Good-bye Castle. It was fun while it lasted.

[locker_monster]

- So, that's how they ended Castle?

I totally lost track of the whole LokSat thing, but the reveal that the guy behind it all was some guy we only met a few episodes back? Yeah, the writers pulled that out of their butts. But the thing that bugged me the most? It wasn't the flashforward to seven years later with Castle and Beckett with a trio of kids. It was how they kept in Castle and Beckett being shot by Caleb (some lawyer guy, not Nathan's character from Buffy). If they specifically filmed that tag with the kids in case they didn't get another season, why not edit the episode so that the shooting was left out? It was just super jarring to go from Castle and Beckett bleeding out on the floor to Castle and Beckett happy with their kids. I think they could have gotten away with Castle starting to make breakfast for Beckett and then doing a wipe or some fancy edit to the tag.

I know most shows can survive a cast change, but Castle depended so much on the chemistry between Castle and Beckett. There was an ensemble cast, but the writers never really used them to their full potential. I suppose if the show had killed Beckett, it would have allowed the other characters to step up a bit more, but I think the show would have limped on to an even lamer ending. Maybe we can all pretend that Castle ended with season seven. The last episode of that season made a much better series finale.


It's funny, but I think this is the first time I was glad that a network cancelled a show. How often do you hear that?

- Damn you, The Flash!

They killed Henry. :-( Seriously? Barry already lost one parent. Why does he need to lose another? I know, he got too cocky, and this is TV so someone had to pay the price, but it's still dumb. So, are the Berlanti-verse main heroes not allowed to have parents? Because poor Ollie has lost his mom and dad, too. Maybe this means the Man in the Iron Mask is Earth-2 Henry? Or, at least a guy that looks like Henry? You have to keep John Wesley Shipp around somehow.

While I am not happy about Henry's death, I did geek out when they gave Amanda Pays and John Wesley Shipp a scene together. It was probably the only reason Black Siren attacks Mercury Labs; so Barry could bring back Tina to S.T.A.R. Labs so she could meet Henry. Even if it was completely random and added nothing to the plot, I still loved it. The two actors from 1990 The Flash got to have a little reunion on screen. They even got a little potential romance before everything went horribly wrong. Sigh, why did they have to kill Henry? He and Tina could have started dating, giving Barry an awkward sub-plot for next season.

Adorable group hug at the end with Barry, Caitlin, and Cisco, but that still doesn't change the unhappy ending.

- Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. had their finale. After all of the hype...

It was Lincoln who died. I'm sorry, but yay! His character added nothing to the show and his relationship with Daisy was ho-hum. I know they were trying to be dramatic at the end, with Lincoln sacrificing himself to save the day, but when Daisy was crying, I didn't feel it. Once again, sorry, but not sorry. Thank god they didn't kill Mack or Elena. The two of them are cute together, with her teasing him about how slow he is. Oh, and Zombie!Ward/Hive died, too. It was about time they got rid of Ward or whatever was left of him. Ward himself had a good run and a suitable ending, but bringing him back as Hive's host just dragged out his appearances for far too long.

While the finale had tension revolving around who was going to die, the whole thing with Elena's cross being passed around like a hot potato made things kind of tedious. This is why I don't like flashforwards. You have to make sure everything lines up with the glimpse of the future you see. Most times, that probably means the writers have to reverse engineer things or make stuff up on the fly. So, imagine my surprise when the episode ends on another flashforward. Groan. I assume the missing six months will be filled in with flashbacks, but we're missing out on seeing character development as it happens.

Like, why has Daisy gone rogue? Why isn't Coulson the Director of S.H.I.E.L.D. anymore? Why did Radcliffe build a Life Model Decoy? Is May the Director now? Or maybe Talbot? Is S.H.I.E.L.D. disbanded? Or perhaps Coulson stepped down so he and Mack could hunt down Daisy? And, most importantly, did Fitz and Simmons get to go on that vacation?

This seems like the end of the Inhuman storyline. Like, it will still be around, but more in the background and not the main arc for next season. But where can the show go from here? Hydra is completely gone now and Hive is dead. Who will be the main antagonist? It'd be great if they had a flashback episode or episodes that wrapped up any dangling storylines from Agent Carter. I know Hayley will be busy with her other show, but I'm sure they could find time for her to do a guest appearance.

Things that did work: Mack's shotgun-axe. :-) I love that he made a proper one. They need to keep it around for next season. Coulson's Princess Leia hologram bit. :-D Coulson is such a nerd and I love him for it. Simmons' attempt at romance. Let's go on romantic vacation, Fitz! We can do something that will take your breath away. Starts to ramble about all the fish they can see while snorkelling. The show can still bring the humour even if the situation is grim.

- I finished an awesome book the other day. The Rest of Us Just Live Here by Patrick Ness. If his name sounds kind of familiar, it's because he's the showrunner/head writer for the Doctor Who spin-off Class. He's the only reason I'm willing to give Class a chance.

Ness knows how to write believable characters existing in an unbelievable world. And that's the main premise of the book. The story is about Mike, who lives in a town where all of these strange things happen all the time, like vampires and soul eating ghosts and power seeking Immortals, but he's more worried about graduating and working up the courage to tell his secret crush that he loves her. Think, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, but as told from the point of view of a background character who never talked to Buffy.

I read a lot of YA novels through my book club and it always drives me crazy when I see the same tropes over and over; main character with a special destiny or special background or special powers, a love interest they meet out of nowhere and instantly angst over or hate, but they come to love them anyway, or, alternatively, a love triangle. On and on, right? This book has all of that, but in a funny way. Ness begins each chapter with a summary of what's going on with the supernatural plot and they read exactly like the plot of a clichéd YA novel. It was hilarious how he could condense everything into a paragraph and it still sounded like something you would find in the teen section of your bookstore or on TV on the CW.

The great thing about the main plot with Mike is how it avoids all of those tropes and clichés. Mike and his friends lead lives that you can relate to and that aren't overly dramatic. You think you might get a needless love triangle at one point, but Ness turns it on its head. The ending, barring one element, is simple. If you're still unsure about Class, I would recommend reading this book, because I have a feeling that the tone of this book is going to be very similar to the tone and themes of Class.

- I also had time to finish the first book in a cozy mystery series (let Wikipedia explain what a cozy mystery is). I usually have no interest in these things since they are absolute fluff, but then I discovered a series that has a knitting theme. A knitting theme! So I had to check it out. Now, I get why cozy mysteries are popular, they're fun and breezy and there's very little violence, but the writing is not great. I had a hard time keeping all of the characters straight because they were so generic. And of course, the main character meets a guy she just can't stand, but darn it if he's handsome and polite and always helping her out. Ugh. I thought the knitting element would be the saving grace, but it's really not. There were knitting patterns at the back, which was kind of cool. I may inflict this series on my book club. I'm sure my friends will enjoy it more.

Comments

[vainhurry.livejournal.com]

Excellent...!!

[newnumber6.livejournal.com]

Oh, and when Amanda Pays was invited to dinner, and where Wally was the only one there who didn't know Barry was the Flash, I thought she was going to accidentally spill it. I mean, seriously, if you invite someone to a party where almost everyone there knows a secret, you've gotta assume the last person does too. ;)

[locker-monster.livejournal.com]

Had the episode ended on a happier note, I could have seen them playing the moment for humour. Barry's secret is out anyway, so we'll see how Wally handles the new information.