'Arrow' Finale: Six Things We Totally Hated

*MASSIVE SPOILER ALERT* This season of "Arrow" built up to an unbelievable finale full of surprises, rescues, meaningful stares, kick-ass fight scenes, 120 ways to stab a guy with an arrow, and that whole "Save the World" kinda thing our heroes are so darn good at. There was so much to love, but we gotta admit, there were half a dozen things we soooo totally hated:

1. Total #Ollicity fake-out, man. I mean, from a total shocker gasping drama moment it was AWESOME. But for our poor, long-suffering, Felicity-adoring hearts, it was so, so, so cruel.

No one wants that implied "...like a sister" after the abs-liscious man of your DREAMS tells you "I love you..." No one, I tell you!

2. Thea always takes the completely irrational route. Yes, Roy totally shouldn't have lied to her, as usual. And she's had her fair share of betrayals. But to respond by disappearing into the ether with creepy mass murderer dad who's so proud of you for shooting him and still disses Tommy even after he's dead? Oh yeah, that seems like a sound decision.

Plus, Thea made Roy cry. Now that's just uncalled for.

3. Killing Isabel. Ollie totally needed to get slow, cruel revenge for her stealing the family company. And ya know, totally creeping Oliver out by sleeping with him...and his dad. Double-dipping in the Queen family line, soooo not cool.

4. Why does Slade have to stay evil? This buff, pirate-y, gravelly-voiced dude is too hot to be rotting down in an underground island prison. Can he and Ollie get together and play chess like Professor Xavier and Magneto? Can we get a crazy but hot girl in the cell with him for steamy conjugal visits? Give us something in Season 3 of "Arrow," please!

5. The Lance family send-off. "Byeee Sara! Have fun being a sadistic, emotionless assassin!" How on earth does one go from lamenting her awful bargain to save the city/world to grinning and waving at the pier as you send your loved one off to a life of cruelty? So confused, "Arrow" writers, so confused!

6. Daddy Lance is in trouble! And we WON'T KNOW WHAT HAPPENS UNTIL SEASON 3!! AUGH!!! There'd better be some serious rescuing going on when we get back, no way they can deprive us of all that tall, cynical, hairy-chested DILF goodness.

So, "Arrow" fans...what did you hate -- or love -- about the Season 2 finale??




PHOTOS: "Arrow" finale "Unthinkable" screencaps, 2014, CW, fair use.

Eva Green is Everything in 'Penny Dreadful'

Eva Green is Everything, really. While Showtime's new horror series "Penny Dreadful" boasts a wealth of yummy casting choices, Eva as Vanessa Ives is what sucks you right in. It's easy to believe that characters, even supernatural ones, seem bewitched by her intense gaze. As she recruits the suspicious but intrigued gunslinger Ethan Chandler (Josh Hartnett) to her somewhat ambiguous cause, she is all at once lovely, creepy, vulnerable, and totally kick-ass. She displays such steely resolve, a woman on a mission, and as she sweeps into rooms in her elegant black lace gowns, we feel both awed and a little frightened of her intensity.

After only the pilot episode, it's a bit early to tell how well "Penny Dreadful" will hold up as it progresses, but it's a captivating start. Be warned, it's plenty violent, like a cross between a Tarantino film and those bright red, graphically violent Medieval paintings I'm always strangely drawn to at the Art Institute in Chicago. On Ethan's first mission as hired gun, he follows Vanessa and Sir Malcolm (Timothy Dalton) into the shadowy parts of town, to the grisly, body-part-strewn lair of frightening beasts that suck the blood out of their victims and turn them into monsters. But oh, there's so much more to it than a garden variety vampire tale.

Much of the series is set up to play on the darkness within; each of the characters has something to hide, and in Vanessa's case, perhaps some otherworldly power to control. She even sees "hidden depths" in Ethan, which you might think is asking a lot of Hartnett, unless you'd seen him in "Lucky Number Slevin ," of course.

With the addition of Dr. Frankenstein (Harry Treadaway), and next week, Dorian Gray (Reeve Carney, aka Broadway Spiderman), "Penny Dreadful" promises to be a tasty little adventure. I am looking forward to how the series unravels mysteries and creates new ones, and digs painfully deep into its characters.

And as ever, there is beautiful Eva, with her hypnotic eyes and challenging smirk and the seductive cadence of her voice. I count on her to carry me through the blood-stained floors and hellish walls full of spiders and the dangerous dark recesses of men's souls...and soulless monsters.

Tune in to "Penny Dreadful" on Showtime, Sundays at 10/9c.

Watch the premiere episode:



Worship at the altar of Eva, you won't regret it:



PHOTOS: "Penny Dreadful" screencaps, 2014, Showtime, fair use.

Total Bummer: Cancelled and Soon-To-Be-Cancelled TV Series That We Were Totally Watching, Dude!

Please don't make me give up seeing this pretty face every week... *SOB*

Each TV season starts with viewers trying to watch everything, revisiting old faves and checking out new potential faves. As the season progresses, you lose track of some shows, forget to watch others, totally bail on the worst, and fall madly in love with both good series and guilty pleasures. Then suddenly the networks pull the rug out and cancel a show, and you're like, "DUDE!!! I WAS TOTALLY WATCHING THAT! AUGH!!"

It's that time of year when catastrophes both large and small have already happened, and there's more bad news on the way as your favorite stations decide once and for all what's going to make it to next season. Here are some of the already trash-canned, and still-in-the-air-likely-to-go-in-the-waste-bin shows we're completely bummed about:

"Sean Saves the World": Out of all the new half-hour comedies, and honestly, out of most of the old ones, this was the series I consistently watched and looked forward to. It was a simple, old-school workplace comedy that had amusing situations, funny physical humor, and was just a heck of a lot of fun. Sean Hayes was simultaneously adorable and hilarious, Thomas Lennon is an insane comedy genius, and Linda Lavin is just Awesome, let's be real.

NBC bailed on this one back in January. While you can't dismiss the fact that many people still won't tune in to gay-themed shows, the downfall of "Sean Saves the World" may also have been that it didn't suit the current taste for overly dark, raunchy, and/or downright uncomfortable humor.

"Almost Human": I was a skeptic when this human/android buddy cop show first hit the airwaves, but Karl Urban, Michael Ealy, and Lili Taylor totally sold me. A mixture of gritty police drama and sometimes eerie, thought-provoking sci-fi, this series had the potential to get into some quality "Star Trek" territory. With characters you enjoy spending time with, some delicious sex appeal, and goofy bromance moments thrown in, this show had successful cult fave written all over it.

Fox canceled the show at the end of April. The viewership was actually decent for "Almost Human," but like many gone-too-soon series, it fell victim to a network that already had too many new shows in the pipe ready to take its place. Fans have started a petition to get another network to pick it up, you can join the (currently 11,000+) sci-fi lovers in the cause at Change.org.

"Star-Crossed": I'll admit it--I totally ripped on this show when I first watched the pilot. But there was enough there in the plot, and alien boy Roman (Matt Lanter) is so damn pretty, I tuned in again. And I got kinda hooked. The twists, turns, drama and melodrama really ramped up as the series progressed, and the aliens turned out be full of a lot more mystery than we'd even hoped for. It would be a shame if we weren't allowed to both enjoy and mock all the guilty pleasure goodness of human/Atrian relationships/battles for at least another season or two.

This series is still on the bubble, but most prediction sites have "Star-Crossed" getting launched into space, never to return. I know, CW, you already give us fantasy/sci-fi geeks "Supernatural," "Arrow," and vampires galore. But it was kinda nice having a show in that genre that had more romance in it and less freaky gore. Give us some more time with Roman and Juliet, erm...Emery, please!

**Update: "Star-Crossed" is sadly no more. USA Today reports it here.

I regretfully tell u that #Starcrossed will not be back for season 2. Love u all #Stargazers so much. Thanks for ur unwavering support!!
— Matt Lanter (@MattLanter) May 8, 2014

"Intelligence": One of the things you learn when you buy movies for your home collection is that the four-star, Oscar-winning fare is not usually the kind of thing you end up rewatching a million times. It's the stuff that has great action, lovable characters, and is clever enough without tying your brain into knots. "Intelligence," a show about a soldier who gets an awesome chip in his brain that gives him access to ALL the information in our digitally connected world, is one of those gems you enjoy coming back to.

No, it's not Shakespeare, and sometimes there are plot holes you can drive a truck through. But Josh Holloway is his gruffly awesome self, and he has a nice chemistry with "Once Upon a Time" alum Meghan Ory. This one's not canceled yet, but it's looking like it'll likely get axed.

**Update: "Intelligence" did indeed get cut from the schedule.

"Crisis": Rachael Taylor and Lance Gross' characters make for an odd pairing on this hostage crisis show, but somehow it works. While the plot wheels grind a little noisily sometimes, it's an interesting premise, using influential parents to complete dangerous tasks in exchange for getting their kids back alive. Dermot Mulroney is sufficiently creepy as the geeky dad who wants to expose some nasty CIA business, get revenge, and win his daughter back--even if it means there's lots of collateral damage.

We've been DVRing two of these new Sunday night shows, "Resurrection" and "Crisis." We enjoy both, but we always rush to watch "Crisis" first. As is the way of the world, the former looks ready for renewal and the latter ripe for cancellation. The hostage drama may have only been meant for one season, though, and while we wouldn't mind seeing these characters continue on with other crises, it won't be so bad a loss if we at least get a satisfactory conclusion to the story.

**Update: "Crisis" also will not be returning.

What do you all think? Which series are you lamenting the loss of? Which shows do you hope will avoid the cancellation ax?

PHOTO: Matt Lanter as Roman on "Star-Crossed" screencap, 2014, The CW, fair use.

Will 'The Mentalist' Be Cancelled Just as It's Getting Good Again?

Back in Season 5, "The Mentalist" fans were worrying if the show would make it to the Red John reveal before the cancellation ax fell on it. We noted that creator Bruno Heller planned on "two seasons or so" to finish out that Red John plot. The show got that Season 6 renewal, and then the next question was whether the end of Red John would mean the end of the series.

Many viewers had grown tired of the years-long serial killer plot, but the diehards were still watching/waiting for the joy of that Patrick Jane roguish charm and his warm, often comedic bonding with his coworkers and friends. The show did, in fact, reboot itself after the whole Red John saga.

There were some growing pains as the series integrated the former CBI team into the FBI, but it seems to have found its footing now. We're getting back to the procedural style of "The Mentalist" we fell in love with back in Season 1, where Jane's brilliant mind and unconventional methods help solve crimes, to both the appreciation and exasperation of those around him.

Remember when? Relive the early days of all that yummy Lisbon/Jane romantic tension on "The Mentalist."

Now the word is buzzing once again that "The Mentalist" may finally be cancelled. No, for realz this time. Bruno Heller is moving on to work on a "Batman" series for Fox. CBS, who regularly throws away viewed-by-millions shows that other networks would kill for, has already renewed a bunch of dramas, limiting the spots available. We've been here before, but "The Mentalist" is a six-season show that's been in danger for at least two years--eventually those dire predictions are going to be true.

The possible light at the end of the tunnel is that the show could move to another network, like "Medium" and "Law & Order: CI" did successfully in the past. Now that the Simon Baker drama has shed its darker serial plot and returned to its episodic, more whimsical roots, it's an easier show to shop around. After all, 11 million viewers is not to be taken lightly, and there are definitely going to be some cable networks at least who will be interested in trying to nab this one.

What do you think? Is "The Mentalist" worth saving in its rebooted form, or has it run its course? Would you follow it to another network?

**UPDATE: CBS decided to hang on to "The Mentalist" for a while longer...

PHOTO: Screencap from "The Mentalist," Season 6, Episode 17, "Silver Wings of Time," 2014, CBS, fair use.