Television Reviews: 2014 Finales

I thought about doing something new, today I am going to go over the television series of past season.  Yes I understand that there are some shows still going as well as some that just started, or are about to start for the summer.  For the purpose of this post I am going to be looking at the shows that started in the fall or were mid-season replacements, and rather than go over everything I am only going over what stuck out; good or bad.  Obviously this is all spoiler heavy and opinion based, and I can only discuss shows that I watched this year.  So if something you watched didn't make the list don't despair, just leave a comment below.  With that introduction out of the way, lets get on with it shall we.

About A Boy (Season 1)

This is one of two Sitcoms that made the list, well, other than How I Met Your Mother, which I went over earlier.  About A Boy is a new series that really surprised me, I watched the first few episodes expecting it to be just a regular sitcom; instead we got very likable characters, sophisticated as well as juvenile humor, and a two part finale that managed to bring a tear to my eye.  The plot to the finale is that the main character, Will, has decided to follow his girlfriend Dr. Sam across the country.  Over the course of 20 minutes we see Will tell all of his friends except one, the child next door named Marcus who has come to form a father/son type bond with Will.  Before Will can break the new to Marcus, a prospective renter does it for him causing the inevitable emotional response.  This episode took an unexpected turn into the dramatic, and unlike most Sitcoms it manages to handle it well.  In fact I'll go so far as to compare it to the Fraiser episode where his younger brother has a heart attack and may end up dying.  This finale was especially emotional because just about everyone reading this has probably had a friend or mentor move away, or maybe you yourself moved, so it was something that everyone could relate to.  I for one look forward to what this show has to offer.

Sirens (Season 1)

The other Sitcom that made the list.  Sirens is a new Show from Dennis Leary (Rescue Me) about a group of EMTs as they go about their daily lives.  For those familiar with Dennis Leary's other television shows, you know what to expect here; lots of crude jokes and physical comedy with realistic characters (almost always emergency responders), and very little exposure to the character's occupations, other than to provide material for jokes.  What's interesting about this series is that unlike Leary's other shows, he is not the main character...in fact he hasn't even shown up in the series.  For the finale the best way to describe it is that it   makes fun of other shows' season finales.  The plot is that the main character, Johnny, has decided to get married to his girlfriend Theresa in a small private ceremony.  But through a series of hilarious events wedding ends up not happening.  I say this makes fun of other sitcoms because they all end seasons the same way; you get a teaser saying everything will change, but when the show comes back in the fall nothing is any different.  For example: The Big Bang Theory tends to end the show with characters going on potentially life changing journeys that conveniently last just long enough to last during the summer hiatus, then by episode 2 we all forget they even happened.  Personally I really hope this show gets picked up for another season, but if not I can deal with it.

Grimm (Season 3)

I personally love Grimm, the show is clever and well written, but it always makes a very big, and oddly common mistake; it ends on a cliffhanger.  Don't get me wrong cliffhangers can work really well, however the big problem with doing it as a season finale is that there is not always a guarantee a show will get renewed.  For example the series Almost Human, another great show, was cancelled after one season but left a lot of plot threads unresolved.  Another issue is that after being off the air for a few months, I often need to go back and rewatch the finale because I can't remember what needs to be resolved.  In the season 3 finale the hero, Nick, is stripped of his powers by another character with a spell.  The way I look at these types of series is simple, each season is an ark... there is a major conflict they deal with and some sub plots along the way.  When a show decided to do a cliffhanger finale, they end up wasting an episode or two the next season cleaning everything up.

The Blacklist (Season 1)

The Blacklist is an anomaly with among television series, the finale is what I consider perfect.  In  the first season Raymond Reddington turns himself in to the FBI and cuts a deal by handing them criminals from his "blacklist" that are so underground, nobody is looking for them.  As the season progressed we learn of a "big bad" that is after Raymond as well as the lives of the various characters.  In the finale this isn't necessarily wrapped up, but all the major plot points are.  Rather than end on a cliffhanger, we get a wrap-up and then a plot point that makes things clear as well as raise questions.  But if the series were to be cancelled after a finale like this, we aren't left to wonder about what happened to the characters because everything is resolved.

Arrow (Season 2)

Arrow was last years surprise for me.  My entire life I hated the Green Arrow, he was always a poor substitute for Batman who wanted to be Batman.  In Arrow however everything about the character is changed, right down to his origin story.  The result was the best interpretation of the character and the best DC television series that isn't animated.  Throughout the series we get to see other characters from DC comics that are also changed to fit into the more realistic universe, often improving on them as well.  In fact the only one I didn't like was Amanda Waller, but most of that hate stems from the Not-So-New 52 change of making her attractive (I'll get into that in a later post).  The season 2 Finale ends up being 3 parts and has the Heroes facing off with Deathstroke and his army of super soldiers before Amanda Waller blows the city off the map.  We end up with the "Big Bad" style ending that I enjoy with the hero dealing with a villain that defines the season, in this case the amazing Deathstroke.  Unlike other shows that use the Big Bad format Deathstroke is faster, stronger, more experienced, better trained, and better prepared than The Arrow.  This forces him to turn to others for help and eventually outsmart Deathstroke.  The series wraps-up the plot and then leaves a few plot hints for next season much like The Blacklist.  However in the final scene it decides to do go the cliffhanger route and cheapen the experience.

Hannibal (Season 2)

The last series I want to talk about is Hannibal.  This season finale left me with one thought: What...The...F*(#.  In my honest opinion I feel this show would probably be better if they just removed the connection to the Hannibal film and book series, I can't help but make connections.  On it's own merit however the the show is fantastic and keeps you engaged the whole time you watch it.  The finale gave us the culmination of Will and Jack's plan to catch Hannibal, but it all goes horribly wrong.  By the end of the episode everyone is either dead or dying, except Hannibal who is on a plane out of the country.  Ironically despite my hatred of cliffhangers, this one did very well by me for one reason, the narrative ended.  Despite having all of the main characters bleeding to death with their fates unknown, the show still manages to give a warped sense of closure when Hannibal flies away.

Television Review: How I Met Your Mother

It's been a while since I reviewed an entire television series.  This week one of my favorite shows of all time ended, and there were some good times as well as bad times that I'm going to go over here.  Needless to say this particular review will be full of spoilers.

In a nutshell the series is about a man named Ted Mosby telling his kids how he and their mother met...over the course of nine years.  The series focuses on Ted and his friends; Barney Stinson the womanizer, Ted's best friend Marshall Eriksen, Marshall's girlfriend and later wife Lily Aldren, and Ted's former love interest Robin Scherbatsky.

Ted's story begins when Ted decides to stop dating and settle down with "the one".  The first episode has you believe Ted will end up with Robin, until his kids interrupt the story out of shock.  As the series continues we follow the gang through their lives and major milestones.  For example in the early seasons Marshall and Lily date, break up, get back together, and eventually get married.  All throughout the series everyone's careers also progress in a natural way rather than the exaggerated 
trajectories we usually see on television.  For example Robin moves to New York to be a newscaster, she starts off as the late night field reporter, then gets a job on an early morning talk show, then moves to a national news team, and eventually she becomes the number one newscaster in the country.

As the series goes on we see a large, possibly inappropriate number of women Ted dated before the titular mother, I say inappropriate because he is telling his children about all the women he slept with before their mom.  Some of these women we are led to believe Ted will end up with, particularly Stella.  Stella not only lasted the longest, besides Robin, but they were even engaged until she left him at the alter.

One of the biggest things I liked about this series was how jokes often came back.  For example their is a joke where Ted tells his kids how he got his dates mixed up once and as he's explaining the event happened later on, he bursts into the bar in a dress proclaiming "Now we're even".  Two seasons later we finally learn what he was talking about, and why he was in the dress in the first place.  Another ongoing joke was Barney's job.  For the first 8 seasons Barney made ridiculous amounts of money and when anyone asked what he did he would answer simply "please".  Then in the final season we learn his job is to sign forms without looking at them, which is highly illegal, but it's okay because it was all part of a long revenge plot and Barney was actually a whistle blower.  Other notable recurring jokes include; the dopplegangers, Robin Sparkles, and my personal favorite: Barney's history lessons.

Another thing this show did really well was the tone.  Unlike most television comedies, were everything is funny, always works out, and even the bad times are hilarious.  How I Met Your Mother manages to balance comedy and drama flawlessly, making us laugh as well as cry.  The ending is the best example here, but I want to cover it separately later.  Another example is the episode "How I Met Your Father", in this episode after a pregnancy scare Robin is telling her future children how she and their father got together.  The episode is full of jokes but ends with a very sad note, Robin cannot have kids, and the future children don't exist.

Now for a negative of the show, Bob Sagat.  Personally I have nothing against Bob Sagat, however he plays the voice of future Ted, a character who is seen a few times throughout the series, however whenever future Ted makes a screen appearance he is always plays and voiced by Josh Radnor.  Basically it's an inconsistency that always bugged me.

The Final Episode

If you have ignored my earlier warning about spoilers, this is your last warning, I am going into detail on the series' final episode so if you haven't seen it; avoid this section like the kid on the playground  with lice.

The final episode covers multiple decades.  Ted meets his wife in the first ten minutes of the episode and decides to stay in New York.  After that we get to see what happens to the gang between when they meet and when Ted starts the story.  Three years later Barney and Robin get divorced, forever altering the gang.  Robin leaves after the realization that her friends are all moving on in their lives, and nobody sees her again for more than a few minutes every few years.  Ted, who starts the series obsessed with getting married, lives with the mother of his children for years before finally tying the knot.  After a year in Italy Marshall goes back to corporate law, something he hates, until he gets the opportunity to be a judge again, eventually even becoming a state supreme court judge.  Barney finally reforms after having his own child with a one night stand.

Overall the series finale was perfect...until the last 2-4 minutes.  Personally I was fine with the mother's death, sure it was really sad, but it gave Ted a reason to tell the story.  What I had the problem with is everything after the story ended.  Turns out Ted never got over Robin, and the whole story was his way of asking his kids if they were okay with him dating her.  After 9 years of amazing television, and not a single bad episode, it's understandable that the series makes a mistake.  But the very end of the series was like watching your team play the perfect game, only to have the other team score at the buzzer.  Sure it doesn't matter and your team still wins, but it changes how you feel about the game.

In the end How I Met Your Mother is my favorite sitcom to date, and considering I grew up on shows like Friends, Fraiser, Everybody Loves Raymond, and King of Queens this is quite the statement.  Now that it's over there is a huge hole in my life, but at least I got the closure I needed out of the finale.  I give the show a solid A. 

Television Review: Arrow

       With the season finales about done with I thought I would review the first season of Arrow.  This show was a pleasant surprise.  Because this show is so new, I will attempt to have as few spoilers as possible.  Growing up I never liked Green Arrow, he had a silly beard, his trick arrows were often ridiculous, and his personality was simply unlikeable.  So why is it that a show that manages to get every aspect of the characters wrong, ends up being downright awesome.  Allow me to explain, in the comics Oliver Queen was stranded on an island for 5 years after after falling off a boat.  Let me back up a bit, when he was a child his parents were mauled by lions on safari.  When he inherited his parents money he became a drunken playboy, which is how he ended up falling off a boat in the first place.  On the island he had to survive and became very skilled with a bow.  There was also a drug operation on the island, which he took down.  When he finally returned to his home he decided to use his new skills to fight crime, the name Green Arrow was given to him by the media and he simply ran with it.

       The show however made him into a drunken playboy who was raised by rich parents who didn't believe in discipline.  While on a boating trip with his father the boat went down because someone was trying to kill his father.  On the life raft his father realized there wasn't enough food for the both of them, so he killed himself, but not before giving Oliver a list of names of those who "Wronged" his city.  Oliver then spent the next 5 years on an island.  But there also happened to be a terrorist group on the island as well, who was hunting down Oliver because he was a problem.  While there he met a few people who trained him to fight and survive, including Slade Wilson, one of the most dangerous people in the DC universe.  Oliver had multiple chances to leave the island, but chose to stay to do the right thing.  When he returned he found his mother remarried, his sister is now a party girl, and his girlfriend is now dating his best friend.  With his life turned upside down he devotes himself to hunting down the people from his father's list with the help of like minded individuals.  The police give him the name "The Hood" and because it is just a name Oliver lets it go.

       As I mentioned before the show gets most everything about the characters, Green Arrow doesn't have the stupid beard or boxing glove arrows, but he knows how to fight and treat wounds.  The most obvious character change however is Slade Wilson.  In the comics Slade is an older man who is missing an eye.  He is a mercenary who goes by the name Deathstroke and is a constant villain of Batman and the Titans.  In the show he is roughly the same age as Oliver, and is also stranded on the island.  Slade is a part of Australian special forces, and the iconic mask is standard gear.  He and his partner were sent to the island to investigate a terrorist sighting, but they were shot down and captured.  Slade's partner, Billy Wintergreen, betrays him and joins the terrorists to stop the torture.  Slade escapes and joins up with Oliver.

       As awesome as the show made its hero, it is the side characters that actually make the show in my opinion.  First and foremost is Slade whom I mentioned before.  However other characters are just as good, characters like John Diggle; a bodyguard Oliver's mom hired when he returned home who has a personal grudge with a hitman named Deadshot and becomes Oliver's partner.  Another character I really liked was Felicity Smoak, Oliver's sexy tech assistant who tends to ramble, and most things out of her mouth comes out wrong.  Then their is the Queens, the mother who is hiding something, and the sister who reminds Oliver of what he used to be and he's trying to save.  But perhaps the character most viewers are interested in is Roy Harper, a poor street kid who is trying to turn his life around, and is searching for the Hood so that he can help him on his mission.  For those who are fans of the comics you probably know Roy Harper as Speed/Arsenal/Red Arrow, Green Arrow's first sidekick.

       Another aspect I feel I need to go over is the villains.  Some of the best villains used are Batman villains like Firefly, Deathstroke, and The Royal Flush Gang.  But it does use some Green Arrow villains as well; such as Constantine Drakon, China White, Count Vertigo, Dodger, and my personal favorite the Dark archer, the season's big bad.  All of the villains were given a more realistic feel that you would expect from a Nolan Batman movie.

       I felt the show made a bold move in choosing Green Arrow as the main character, and even bolder by changing every aspect of the character, and it becomes even more bold in using mostly Batman villains and using up all the good Green Arrow villains in the first season.  But this high risk plan yielded an even higher reward by doing the impossible, making me like Green Arrow.  And for that I give the show's first season a B+.

Television Reviows: Angel

       Angel was a spin-off to Buffy The Vampire Slayer.  It aired from 1999 to 2004 in parallel with Buffy, which means they happen at the same time and even have crossover episodes.  The overall plot is that Angel decides he can no long stay in Sunnydale with Buffy, so he moves to Los Angeles to fight evil his own way.  Growing up I was more of this show than Buffy and I remember liking it more, when I finally got around to watching it in its entirety I realized why, this show has more complex and likable characters, which I'll go into more when I do a Top 10 list.  The show also seems to have more grey areas than Buffy, particularly with the villains and how they are dealt with, which I love in a show because it allows the viewers to connect better.

Season 1

       Season one starts the show off right.  Angel arrives in LA and starts saving people the best he can.  One day a man shows up at his apartment named Doyle, a half-demon who was granted visions of the future by the powers that be, the higher power of good as opposed to the countless evils from the series.  Doyle sends Angel to a party where he runs into Cordelia, an old acquaintance from Sunnydale.  After saving her from a rich vampire Cordelia decides to work for Angel as a secretary, (she starts Angel Investigations first so the job exists) turning Angel's crusade into a business.  Angel soon learns that evil works different in LA than in Sunnydale, in that they all have lawyers, and are untouchable to the authorities, enter Wolfram & Hart, the evil law firm run by 3 powerful demons that are on a different plane of existence.  As the season progresses Doyle constantly is trying to make Cordelia fall for him, but to no avail, about halfway through the season Doyle sacrifices his life to save hundreds of lives, ironically this act is what makes Cordelia finally see how much she cared for him.  Doyle also passes his visions to her before dying.  We then are reunited with Wesley, a now disgraced Watcher and rogue demon hunter.  Wesley is broke and assists Angel as a consultant while trying to convince them he's fine.  After about 2 episodes Angel hires him full time.  The season also introduces a character named Gunn, who becomes a main character next season.  The final confrontation is with Wolfram & Hart who summon a powerful demon in order to bring one of the senior partners into this realm.  This ends how you would think, team Angel arrives to stop the big bad, does, however there is a twist, Wolfram & Hart brought back something else, but they are not able to find it, setting up for the next season. B.

Season 2

       Season two begins by promoting James Gunn, a former street kid who grew up fighting vampires his own way, to a main character.  It also reveals what Wolfram & Hart brought back, Angel's old vampire lover Darla.  she causes problems for the group all with the purpose to get Angel to change her back into a vampire.  The season also introduces Lorne, an empath demon who runs a demon sanctuary/karaoke bar.  He also has the power to read people after hearing them sing.  For the first half of the season Darla and Lindsey, a lawyer at Wolfram & Hart simply screwing with Angel.  After she becomes a vampire again to save her life Darla reunites with Drusilla, and they go on a rampage through LA.  Angel realizes he must be just as ruthless as them in order to stop them, which he does.  Darla then seduces Angel, but the next day his soul is still in tact, this is when Angel realizes he is over Darla, and it's time to let her go.  So for the last few episodes team Angel is pulled into a parallel universe where they must save Cordelia, or so they think.  Because of her visions Cordelia is made queen, and with the help of Lorne's family they are able to return to LA, with a new member, Winifred Burkle, or Fred for short.  The last scene is of Willow telling Angel that Buffy had died (See Buffy Season 5).  B+.

Season 3

       Season 3 is the first season of Angel to have a classic "Big Bad".  Sahjhan, a demon who has it out for Angel for an unexplained reason awakens a man named Holtz, whom Angel tortured and killed his family 200 years ago and has wanted revenge ever since.  And if that wasn't enough Darla returns with a surprise, she is pregnant with Angel's child.  Angel and Cordelia slowly begin to fall for each other, and team Angel must reintroduce Fred into society.  This is one of my favorite seasons, and if it wasn't for the rather boring villain it would have been my favorite.  Darla is sharing a soul with her unborn child making her realize all the bad she has done over the years, this ultimately results in her staking herself because her dead body is unable to give birth, so in order for her child to live, she had to die.  Angel names his son Conner and all seems good for the group, until Wesley discovers a prophecy involving Conner, more specifically that Angel will kill him.  Wesley keeps it to himself until he has a plan to save Conner.  Meanwhile Wolfram and Hart have spiked the blood Angel buys with traces of Conner's blood to make him more aggressive.  Sahjhan grows tired of waiting for Holtz to kill Angel and decides to go to Wolfram & Hart.  Wesley then kidnaps Conner to take him to Holtz where he'll be safe from Angel, only to be double-crossed and his neck cut by Holtz's number two.  Holtz then takes Conner through a portal into a hell dimension to protect him from Wolfram & Hart and Sahjhan.  team Angel then goes on a hunt for Wesley, they found him in a hospital recovering.  Here Angel tells him he will never forgive him for what he did, and Sahjhan altered the prophecy because it's Conner, not Angel that he has a problem with.  Conner returns from the Hell dimension having aged many years and wanting to kill Angel for being a monster.  Holtz also returns much older and finally realizes that Angel is not the same person he was when he was Angelus.  Holtz tells Conner to return to Angel before having his number two kill him.  She tricks Conner into thinking Angel did it so Conner will kill him.  But instead Conner devises a far worse punishment by trapping Angel at the bottom of the ocean.  Cordelia then ascends to become a higher being because of all the good she has done.  A-.

Season4

       Season 4 is much like Buffy, it is the weak point of the series.  The season starts with whats left of team Angel searching for Angel and Cordelia.  While Wesley, having being changed by the events of the previous season simply locates Holtz's followers and torturing them until they take him to Angel.  Wesley rescues Angel and Angel acknowledges he understands why he took Conner, and finally forgives him.  They return to Angel Investigations, and Angel is unable to forgive Conner, kicking him out of the team.  The group continues their search for Cordelia for a while, but then she returns with no memory of who she is.  Around this time a powerful demon called The Beast comes to LA and kills everyone at Wolfram and Hart.  The Beast seems to know Angel, or rather Angelus from a long time ago.  So Wesley decides to unleash Angelus in a controlled environment to learn what he knows.  This sets up a Hanibal Lector element to the series.  Meanwhile we find out Cordelia may not be Cordelia, but someone in her body.  She is in complete control of The Beast and seduces Conner.  Angelus eventually gets free and goes on a killing spree, he manages to kill the Beast before Team Angel, with the help of Willow and Faith manage to put his soul back.  The being possessing Cordelia is then released putting her in a mystical coma.  This is where the show falls apart.  The new villain is Jasmine, a fallen higher being that has the power of mind control over anyone who sees her, that is until her blood gets into their system.  This leaves team Angel to fight Jasmine and Conner, they win, but Conner then completely loses it and tries to kill himself and Cordelia.  Angel stops him just in time.  In the final episode wolfram and Hart offer the LA branch to Angel Investigations, every member is targeted by a specific branch, and they agree to the deal.  Angel's terms however is that Conner's memories are altered so he gets a normal life, and that everyone forgets about him.  If it wasn't for Jasmine, Conner, and how horribly Cordelia is handled this could have been the best season, but because of all the problems it ends up as the worst, B-.

Season 5

       After Buffy ends, this season starts.  Team Angel is now running Wolfram and Hart at various levels.  The team sees it as doing what they have been, but with a budget.  They have everything they need to hunt monsters, but there's a catch, many of the monsters they usually hunt are now clients.  So in order to hunt evil, they have to let others go free.  The season brings back Spike as the newest member of the team, and Harmony, one of Cordelia's old friends turned vampire is now Angel's secretary.  The team feels they are being corrupted, but they can't do anything about it, and all their former allies, namely Buffy and the slayers no longer trust them.  The team finds themselves once again being messed with by Lindsey, this time he has found a way to hide from the senior partners to do it.  Gunn was given the knowledge of the law by the senior partners in order to run the legal department.  They are also given a liaison named Eve, who is a child of the senior partners, and is revealed to be working with Lindsey.  When the partners finally find out they lock Lindsey in a Hell dimension as punishment.  But when Angel and his team decide to finally fight back, they realize they need Lindsey's help.  They free him and Eve is replaced by another child of the Senior Partners named Marcus Hamilton.  Towards the end of the show Fred becomes very ill because of an employee who worships a pure demon named Illyria.  The illness eventually kills her and Illyria takes over her now vacant body.  Illyria however is unhappy with the world and want's to return, but she is unable to.  Illyria learns that her powers are too great for Fred's body and Wesley finds a way to take most of them away saving her life.  The last few episodes Team Angel takes the fight to the Circle of Black Thorns, a council made up of all of Wolfram and Harts most evil clients.  They divide the targets and strike them all at once.  Lindsey is killed by Lorne after they succeed because he is evil.  Wesley is also killed and Illyria avenges him.  She also comforts him until he dies.  The series ends with Team Angel about to start the final battle with the partners, then it just ends.  This being my favorite season, it earns an A.

Overall

Season 1 B

Season 2 B+

Season 3 A-

Season 4 B-

Season 5 A

Average B+

Television Reviews: Buffy The Vampire Slayer

       Buffy The Vampire Slayer was a series that ran from 1997 to 2003, this means I was 6 when it started, so obviously I didn't get around to watching it until later, in fact I just finished it, and to be honest, I'm happy I waited until I was able to appreciate it.

Season 1

       Season one was our first introduction to Joss Whedon's abilities as a show-runner, and it was rather good.  The story is a girl moves to a new town called "Sunnydale", which happens to be on a Hellmouth.  The girl's name is Buffy and she is a vampire slayer, a girl that is granted superhuman powers in order to fight evil.  When one slayer dies, the next one in the line gains powers.  In this season Buffy is in high school and she is introduced to her watcher, which a society of guardians who are tasked with aiding the slayer, her watcher is named Giles.  She also meets her best friends Willow and Xander, as well as an airheaded cheerleader named Cordelia who's only purpose is to annoy the main characters.  Throughout the season she is aided by a man named Angel who tends to show up, tell Buffy about a new enemy, tell Buffy how to stop it, and repeat.  He and Buffy eventually develop a relationship and it is revealed he is a vampire, however he is different because he is cursed with a soul.  While all this is going on an ancient vampire named The Master is trying to find a way to open the Hellmouth and be freed from his prison.  This leads to a final showdown in which Buffy is killed, but then revived even stronger and she finishes off The Master.

       This season was good, the villain was cool, the characters were likable, even the pointless ones, and the premiss was unique, and the vampire/human romance was totally ripped off years later in Twilight.  This season's rating only takes a hit because I need to scale for the later seasons that I think are better, thus it earns a B.

Season 2

       In season two the new big bad are a vamp couple named Spike and Drusilla, who terrorized Europe with Angel back when he had no soul and went by the name Angelus.  There plan is simple, kill the slayer because they are bored, however as they continually are beaten, their motives get more personal.  This season introduces us to Jenny Calendar, the computer science teacher who also has expansive knowledge of demons.  Also we meet Oz, a werewolf rocker with an incredibly zen attitude towards everything and becomes Willows boyfriend for the next few seasons.  And another new character is Kendra, another slayer who was granted powers after Buffy died at the end of the last season, meaning for the first time ever two slayers are active.  Cordelia, who was a a minor character in the previous season witnessed the final battle with The Master and is now a part of the group.  About halfway through the season Angel's curse is broken and his soul is removed, making him the new main villain for the second half, leading Spike and Drusilla.  Angel kills Jenny Calendar, and Drusilla kills the other slayer Kendra, who stays dead, this Buffy is forced to fight her former lover to the death.

       This season was even better than the last one, Angelus and Spike are my personal favorite characters from the series, and Drusilla is nuts, but in a fun way.  The promotion of Cordelia from annoying side character to reluctant sidekick is a great move.  Plus bringing in characters who actually die and add gravity to the situation is always good.  This Season earns a B+.

Season 3

       Season three's big bad is the immortal mayor of Sunnydale, who want's to use the Hellmouth to become a demon.  Angel is brought back to life by as of yet unknown reasons (his character was to popular to kill for good), and Giles is fired from the Watchers council for warning Buffy about s potentially fatal test that they give her and consequently he is replaced by a new watcher, Wesley Windham-Pryce, who is willing to accept help from his predecessor and even treats him as a mentor.  Because of the slayer Kendra's death in the last season a new slayer is called, Faith.  Faith's watcher was killed by a powerful vampire so the council decrees she share watchers with Buffy.  However over the course of the season Faith is turned to the dark side and joins the mayor.  As the season goes on Buffy begins to question the Watchers council which eventually leads to her leaving them and doing things her own way.  At the end of the series Buffy knocks Faith off a roof that puts her into a coma.  The final showdown however happens at graduation, the mayor fulfills his plan to be turned into a giant snake demon and the entire senior class is enlisted to fight him.  The battle costs the lives of many unnamed students and the school is destroyed.  In the aftermath of the battle Angel approaches Buffy and tells her he is leaving for Los Angeles for good.

       This was another good season, the mayor is hilarious and Wesley and Faith are among my favorite character in the series.  This season also wraps up the story pretty well, if the show ended here I would have been OK, B+.

 Season 4

       In season 4 our heroes go off to college, except Xander who opts to start work instead.  This season is a great jumping on point because everything changes.  This season is also unique because the big bad doesn't show up until almost the end.  The majority of this season is watching all the main characters develop relationships.  Buffy meets a guy named Riley, who is a member of the government's monster hunter group, more on that later.  He starts off pretty cool, but once he and Buffy start dating his only personality trait becomes; he has sex with Buffy...a lot, I think they spend more screen time in bed than actually fighting monsters.  Xander is seduced by Anya, who used to be a demon, and a very minor enemy in the previous seasons, and the two of them start up possibly the best relationship in the series.  Willow and Oz drift apart and eventually break up when he leaves to learn to control his werewolf side.  This leads to Willow diving into magic with her friend Tara, and eventually the two of them start a lesbian relationship, again one of the better couples in the series.  As mentioned earlier there is a government monster hunting team called the Initiative. The leader is undercover as the psychology professor and many of the field agents are disguised as frat boys.  The leader does not like Buffy for both being undeserving of her powers and distracting her best agent, so she tries to kill Buffy.  She also created her own super-soldier demon/human/machine hybrid, Adam.  Adam is the big bad and proves to be far stronger than Buffy.  This season also reintroduces Spike, the former villain, who gets a chip planted in his brain that keeps him from hurting humans.  In the final battle Willow uses her magic to channel the attributes of the original cast into Buffy, Willow's magic, Giles' knowledge, and Xander's heart to create the ultimate slayer to defeat Adam.  Meanwhile Riley, Anya, Tara, and Spike are fighting Adam's minions so Buffy can fight alone, which she of course wins.

       I have mixed feelings about this season.  The initiative was a cool idea, but it was executed poorly, same goes for Adam who was the most boring Big Bad in the series.  Riley was only cool until he and Buffy started dating, and the whole season seemed like filler.  On the other hand Anya is awesome, and the "chip plot" for Spike is brilliant.  Also the Tara/Willow relationship is handled way better than most gay characters I've seen.   But is it still the worst season of the series, and it's obvious the new characters are just replacements for all the good characters who left to join Angel in his spin-off, so this season earns a C.

Season 5

       This season was loads better than the previous one, Buffy moves back home with her mother and sister, Dawn, who is randomly introduced with no explanation until halfway through the season.  The new big bad is Glorificus, or Glory as she prefers to be called, who is a goddess trapped within a human body, however she has found a way to break free for short periods of time.  Her vessel is a guy named Ben who is a doctor that has has feelings for Buffy, and once Riley leaves to travel the world she begins to reciprocate, but never acts on these feelings because of Glory.  Throughout the season Willow and Tara continue their relationship and develop their magical abilities.  Anya and Xander become engaged, but keep it a secret for almost the entire season.  Spike starts to develop feelings for Buffy, which drives him crazy, and even Giles has something going with some girl.  About halfway into the season it is revealed that Buffy's sister Dawn is in fact the key to Hell that was transformed into a girl in order to hide her from Glory and everyone in her life is given false memories of her existence.  These memories eventually lead to a brain tumor in Buffy's mom that is removed, but complications with the surgery eventually lead to an aneurysm that kills her.  These episode are fantastic, they were so emotional that I'll admit that I almost cried myself.  The heroes learn that Glory is in fact vulnerable so long as she is locked within Ben.  in the final battle Buffy defeats Glory with the help of her friends and the Buffy-Bot, a robot duplicate built by a minor villain for Spike's "pleasure".  However they are unable to kill her and the gate to hell is opened anyway.  A few demons get out and Buffy sacrifices herself to close it.  Meanwhile Glory, unable to free herself from Ben due to exhaustion is killed when Giles suffocates Ben.  The final scene is Buffy's funeral service.

       This season was way better than the previous.  The villain is extremely vain, which is funny, and the Anya/ xander relationship continues to be a highlight.  Dawn is an interesting character, albeit slightly annoying.  And Willow and Tara's relationship remains one of the best television romances to date.  I rate this season an A-.

Season 6

      Season six starts with with the gang hunting a vampire with their newest member, the Buffy-bot.  Willow reprogrammed it in order to fool monsters into thinking she is still alive and to fool social services so that Dawn isn't forced into foster care.  Giles returns to England and while he is gone Willow decides to bring Buffy back to life.  Meanwhile a random vampire damages the Buffy-bot and learns that the real Buffy died, so it's open season in Sunnydale for all monsters.  When Buffy is resurrected her friends believe the spell didn't work, but in fact she is resurrected in her grave, forcing her to dig her way out.  She was also believed to be trapped in a Hell Dimension because of her unnatural death, but in fact she was in Haven.  She develops an incredibly abusive relationship with Spike.  Throughout the season Willow's obsession with magic begins to alienate her friends and even Tara leaves her.  This leads to her giving up magic all together in order to get her life back together and win back Tara.  The big bad here are the Nerd Trio, three very minor villains who join forces with no real goal in mind, in fact only one of them is truly evil.  The season ends with Spike leaving to become what he once was.  The nerd trio is stopped and the leader out of anger buys a gun and goes to Buffy's house to exact revenge.  He fire 3 shots wounding Buffy, but more importantly a stray bullet kills Tara just as she returns to Willow.  Willow then snaps and goes after the trio.  She tracks down Warren, the leader who killed Tara, and tortures him before ripping his skin from his body killing him.  Once Buffy recovers from her gunshot wound she returns to protect the remaining members of the trio, so Willow decides with nothing left to live for, she's going to destroy the world.  She proves far to powerful to be defeated and is only stopped when Xander reasons with her and talks her down.  The final scene is Spike who until this point was thought to be trying to remove his chip, but in fact he was earning his soul.

       This was my favorite season, the villains are fun, Spike is the bomb as always, and the plot is well thought out.  In addition this is the season that has fun with some of its episodes, one is a twisted version of a Christmas Carol with Xander's life if he goes through with the wedding with Anya.  My two favorite episodes are Once More With Feeling, a musical episode when a demon forces everyone in Sunnydale to bust out into song and dance, and Tabula Rasa, where the main characters' memories were wiped and they had to figure out who they were.  Because of these reasons, I give this season an A.

Season 7

       The final season, not quite as good as the last, butt a decent send off.  The first evil, who had a minor appearance in an earlier season has gotten tired of the good and evil balance and decides to destroy the slayer line by taking out all the girls in the slayer line.  But because it can't take a physical form it uses its followers to do its dirty work, most notably the Bringers, humans who mutilate their own bodies to pledge their loyalty.  The bringers are hunting down potential slayers all over the globe.  Willow spent the time between the previous season and the current one with Giles learning to control her powers.  Meanwhile Sunnydale high school is finally rebuilt by Xander's construction crew and the new principal is Robin Wood, the son of Nikki Wood, a slayer killed by Spike in the 70s.  Andrew and Jonathan, the surviving members of the nerd trio also return, and Andrew is tricked into murdering Jonathan.  Andrew spends the remainder of the season as the heroes hostage trying to redeem himself.  The Summer's house in this season doubles as a sanctuary for for potential slayers trying to survive the Bringers.  Some of the more noteworthy ones are Kennedy, who instantly tries to start a relationship with Willow, Amanda who goes to school with Dawn and is very awkward, and Vi, who is played by Felicia Day, and acts like Felicia Day.  The First also has more distinguishable villains, such as the Turok-Han, or Ubervamp, an ancient vampire that proves to be difficult to kill for the first couple episodes, and Caleb, a southern preacher who hates women and is even stronger than Buffy.  Faith and Angel also return for the finale, and thus all the characters people like are returned.  Towards the end of the season Buffy discovers the ultimate slayer weapon, the scythe, an ax/steak hybrid forged to compliment a slayer's abilities.  Also they come up with the plan to activate all potential slayers in order to have an army to fight the first.  The final battle pits everyone against the first and his army of Bringers and Turok-Hans, The slayers fight the Turok-Han, Willow uses her magic to activate the slayers, and all the others battle the Bringers.  In the end a couple main characters die, and Spike sacrifices himself to close the Hellmouth for good...or does he?

       This season was awesome, and if it wasn't for the first being rather boring it would have been better.  Robin's obsession with Spike is cool, and all the potential slayers are unique and with a little more development could potentially be among the ranks of my favorites.  Caleb is also a great character who is both creepy and entertaining at the same time.  All in all I feel this season deserves an A-.

Overall

Season 1-B

Season 2-B+

Season 3-B+

Season 4-C

Season 5-A-

Season 6-A

Season 7-A-

       In about a week or two I plan to do an Angel review, but I have to finish the series first, I'm also planning a top 10 list for these series, but I'm saving that until I read the comic series.  Any comments feel free to post them below.

Television Reviews: Dark Angel

 

       Dark Angel was a show from the year 2000 that deserved far more attention that it received.  First off it was created by James Cameron (yes THAT James Cameron), second it had an interesting premise that was unique at the time.  And let's not forget it stared a little known actress named Jessica Alba, who went on to star in many mediocre films and a small handful of decent films.

       The plot was that in the year 2009 a pulse took out the economy, ironically in 2009 many believed that the economy was about to collapse.  Around the same time a group of young bio-engineered children escaped from the government facility they were being held in, Project Manticore.  Ten years later one of the children, Max Guevara is now a bike messenger, who at night uses her abilities to rob people for extra income.  However one of the people she tries to rip off, Logan Cale, is a rich freedom fighter, who ends up paralyzed from the waist down because of Max.

       the First season focused on Max trying to find her fellow super soldier escapees after she learns the group responsible for creating them is hunting them down to erase evidence.  The side characters are Max's friends Original Cindy; a confident, openly gay lesbian and Max's best friend, Herbal; a Rastafarian who is a strong advocate of peace, and Sketchy; a laid back stunt rider who I assumed as a pothead the entire season.  There was also their boss Normal, who's real name I don't think is ever mentioned is often depicted as a jerk and a tyrant, but honestly I found him to be far better than a few bosses I've had.  The basic plot was Logan finds a bad guy, sends Max after it, Max juggles work and crime fighting, the problem is resolved, next episode.  The episodes were well written and and the characters were easy to like, but it was painfully obvious many of the episodes were filler to pad out the season.  The first season gets a B+.

       Season two was far superior to season one.  This season went into depth with the  different types of super soldiers, many of which don't even look human.  The plot was that the secret got out, and now civilians knew about Project Manticore.  The new characters were my favorite characters in the show and included Joshua; the original Super soldier who has a lion like appearance and a child-like innocence he was played by Kevin Durand, an actor who I feel is extremely unappreciated.  And Alec, a super soldier who is the identical twin brother of a minor villain from the first season, he is arrogant and sarcastic, he is portrayed by Jensen Ackles who currently stars on the show Supernatural.  The big bad of this season is humanity as a whole, but for the less existential the villain is the new head of Project Manticore, who killed the villain of the last season.  The season also adds a sub-plot where Max and Logan are unable to touch because she is infected with a virus, which causes tension in their romantic relationship.  This season was far better than the last and earns an A.

Final Score

Season 1     B+

Season 2   A

Final          A-

       The series was ended far before it should have, in fact the final scene was a segway into a new season, Max and the other Project Manticore subjects wall off a section of the city and claim it as there own.  This series was crated because James Cameron was unable to make the Spider-Man movie he wanted to do, because Sam Raimi's Thor pitch was rejected.  In a way I'm glad things turned out this way, because Dark angel is one of my favorite shows of all time.  Unfortunately the show isn't available on Netflix instant queue, and I was only able to watch it by borrowing the DVDs from my cousin, if you get the chance to see it do.  As an added bonus, it was made before James Cameron decided to put his name all over his projects and even in the titles of his movies, like say for example; James Cameron presents James Cameron's Avatar: The James Cameron Cut.

Television Reviews: Heroes

       Heroes was a show that ran from 2006, to 2010, the premiss was that there were people out there who had abilities that could not be explained, something nerds wished was true for years.  The show had superheroes, without costumes or code names, and for the most part conveyed what regular people would do if they had powers.  The show was a huge hit, and for a brief period of time everyone on the planet was a superhero nerd.

       The first season was incredible, it followed a set of characters who suddenly discovered that they had powers.  The rest of the series was about these people figuring out what to do about their powers, and incorporate them into their daily lives.  This included one character who was a serial killer, Sylar, who went on to become the shows highpoint.  The guy was unstoppable, and for some reason able to gain new powers from his victims.  His opposite is Peter Petrelli, a man who wants to be a superhero, but due to the nature of his powers, he needs more effort to control his powers.  About halfway through the season there was an episode that took place in the future, after a nuclear bomb destroyed New York.  The rest of the season was about them trying to stop the bomb from going off.  This season was the best of the series, and one of the best television seasons of the decade.  This Season earns an A.

       Season 2 was not quite as good, and honestly we should have seen what was to come.  This season the hero of the last season wakes up in Ireland with amnesia, Sylar wakes up in a government facility powerless, and the big problem was that a virus was going to get out and kill off most of the world.  This season was good, but not as good as the first.  Another of the fan favorite characters was reduced to a comic relief character, and some characters were killed off between seasons.  The biggest issue of this season however was that because of the nature of the enemy, a virus, the season's climax was a bit anti-climactic.   Thus I give this season a B.

Season 3 is where everything completely fell apart for the show.  Granted this is also the year of the writer's strike, so it is allowed some forgiveness.  This season was split into two parts, Villains and Fugitives, because of this I will split it up into two different scores.  The premiss of villains is that Aurthur Petrelli, the father of two of the main heroes, returns and gathers a team of criminals forming the first super villain team.  Sadly the looming threat of this arc is that Arthur wants to give powers to the masses.  This divides the heroes into two camps.  I think they wanted to replicate the Marvel Civil War, but they didn't do so well.  This arc gave powers to a characters who didn't have them before.  I give the arc a C-.

      The second half of season 3 was even worse, after the events of the last arc people with powers were considered dangerous, and the government started rounding up all of them and locking them away.  This is a great premiss, but it was handled poorly.  In fact, I can't even think of any episodes that stood out to me.  At least the other three arcs had an exciting finale, maybe a bit anti-climactic, but still exciting.  This season only had Sylar trying to be good, but deciding at the end to he couldn't do it.  I give this arc a D.

       And now for the reason why I was so lenient on season 3, season 4 was the opposite of season 1.  Nothing was done well, the villain was stupid, the new characters were boring, the older characters were reduced to 1-dimensional versions of their former selves, and the threat was a man who wanted to create a safe haven for those with powers.  What made the season so bad however is the ideas were good, and could have spawned something really good.  The villain ran a circus full of those with powers, and his abilities grew in accordance to the number of super powered people around him.  They tried to make Magneto, but they failed.  Sylar becomes tired of being evil, and eventually becomes a hero.  Everything here was a mess, so I am forced to give the final season an F.

Final score
Season 1     A
Season 2     B
Season 3A    C-
Season 3B    D
Season 4     F
Average    C

       Do you agree/disagree?  feel free to post a comment below.