riverheightsnancy

Sing along with me everyone: La la la....vanity project, vaaaannniiitttyy project! The worst thing ever to happen to this show was allowing JM to become a producer.

Obviously, some group of aspiring writers sat at a table and said, "Wow, Da Vinci code was such a hit, let's do something like that! It will be huge!". Yeah well, there is a lot of planning that goes into a show like this. You have to set all the tiny threads that start to get tied together throughout the plot. The viewers have to feel like certain clues paid off (I'm looking at you Lost). Just look at how little things pay off in Bates Motel or in the brilliant Better Call Saul, Mad Men too. You feel so satisfied when one tiny little things shows back up in the finale and the viewer goes, OHHHH, I knew that was important! When that happens you feel so awesome that you saw the "clue". There was potential here, but it's like the writers got some serious killer fatigue (Amazing Race-RAAAAACE) in the final episodes and just called it a day. We saw no REAL reason for Josh becoming Little Dictator to Pastor Billingsham. Actually, that development would have been awesome. If we had just seen that he had been hard to control and starting to want to do things his way and Josh1.0 was the preferred one, but lacking smarts. That might have been really interesting. But no. Nope. Nada. Was that sudden change driven by his mother? We never saw any emotional connection between them. And, she seemed to have not a shred of maternal love and then suddenly she was all pissed that she gave birth to the twins and is now upset about taking away Josh's chance at fulfilling the prophecy? I don't understand the NM reason for being involved for 13 YEARS. Why did they feel the need to blow up the tunnel? Were they really not sure that the Prophecy would be fulfilled and wanted a fall back? Such non-believers in their own "kill the world" agenda. Tsk tsk. I expect much more from radical religious terrorists. Be true to your crazed cause please. The Evil Rabbi told Avram to leave and yet THEN he is at the ceremony? With a knife that everyone can see? Peanuts? We have not seen the Pastor eat anything and then he is eating? Peanuts? I don't even get that. It was the only thing on the table besides glasses and decanters.. If there was an array of things and he picked that, well then ok. Why not have a bowl of nuts on his desk in the office, have him eat a few here or there? It would humanize him a little and not make his character so fictionalized "Evil Pastor". Gee, even evil guys eat peanuts now and again! Personally, I am not that highbrow in my viewing preferences at all, but you have to show some type of predisposition/foreshadowing for some behaviors or plot devices otherwise they come out of no where and cause massive confusion. Illustrated by all the WTF comments after the season finale. Are we to believe that the Pastor has the knowledge to be doing genetic cloning and manipulation? I really believe that this show was set for a multi-season run and many of these things would have been answered (like did the Joshes know about each other? WHY was the Ambassador involved, why did Peter's daughter kill herself? Is Peter a peadophile?) However, I think that pretty quickly they realized that it was one and done, and they just attempted to tie-up the biggest story lines and leave it at that. It would be similar for those of you that watch 12 Monkeys (or The Killing is a good example too, as this was happening every season, is it extending or canceling-but I LOVED that show) if they realized that they were be no season 2 mid-way through filming season 1. I could only imagine the utter confusion for someone watching a time travel show if they had to suddenly push the abort button half-way through a show that was set to run for several seasons. Out of all of it still loving Little Red and Avram.

I seriously have no idea what happened on this show tonight. It is like they just wrapped up whatever with the most convenient easy endings. Should have been 2 or 3 episodes, instead they just cram it into 1 hour. Some of the plot jumps just make no sense. Although, seeing little Red running around at the end was cute.

The only thing that would make the finale awesome is if Giorgio Tsoukalos pops out from one of the caves with camera crew in tow and start interviewing the people about their connections to "Ancient Aliens" and the Armageddon Prophecies!

Looking forward to the finale, even if it sucks. Hoping for a good ending for Red & Avram and Lynn (I know, surprising). Hoping that Evil Pastor and his female sidekick. Josh 2.0, Ambassador, Archeologist, Evil Rabbi, Peter and Emma all DIAF after they try to use the magical gem studded chest plate. The big wishlist is that they EXPLAIN what (and how she got involved) Emma's part was in this and why Peter was chosen (how do they know that he MUST be involved??), why the daughter committed suicide, how the Ambassador got involved, how they actually got a Joshua. Not sure they can cover all of this in an hour.

No Andre! Me no likey! Anyway, was the Abe in real life this much of a screw-up? Seriously, this is like the three Stooges doing spycraft. Townsend was right. He acts like a boy playing at being a spy.

No Diane. Boo. This show has become quite the vanity project. Just regurging the same stuff over and over. Starting another law firm??? Do lawyers really change firms this often? How can they stay in business doing stuff like this? Wouldn't they lose clients? It looks so unstable.

Agree with everything stated, especially the criticisms. Yeah, I agree that Avram is really the pure one (as an aside Avram is pure too, isn't he a virgin?). He couldn't nick the cow, because he really couldn't harm her. I find it very interesting that Emma had "fake" red hair and she also turns out to be evil too. Debbie had real red hair (the actress is a redhead I think) and she was a do-gooder. And Red (the cow) with real red hair and is pure. I started to suspect that Emma was faking all of it when she wasn't actually helping Peter when he found the secret room, but was sitting back and letting him figure things out on his own. She didn't even seem excited or anything. There was one scene where she was actually sitting down, just observing. Major clue for me right there. I still wonder, how/why this is his destiny? How do they know? Why was Peter chosen? I would like to know why his daughter committed suicide. And IF the show runners want to make him a pedeophile, then go there and tell us. Hey, it makes him heinous, but don't just allude to it with Emma. If you are going to be controversial, then stop playing footsy and go there. At this point, I like Lynn's detective work better than Peter's. He really sucked at sneaking up and having a clue how to investigate a case. As an overarching theme, I think that they were trying to show that not everything is as it seems (obvious on that one) and what/who is "real" is pure (Debbie, Charlie, Peter-maybe, Avram, Josh 1.0, Red, the Essenes, Lynn, Golan) and those that hide and are fake (double lives) are evil (the Ambassador, Josh 2.0, the Pastor, the Rabbi, the Archeologist, Emma, double-crossing female detective).

So, in regard to Andre being handsome I went looking for a picture/painting.

Is there any word if the show is coming back and when?

Can't wait! Looking forward to Girl Computer power!

I agree with the comments about Peggy. Her eyes look like one of those Bratz dolls and like she has the fake color contacts in. Of course my reaction could be that I am jealous because she kissed Andre and I want him all for myself! I agree with others that Ben is quite cute too. Who would have thought that American History could be so stimulating?!? ;) lol (I actually drive by Washington's Crossing site a couple of times a week-gives some perspective on these places in the show for me). I am always looking around places in NJ and PA to see if they have mentioned on the show.

I like the idea of an innocent (Avram) being the unwitting hero just because he came to love a baby cow. And the "innocent" Josh 2.0 being EEEEEEVIL. Peter is an idiot. I do not get what his role is here in the end game. Even the Anne Heche character was more stealthy than Golan and Peter. Like when they bust through the window in the psychiatric hospital right after the nurse walks through that room and they are walking all loud and not even attempting to be covert and quiet, BUT they gained access by walking in the front door? Why not just pretend to leave and just come back in? (Unless I saw the scene incorrectly). I also internally kept saying to the Anne Heche character, "Talk off those shoes!!! High heels make more noise!!!!"

Avram and Red! Awwww. Holy crap I KNEW that Emma was lying. Wow, that scene at the end was really hard to watch.

For myself, I found Colton & Alicia's treatment of Christina (I think those are all the names involved) in a previous season to be much worse than Dan. If I remember correctly, no one stepped in then either. I also loathed Corrinne & Nahoinka (sp?) as well. Dan is like that Uncle that is super needy and is always the most knowledgeable person in the room. I totally think his behavior is grounded in extreme low self-esteem and neediness. Mike for the win.

Thanks Peaches. I guess if you know what it means than you know who it means! ;) Basically, the real name is always already taken by someone else, so I had to come up with an alternative for my childhood alter-ego!

Personally, (as a university Psych prof myself), I thought the way he embarrassed Norma in class the first time was really terrible. I would never do that to a student, especially on first day of class. That is the best way to get horrific evals and to get fired as well. I think that he could have been good for Norma as a sounding board or a friend, if he had just held his professional boundaries and not trolled her for therapy sessions upon meeting her for the first time. The fact is, we don't know everything and acting as such really gives therapy and psychology professionals a bad name. Multiple relationships James, multiple relationships! Other than that, I was not thrilled to see Bradley, because I fear that something really bad will happen to her. I want Emma and Dylan to be safe though.

Andre is just yum with his hair down. I do not think that I have ever noticed this actor before. But, I am always in rapt attention when his scenes come on now!

No, I don't think so. Some posters were commenting on confidentiality in general. I don't think that the ethical codes covers things like torture, but if they did, it would likely be that confidentiality is waved if the professional is being harmed for said information.

Nope. There is confidentiality for clients/patients & licensed psychology professionals unless certain circumstances apply. A court order, third-party payer (i.e., an entity other than the client hired you to perform the duties with the client-the court, a football team, etc...), or the person indicates that they may harm themselves or someone else. Those are the exceptions for breach of confidentiality. In this case, James could have legally breached confidentiality by going to an appropriate authority to report Norman's behavior after he confronted him and in relation to what Norma had told him. But since he already mentioned that he could lose his license when he slept with Norma, something tells me that he has skated the line before. He just never encountered a family as messed up as the Bates before. He was naive and really deserves to lose his license for pursuing Norma to begin with. This is NOT how professionals drum up business. He is in breach of the multiple relationships (sex with client) standard at the very least. (as an aside: that is the #1 complaint to state licensing boards as it stands)

Yeah James, this is why we hold professional distance from potential clients/patients. He knew better and he pursued Norma that very first day at the college. Norma is quite narcissistic as well. James just got tortured and she doesn't care about THAT at all. Poor Norman. He has gone over the deep end, but if he received treatment (medications) the hallucinations could be mediated and he might actually have a chance in life.

What was in the letter? I thought that was really weak for a character that has been on the show for so long. I would have liked a little more for the actress at least.

I agree with the previous posts which discuss how maybe Caleb is a bit off intellectually, emotionally, something. I think that the show-runners are attempting to illustrate that abuse can really warp who people are and how they interact with the world and then ADD on board predispositions (mental illness) then, we are off to the races. So Caleb, seems pretty labile, very similar to Norma and beyond needy, and shows an extreme lack of boundaries. I would really like to know more about their background via flashbacks. I know from the literature that inter-generational incest often stays in the family for a reason. It becomes the way that they operate in the world. Just heard about a case recently and it was the entire family, practically everyone, even distant cousins. Yeah, James is killing me. He would have had extensive training in his master's program regarding ethics and Duty to Warn. It is also on the licensing exam to become a licensed MFT. I think that he is just a tad arrogant and doesn't really get that there are very ill people out there. He probably never worked with them in his internship. I thought that he acted quite arrogant and presumptuous with Norma the first time he met her. Again, he probably did his internship with relatively healthy people, and just assumes that he can help them. He has blinders on which may end up getting him killed. One can become a bit insulated when you do not work with the really sick populations. (I have and one must be very, very careful).

Wow, awesome episode, but Norman is starting to really become stressed and agitated now. Wait till he finds out that Emma is falling for Dylan,-all his women will have left him-he will crack for sure! I felt this in a prior episode and never posted it, but I truly think that the way Caleb is being played (the rape notwithstanding) is EXACTLY like Norman. He is under Norma's spell and will literally do anything to be with her. It is super needy and dysfunctional, just like Norman's relationship with her. She does the EXACT same things that she did with Caleb, with Norman. She acts overly, inappropriately physical with male relatives and expects that they know it is not sexual, however, at some point, someone (Caleb AND Norman) get really screwed up and have now intermingled the relationship into a sexual relationship. All the more heady because it is taboo. This is NOT to discount that this never excuses rape (I just want to be 100% clear), BUT I can see how a needy boy (like Caleb was) could totally misconstrue these behaviors and then want to continue the sexual relationship after it has started. After-all, he is/was in "love" with Norma. It feels "normal" to him. Right down to the playing the piano and making the person feel super special, Norma has done this with 2 men now. I wish they would talk about how Dylan grew up. I'd really like to know how Norma treated him. For some reason it was different with him. As a side note-the therapist just got schooled by a major psychotic sociopath. He is totally outside his area of competence and is REQUIRED/mandated to report Norman's behavior!!! He is not a clinical psychologist and has far less training in dealing with sociopathy as a Marriage and Family therapist with a master's degree. I like him and his earnest ways, but he truly has no clue here. Anyone who has worked psychiatric or with dangerous patients, you never put yourself in a corner where you can be attacked! Arrgh.

I have to say that I had reservations that they could make this series without screwing it up. As a MAJOR fan of the movie, (it is one of my hands down favorites, and Brad Pitt is a revelation as the "Jennifer/Jefferey" character), I just figured that it would really be horrible, or a scene-for-scene copy. I think that they kept enough of the threads of the original to set the stage or foundation of the show, but have created so many new and interesting events, that it really has become it's own thing now. I still expect that the ultimate ending will harken back to the ending in the movie. I guess that I am hopefully or thinking that it will. That would tie it all up for me, but if they decide to go in a different direction then I think that they have established enough difference to be able to pull it off. Really loved the season finale and curious about where it will all go.