Finales R Fun

So, my absolute favorite time of the year is Finale Season. I mean, sure, Christmas is awesome. Summer's pretty fun, I guess. But nothing truly compares to those few weeks in May that are full of season finales. Every episode is (or should be) exciting and bittersweet at the same time. Each minute is worth so much more because you know that it will be a few months (or, in the case of LOST, a million months--really it's just 8, but it seems like forever) before you and those characters are reunited again. And a good finale manages to send you off with closure for that season and anticipation for the next. My standards are high for finales, but it's only because I've seen some great ones in my time: Alias Season 2, LOST Season 3, Buffy Season Everything, to name a few. I have also seen some pretty lame ones that were depressing and/or unsatisfying: Grey's Anatomy Season 3 comes to mind, and Heroes Season 1 (only because it fell short of the quality I had come to expect from every episode before that).

The finales this year have been a mixture of good and bad, leaving me with feelings of hopefulness and hopelessness. It's caused quite a confusion...
Grey's Anatomy: I give this finale a grade of A-. It was a definite improvement from last year and left me very happy. Not every character's situation is perfect (because there has to be both sadness and joy to remain true to life), but the outlook for the future is "very good" across the board. George stood up for himself and gets to retake the intern exam, the Chief is back with his wife, Dr. Bailey is trying to fix things with her husband, Callie realized what she wanted, and Meredith FINALLY worked through some of her mommy issues and let herself love Derek (Lighting candles on his land in the shape of a floor plan was a great move- her "Ask me to stay" moment that every great television couple has to have- complete with a good line: "I think we can be extraordinary together, rather than ordinary apart"). Alex is in a rough place right now because he had to admit that Rebecca needed help that he couldn't give her. Izzie was a good friend to him even when he yelled at her, which I think shows some amazing growth for her. The main message of the episode was about breaking free from your personal prison, whether it be a block of cement or an emotional issue. And I, for one, love freedom.
Ugly Betty: My grade for this finale is a C. It's partly my own fault- I let this show fall through the cracks this season. I would say that this is my one casualty from the strike. I missed some episodes, so I didn't really know what was going on, so I didn't watch the new episodes. But, as someone who does like these characters and cares what happens in their lives, I would argue that Betty has gone astray from what the show used to be about: Betty. Her romantic entanglements with Henry and Gio are sloppy and don't make much sense. Wilhemina, ever the complicated villain, has gotten everything she ever wanted and didn't deserve thanks to Alexis' betrayal of Daniel. Mark and Amanda are the only consistent ones, in that they are simple but always funny. So where does this leave us? Wondering whether Betty went to Rome with Gio or Tuscon with Henry, how MODE is going to be without Daniel, and if we are even going to bother finding out next season. (Answer to the last question: Probably. Many shows have fallen to the Sophomore Slump. Almost all of those that have deserved a second chance, and so does Betty.)
Desperate Housewives: Grade, B+. Most of what was fantastic about this episode was the shock factor, the 5-year leap forward that occurred in the last 3 minutes and offered us a glimpse of the ladies' futures. Everything that happened up to that point was good, too. I especially loved the scene where Bree has to go pick up the ice sculpture and then her car breaks down and she starts pushing it down the road in her baby stroller until Orson comes to the rescue (Love that man- so glad to see she manages to forgive him in the future). Tom finally recognized that Kayla was his family's big problem when she got Lynette arrested and sent her to live with her grandparents. I wasn't sure how he was going to forgive his wife for that one- the man puts up with A LOT- but his speech to Bob and Lee about how relationships have to go through horrible things, from diseases to disasters, and you have to know if the other person is worth it was incredibly touching. You want to know what's not touching? Mike being gone. Only a few years down the road, Susan is already living with another man. I don't know how I'm going to handle that... The conclusion to the Katharine-Dylan story was very good. (Major points to Nathan Fillion in his final performance as Adam Mayfair. It was most excellent). Gary Cole finally got what was coming to him, and the girls all dealt with the situation in the best way possible and stood by Katharine. I'm also glad to see that Gaby gives Carlos children- 2 girls- but I'm sad to say goodbye to the superficial, gorgeous Gabrielle I know and love. Next season is going to be, perhaps, the biggest mystery of all as we discover how the girls have changed in 5 years, and we don't even have a murderer/crazy person to think about yet.
Gossip Girl: I've gotta give GG a B- finale. Even though I thought that everything that happened made sense, I still felt like we were thrown off a horse and left for dead as the characters continued on without us. Dan and Serena are over (that'll last, I'm sure), Jenny is going to be working for Blair's mom, Rufus went on tour, Blair and Chuck were together for approximately 14.5 minutes before he went back to being Chuck Bass and she went on to France without him, Nate and Vanessa were inexplicably through with each other, Dan is going to hang around with Vanessa all summer, and Serena and Nate are going to the Hamptons to hang out. Hmmm... Even after writing everything out, I'm still confused.
The Office: Grade, A-. Whoa. For a show that's generally about the mundane events in an office, this episode threw quite a few punches. 1) Ryan arrested for fraud. 2) Jan is pregnant. But wait, it's not Michael's. Keep waiting, she didn't have an affair, she used a sperm bank. Huh?? 3) Just as Jim is about to propose to Pam, Andy proposes to Angela. 4) After accepting Andy's proposal, Angela has sex with Dwight on her desk. The episode was mostly wonderful. Jim pulled a classic prank on Dwight. Creed tried to remember what his job was ("What do I do? Quar... Qua... Quabity... Quabity assuance!! No, but I'm close"). Michael sang a parody song called "Goodbye Toby." Dwight told the new HR representative that Kevin was mentally slow as an act of hazing. All great things. The only thing that could have made it better is if Jim and Pam had actually gotten engaged.

Counting down to Thursday- whoo, LOST!