Wow. A pretty underwhelming finale to an underwhelming season overall. That was the finale, wasn’t it? I had hoped that maybe we would see some actual growth and development this season, especially with Shane; there seemed to be hints of it when she tried to swear off sex for a while. Instead she’s right back where she usually ends up; pushing away women that care about her and having (really hot) sex with (really hot) women who are supposed to be dating other (really hot) women. (Sorry about the excess of "really hot"s there; I just think that Kate French is absolutely smokin’. I’m a straight guy but I’m pretty sure that hot is hot regardless of sexual orientation) A lot of other loose ends were quickly wrapped up and dismissed and really there is no cliffhanger at all, unless there’s another episode waiting in the wings that I missed.
So let’s see…
[ul]
[li] Bette and Tina are back together. Zero surprise there. Too bad that probably means the last we’ll see of Marlee Matlin, though she might be back if they decide to do something with Max and Tom the interpreter (which is another arc that went nowhere). Jennifer Beals continues to look pained and confused in pretty much every scene she’s in. [/li]
[li] Alice continues to be increasingly annoying and self-centered. She seems too easily to be falling for some random woman when Tasha just went through so much because of being outed. I actually wanted to see someone slap Alice more than I wanted to see Jenny get slapped, which is saying something. [/li]
[li] I think we were supposed to see Jenny as a sympathetic character as the season went on, but I was actually rooting for Adelle; finally someone outplayed Jenny at her own games.[/li]
[li] I really am getting tired of having the same story over and over for Shane. Phyllis’ assessment of Shane’s character unfortunately is right on; her sex addiction makes her something of a punchline among her friends when it comes to relationships. I thought that her ‘straight girl crush’ on Molly (played by Cybill Shephard’s real-life daughter Clementine Ford!) would finally be the one to push her to the next level, especially because of her reaction to overhearing Molly saying negative things about her to Phyllis and Molly flying all the way to be with Shane during the bike-a-thon episode. No such luck. I suppose it was too much to hope for. I think I’ve liked Shane because she seemed like such a solid friend to many in her circle, including the much-maligned Jenny. I suppose the finale may set up something big for Shane next season having to do with her sex addiction and the string of broken hearts in her wake. I’m guessing she doesn’t survive the season, and will probably either be gunned down by a jealous ex or she’ll kill herself after she alienates all of her friends. [/li]
[li] Helena just kind of popped up now and then this season and her prison story really had little purpose other than to explain why she isn’t around more. Her coming in at the last moment to buy the clubs and steal away Cindi was a little too deus ex machina for me. [/li]
[li] Thankfully we didn’t get too much into Kit; I thought they were going to push her back into an alcoholic spiral again. Her feud with the SheBar group was kind of goofy.[/li]
[li] Phyllis really became a bitch toward the end there. When she was lecturing Shane about committment and breaking hearts, I wanted Shane to say, “you mean like you kept your committment to your husband?” [/li][/ul]
So I’m thinking next season will start with no Molly, no Tasha, maybe no Jodi, and with Shane approaching her nadir, possibly culminating in suicide.