Rate Those Cliffhanger Resolutions: The Return of Fall Television

Last spring I discussed some of the season-ending cliffhangers I had watched.  While I’m underwhelmed overall with fall television, I decided I’d rate a few of the shows returning from last year.  In my next post I’ll weigh in on some of the new dramas that hit the scene this year and predict their longevity (a fun little game that often finds me being anything but prophetic).

Scandal (A):  Scandal won the award for the best season finale last year (in my opinion) and I think it also offered the best return.  The second season ended with the Defiance scandal officially being put to rest (David saved the day by turning the Cytron card over to Cyrus for a promotion to USDA), but quickly another scandal arose in its wake.  The episode ended with Olivia on a morning jog being bombarded by reporters questioning her about her affair with the president.  If this shocking moment wasn’t enough, Rowan (the big, scary secret B613 military boss) arrived on the scene and viewers learned that he is Olivia’s father.   The opener of season three had a lot to resolve.  Olivia’s team of Gladiators have to clear her name by working with Cyrus and Mellie to frame an innocent woman as Fitz’s mistress.  (The second episode of the season then finds Liv representing this woman as her fixer). And after the mystery of who leaked Olivia’s name to the press is revealed (it was the president himself who wanted to free Olivia from Mellie’s looming threats), this cliffhanger crisis is resolved and viewers are left to contemplate the Rowan/B613 plot.  The first few episodes of this season start to reveal more of Liv’s backstory and this problematic daddy-daughter relationship explains the problems she has had with the men in her life (or, as I’ve discussed in past posts, her surprisingly/seemingly anti-feminist hang-ups).   As the season stretches on, Liv gets her father to release Jake from “the hole” and his return to the show, along with Huck’s new knowledge of who Rowan really is, and a new B613-related scandal that (surprise, surprise) threatens the presidency, fuels the trajectory of the season to come.  Oh, and if that wasn’t enough, Lisa Kudrow joined the cast as a potential female challenger for the presidency.

The Good Wife (A-):  Last season ended with the main character, Alicia Florrick’s, husband, Peter, being elected Governor.   The final scene was set-up to lead viewers to believe that they were about to see her meet with her law partner, and former lover, Will Garner, to renew their affair.  Instead, it is revealed that she will be leaving her law firm (likely to prevent herself from embarking again in said affair).  While the resolution of this specific set-up was just so-so in the season premier, and a bit drawn out thereafter, the first episode itself was stellar.  In its traditional episodic fashion the one hour show focused around one specific law case:  the lawyers at Lockhart-Gardner are racing against the clock to save a man from a death row execution.  In one of the most fast-paced, suspenseful, skillfully edited episode to date, the law team successfully stays the prisoner’s execution.  In the back drop of all this action, the cliffhanger-related storyline stretches on as Alicia and the 4^th year associates still plan to leave the firm.  It is the following few episodes that really help develop this plot into a worthy cliffhanger-resolution as their actions are slowly uncovered.  In a nicely done parallel storyline, where Diane is asked to leave the firm after giving a public interview (to secure her pending judge appointment) that paints her partner, and long-term friend, Will, in a bad light, it is she who ultimately informs Will of Alicia’s betrayal (the fall out of which will be seen in tomorrow’s episode).  With a new law firm rivalry and a plethora of damaged relationships, there is ample material for a rich season.

The Walking Dead (B+):  When last we saw the survivors of the zombie apocalypse they had just witnessed the death of their friend (and original cast member), Andrea, and were returning to their prison compound with a bus full of refuges from the Governor’s dismantled utopic city.  The season starts months later.  The new expanded community at the prison is functioning happily and all seems calm.  Rick has stepped down from his leadership role, tending to the prison’s garden and food supply instead, and a leadership council is governing in his place.  The tranquility of the episode is a slight let down after the action-packed cliffhanger finale, however, it does what it is intended to do – lulls viewers into a few moments of false security before dropping the proverbial second shoe (which any savvy viewer surely expected).  The episode ends with the death of a teenage boy who succumbs to a flu-like virus.  As his dead body lands in the shower stall just feet away from open cellblock doors where the other residents sleep blissfully unaware that a walker is about to be born, viewers end the episode with the sense of foreboding that the show is known for.  The next episode promises death… and death it delivers.  With this mystery plague threatening the survivors from within the compound (and a rogue figure killing off those he/she believes may be the next to fall ill and turn), and an increased zombie presence threatening the walled security of their prison compound, viewers expect that the status quo is about to be disrupted and the survivors are likely going to be on the run again searching for the series’ next setting change.   

Nashville (B):  Last season ended with Rayna’s longtime friend, and former-now-reunited lover, Deacon, discovering that she had been lying to him for years about his child, passing her off as another man’s daughter.  This event causes him to spin into an alcoholic tailspin, ending 13 years of sobriety, that contributed to a car crash that leaves him and Rayna strewn across the pavement.  In a slightly anti-climatic fashion, the first episode of this season starts weeks after the accident as Deacon awaits prosecution (claiming to have been driving the car, when he had not been, as a sort of self-inflicted punishment).  Meanwhile, Rayna has existed in an induced coma since the accident and her family and friends wait eagerly for her recovery.  (Fans, like myself, I imagine, waited in much less anticipation being that it would make absolutely no sense to kill off the star of this show).  In a move completely fitting to her character, Juliette capitalizes on Rayna’s injury by playing one of Rayna’s hit songs and holding a candlelight vigil in front of the hospital.  Rayna, of course, recovers, Deacon is set free, and the episode is over.  While the episode itself was not particularly thrilling, the following few episodes seem to indicate a promising season.  The first tease was the potential career-ending injuries suffered by both Rayna and Deacon (the former has already recovered).  New characters are breathing life into the cast and providing soapy-storyline possibilities.  The new head of the record company is a character one loves to hate, the arrival of a new country upstart, Layla Grant (who wants to steal Juliette’s fan base and win Will’s heart), hints at many conflicts to come, and the addition of Scarlett’s childhood best friend, Zoey, sets up for a (somewhat predictable) love triangle involving Scarlett’s ex, Gunnar.

Revenge (B-): Last season ended with the revelation that Conrad Grayson was working with a terrorist group and his actions resulted in the death of Declan Porter (the father of his daughter’s unborn child); Victoria Grayson’s long lost son returned on her doorstep; Nolan was wrongly arrested for cyber terrorism; and Emily Thorne was forced to reveal her true identity (Amanda Clarke) to her childhood friend and soul mate, Jack Porter, so that he wouldn’t murder Conrad as retaliation for the deaths of his brother and wife.  In its typical pattern, this season started with a quick flashforward to the end of the season (Emily, apparently, getting shot on her wedding day), and then returned to May, just before the Memorial Weekend festivities that kick off summer in the Hamptons.  When the season starts it is months after the events from the last episode, a temporal narrative device that I always find undoes much of the cliffhanger excitement.  Conrad is enjoying his post as governor, Victoria is happily reunited with her son, Nolan is released from prison, Jack is off sailing in unknown parts, Charlotte returns from a summer abroad (after having miscarried Declan’s baby), and Emily & Daniel are planning their wedding.  A relatively slow start to the season.  But that doesn’t last all that long.  Emily’s revenge scheme quickly pushes Conrad out of office (after having him misdiagnosed with a terminal illness), Jack returns to blackmail Emily (finish your revenge by the end of this summer “or else”), and within a few episodes Aiden returns and viewers are left to wonder if he’s there to take down Emily or help her in her quest for vengeance (it’s the latter, or it was… for a while at least).  With two new characters, Victoria’s son and Daniel’s new female work partner, some new plot possibilities exist, but the series remains much of the same… only a bit darker than it once was which is ruining some of the camp appeal it once had for me.   

Grey’s Anatomy (C):  Last year ended with one of Grey’s traditional catastrophe episodes; a storm resulted in a slew of injuries and found the hospital in blackout conditions.  The show’s namesake, Meredith Grey, had to have a C-section without power and almost bled out due to other complications.  With most of tragedy averted, the show ended with a romantic cliffhanger (Kepner professed her love for Avery) and a tear-jerker:  Dr. Richard Webber saved the hospital (restoring the electricity) but had (apparently) lost his life in the process.  (The final shot was of him lying on the basement floor, seeming to have been electrocuted).  The romantic cliffhanger was resolved within minutes (Avery wasn’t interested and Kepner changed her mind anyhow).   The tear-jerker, Richard’s supposed death, was resolved by the episode’s end, but any seasoned viewer figured it out the minute an intern was sent to look for him and was also electrocuted.  Two people in peril?  Who’s going to die:  the original cast member or the newbie?  Yep, the newbie.  The episode, like most of the catastrophe-follow-up episodes, was touching; it was nice to see everyone rally around Richard, but the resulting episodes dealing with Heather’s (the intern’s) death was relatively unemotional.  (The series acknowledged through that cohort’s inability to really mourn her loss that the character development of those interns is still severely lacking – although not nearly as bad as the short-lived doctors from the hospital merger years back who were killed off during the catastrophe mass shooting episode).  The show’s melodramatic roots are being stressed as the season unfolds:  best friends Cristina and Meredith bicker; estranged Callie and Arizona finalize their break up; Alex crosses paths with his abusive father.  Nothing groundbreaking… but sometimes there is comfort in the familiar patterns of a favorite show.

So while none of these cliffhanger resolutions will go down as my all time favorites, it was nice to sit down and once again get lost in my familiar narratives.  Each of the above shows are holding my interest and making me look forward to the season they have laid out before me – which is more than I can say for some of the new shows launched this year.  (But that’s the next post).