You would think that our favorite TV shows would suffer from a recession and a writer’s strike that would send ripples through the entire year, but that was not the case of three of my favorite show. The spring season came out swinging and I’m here to review three shows that may have nothing in common, except for excellent writing and storytelling.
Gossip Girl
The spring season for our favorite Upper East Side teenagers, was full of steamy drama. After Chuck Bass inherits his father’s billions, he goes on an Eyes Wide Shut adventure, filled with drugs and alcohol. Blair is in a dysfunctional relationship with both Chuck and Yale, not quite able to get commitment out of either. She targets her English teacher, Ms. Carr, for giving her a bad grade, which jeopardizes her wait-listed position at Yale. She accuses Ms. Carr of having an affair with a student, which causes the school board to investigate the allegation. Serena and Dan are on again, until she spots him at an intimate dinner with Ms. Carr and snaps a picture. After Serena shows the picture to the school board, Dan tries to apologize to Ms. Carr and ends up in bed with her. Nate goes from being a gigalo to being with funky Brooklynite Vanessa, only to end up with Blair. After the couple rekindle their relationship, they breakup after prom. It’s clear that Blair is still in love with Chuck.
After a trip to Spain, Serena comes back with a con artist who takes, among other investments, Dan’s college money. They find out that Poppy Lifton is the mastermind and recruit Georgina Sparks to help take her down. After a super-secret spy mission to get their money back from Poppy Lifton, Serena ends up in jail by her mother’s hand. Rufus and Lily finally get their relationship on track, but things start to unravel when money becomes an issue. Lily tries to secretly give Rufus money behind his back, which leads to a break up. Lily’s story inspires an 80s flashback episode — obviously a setup for the spin-off show that is fighting for a spot among Vampire Diaries and The Beautiful Life.
All of this leads up to the finale, where Gossip Girl is the main obsession of the group. She discovers that Serena is trying to reveal her true identity and releases all of the juicy gossip that she’s been holding back. At a graduation party, they all discover that Blair had a one-nighter with Chuck’s uncle Jack and that Dan really did sleep with Ms. Carr. In the end, they don’t discover Gossip Girl’s true identity. Serena gets ready to leave for Brown, Dan and Blair will be at NYU, and Nate sticks with his plan to attend Columbia. Jenny becomes the Queen of Constance, thanks to Blair. Nate ditches his job at the mayor’s office to go backpacking with Vanessa. And we are introduced to Rufus and Lily’s love child.
The finale fell a little flat because there wasn’t a major cliffhanger. But it’s hard to complain with a season so full of juicy revelations. The story lines this season were like an homage to Eyes Wide Shut, American Gigolo, and The Graduate. Along with some spy missions, glamor, and teenage drama, the season was definitely a success. And OMFG…I can’t wait for season three!
Lost
We start the season with the survivors left on the island jumping through time. Through their time travel we discover that Charles Widmore was stationed on the island as a young man. Charlotte dies from all of the time jumping and Daniel Faraday deduces that it’s because of her exposure to the island. We see that Jin has survived the explosion on the freighter and is also traveling through time on his own. He meets a young, pregnant Rousseau and the father of her child. John Locke is convinced that he can save everyone by going down to the Orchid Station to turn the wheel. He’s successful and gets off the island, while stopping time for the survivors in 1974. They conclude that joining the Dharma Initiative is the best chance for their survival, while Daniel Faraday takes off to fend for himself. We later find out that Miles’s father is Dr. Chang, leader of The Dharma Initiative, and Ben was an outcast that sympathized with the Hostiles.
Back on the mainland, the Oceanic Six deal with their lives three years after escaping the island. Jack agrees to help Ben on his quest to get the Oceanic Six back to the island, in order to save all of their friends. They are successful in rounding up Sun, Sayid, Kate, and Hurley. With varying circumstances, they all board Ajira Airways Flight 316. We find out that Ben killed John Locke, who was calling himself Jeremy Bentham. They bring him along for the ride, too. We also find out that the mystery woman who has been helping Ben is Daniel Faraday’s mother — Eloise Hawking — and that she was also stationed on the island.
All of these details lead up to the explosive season finale, where we find out that Charles Widmore is Faraday’s father. Faraday returns to an unraveling Dharma Initiative to warn them of the catastrophic events that ultimately lead to the crash of Oceanic Flight 815. His plan is to detonate a nuclear bomb at the site of the Swan station. Before Faraday can accomplish his mission, a pregnant Eloise shoots him in the back. All of the island’s inhabitants have conflicting ideas of how to handle Faraday’s mission. Meanwhile, we see all of the ways that Jacob has connected with the Oceanic Six. And we come to discover that an impostor has been giving orders on the island, with the sole purpose of finding a loophole in the metaphysical laws of the island in order to kill Jacob. In the end, Locke convinces Ben to do the job.
Anyone will agree that it was an explosive season, filled with surprises and answers that Lost fans have been obsessing over. In context to the overall canon of the show, it’s amazing to see how the conspiracy has unfolded and expanded without compromising the suspension of disbelief. Season five finally answered our questions about Charles Widmore and Jacob. There were a few throw-away moments in the show — like Ben confronting the smoke monster — but those little nuggets served as great fillers to keep the mood of mystery going.
I was disappointed to see that there is only one more season left, but realistically, it feels right. They can’t squeeze any more mysteries out of these characters, without veering off course to add new characters — which would mean more flashbacks. No! It seems to me that main focus of season six needs to focus on Jacob, Charles Widmore, the history of the island, and, of course, the epilogues for our favorite fictional island dwellers. Fall 2009 can’t come soon enough!
Fringe
J.J. Abram’s X-Files-esque drama, Fringe, had a rough introductory season. The fall was spent with introductions to the main characters — Olivia, Peter, and Walter — with hints at an overarching conspiracy theory. The special effects and weekly cases were entertaining for sure, but it was a difficult show to follow. Unlike Abram’s other project, Lost, he wanted to create a show that was easy to pick up at any time in the season. Each episode was meant to stand in its own.
Although the show experienced two big breaks, which left fans forgetting about the main story line, there was enough intrigue to keep the show alive. Questions that were posed early in the season were answered when we got to meet William Bell, who was eloquently played by Leonard Nemoy — Star Trek tie in, much?
We were introduced to two organizations that were at war with each other: Massive Dynamics and the ZFT, leaving the FBI caught in the middle. We discovered that William Bell — founder of Massive Dynamics — traveled across dimensions and was living on the other side. Meanwhile, the ZFT spent the entire season tracking down devices and people to help their main guy, David Jones, reach Bell. The finale left jaws dropping across the nation when we realized that Bell’s office in this other dimension was in the still-standing World Trade Center. And that Walter kidnapped his son, Peter, from that dimension after the Peter of our dimension died as a child. Even through all of the ups and downs of the season, Fringe pulled through and got renewed for a second season. I couldn’t be more excited.
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Tags: Fringe, Gossip Girl, Lost, Spring 2009
