This Week in Television - May 20-25, 2012

Glee
Two major reasons why this finale didn't do what it was trying to do: first, it hasn't solidly built up any of the friendships at all on this show due to, once again, too many characters and not enough screen time; and second, having everyone refer back to the pilot episode and how far they've come was like Glee congratulating itself for the deep character development it never actually practiced.  It felt like it was making up for these two shortcomings by trying to squeeze in a lot of meaningful glances and moments between characters to show how much they care for each other, but the number of times any of these relationships have been validated throughout the past three seasons can be counted on one hand.  If this had been the pilot episode of the show, it would have had the same exact effect as it had now: none.  Plus, Burt Hummel's appearance was a perverse opposite of what his character normally does: his speech to Kurt came off more offensive than awesome, and he somehow danced a choreographed Beyonce number in rhinestone gloves when all previous indication of the character points to him never doing that, for any reason, ever.  Apparently Glee is moving to Thursday nights next season, so I'm probably not going to be watching any more.  NBC's Thursday night line-up, even without Community (which is moving to Friday), is infinitely more enjoyable.  I mean there are other ways I could still watch it, but Glee isn't worth it, and this is as good an excuse as any to quit - I think I was having more fun tearing the show apart here on the blog than I was while watching it.  I'll miss Sue Sylvester, and literally nothing else.


Awake
Wow, this episode had some really riveting, powerful, puzzling, and wonderful moments.  It was exactly what a series finale should be - although, about that: according to an interview with creator Kyle Killen, the episode was not changed to compensate for the show's cancellation.  It was always meant to go into the second season with Mike having dreamed a third world in which both his wife and son lived.  But in spite of that, it perfectly tied up Mike's mission of vengeance while giving us a satisfying happy ending.  I really, really loved all of the trippy dream-like scenes (when Dr. Evans "paused" in mid-sentence, I thought my satellite had frozen for a moment, but when I realized it was intentional I just thought it was awesome), and the eerie silence that accented most of them.  It was also a great scene when Doctors Lee and Evans finally met (in Mike's imagination, anyway) and argued over their diagnoses.  Scenes like that, and the one where Green Mike visits Red Mike in jail, are the kinds of scenes that make you sit up and cling to every word.  You know, as disappointing as it was when I heard of Awake's termination, this finale was so fantastic and satisfying that I can now accept its demise.  They kept the series short and sweet, and it didn't end with a maddening unresolved cliffhanger.  Now I just have to hope for a blu-ray release.


This concludes the 2011-2012 TV season.  I'll have a season wrap-up post soon, as well as my picks for the top 10 movies of 2011, so keep checking back!