End of season, Mid season Break, and On Hiatus

Wow American networks like to take breaks in their shows and they have a lot of ways to describe it. Three shows I watch finished their runs this week until the New Year and here are 3 quick reviews of their seasons/most recent episodes. (spoilers for all shows up to their most recently aired episode)

Chuck season 2

Whilst this was an uneven season, it was mostly enjoyable. Chuck is a very endearing and funny show and when it is at its best, action packed, which makes it a good show to watch. What I didn’t like about the season was the repetitiveness of the episode. So many of the episodes were very formulaic and therefore weren’t that interesting. The Chuck/Sarah ‘romance’ in particular is a storyline that keeps going around and around; tbh its got to the point where I don’t care that much about the pair getting together. Or not.

The BuyMore storylines have increasingly become separate from Chuck’s story and though I enjoy the BuyMore characters for the most part, it has become ridiculous that Chuck even works there anymore. He just starts and ends most episodes in the BuyMore before he rushed off for some national emergency. The best episodes were where the two worlds (spy and BuyMore) collided. Hopefully next season they can find a way to either integrate the BuyMore or from the looks of the season finale, get rid off it altogether.

The best episodes were undoubtedly the Christmas episode and the two final episodes. The finale really set up a really intriguing premise for season 3 and I hope that they follow it through convincingly.

Greek Chapter 5 (Season 3a)

Probably the shows worst chapter and this could be because its the second half of one semester meaning that this one semester has been really dragged out. So much has happened in just this semester and couldn’t possibly happen in real life. Jordan, Rusty’s girlfriend is a key example of this, who managed to move to the college, have two boyfriends and leave again all before Thanksgiving, which means she did this in about 6/7 weeks! That said I’m glad she left as she was annoying!!

More generally this chapter dealt with the Casey/Cappie romance, which tbh I find quite dull especially as I don’t buy them as a couple really. We also had Evan and Cappie become friends and breaking-up again which would have been a lot more interesting if Casey hadn’t meddled continuously.

Rebecca was once again turned into a villain and not a good one but an annoying one. The cliffhanger at the end of the finale means she’ll remain the villain next chapter again.

One storyline I was hoping the show would pick up on more was Dale, a purity pledge, losing his virginity and then his faith because of it. I think it’s an interesting storyline and is something which happens to a lot of people in college and not something really explored in other shows. Instead Dale disappeared for quite a few episodes or just made brief appearances whilst the show dealt with all its relationship drama which was a shame.

Overall I though it was a really disappointing chapter and although the storylines were there they were badly handled and the humour the show once had was gone. At more than point during the chapter I considered giving up the show but persevered. This paid off somewhat as the finale was decent and included some really interesting threads and big decisions. (Wade and other Kappa Tau brothers getting kicked out of college) The writing was also a lot better than it had been all chapter. Hopefully next chapter will improve on this one.

Dollhouse (Season 2a)

Really this has only been 4 episodes before the show was forced into a hiatus. The first 3 weren’t that great and though there were some enjoyable moments, the episodes were largely average. The fourth episode however was very strong, I don’t think it’s a coincidence that Echo appeared very little and Ballard wasn’t in it at all. Priya/Sierra proved to be a very convincing lead and her story was very tragic. Topher, also proved interesting here and is quickly becoming a lot more likeable. It was interesting that he chose the morally right thing to do whilst Adelle just sat in her office and drank. I think the Victor and Sierra love story is very cute, even if its a little implausible given that they have no memories.

Its a shame that the show hasn’t been more consistent especially after re-watching the early years of Buffy, I’ve seen how inconsistent the early episodes of Buffy were. The show is likely to be cancelled and if it wasn’t for the promise showed by ‘Belonging’ (and of course Epitaph One), honestly I wouldn’t be too bothered.