, after watching Season 4 on DVD (since it wasn’t available on Blu-ray here for some reason...at least not
, anyway).
The season seemed to be straining (yeah, sorry) a bit to cover what everyone was doing since they apparently broke up/separated since the end of last season. Maybe that’s why this final season didn’t seem to really ‘work’ well – because all the main characters such as Setrakian, Fet, Dutch, Quinlan, Eph and Gus weren’t together for the majority of it and only came together towards the end. I think the show worked best when everyone was together, so sending them off on their own separate storylines (which we’d had plenty of in the beginning of the show and I thought we’d mostly moved past that once they came together at the end of Season 1 – except for Quinlan, of course, who was introduced later, and Gus...who always seemed like he was in a different show with his storyline. A much more
boring one that I was able to skip for the first two seasons and not miss out on anything important. He finally became watchable in the last few episodes of this season when he, at long last, joined everyone else. Too bad it took three and half seasons to get there) and introducing new characters didn’t really work out too well this late into the series. Especially considering most of those new characters were boring/pointless.
The only new character I liked was Charlotte, played by Rhona Mitra (using an American accent – which I can't recall having heard her use before in anything I've seen her in. I’ve grown used to hearing her natural accent in everything, so this felt a bit odd). Unfortunately, she seemed underutilized and like she was lucky to get a few lines in the handful of episodes she appeared in. At first it appeared as if she was mainly there to give Fet a new girlfriend after he and Dutch had split up. However, I didn’t mind her and Fet together.
I also liked her interaction with Quinlan. There seemed to be a bit more 'there' between them than what we saw on the surface (at least on Quinlan’s side – he seemed to care enough about her to keep her safe by telling Fet to not take her with them on their apparent ‘suicide mission’). The best stuff for Charlotte was in her final episode, where Fet was trying to respect her enough to make her own decision whether she joined them or not, and she was like, “Hell no!”, wanting nothing to do with the suicide mission. Obviously Fet was never going to go with her, as he had to join back up with the gang.
Despite how underused she was, what kept her from being entirely wasted was the fact that she helped Fet and Quinlan escape from Eichorst on a plane by shooting at him with her sniper rifle (though shame on you, Quinlan, for giving Fet credit, when it was in fact
Charlotte who saved your butts). At least she got to be awesome in the end, and I choose to believe Eichorst never caught up with her, since it was never shown nor referenced. Which was just as well, considering I’d been worried she’d die the whole time. I’m glad she lived and is still out there at her father's cabin.
Quinlan was a character who I know quite a few people liked, but it took me a bit longer to form an opinion of him. Getting to see flashbacks with him and his interacting with a woman named Louisa, played by Hannah New (Eleanor Guthrie from
Black Sails), and her daughter gave us a bit of backstory on him.
That wig she put him in, though...*shudder*
While I didn't mind his interaction with the two of them, it did feel as though it was a bit late in the game to be giving us his backstory and maybe it should've been
last season instead.
Naturally, Quinlan's happy life with them had to end in tragedy, with them being turned and him having to cut their heads off.
Quinlan was definitely better when he was kicking Strigoi butt - which was fun to watch (when they allowed him to do so - the convoy sequence was particularly impressive). I enjoyed his dynamics with all the characters, but he and Fet were probably the best/had the most enjoyable interaction.
Another dynamic I enjoyed was Dutch and Setrakian. I'm glad they got to team up and it just be them for a little while, as I'd don't think they'd had too much interaction with it just being the two of them and none of the others around. It became clear how much she cared about him, and I think he clearly cared about her too (even if he would lose his temper at times). I know some people didn't like Dutch or Ruta Gedmintas in the role, but I thought she had some really good scenes this season, including her reacting to almost being part of a
The Handmaid's Tale-type setup and, later, what happened to Setrakian (I thought she was excellent and was glad she got to kick butt here and there - I only wish she'd gotten to kick even
more and that the other characters got to see her being awesome).
Speaking of Setrakian, it felt odd having him missing from some episodes (I believe he was playing the Doctor in
Doctor Who around this time?). He did feel as though he was physically getting weaker and straining (again,
sorry) to continue on with the fight. It was certainly a surprise when he managed to kill Eichorst before the end of the season. I was expecting it'd be in the last episode or second-to-last. While I do think it was right that Setrakian was the one to kill the bastard (given their history), I'm glad Dutch got to have some revenge on him as well for what he did to her in Season 2 by chopping off his hand last season and then setting him on fire this season. If she wasn't going to get the kill, at least she got to inflict some
pain on him. Although, as horrible as Eichorst was, he was still an interesting/entertaining villain and Richard Sammel played him perfectly. You could almost feel sorry for the guy, since he was so devoted to the Master, yet was always passed over by him in favour of someone else. If Eichorst had been in charge, I think he would've taken over the world. Still, I wasn't sad to see him finally meet his well-deserved fate.
It was also surprising that there was no last minute saving of Setrakian after he was infected. He managed to find some information, there were no long drawn-out goodbyes, he just simply had Quinlan cut off his head and that was that (I especially felt bad for Dutch and Fet - their reactions really said it all).
And I'm glad Quinlan said Setrakian would've wanted Fet to have his sword. It was indeed an awesome sword. It was sad to see the team lose one of their best/most valuable members, but I'm glad they managed to bring him back for a cameo in the final episode via a flashback. I only wish we'd gotten to see Nora too - one of the biggest mistakes this show ever made was killing her off and wasting the lovely Mía Maestro. Speaking of Nora...that brings me to the little turd who got her killed.
Zach, without a doubt, has to be THE WORST child character on a TV show I've watched in a long time (possibly ever). Not only did he get Nora killed in the Season 2 final, then got a good Samaritan killed last season, his greatest crime to date was detonating a nuke because he was mad at his dad for offing his strigoi of a mother. The puke with a nuke certainly didn't improve in this final season either. He started off by killing a tiger (how I wish it had eaten him), then he got a crush on his 'maid', Abby, and was 'nice' to her, let her take food to others and showed her his hideout at the American Museum of Natural History (the fact that he liked hanging out with dead animals should've been the first indicator to her he wasn't right in the head)...and, of course, in his warped mind he thought this meant she 'owed' him and should've reciprocated his feelings. Then his jealousy kicked in when he saw her kissing her boyfriend - which, she rightly pointed out, she was free to do since she wasn't interested in Zach 'that way'.
Naturally, Zach being the little turd he is, got mad (as he does) and let his pet 'Feeler' terrorise Abby (and he seemed to enjoy watching it too, the sick little bastard), ignored her pleas for help and then let her get turned. Poor Abby - she probably had a decent life before she ever met Satan's spawn. I felt sorry for her ending up turned and used by the Master to speak through (before Quinlan cut her head off). Considering Zach would've no doubt grown up continuing to believe that if he acted 'nice' to a girl, then that meant she was 'his'...it's just as well he didn't get to grow up.
Which brings me to the BEST part of the series final: ZACH'S DEAD! Yes, they attempted to 'redeem' him by having it be
he who detonated the nuke (
of course he sees a detonator for a nuke and has to set it off), taking out the Master (who'd taken over Eph) and consequently 'saved' the others by rendering the rest of the strigoi next to helpless, thus making it easy for the remaining characters to kill them and escape. However, one good act did not undo the many bad acts he committed, and the best part is that no one actually knew it was him that set off the nuke after his dad got turned. So as far as Fet, Dutch and anyone else they told about what Zach did last season knew, he was just a traitor and died (I was so happy to see they didn't endanger themselves by trying to grab him when he wound up in the elevator along with Palmaster and Quinlan - they just left him in there...and rightly so). I was sorry to see Quinlan die via having his head stomped (I was glad/relieved we didn't actually have to *see* it - though I'm glad Quinlan died thinking he'd won) by Palmaster, and the Master wasn't very bright after he took over Eph, when Zach hugged him. He'd just witnessed Zach turn on him and shoot him when he was Palmaster...so why'd he trust/embrace Zach once he became Ephmaster? Anyway, while a swift death was way too good for him, all that matters is the worst kid in the world didn't somehow miraculously manage to survive - which was what I was afraid would happen.
What made the final even better was that Dutch and Fet survived! Since they were two of my favourites, I definitely would've hated the final if they'd died (especially Dutch, since she was the lone female main character in the show). I liked that it seemed to suggest that they might get back together, but you could also interpret it that they just stayed friends. I also appreciated that they both checked out the female jogger who went past them.
While it might not have been the greatest series final ever, enough things happened that I *wanted* to see happen (namely Zach dying and Fet/Dutch living) that I was more or less satisfied. Plus, I've watched some really sub-par series finals in the past year or so, and compared to those, this one wasn't 'bad' at all. At least it had an 'epic' feel to it with the humans vs strigoi battle. I never really got into
The Walking Dead (despite watching three seasons of it on TV here), so as far as 'survival shows' were concerned...this was easily my favourite (not that I watched many other ones). Yes, it had its faults, but I liked quite a few of its characters and there were some awesome moments (and even really good/great episodes) sprinkled throughout the series. I'm glad I watched it, though the first season felt pretty slow-moving until it got to the episode where they were all trapped together in the convenience store. At least this show gave us something a bit 'different' with vampires on TV from the usual supermodel-looking ones. The show also
looked different to most shows I watch (the lighting added a lot). I hope to see my favourite actors from this show in other projects/hope they continue getting work.
Oh, and in case anyone forgot...Dutch broke the internet. But it's okay, since - according to Fet's voice-over at the end - she was working to get it back on its feet.