The Lying Game

[Blake (HDLYR)]

Caaatfiiight!

1.19 Weekend of Living Dangerously B

Wow this did not strike me as the penultimate episode of the season. The biggest problematic issue I have is that Emma and Ethan forgive Sutton entirely too quickly. She just betrayed both of them with a horrendous lie in the previous episode, only to have it brushed away with a scoff as if it were "typical Sutton". I get that, fine. But where's the line? How long can you tolerate someone's incessant lying that is completely spiteful toward you before you say you've had enough? That's really just a huge misstep right from the start, especially when it entails sending Emma and Ethan away on a road trip with Laurel and the band, leaving Sutton back home free of guilt or consequences from her actions.

I expected nothing good from the band's road trip. I've made it perfectly clear I despise this whole plotline, so I'm done repeating myself. But I will say there were a couple nice character moments, but that's only because they were salvaged entirely by Emma's inclusion in the story. One character trait that's always been important to Emma from the start is her virginity. It gets brought up from time to time and overall I think the writers handle the issue pretty well, because the true importance lies in the subtext. Outwardly she's dealing with the whole curiosity of having sex, wanting to trust Ethan enough, wanting to venture into new unexplored territory. But inwardly it's obvious she values her virginity deeply. Moments arise that are typical of any high school teen drama where a character is dealing with an issue like this, and having sex for the first time could be easily dismissible as just another step in life. I kinda feel like that about Laurel and Justin's first time earlier in the season, where she never truly grasped the impact of losing her virginity and then never suffered any after-effects emotionally. It was all wrapped up rather neatly and simply. But because of Emma's inner angst and strength of character which have been far more tangible throughout the season, her having sex for the first time is something that is a major development. If she's going to go through with it, it's going to have a much larger impact on her as a character, especially if it's not done right. What's great is that we as the audience are kind of trudging along at the same pace as Emma waiting for the "right moment", so when it doesn't appear in this episode and she almost makes a mistake, it's actually kind of suspenseful and upsetting for a moment. Luckily Ethan does the honorable thing and prevents her from making the mistake, and I know I breathed a figurative sigh of relief there.

Everything going on with Alec, Ted, and Rebecca finally hits a decent stride and could it be? might we actually get some answers in the season finale? It was always a bit telegraphed that Rebecca was back in town for Ted, rather than Alec, and the picture in the locket really came as no surprise. The only question now is the most essential question posed since the pilot - what in the hell did these two guys actually do all those years ago that was so bad?

[Blake (HDLYR)]

Surveying the destruction from a distance

1.20 Unholy Matrimony B-

Season finale spoilers

As it turns out, the simplest answer is most often the correct one. Every event Alec and Ted have been manipulating behind the scenes, all season long, has been the result of Ted's affair with Rebecca long ago. It all plays out void of any significant twists and revelations, so it's easy to feel underwhelmed. Even the perspective is distorted heavily - and by that I mean the perspective of the character who receives all the answers. While I hate to be a complainer about all the emotional material Kristin got in this episode, it's almost entirely too much too late. She's been such a B-character all season long, so the focus on her more or less stole from everyone else. Here's how it is:
When I look at Alec and Ted, I see a highly complicated relationship based on desperate friendship to cope with mutual mistakes, a friendship based on necessity rather than unconditionality. And when Rebecca joins in, wheeling and dealing in the middle of them, it challenges that friendship from every angle. That right there contains loads of potential for drama - it's a highly volatile triangle aiming toward an implosion at any given second. Does that implosion happen here? Sure. Kinda. But it's so downplayed because the biggest implosion is Kristin's. Again, I hate to complain that Kristin actually contributed to an episode in a meaningful fashion, but her reaction is all very cookie-cutter in its delivery. It's a natural reaction for her to be so grief-stricken and betrayed after learning about her husband's affair - so intrinsically it's no surprise to the audience. What could have come across as a complicated, three-party wave of drama, worthy of a season finale, is instead replaced with something smaller in scale and lacking originality.

I say Alec and Ted's secret comes across with a simple revelation, lacking a twist. But that's not to say there's zero twists in this finale. I for one had no clue Sutton and Rebecca would be working together. The blood relationship was always predictable, but I never saw any clues that both characters had been aware of that connection from the start. After taking some time to think it over, I still have a hard time imagining Sutton's endgame in all this. What could she possibly want to achieve by tearing apart the Mercers and the Rybaks so viciously? It makes me wonder if there's a longterm goal in mind when presenting this plot twist, or if it's simply for shock value. Clearly we have underestimated just how evil both Sutton and Rebecca can be - but there needs to be a fundamentally human explanation as to why two characters would go down this dark path with such conviction. If the explanation is simply "Sutton and Rebecca are evil bitches who do evil things" it's never going to work. I guess anyone who sticks around for season two will have to wait and see.

I don't want to fully discredit every second of this finale, because it does have its shining moments, but overall you simply can't call it a resounding success. And I don't necessarily blame this episode singularly. The past several episodes have been so wavering in quality that it's no surprise this finale had such a shaky foundation to begin with. It's clear where the writers stumbled: they sidelined Emma too much. The major plotline in this finale is Alec and Ted's downfall as presented through Kristin's reaction, and Emma is clearly in an observational role in the whole thing. She's watching from the outside, consoling Kristin when she gets a chance, but still not taking a clear side. This part she's playing here is simply not a resolution to everything that has been building for her this season. All season long it's been about 1) Her relationship with Ethan 2) Her relationship with Sutton 3) Her relationship with the Mercers and 4) Her relationship with everyone else. Which of those 4 areas makes the most significant strides? Well, none really. Quite possibly the biggest development is that she actively distances herself from Ethan, but no one will honestly buy that this is a definitive end to their relationship. In the end it almost seems like there are no major changes in any of Emma's 4 key areas, and that's highly disappointing for a finale, and for such an awesome character.

Now Sutton, on the other hand, shows a little more delivery. Her season arc has been about 1) Finding her mother and 2) Taking back everything she "loaned" to Emma. I'd say there are some significant strides in both of those areas. While she doesn't regain 100% control over her life, she's not exactly floundering behind Emma's white veil of untouchable purity like she was in the past. It's not like we can say Emma is "winning" anymore, where we'd sometimes dig deep to find a bit of compassion for Sutton. Now you could even say we were duped into ever siding with her to begin with. There was always something sympathetic about Sutton - despite all her horrible actions, you don't just want to dismiss her completely. It was a shared reaction between the characters on screen and us behind it, so Sutton works. Yet with each passing moment our sympathy for her dwindles, and rightfully so. I'm just curious to know if the writers ever plan on reeling her back in. If anyone asked me what's a good reason to keep watching into season two? - I'd probably just point to Sutton. The writers used her the best the season when it comes to a bigger picture. Now it's time for them to coordinate their efforts and bring that same kind of delivery to the other characters.
They also need to organize their endgame better. I never got a sense of common theme between pilot episode and finale episode, and that's because it's very clear the writers never had this episode in mind when they created the series in the first place. To know at least a vague ending to the story you start is essential, and if you can do that much, the right pieces will fall into place in between. Here's hoping to a learned lesson and future success.

So yeah, I can't just ignore it... glaring split-screen fail, anyone? Surely I can't be the only one who saw that.

Overall Season Average: B