So I took a day to gather my thoughts about the finale, and I figured out what it was so disturbing about this for me.
I think all of us who loves Dexter felt comfortable with him as a representation of our own "misfit-ness", and by extension - some dark sides. We found comfort in rooting for him, even if it felt "bad". And I, personally, was happy knowing that he has a place in this world (i.e the lumberjack ending).
By killing him off, I feel the society becoming even more unaccepting towards those who are different. You can't BE if you're not right, fix yourself or get eliminated.
I feel that's where the world is going, and this finale is a representation of that.
I'm usually not the person of "back in my time", but now I feel that the 00's were times when we all got more ability to be ourselves (within the limits of morality, of course), and now this door is closing with the lack of privacy, the judgmental approach and the whole "cancel" culture.
So that's the end of Dexter for me, as well as the end of an era and a portion of my own youth.
Well, I guess it was good while it lasted. Still, feel kinda sad.
I'm gonna voice an unpopular opinion that Toby is not such a bad guy here, I think one of the problems is that he constantly feels ganged-up by the "big three". He constantly feels outnumbered and that's one of the reasons of him lashing out.
The only thing where he was out of line is when he gave Kate an ultimatum about moving to SF, they were supposed to talk about this. Her arranging the house and the environment for Jack and her job are equally important as the financial stability he received in SF and his own personal satisfaction.
I think that in their position, having the 2 approaches of giving Jack tools to be independent + taking advantage of the medicine in the future (which requires money!) is the best way to go, without the competition.
At the end of the day (when everything blew up between them at the final scene) If she'd say "Ok, we're both at fault here, you because the gate, me because of the front door, let's try to make sure this won't happen again, please?" the situation might have been resolved with both of them being happy that Jack is ok (what an amazing actor, btw!)
Anyway, having 2 brothers to gang up on him certainly didn't help.
So siblings might bring as much problems, as comfort and support, that's how I see it :)
So it started out nicely, but meanwhile it's going badly, and the settling and the overall vibe isn't charming enough (like in Emily in Paris) to make up for the really annoying characters and predictable writing.
Michael misses his ex so much he practically becomes him. Or maybr if he's always been so all over the place? In that case I can understand why Colin broke up with him, preferring a dog.
Also, when NPH becomes agitated - he's Barnie from HIMYM again, and that give me a hell of a cognitive dissonance.
I'm also disappointed that they created a great character like Suzanne and don't give her anything worthwhile (except the scene with her son in her bed, which was cringy, of course).
I'll see it to the end and hope it'll get better, perhaps next season?
The premise is so good, but the execution is less appealing. And I feel like it's doing disservice to the community as well, they're painted in a really caricaturist way (the megalomaniac celebrity, the artsy chubby gay in glasses... I don't know, too typical IMO).
Oh well, I'll watch last season of "Frankie and Grace" once I'm done with that, I like their gays more so far.
I think the ending wasn't surprising at all, we got hints about Andy's mom in the previous episodes, when Pruitt talked about her with his buddies. I just hope they won't make him some kind of abuser next season, I was really invested in him as a good father figure, despite his flaws. I hope Eleni just couldn't bear the family life and left, because if Pruitt was abusive to her and she left without her daughter - that's problematic as well. But maybe shows a pattern, she could've done all of this one week later to bother to support her husband (or even someone considered a friend from the present), even if she married him for the wrong reasons and he's a place-holder for her father.
I think his reasoning that it's her grief were solid and not that judgmental, and his health and future carrer should've been more important than ghosts from the past. That's how I see marriage, at least, you can't just pick up at leave your spouse, this is a commitment you took. Andy really annoyed me during this episodes.
Anyways, good cliffhanger for next season and a better season finale than Grey's Anatomy (though I realized it was forced by the lockdowns). Overall, interesting developments this season, the characters really grew up on me. I want to see Travis being happy, Emmett somehow getting back on the force to conquer his heart, Maya and Carina getting more serious, Vic and Dean finding their way to each other and Ben being a badass on his PRT. Oh, and Jack should meet someone really-really hot and interesting, he's been so human this season.
Didn't have any expectations, I know that no one really knows the full extent of her story, so my default was that it's a fictionalized version of events, and because there were just glimpses of some periods of her life, It can be interpreted as a partial story with a spot on decisive moments.
The acting was amazingly good, and some of the ideas social/personal were great (really liked the threesome line, it was just so interesting and touching, the fictionalized dad she craved to have, the self-loathing for terminating a pregnancy for a career). I also loved how she felt detached from her persona, and as far as I remember, the real Monroe said something like that as well.
She was shown as smart and under-appreciated, and that's probably how it was.
Indeed, the real Monroe had more sass and humor, but again, I see this movie as glimpses to how it was in the defining moments of her life.
Of course, the men are all bad (except maybe Whity? He at least regarded her as human, a person he worked for), but women failed her too (firstly her mom, then the neighbor).
I don't like biopics, they are never accurate and no movie can really capture a complicated person throughout their life. For that reason I didn't even watch Rocket Man, Bohemian Rapsody or Elvis, but the trailer of "Blonde" looked promising, and from some angles Anna was Merilyn, and the original and diverse cinematography made it worth watching from a creative and artistic point of view, it was engaging enough and not over-the-top artsy for me and totally worth the time (I don't even think it was too long eventually, I just didn't watch it in one sitting).
Might even re-watch it actually.
I think Link is cute - he looks like the prince from "Beauty from the Beast". At least he's different from the previous characters.
So if Glasses falls for the new Asian doctor - that will make him a Bi, since he was pretty interested in Jo as well.
That's an interesting development. Now that I think about it, he's like a very mellowed down version of O'Mailey. Maybe they're trying to make up for old discrimination against him (being gay IRL and getting bullied for that on set).
Jackson and Maggie still going, agh.
I don't think that Miranda did something THAT bad. She earned her money with her innovation, and has the right to invest in whatever she likes. Meredith still has her Little livers project with Jo as well. It's a competitive field and life, nothing to do about it.
Amelia and Owen are meh. Becoming old, actually, I'm afraid the only out of this is like some tragedy (again).
Liked the idea of Alex as chief, might be interesting, he'd became too much of Jo's sidekick lately. So I can understand why we're going to lose him soon probably (don't know when, I'm still behind the airing tempo).
Also liked the dynamic between Andrew Delucca and Webber, that's nice that Webber gets friendly with him now that Arizona is gone.
Still feel like something's missing.
I really liked that line of Amelia taking in the mother of the kid Owen is fostering. It's very deep, and gives them a new story where they practically raising a family together while following their fates side by side. That's surprisingly touching.
The nurse being so unkind about a mistake that happened like 15 years ago? Not cool. In her words - if a man started trashing a woman for sleeping around 15 years ago, that'll go as badly. But that appearance made me want to rewatch the series sometimes t see how Alex went from "Evilspawn" to the cuddly peds doctors he is now <3 and I finally love Jo, which probably means something bad will happen soon too :(((
Loved the solution Jackson and Mer came up with about the Harper Avery Foundation. even though it's really fairytale-like - still cool.
I LOVE watching the Deluccas speak Italian, so awesome. And Carina's idea of tough love does work sometimes. From my experience, I see it's best when the two parents have slightly different styles and they communicate enough to choose when's the right strategy to go by.
But obviously Arizona is also right to be trying to support Sofia as well, it's just so hard being a single parent (which is why she'll leave Seattle, probably, to re-unite with Callie or at least co-parent Sofia).
Maggie is unbelievably selfish. It's interesting that they both grew as only children, yet Grey is reasonable and has compassion despite her tough exterior, yet Maggie is so self-observed and broody despite her seemingly cheerful demeanor.
Her mom was a good person, but definitely pampered her too much, I guess.
It's not like Riggs was ever interested in her and Mer "snitched" him away , it's not like he's the love of her life, she said she "liked" him. Grow up, woman!
I mean, Mer is an older widow with 3 kids, Maggie is young, single and careless. Maggie has 2 fathers alive and well, Mers' much less support system for the hardships she endured, she just deserves it better.
Overall, Maggie should be happy for her because she has so much more time and opportunities to find someone who might like her (though she's SO unlikeable at that point).
I can't believe I love Meredith so much right now!
However, Grey's Anatomy managed to lure me in again and I'm kinda sad the season is over soon. So I guess it's a good thing I still have 5 to go? Or maybe they'll get on my nerves again, haha.
Oh sure, we have to be empathic for a set of big eyes and tears, and the mom who's taking in a baby who would otherwise be in jail or in the system is the bad guy here. And they didn't tell us what the inmate did... because? We wouldn't be sympathetic to a criminal anymore and won't be able to be judgmental toward the mom?
She probably murdered or accidentally killed someone to get that status and sentence, but we're all so woke on that show, so a girl can't be a dangerous, aggressive criminal?
And that's all because "her mom kept her in the dark"?
Really badly written episode. I sympathized only with the prison's doctor, she's the one who deserves appreciation and sympathy here. God, the system is all flawed.
And Robbins playing a saint in front of the mom and flipping the daughter card (the daughter she didn't actually want?) without knowing anything? Not professional, at the very least. Seriously. They're so annoying with their righteousness (Robins, Wilson, Bailey less - at least she doesn't consider herself a saint/perfect/victim).
And yes, it's been a while since we heard the whole "I lived in a car" routine. Didn't miss it.
I want my Alex out of jail please. And more screen time. And a normal girlfriend at last. I'd even prefer if they'd hook him up with Meredith at last, that would make sense at least, they are together all the time anyways, the kids are already there and love him. That's what would probably happen in life. They both lost their big loves anyway, so they can move on with life together in a mature, respectful, and loving relationship.
But not on Grey's Anatomy, of course. I went too far to give the show up after 13 seasons, but God they make it difficult sometimes.
