. It's okay to let Wanda be the villain. Choosing to leave and live isolated while learning all about her powers and controlling them is a GOOD choice. It shows she would never want to repeat Westview again, that she understands what she did to them. Having Monica act like Wanda was selfless or something was a big fat no no. And quite frankly, how long would the Hex have continued if Agatha DIDN'T show up? Agatha was the one to force Wanda to confront her trauma. Agatha was the one to basically tear down the walls of denial that Wanda had created. Vision was definitely getting there, but Agatha was the only one with the power to control Wanda, even for a bit, to break through. Agatha was certainly a villain of her own, but she pushed Wanda in the right direction. SWORD was basically pointless, wasn't it? By the end, Monica, Jimmy, Darcy and Hayward were kind of awkwardly standing around a lot of the time. I like Darcy and Jimmy and I loved meeting Monica, but they ultimately feel wasted in the series. I think the show would have been much better had it just been Vision, Wanda and Agatha in the Hex as things slowly start to unravel and Wanda finally deals with her grief and trauma.