the last six episodes, part 2

Apparently that blew up in my face, post was too long, and here I am doing multiples anyway ;)

4x08

Good final scene for Setrakian. I didn’t think they’d just have him die off-screen between episodes, but never know. And the way he was, felt a frantic energy as he tried to finish his work, knowing he wouldn’t be able to. Spot-on to the character in my opinion. And really touching final moments between him and Fet.

The Eph/Gus conversation was good. Glad they remembered to still sprinkle in quiet moments.

Haha, the Master reminding Zach about knowing the power of bombs was great.

The ending, Zach’s back, joy…

4x09

Hmm, feels like an odd time jump, and Zach’s in the safe house without showing any reunion scenes for him. Oh look copying Game of Thrones again :-P

Poor Eph though, that would suck. No sympathy for Zach, I don’t care that the baby had a tantrum and regrets it now. But Eph. Gosh, that’d just be really awful to have to come to terms with. Of course it’s been obvious to the audience for quite some time. And since we didn’t get a big dramatic scene of Zach running away, you have to assume there was something we didn’t see, like him getting the Master’s plan. Like how if you didn’t see the death/body, don’t believe a character is actually dead, usually.

Smart how they played Zach and Sanjay against each other. Also fitting since I hate them both. Cool sequence. Also glad that the team was finally firm about what’s going on with Zach. Gone are the days of shrugging off his actions simply because he’s Eph’s kid.

The Gus and Roman scenes mostly bored.

When Zach revealed his true colors was great. Always love when the performer can just flip like a switch like that.

Brief sympathy for Stella, but I’m sure she pulled a fair amount of wool over her own eyes. Sanjay, good riddance, finally.

Kind of a lame cliffhanger for a penultimate episode.

4x10

Thanks for hanging in this far!

Bye Marcus, another one gone after I barely knew the name. Of course when they’re introducing new characters in a final season, they’ll usually be of utmost importance, or fairly disposable. Awesome how Gus was so abrupt about it though.

The flashback scene was nice. Wish it could’ve included Nora in some way, or even Jim.

Okay how far did the elevator fall? I was expecting deaths, even though that would’ve been lame at this part of the narrative. Dang.

Poor Quinlan. Knew that was coming. He literally would’ve outlived his purpose otherwise, and we know from Dawn on Buffy, not good to allow a character that.

The finale was decent. This will be a case of feeling pretty neutral about a finale. It wasn’t amazing. Nothing too shocking happened, mostly predictable. Granted, I read the books. But, I feel like even if I hadn’t, still would’ve been painfully obvious the whole run, of course good conquers in the end, of course Eph and Zach die, marking the end of the strangest custody battle ever.

But, overall, a satisfying conclusion. Came to a good close, answered the big questions, didn’t dwindle another one in our face in the closing moments. Maybe it’ll even escape being revived in ten years ;)

Okay so about the final act though. Again, read the books. I prefer the book ending. Now, I’m glad they left out silly part about the archangel coming down from heaven, that part always feels so out of place to me. I was kind of expecting it to happen, it’s not like the show hasn’t touched on faith and religion at all in its whole good v evil conflict. And the story and the beats are generally pretty much the same, in terms of who died how/where/when/why and such. I just preferred the setting in the book. The wilderness, the islands on the lake. So eerie, sinister. And I feel like when dealing with vampires, nature as a setting, especially for a finale, works better. It gives a more ancient and visceral feel, which I think fits better, since vampires always turn out to be ancient and of our world. But, I get that the show was always going for a more urbane feel. Plus, to do this set just to use it once and blow up? Worthy of final scenes, but likely would’ve been expensive. Also, would’ve been a lot of hard-to-work-in exposition on why it had to be that particular location. So I didn’t dislike this ending, but my heart aches a little to see the original fully realized.

The epilogue felt slightly forced, but of course they had to, because you have to have the proper ending.

Overall, not a master series, didn’t really stick the landing, but for me, a solid enough conclusion to a decent run of a decent adaption, Will watch again.