Monday, August 20, 2007

affairs with series finales

As an avid TV person, I get that feeling every time I watch a non-reality TV season finale. In order to know "that", you have to put my thoughts into the Pensieve and see what my point is. But since I wouldn't allow you to, let me pick some of my thoughts for public consumption.

First, prior to watching a finale, there is this feeling of not wanting to let go. It's like the feeling of having a temporary goodbye. Like when your boy/girlfriend have to go for a work trip abroad for example. You know you'll see each other again, but in the mean time, you miss them for some of the fact that they're not there, and you are curious what is going on with them. That at least happened to me every time season finale of Friends were aired.

There is also this feeling of having an after-a-fight talk that you do with your loved ones. Some revelations are wanted. Some explanations are needed. Well, maybe lots of it. If I don't get explanation (or the explanation is not that satisfactory), then we can kiss our asses goodbye. This is exactly why I don't watch Lost season 2. Plus the fact that I really can't stand that Dr. Shepherd character.

Most of the times, we'd resort easily to shout "Fuck you, cliffhangers!!" when the end credits to the season finale rolls. This mostly happens when the series has a flair of soap opera in it. Desperate Housewives, anyone?

Anyway, I never thought that I would feel like how I feel today after watching a series finale. First of all, I didn't know that the episode that I was watching was actually a finale episode. I got curious though, why suddenly the episode's pace was dramatically different (no pun intended), as it was somewhat faster. And somewhat there-is-too-many-things-going-on or as I like to call it, a pre-finale symptoms.

But since I didn't know that it was a finale, I didn't have any finale feelings or thoughts.

Until something which I like to refer as "Something's Coming" scene comes. Gosh, that sentence is so cool. As a background, "Something's Coming" is a musical number in "West Side Story" and it was sung on the moment that the leading male character knows that a much more exciting thing than just his current life is about to happen. He doesn't know when how where what or who, but just around the corner. One thing though, it's something exciting.

The "Something's Coming" scene in the series was not so straightforward as that. You see, prior to the finale, the series has given us 22 well-produced episodes laden with new ways of seeing things and interpreting stuff and standing on different sides of any stories. Just because of that, the series is so cool on so many levels. It is done with a certain flair that I can't even put into words other than "The Devil Wears Prada" gone "Monty Python" gone "Mulholland Dr.". From the kitschy main title design downright to the surreal set decoration to the camp.

And this "Something's Coming" scene was the culmination of it all. It's exciting, yeah, but in a different way. It's very engaging. The combination of the editing, orchestrated music, and camera work on this particular scene was perfect. The thrill, anxiety, drama, everything needed was there.

It was only shortly after the filled-with-drama-on-fifth-gear scene ends I started to ask questions to myself. "Is this the finale? It mustn't have, must it?"

But it was. And when it ended, I was about to give the series a standing ovation cheering clapping woohooing and all. But I couldn't since I was too busy wiping tears and being emotionally moved.

Now. Crying at the end of a season finale. That's a first time.

Ugly Betty main titleOh, by the way, the series whose finale I just watched, titled Ugly Betty. Go watch it, peeps, it is really great beyond words. You will like it.

Could be. Who knows?

2 comments:

Mike said...

I was just about to tell you about Justin singing West Side Story in this series, and I thought you'll love the series, and turned out it's true.

Geget said...

and they did pick a hard one, right?..I'm impressed..a d if the other scenes weren't too overwhelming after that scene, I would definitely text you about it..hehe..