As summer starts to fade a bit, Sunday Night Lifetime dramas are closing out their season.
Drop Dead Diva had a somewhat silly plot -- a man dresses up as a clown at work as a way to grieve for his wife (he has no case), but uses it to address the feelings of Jane and Grayson. Jane (with a nice assist from Stacy, who had a chance for a subplot of her own -- we rarely see her get a bit serious) believes it is necessary to honor the memory of "Jane" -- after all, she is gone but no one has grieved, since no one knows she has died. It was nicely done. Kim, who is a bit of a you know what but still has a sensitive side, also got a chance to get personal.
There is a two hour season finale left but Army Wives did end things, this time without a cliffhanger of sorts, at least one involving some violent event. It appeared that it might when Gen. Holden was captured, but surprisingly the plot wound up by the mid-point of the episode. This is a bit curious -- if you are going to do something like that, why do so in such a brief fashion? Handled fairly well though. Pamela (job offer/Chase wanting her back) and Jeremy (marriage proposal) did leave us hanging, but the episode mostly ended up on a clean note (high school graduation, baby born, back on full duty).
It was overall a good episode, including a couple extra touches, like Pamela's partner upset at how he "settled" (or was it being "content"?) in his career. A wife grieving for her husband (with a nice regional accent, not some bland voice) and solider trying to be able to recall a traumatic event in therapy also was included. It was a particularly rich episode. Like in movies, that often is a sign of a good complete package. Anyways, Denise having a baby even things out some -- two seems to be the required number of kids, at least at some point. Joan just started late, that's all.
While I'm here and before I start watching S3 later on, a bit more on Friday Nights Lights S2. As I briefly noted, I did not really like it as compared to the 1.5 seasons (front/back) I have seen thus far. It didn't help that the season is fill with downers. The coach going to TMU was like some bad idea disposed of quickly; meanwhile, his daughter has a hard time of it (and is pretty bitchy about it), while her ex has a short fling with a live-in health aide (one of several questionable affairs of the characters). I wasn't totally on board with that (though I guess could believe it), besides things again ending on a bad note.
It was not just that the story lines were a bit depressing, but it seemed like the characters were a bit forced at various times. It is a bit hard to explain, but it seemed they were much smoother the first time around, and in the Fourth Season. There were various good touches (Tyra/Landry was nice, Buddy taking in the guy etc.; and some of the hard to take stuff, including the postpartum depression was well done at times), but again, I didn't feel the need to fast forward in the first season, which was a third as long. The second and third season are in fact almost like one extended season, the second ending before football season even ends.
Well, S3 is on its way, and others do say it is better. As to the first part of S4, I hope they re-show the episodes as a lead up to the new season. If not, they will soon be available on Netflix. Again, I love these characters, even if the plots in S2 were not to my liking. One more thing: yeah, I know Peter Berg, but as an actor!