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Reviews
Lucifer: Partners 'Til the End (2021)
Lucifer the Deadbeat Dad!
My hubby & I watched every episode of this series, & for the most part, enjoyed it. My husband was a much bigger fan than me because I could see how immature, selfish & self-centered Lucifer was. Yes, he was funny, kind & eventually loving, but it irritated me. That is, he irritated me until the final season.
Lucifer was given a reprieve after being canceled unceremoniously by Fox. We were thrilled, yay, that all the mistakes could be rectified in the wrap-up Season. Mistakes like Dan's untimely death. When I heard Kevin Alejandro was going to be in S6, I wondered how it was possible, but they came up with an excellent way to have him back on the show, interact with most of his loved ones, and eventually be redeemed (guilt-wise) to ascend to Heaven. He did a masterful job showing Dan's growth, and the love (& guilt) he has for his family. I loved that he's spending eternity with the love of his life, Charlotte, played by the enchanting Tricia Hefler.
Maize was another fantastic character we loved. Her SL arc from the beginning to the end was always on point. Her character growth was extraordinary, & realistic even for a fictitious Demon. Her maturing & finally finding true love with Eve (yes, that one), was beautiful. Even their Wedding was true to their character's personalities, with Maize walking down the aisle in a gorgeous black dress, accompanied by a hard-driving rock version of Here Comes the Bride. Even the sign saying pick a side for a bride was amazing. Political, yes, but apropos. Lesley-Ann Brandt & Inbar Lavi were fabulous!
The arc of Amenadiel was somewhat interesting, I found him to be too preachy & dull most of the time, but I always thought he should be God. He did learn, grow & mature, & thankfully became less judgmental, so that was an enormous change. I didn't think his character should be a cop though, & the racism story, while appropriate for the sad & hateful times we live in, felt jarring & rushed for the show. But, I was happy to see Chloe get an education into the systemic racism in the Department, & for her to take action on it.
I think the amazing, funny Rachel Harris's Linda had a lot to do with Amenadiel's growth, but I thought her book idea was a terrible plot device. I also think she kind of got the short stick at the end too, as she & Amenadiel are co-parents but not romantically involved.
Speaking of romantic, I was pleased to see Ella finally happy with a good man, & Lucifer's foundation gift to her was thoughtful & generous. We were so delighted that she FINALLY figured out / found out about all the celestials around her, although I think they all should've apologized immediately. Her breakdown at the Wedding where it all came out, was just tacky & poor writing though. I think there should've been a better way to have the big reveal.
So, we're mostly happy with the auxiliary characters' send-offs. If Lucifer & Chloe had been given a Happy ending I would've rated the last show a 10. But, that's not what happened.
For some strange reason, the writers & showrunners decided to completely upend all of Lucifer's emotional growth, & turned him into a Deadbeat Dad! They created a flimsy plot device, he & Chloe's daughter from the future time travels back to our present to take out her angst on Lucifer. Great, there's never been any time travel on this show before, but, since it's about celestials, God, Heaven & Hell, etc., we went with it.
Brianna Hildebrand played Rory with beautiful finesse. Her hatred of Lucifer softening slowly, her love of her mother, her sense of humor messing with Maize & Eve were all on point, & her chemistry with Tom Ellis & Lauren German was off the charts. So, why did the writers feel it was necessary to destroy 6 years' worth of a love affair between Lucifer & Chloe using Rory as the tool? When Rory finally realized she truly loved her father (after a magical day of fun they shared), & he survived the day she said he "disappeared", that should've been enough to change the future. Or even better, don't have that as the plot because it completely ruined the show.
The crux of the whole show is the love affair between Detective Chloe Decker & Lucifer Morningstar. He finally earned her love & felt worthy of it. It was especially thrilling to find out that they had a child together! But, in the same breath we found that out, we also learned "he wasn't there". Was he murdered by the newly escaped Le Mec who'd killed Dan? So investigate it, great story, & it made Chloe realize she didn't want to give up being a cop. Good! Lucifer realized he didn't want to be God (duh), also good. But, he suddenly realized that he wants to be a "healer" ie a social worker or psychiatrist- IN HELL?! OKaay, I can maybe see that he realized that after trying to be God & ending up caring for the people he helped. BUT, & this is a huge BUT, to abandon his child & Chloe to answer "his calling"? Rory, making him promise to abandon her made NO sense, & his decision to actually do it was infuriating. When you're a parent, you do what's BEST for your child, & family!! He not just abandoned Rory, but Chloe, too! To write that she has to spend her entire life ALONE, raising 2 kids & working, is incredibly difficult & just dumb. And for what?
Lucifer put the needs of his ego & a bunch of criminals ahead of the needs of his family. Lucifer became a Deadbeat Dad because the showrunners thought that was a cool homage to his beginnings?! They just slapped every fan in the face with that ending. Not only did they NOT get married, and have a happy life together raising their family, seeing their friends, etc, but they thought it would be great for us fans if Lucifer wasn't there at all. Are they stupid? Have they not seen the fan groups dedicated to their love? They thought that Chloe living 50 or 60 long years, by herself, but reuniting with Lucifer after she died would make us happy? Think again!
Since he's immortal, time has no meaning to him, except in human years. So, what was the rush to get down to Hell? Since they arrogantly insisted on this storyline, why not have Lucifer wait till his family was older, & Chloe died, to go to Hell? They would've had all those happy year's with friends & family. A normal life doing what they love, with each other. The idea that he'd never see his friends & family again is horrible. The idea that all Chloe had were her friends & family is equally awful. Even Amena-GOD was everywhere, visiting his family, & friends with a little help from other Angels. Lucifer couldn't have popped back up to Earth for visits & gotten help from other Demons, or Angels? Poor Trixie lost her father & her step father, & didn't even appear at Chloe's deathbed? And Chloe's OK, even serene that her life was spent alone? That's truly terrible writing,
I've never seen a worse story ending other than Lost or Babylon Five, & Enterprise was pretty bad, too. I don't understand why these writers/showrunners get so egotistical & selfish about shows they've worked on. Yes, they've written them, but without us fans, the shows wouldn't stay on the air! Lucifer was brought back by us, our campaign to get it on Netflix, & instead of giving us what we wanted, a happy ending, they gave us this artsy mess. 20 minutes of circling Lucifer & Chloe in the panic room, then at his piano was BORING & a waste of time (yet the showrunners had the gall to brag about it!). We sat there not believing what we were seeing. Yes, we know they're in love - give us a wedding & their happy life together as the Finale!
TPTB at Castle managed to eke out a win with their finale, but it almost didn't happen because they were talking about killing off the Beckett!! They actually thought that Castle the show & character could go on without her! The unbelievable ego, stupidity & arrogance of that idea is exactly what Lucifer did. Castle had a happy ending with a montage of their memories & showed them as a happy family, years in the future.
Lucifer should've respected their fans by doing the same. We'll forever be disgusted & disappointed in this ending. It gets a rating of 2 - only because the other characters we love had happy endings.
White Collar: Au Revoir (2014)
Farewell
My husband & I just finished watching this wonderful series. We have no idea why it ended, especially in the middle of the 6th Season, when it was SO great. It hadn't lost anything, & it should've gone on for many more years. But it didn't, & we're very sad about that. Did they know it was over? How much time were they given to wrap things up? It seems like it was one episode. The whole last episode seems rushed & not well thought out.
We're very sad about the series finale. While it was excellent in many ways, what the writers decided to do with Neil was awful, & out of character for him. He was a criminal who discovered family, love, friends, & work that meant a lot to him. He loved going to work every day with his best friend, Peter. Putting away the really bad guys. Why would he give that up? The answer is, he wouldn't.
Yet the writers (or Producers, or TPTB) decided to throw out all his character growth, have him do one last con, his greatest con, to screw over everyone he knows & loves, just to take a vacation with his $10 million. Of course he had to appear dead to steal that money because of the Pink Panther vengeance edict. So, he set up enough clues for Peter to figure out what he'd done. And in the last scene, Peter did figure it out. After crying our eyes out over Neil's "death", we see him in Paris, alone but alive. Walking off into the sunset. And Peter smiles.
How did this dreck pass an editor? Neil wouldn't betray Mozie or Peter like that. For any amount of money. Also, he had an ironclad contract that guaranteed his freedom. It just doesn't feel good at the end of this series that we adore. We're angry & upset that the writers would play us like that. Make us think he's dead, then have him walk off ALONE. Family & friends make life worth living. Neil discovered that. He would not give that up.
Here's my alternate ending as they were doing a cross between Leverage & Catch Me If You Can:
Mozzie takes the money as planned, & Neil has the gun on Keller. But, Peter arrives in the sewer & goes to arrest Keller, but he attacks Neil. Peter kills Keller to save Neil.
After vanquishing the Pink Panthers, the FBI holds up their end of the deal, & Neil is finally, legally, free. Celebrations ensue. Neil realizes that only 1 thing is missing in his life - Sara. He flies to London & sweeps her off her feet. He asks her to marry him & she happily accepts.
Mozzie invests the money for the 3 of them & gifts Peter & El's son a fully funded college fund.
One year later. All is good at FBI headquarters as a new Quantico graduate walks in. He flips his hat onto his desk, & Peter acknowledges him by saying, Welcome to your first day, Agent Caffrey. Peter asks him if he's ready to get started on a new case, & Neil says he's never been more ready. Fade to black after zooming out.
Happy ending for everyone, all together still. As this series deserved.
My rating for the Series 10+. My rating for the series finale, 3-
The Blacklist: Nicholas Obenrader (No. 133) (2021)
Come on!
The writers must think that we, the audience, are idiots. That's how they're treating us by writing Liz as some kind of a mastermind who's figured out how to "do it all" as Aram asks her. She can be a thief, a genius, a wonderful mother & a former maybe future, FBI agent without breaking a sweat. Really? Because in the past she barely got a clue without Red feeding it to her. What I find the most galling, is that after years & years of Redd taking care of her, looking out for her, even rescuing her from a fire, she turns on him when her Mommy shows up. Said mommy isn't the least bit maternal, or even kind, and she lied to Liz, murdered a man in front of her grand kid, posed as a neighbor, and abandoned Liz when she was a child. Yet Lizzy jumps to HER defense? She turns on Red & believes every word a known liar says, a liar who nearly murdered Red. But none of that matters, because Lizzy knows her mother's heart is pure, & that she's not N-13, Red is. Because she said it. I don't even care who N-13 is, because no matter what, I love James Spader & his multifaceted portrayal of Red, I love Dembe, and most of the other actors. But not Megan Boone or Liz. She's a horrible actress, and given lousy lines she makes them worse like the croissant stealing scene. I mean I just wanted to punch her, and Aram too for being so weak. Resseller too, is thinking with his man junk. Are they kidding with being slavishly loyal to a horrible person & a fugitive? She should've been under arrest in the car, not able to assist. And how has she gotten a crew together? She's nothing more than an hysterical lunatic screaming about how her possible daddy wronged her & her Mommy when there's no proof any of it happened, and Red's character is way better than hers is.
This season, I've only enjoyed the episodes she wasn't in. When she reappeared, her actions are directly responsible for Annie's death. Yet, Liz has no remorse or sorrow about that. Annie was just an unintended consequence in her vendetta for Red. Despicable.
Liz has gone too far to be redeemed, & quite frankly the show was much better without her on it. Her storyline makes no sense & we fans are 100% behind Red. We feel loyalty to him, something she should too. She's become useless & more annoying than I/we can stand. I'm ready to FF her scenes or stop watching the show. My husband is getting cranky, & I'm yelling at the TV when she's on. Please kill her off. Red & Dembe can raise her kid. No loss, big gain.
Next: FILE #3 (2020)
Gripping show
I've watched 3 episodes of Next, & I love it! It's an edge of your seat thriller. Can't wait for more episodes!
Bull: The Ground Beneath Their Feet (2018)
Season 3 off to a poor, depressing start
I thought this episode was shocking at the beginning & completely disappointing overall. The entire episode we were wondering why the Bridge collapse wasn't mentioned. Annoying. Then, in the court case, the dying woman should've won, & Bull should've lost. He was on the wrong side & we were rooting for him to lose. That's not good TV.
Then on top of that, Cable is dead from the bridge collapse from he beginning. They FINALLY mention it. And everyone is upset about her death but life goes on & they're fine. I know the actress wanted to leave, and I've read that the producers dudnt think of any other ways to explain her absence. Uh, what about, her mother took ill & she had to take a break? Or her mother died & she had to help her family. Or she had a terrible accident & she's in a coma. All those are just off the top of my head, and they didn't involve her dying. Plus she could've come back in the future when her film is done.
Are the producers so lazy that they didn't bother to think of those options, or are they so arrogant that they thought the audience would just love everything they do. Well, we hated this episode, & hate what Dr. Phil's show has become. It's a cheap knock off of the Jerry Springer show. It's uncomfortable, nasty & tasteless. Plus he drags his wife & kid on to push their money grubbing schemes. It's so transparent, but people fall for it. I hate it & was worried when I saw his name on this show. Maybe that influence on this show will drive Bull into the ground as well. It already got worse last season, & having Bull be an alcoholic & heart attack survivor is just depressing. We only watched for Michael Weatherly, and although we love the cast, if the shows keep being bad & depressing, we'll drop the show.
FYI, I don't understand leaving a successful show to do a maybe film project. In the competitive world of acting, you should stick with a sure thing, imho. The actress who plays Cable may regret her decision.