sff: Eureka season five/finale

[lyssie]

As always, spoilers

Episode ten was subtitled "Bitches Be Crazy", and was full of stalwart, honest, long-suffering men and their crazy, lying, bitchy wives and girlfriends. It was not an episode conducive to my palate, nor an inspiration to watch the rest of the season.

On their own, each of the sub-plots would have been fine. It was the fact they were combined into a gigantic morass of "women are flighty and emotional and horrific, and poor poor men have to put up with them out of Love" that made me so incredibly angry, and very much pissed off.

Then someone else on my flist mentioned that they were bringing in elements from matrix!Eureka (which was a plot I found lacking in imagination and originality not to mention entertainment).

So I stopped watching.

But since I'm vaguely a completest (I say vaguely, as there are many things I've dropped, like ST:DS9 anmd ST:Voyager. And Atlantis), I decided to watch them today. And, hey, they were DVRed, so I could even fast-forward the commercials!

On a side note, the constant Lost Girl bombardment is hilarious (AWWW, you people are still so far behind!), though annoying since it frames it like Syfy produced Lost Girl. Which, fuck no, it didn't. Syfy doesn't do shows with female leads and storylines.

So. My expectations were low. And they dropped even lower with the beginning of the storyline. Holly was brainwashed, Andy was brainwashed, blah-blah--

And then they made it creepy. Like, seriously, body-snatchers, creepy. Suddenly, I was enjoying things. Also, people (our protagonists) weren't being stupid! Fargo was wise to Holly! Allison recognized that everything was wrong! Zane shot Wesley! I mean, I don't ask for much from Eureka, but smart protagonists are always a plus.

EVEN SARAH WAS SMART. It was amazing. And also still creepy.

So I enjoyed the first episode, and the second--ALLISON SAVED THE WORLD. HOW AWESOME IS THAT? I love that she got to do that! And Grace, I'm ok with Grace being a spy (like I said, the three storylines separately don't piss me off, it's ALL OF THEM TOGETHER). And I am laughing that no one seems to remember Henry working with Beverly in the original timeline (ffs, he went to prison!), because, yes. It does fit that he'd work with her in other circumstances.

Vincent locking people in the freezer, you guys! I had no idea evil!Vincent was something I wanted.

But, I'm amused that they went with Henry on the video. There'd be no way to get the old sheriff to do some extra screen work (which is sad, I must say, as Cobb was amusing. But, uh, not alive--now, they could have tried for something geeky like a cameo for Tim Hutton or Kari Matchett)

Then Zoe was back! And Taggart! and and, i might have cried, shut up it was ridiculous and Eureka and Henry guilt-tripped Beverly (and I don't mind her being sort of good, because, she knows the bigger picture--and seems slightly less evil in this reality. Or more driven to her own goals?). Also, I can totally fanwank it that the spoiler at the end was the anonymous tip.

ANYWAY. So. Grace and Henry are still together, HURRAH. I was so so worried that they'd end up not--that the writers would have Grace leave and never return.

Jo proposed to Zane! And I liked that they were having trouble communicating (that fits them, to me). AND THE END OMG. <3

Basically, the last three episodes actually made the first ten almost bearable.

Comments

[mfirefly10.livejournal.com]

I was very unhappy when they started bringing back the virtual reality storyline but I do like that they ultimately made it super-creepy and it was resolved with Allison saving the world. That being said, I still don't get the POINT of it and what Beverly's group was really trying to do, but I guess that might've been addressed in season 6? I did enjoy the finale. It was insanely cheesy and sentimental but it worked and it gave me Grace (♥) and bonus Grant so...I liked it. That makes...three episodes this season I genuinely enjoyed? Certainly not a good ratio but better than nothing, I guess.

[lyssie.livejournal.com]

It helped that the stuff they brought back was the stuff I was ok with (and I think the matrix!Eureka stuff could have been interesting, it was just done so stupidly and predictably that I loathed it more)? ie, the creepy dopplegangers and NPCs. If there'd been "now Jo and Jack hook up" stuff, I would have been annoyed.

Also, I think it helped that I basically assumed it would suck completely (like, seriously, be so awful I'd never want to see it again--the whole show, not just this season), and would treat the women shittily. Basically, I used the same viewing interest as I do for Sanctuary. I expected nothing from it.

(ok, and I'm still not thrilled about the whole "Holly Martin is killed so Fargo can grow as a person" crap. I don't care that she came back, it's still cheap and shitty story-telling)

[mfirefly10.livejournal.com]

The Holly thing was definitely the worst, as it was completely unnecessary, as well as lazy and insulting. Especially since Holly's sole purpose in season 4 seemed to be as an object Fargo and Parish could fight over.

It also bugged me that so much of Grace's storyline was about Henry's feelings. Like how confused Henry was that she was scared of him, then how sad he was when she left and how much guilt/angst he had when she was going to be tried for something his alt!self got her involved in. Yes, it ultimately worked out okay but I wish we'd gotten more of Grace's POV on everything. I feel like season 4 did a bit better with that, in that Grace actually had interests and friendships and feelings outside of her marriage.

But anyway...I agree that they pulled it together for the end of the season much better than I thought they would.

[ellestra.livejournal.com]

Bleh. episode ten was so aweful I erased it from my memory. I just don't want to think about it ever again. And there was so many things wrong with this season. Especially what kept happening to Holly being almost constantly damsel in distress and Grace being practically written out of the show. I was so disappointed that this is how I'm going to remember Eureka.

The two-parter was however awesomely creepy. It was one of the best variations on Invasion of the Body Snatchers I've seen. It was nice to see someone remembered Zane and Parish used to be a team. And that Alison can be heroic too. Evil Vincent ♥

Then came the last episode. Everyone was back and it made me so happy and so sad at the same time. I was ready to forgive them anything just for a little more time. But of course it's been too late for a long time. So instead I enjoyed all the comebacks and cameos and references. From Jo's proposal to Grace return to the final road encounter.

It reminded me that there are a lot of good memories of Eureka.