Some brief thoughts on the "Tell Me You Love Me" finale coming right up...As mentioned ad nauseum by me in the past, I watched all 10 episodes in one short burst in late June, so the longer the actual series has been on, the hazier my recollections have become. I rewatched parts of the finale On Demand the other day just as a refresher, but my insights aren't going to be nearly as sharp as those of you who've been watching it on a regular basis. Taking it couple-to-couple:
Katie & Dave: On the one hand, this story was consistently the strongest part of the show -- at times, the only reason I kept watching -- Ally Walker and Tim DeKay acted the hell out of every scene, and the two of them finally resuming some physical intimacy was an appropriate, um, climax for both their story and this season. On the other, while I like the decision to not have their moment be traditional copulation -- as Cynthia Mort told me when I interviewed her in July, she wanted it to stand out from all the other sex scenes they'd done -- the mutual masturbation pay-off didn't necessarily feel earned to me. I'm not saying the show ever needed to completely articulate all the reasons why Dave lost his libido and why Katie let him, but I also don't see their conflicts and therapy talk in this episode as being significantly different from arguments in earlier episodes that didn't lead them to the bedroom. Also, since they were a functional, happy couple in almost every way except the lack of sex, where does their story go now that the show's been renewed? I'm not saying their marriage will be perfect moving forward, but they won't have nearly as many issues to discuss with Dr. Foster as, say, Caroline and Palek. And speaking of which...
Caroline & Palek: To paraphrase Cartman, I hate them both. I hate them both so very, very much. Caroline's arguably the more horrifying of the two -- her rant about teaching the baby to hate Palek again made me think that the "Lost" producers missed the boat by not casting Sonya Walger as one of The Others -- but they really deserve to be miserable together. At the same time, I feel like a miscarriage is a missed opportunity now that the show is moving forward. I want to see Caroline discover that this thing she's been so obsessed with for so long isn't going to be the answer to all her prayers, isn't going to fill her with joy every minute of every day, and I want to see Palek grapple with the tug of paternity, the fear that he made a mistake by walking out on his wife and unborn kid, whatever. There were moments throughout the season where he seemed on the verge of actually being interested in having a child (the moon bounce, the scene at Radio Shack before the baby started crying), and those feelings no doubt would grow stronger in the face of a living, breathing baby. Having Palek return after a miscarriage will only lead us to retread territory we've been over before.
Jamie & Hugo: I'm sorry, who? Even though Jamie's sex life was the busiest and nakedest of any character on the show, there came a point in the season where it became impossible to watch her scenes without zoning out or grabbing the laptop or mentally trying to list the 12-man roster of the '93 Knicks. I like that Dr. Foster finally seemed to reach that point herself in the post-gas station therapy session, though she had a more legitimate reason to be distracted with the death of her ex-lover. Maybe Jamie's more interesting next year now that Hugo's fully in the picture and they have to deal with the repercussions of rusing to marriage five seconds after getting back together. God, I hope so.
What did everybody else think?
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