I don't think I even need time to sit with the finale. there is nothing to even sit with. the finale, much like most of season 8, was underwhelming and disappointing more than anything. too much emergency, not enough character story. the pacing was terrible. I mean.
Season 8 will be known as the season of what could have been. We started this season with the hope that we would pickup where season 7 left off and that we would see our fave characters deal with certain things. Instead we got: Gerrard (known bigot) be humanized over and over. we got multiple episodes of the Hotshots and Brad bullshit. HenRen and Mara got a whopping one episode (and 10 seconds in the finale)
Buck's relationship ended as quickly as it started (no complaints there), and Buck spent all of 8B being a placeholder in Eddie's home. and Eddie. god my poor baby. Eddie began the season without his son yet we never got to see Eddie really work to repair the relationship the way we should've. We saw Chris twice over FT. in 801 and 808. We didn't get to see Eddie talk to him about moving. We didn't get an in depth conversation with Chris once he was in Texas. All these things happened off screen. then in the finale, we see no talk about Eddie moving him and Chris back to LA. it's just tada! they're back! and Buck has already moved out (or is in the process)
another two parter. They killed the patriarchal figure of the show and then proceeded to give the audience three underwhelming episodes to say goodbye to Bobby and to end the season. This show will never be the same without Bobby Nash and his death was treated like it was just a normal thing that happens all the time.
Out of 18 episodes, 9 were two parters (three for the season opener) and each one was more exhausting than the last. in one season we dealt with a beenado, Athena's plane, Maddie's kidnapping, the virus/lab that killed Bobby and then this building collapse. It was just TOO MUCH. too many emergencies. too much focus on side characters (Brad, Abigail Spencer's character, etc) and not enough on what we love about this show-the characters. the found family. instead we were dealt a huge loss with Bobby's death and very little character driven stories.
It's so frustrating because we know what this show is capable of. we've seen them balance high action emergencies and still write interesting and meaningful stories for our mains. season 8 did not give us that at all.
Now don't get me wrong, there were moments I did truly love-but they were just that-small moments. Eddie dancing in his underwear, Buckley Diaz family reunion, Madney having another baby, HenRen adopting Mara, Bathena in 801-803. But when you think about these moments, they were so small in the grand scheme of things. and that's just not how it should be.
We all know where the blame lies. I don't even have to say it. This show was a hot ass mess behind the scenes. more so than usual. and it showed in damn near every episode. This season is an example of what happens when you have a showrunner who has no regard for the safety of his cast/crew and absolutely no regard for the integrity of their show and it's characters.
