So, Walking Dead is ending their season tonight, and How I Met Your Mother is ending its run on Monday. You know that old saw about show biz - "Always leave 'em wanting more"? Yeah, neither one would adhere to that. Walking Dead made its point for the season. The group, atomized, is dealing with individual reckonings, and, when they get to the promised land of "Terminus" they will deal with a larger reckoning. I got it, already. Let me guess- Terminus is named such because it's a death factory of some description. Cannibals? Psycho killers? Doomsday cult? Probably all of the above. Walking Dead excels at the details, but the larger plot is cynical, and repetitive. I really think they should change the focus- more episodic, less serial. I think we've seen the journey for most of the characters, so why not see other people's journey. Yes, I'm aware that the comic book is essentially a story told by Rick. So what? They could veer off into new territory. Show us a zombie post apocalyptic story of human survival in Montana, in Winter. Show us how some red state conservative yahoo deals with being stranded in San Francisco after the apocalypse, and how former liberals learn to accept him, or better yet, her. Give us how old dynamics shift in this new world- a tribe of cold, cruel Amazons made vicious by the new order's lack of opportunity to nurture. See what I mean- there are hundreds of stories there, all complying with mission statement- while we're stuck with Rick and Darryl and Glenn and Maggie.
Conversely, How I Met Your Mother ended two or three seasons ago. I think we're all over the gimmick, and it was a great show, and an even better springboard for the talents of Neil Patrick Harris, and Jason Segal, but the structure of the show is done, and has been done, for years now.I bet the ending is that the Mother is either dead, or divorcing, or otherwise the relationship ends. I bet that people are let down by the finale. Hearing that they're ending this iteration, only to do it all again, simply with new characters? Yeah, that's lousy, and shows just how exhausted the concept is.
So, doesn't anyone know how to wrap it up, anymore?
Not to toot my own horn- but, I think I was pretty much right on all counts. In future, I think I'll take a "Stalinist" view on these shows- How I met your Mother ended with season 6, and the Walking Dead has had about 40 episodes, so far. Both would be better. If you don't know my Stalinist approach it goes like this- you come up with a narrative, and that which does not fit the narrative simply no longer exists. Hence, Buffy the vampire Slayer had 5 seasons, Millenium had one, Lost had three- get the point?
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