Overall, an excellent but too-soon end to the show.
So-so spots first. The choreography in the junkyard scene was good, but... rather poorly lit and filmed. I wish we had seen more of what was going on. When you could make out what was going on, it was very good. Like the Starman vs. STRIPE fight. Not only was it very... super-powered, but it had the personal stakes going for it. Even when Pat was in the cockpit of STRIPE punching buttons, you could tell that there was some anguish going on.
The Shiv vs. Ultra-Humanite battle was okay. I'm not sure the writers really built up the whole "Jakeem is in love with Cindy" thing, and we never got a resolution to it. He declared his love for her and then... nothing.
I also wasn't clear: why was Rick apologizing to Beth's parents? Did I miss the part where he snapped at them? The bit with him welcoming Grundy's resurrection was also weak sauce. Grundy's "death" was barely a footnote in the third season, and was pretty much lost in the back half. So Grundy coming back to life didn't really have much impact.
They didn't really "save" Sylvester, and his ending being stuck in a jar, reliving the last moments of his "life", was a bit of a downer. I know the coda said he was saved, but it was an example I touch on below of telling instead of showing. Yes, I know they couldn't have done anything else with the show's relatively abrupt cancellation. But it still stuck out like a sore thumb.
And finally, although it was unavoidable and as I noted above, the last few scenes had that "Oops, we just got told we were cancelled vibe to it." Like the ending as the JSA Museum. Let's bring in Jonathan Cake in a set we probably had sitting around gathering dust since season 1. It was a _good_ scene, don't get me wrong. Cake was always a MVP on the show when they could get him on, and he perfectly captured the smirky anti-hero charm of the characters from the latter comic books. I just would have rather seen the ten years later JSA, then hear someone talking about them. But needs be as the devil must, I suppose.
So much for the mediocre stuff. The good stuff was... well, everything else. From Joel McHale's villain turn, to Pat fighting for his life and to avenge his fallen partner, to Courtney coming to everyone's rescue, it was all good. I liked Sofus and Lily kicking butt, showing that even senior citizens had some mad fighting skills. And we briefly had three generations of Mahkents fighting the JSA. Even if Lily's villainous turn wasn't very well supported.
The Mike/biological mother resolution was nice, but it seemed to come out of nowhere. How did they get her to Blue Valley? I take it Alicia Witt wasn't the actress who played the same character when Sylvester was going around the country and met her. They were the same character, right?
Amy Smart was another MVP, both with her scene when Mike calls her "Mom", and earlier when she avenged her friend Paula. It was almost worth having the Crock parents killed off both to give Barbara her chance to avenge Paula, and later when Artemis killed her parents' killer in particularly gruesome fashion. Although Sportsmaster had flammable hockey pucks?!?
Beth got to do the pacifist superhero bit. Yolanda got to tell the truth to her mother. Only Rick seemed underserved as a character. Brec Barrenger and Luke Wilson were the strongest characters, and had a lot going on. Not only with their father/daughter relationship, which always seemed "real", but with their personal issue. Pat with his old partner's relationship, and Courtney dealing with the collapse and then rebuilding of her team and her life.
And Courtney got her boyfriend back, and got to deliver Gambler's letter to his daughter. The former seemed to me very YAF, and another example of how the ending got rushed by the cancellation. One scene Cameron is leaving, but then a couple of scenes later, he's back. Having her find Becky also seemed very rushed.
We'll never get to see how Helix, and Keith David as Mr. Bones, panned out. Oh well, at least we get Mr. David on 'Leverage: Redemption' this week.
And the 10 years later ending was... well, perfect in the moment. Yes, it seemed tacked on, but what could they do? Having Cake give the wrap-up, and then Shipp showing up as Flash pays tribute to the 90s Flash, the soon-to-be-gone modern Flash, and Shipp's previous appearance on 'Stargirl'. It had little Geoff Johns moments, like the mentions of Sand, Damage, and Icicle. Another cute moment when Flash accidentally cuts the table in half and Shade's exasperated response. And finally, Shade saying the adventures are never over as he's called into action as a JSA member. Overall, a fitting conclusion to the series.
But that's just my opinion, I could be wrong. What do you think?
So-so spots first. The choreography in the junkyard scene was good, but... rather poorly lit and filmed. I wish we had seen more of what was going on. When you could make out what was going on, it was very good. Like the Starman vs. STRIPE fight. Not only was it very... super-powered, but it had the personal stakes going for it. Even when Pat was in the cockpit of STRIPE punching buttons, you could tell that there was some anguish going on.
The Shiv vs. Ultra-Humanite battle was okay. I'm not sure the writers really built up the whole "Jakeem is in love with Cindy" thing, and we never got a resolution to it. He declared his love for her and then... nothing.
I also wasn't clear: why was Rick apologizing to Beth's parents? Did I miss the part where he snapped at them? The bit with him welcoming Grundy's resurrection was also weak sauce. Grundy's "death" was barely a footnote in the third season, and was pretty much lost in the back half. So Grundy coming back to life didn't really have much impact.
They didn't really "save" Sylvester, and his ending being stuck in a jar, reliving the last moments of his "life", was a bit of a downer. I know the coda said he was saved, but it was an example I touch on below of telling instead of showing. Yes, I know they couldn't have done anything else with the show's relatively abrupt cancellation. But it still stuck out like a sore thumb.
And finally, although it was unavoidable and as I noted above, the last few scenes had that "Oops, we just got told we were cancelled vibe to it." Like the ending as the JSA Museum. Let's bring in Jonathan Cake in a set we probably had sitting around gathering dust since season 1. It was a _good_ scene, don't get me wrong. Cake was always a MVP on the show when they could get him on, and he perfectly captured the smirky anti-hero charm of the characters from the latter comic books. I just would have rather seen the ten years later JSA, then hear someone talking about them. But needs be as the devil must, I suppose.
So much for the mediocre stuff. The good stuff was... well, everything else. From Joel McHale's villain turn, to Pat fighting for his life and to avenge his fallen partner, to Courtney coming to everyone's rescue, it was all good. I liked Sofus and Lily kicking butt, showing that even senior citizens had some mad fighting skills. And we briefly had three generations of Mahkents fighting the JSA. Even if Lily's villainous turn wasn't very well supported.
The Mike/biological mother resolution was nice, but it seemed to come out of nowhere. How did they get her to Blue Valley? I take it Alicia Witt wasn't the actress who played the same character when Sylvester was going around the country and met her. They were the same character, right?
Amy Smart was another MVP, both with her scene when Mike calls her "Mom", and earlier when she avenged her friend Paula. It was almost worth having the Crock parents killed off both to give Barbara her chance to avenge Paula, and later when Artemis killed her parents' killer in particularly gruesome fashion. Although Sportsmaster had flammable hockey pucks?!?
Beth got to do the pacifist superhero bit. Yolanda got to tell the truth to her mother. Only Rick seemed underserved as a character. Brec Barrenger and Luke Wilson were the strongest characters, and had a lot going on. Not only with their father/daughter relationship, which always seemed "real", but with their personal issue. Pat with his old partner's relationship, and Courtney dealing with the collapse and then rebuilding of her team and her life.
And Courtney got her boyfriend back, and got to deliver Gambler's letter to his daughter. The former seemed to me very YAF, and another example of how the ending got rushed by the cancellation. One scene Cameron is leaving, but then a couple of scenes later, he's back. Having her find Becky also seemed very rushed.
We'll never get to see how Helix, and Keith David as Mr. Bones, panned out. Oh well, at least we get Mr. David on 'Leverage: Redemption' this week.
And the 10 years later ending was... well, perfect in the moment. Yes, it seemed tacked on, but what could they do? Having Cake give the wrap-up, and then Shipp showing up as Flash pays tribute to the 90s Flash, the soon-to-be-gone modern Flash, and Shipp's previous appearance on 'Stargirl'. It had little Geoff Johns moments, like the mentions of Sand, Damage, and Icicle. Another cute moment when Flash accidentally cuts the table in half and Shade's exasperated response. And finally, Shade saying the adventures are never over as he's called into action as a JSA member. Overall, a fitting conclusion to the series.
But that's just my opinion, I could be wrong. What do you think?