Dallas…My guilty pleasure show (I know, I know, it’s not quite up to the Shakespearean excellence of Toddlers in Tiaras, but still). A show I never thought I would like, but, against all odds, I really do. The season (and possible series) finale saw the Ewings scrambling to defeat their powerful enemies, most notably Harris Rylan (a drawling Mitch Pelligi, totally different here than The X-Files) and J.R.’s old nemesis, Cliff Barnes (Cliff Kercheival may now be the best actor on the show after Larry Hagman’s passing). They dispatched with these long-running foes, but Cliff’s not quite down for the count, he’s in a shabby Mexican jail (how easy could it be to escape?) and he’s now recruited Elena to join his vendetta. In one of the final scenes, Christopher’s fiancee (?) went to her old friend Joaquin’s house/fortress and it’s clear this guy is some honcho in a drug cartel. If he joins the fight against the Ewings, I would expect a bloody, exciting season 3.
And the finale played fitting tribute to Larry Hagman’s lovable bastard J.R., as he actually drove much of the action from behind the grave. Who killed J.R.? Turns out, it was the man himself, all in an attempt to frame Cliff Barnes, classic. Grade: B+
Go On…A middling show that’s occasionally funny, occasionally touching, and consistently mediocre. Are some of the punch lines lame? Absolutely, but if NBC were to renew it for a second season there’s at least a 50/50 chance I would watch it. But I’m really tired of Matthew Perry’s character being obsessed with Janie, a “true love” that we never got the chance to know and is actually portrayed as slightly annoying in most dream sequences/flashbacks. Grade for season: B…Grade for season finale: B-
Archer…At last, a show I can love outright. Not just a fun a show, but a critical success, Archer operates off the great premise that an international spy agency can be just as dysfunctional as any office (a sociopathic boss, the boss’s son getting all the plum jobs, competency never getting promoted, etc.) and the finale took place in a massive sealab. It also introduced the plot line of TV’s sexist animated character (Lana Kane) being pregnant, although I was a little let down that it’s not Cyril’s or Archer’s, but instead a donor. Wouldn’t it make more sense to let their natural rivalry spiral out of control over who the father is?…Grade for season: B+…Grade for finale: B