Lordy. You know, with most t.v. shows, I'm able to love them at a totally healthy level.
Breaking Bad,
Homeland, pretty much all comedies like
Parks & Rec,
30 Rock,
Community,
New Girl,
Louie,
It's Always Sunny, etc. And by "healthy level," I mean: I watch them, I enjoy them, I delete each ep from the DVR after watching. However, there have been exactly three shows in history that have brought me into "obsessed mode." Symptoms of obsessed mode: following Twitter feeds, reading (some) spoilers, checking ratings (uggh), and my husband's favorite symptom - keeping episodes on the DVR to comfort me like warm blankets until the DVD/BluRays come out (my husband: "Are you
ever gonna delete these!?"). The entire list of shows that have ever fallen into this category is short:
Alias,
Chuck, and
Castle for about one season. Now that I think about it, I'm probably halfway there with
Girls too. Anyway now, I can officially add another show to that list, because
Covert Affairs pulled me in
hardcore this season. And this is a show I totally blew off for the first two seasons because it looked way lame. But then BAM, out of nowhere, in the middle of season 3 it sucker punched me, and before I had a chance to claw my way out of it, I was fully sucked in. Sigh.
So now here I am, doing what seems to be the newest symptom of "obsessed mode": blogging a review of the season finale (ep 316 "Lady Stardust") and season 3 as a whole. Let's get right to this, shall we? Lemme start off by giving my bottom line, now that the entire season is complete: I
loovved the first 11 eps of the season (everything up through Annie escaping Russia). I mean, I am IN LOVE with them. I want to marry them and live with them blissfully, happily ever after. And then, I found the last 5 eps to be an exercise in frustration that eventually did have some payoffs in the last couple episodes, especially the finale - which I thought for the most part was a very good ep. But, there's only so much that can be addressed in like 43 minutes. Interestingly, the finale managed to bring some much-needed clarity to both the plot trajectory and Annie's character trajectory, but it also clarified and solidified for me one key thing I have felt was
missing in these last 5 eps. Let's start with the good stuff first, and then I'll get to that second part:
