Just about every show I’ve been following has concluded it’s season. Here are some thoughts on each one as well as some thoughts on another I have yet to see a single episode of. Shows are in order of their conclusion.

Shows:
How I Met Your Mother
The Office
24
Lost

How I Met Your Mother

The breakup of Ted and Robin was rather anti-climatic, which is probably a good thing. They were two people headed in very different directions in life and there’s only so much compensating that you can do for that. It was the responsible breaking up of two generally responsible people. A refreshing change, actually, compared to the overblown misunderstanding that I thought would do them in.

The Office

I was actually caught off-guard by both of the late developments. I thought that they were going to fiddle with the Jim and Pam thing for a couple more seasons. They still might, but the conclusion of Season Three at least demonstrates that the relationship is fluid instead of a five season Will-They-Won’t-They. The mechanism that appears to have made it happen is not quite as good as what got their British counterparts together, but it’s close to it.

The other thing is Ryan getting Jan’s job. That is probably the best season closer that I have seen in a while. “You and I are done.”… priceless. MBA aside, it’s a bit of a stretch that Ryan would get the nod, but then again I can imagine him putting together an awesome presentation or something. He’s definitely someone bound for management. What’s interesting about Ryan is that he has no loyalties to anyone. He doesn’t particularly like even the likable Jim. Not sure where they’re going to go with this, but Ryan could make a very good foil or villain with Michael or the whole Scranton branch in his cross-hairs.

24

There is a movie theater in Santomas that shows live TV for both 24 and Lost. I decided to skip the former but catch the latter, but after watching the conclusion I wish I had watched both in the theater. The special effects for the episodes may be the best I have ever seen on a television show and would have looked great in a theater. That alone would have been enough to get my butt over the the theater.

I thought the confrontation between Jack and Heller was really solid. I was scared to death they were going to pull something where Heller was the mastermind behind it all. The only complaint I have about that is Jack somewhat abdicated his responsibility: he has consistently done a whole lot more than what people like Heller have told him to. Jack’s goodbye to Audrey was a little bit corny, but there ya go. I hope for a lot less romance next season. I wonder if they intended to have Josh be Jack’s son and backed away because so many people figured it out so quickly. I’ve heard rumors that they only brought Audrey back due to fan protest, but after viewing the season I don’t think that’s true.

And so concludes the worst season to date. And the conclusion was… surprisingly strong. Strong enough to have me at least keep an eye on next season (particularly if they can solve the Wayne Palmer problem). I’m actually curious where Jack goes from here. Since the writers of 24 seem to acknowledge that the season was weak, it gives me hope that they might fix what went wrong. In any case, I’ll probably take a wait-and-see attitude.

Lost

Turns out that I didn’t get to see this one in the theater, either, because I couldn’t get back to the city in time. Like 24, I really wish I had been able to make it simply because the episode was so spectacular.

I was not among those to realize that the “flashbacks” were from the future. About halfway through, though, I did start to get the feeling that something wasn’t right about them. I was wondering if maybe it was a dream. I honestly wasn’t sure that it was Kate at the end until it was explicitly said. I noticed what I thought was an uncanny resemblence. I’m remarkably dense sometimes.

For the first time since the show began, I really wonder what’s going to happen next. I’ve always been more interested in explanations than story trajectory, so I’ve been less interested in what’s going to happen next and more interested in what has happened before (and what is happening elsewhere). But now I’m really curious what’s going on.

Barry thinks that there may be time travel involved. I didn’t see any indication of that but I am a little dense sometimes, so he may be right. I hope not as time-travel is a can of worms that could wreck everything the plotters have so meticulously built.

Abel thinks that they may replace the flashbacks with flash forwards. Question: Are there any how-Locke-became-paralyzed types of questions out there or have they satisfied the fundamentals? Are they maybe finished with flashbacks completely or maybe they’ll just go back to normal and it’ll just be a blip?

The most obvious answer for the people on the boat is the Dharma Intiative coming back to claim what’s theirs. If that’s true, though, then there’s absolutely no reason for Ben and Locke not to identify them. There are already indications that the DI is not a completely benign organization.

The thing I’m most curious about is what Penelope was doing on the other end of that transmission.

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And in the vein of Lost, CBS has apparently pulled the plug on Jericho – which I have not seen – with the cliffhanger. I don’t know how to break it to them, but simply telling the fans how it all turns out is not going to cut it. The networks are going to have a hard time getting people to invest in these kinds of programs if they’re more willing to leave viewers deeply unsatisfied rather than shooting a few extra episodes to help it reach some sort of conclusion.