So the final hours of the second season of Revenge left me as frustrated as every other episode of this show (maybe, with the exception of the first three or so). There was a bunch of chaotic events, completely unrelated to each other, while characters' emotions vanished into thin air just as fast as they peaked, Jack's brother died, although there was hardly any need for it in terms of the story line (frankly, I'd prefer Jack's death, he was a useless, weak and quite unsympathetic character back in the first season, and they made him even less bearable now). And the most annoying part was that there was no resolution whatsoever. However, I'm glad to know that there was no "Initiative" in the first place, that explains why throughout the season it never felt like this group really existed.
The former showrunner, Mike Kelley, parted ways with Revenge, apparently, he had different view on how the series should be from the show's home channel, ABC, so it's rather clear whom to blame on the appalling (even for the soap opera!) quality of this season. The rumor has it that Kelley wanted the series to be a 13-parter (instead of 22), which would help avoid all the bullshit the season contained and all the extra characters that came and went (like Emily's mom and her foster brother, Nolan's ex, Victoria's mom, Conrad's business nemesis). I'm 100% convinced that it doesn't get better, so the wise thing to do is to spare self from the next season.
The same applies to Vegas. They managed to keep the story more or less logical, but it was definitely too long and thus filled to capacity with unnecessary content, and at the same time it was so full of cliches that one could predict the ending after just ten minutes of the episode. All the law guys were disturbingly annoying and it was quite ridiculous, how they almost never killed anyone, while the gangsters went wild.
I didn't even realize that The Americans was over until a week after the finale, so that says a lot. However, overall, the show was not so bad: at times boring, at times a little idiotic (not to the extent of Homeland or Revenge), but at the same time so straight forward, easy to follow and sympathize with the characters.
Despite Laurence Fishburne, who is in my personal top ten of the ugliest actors alive, the annoying character of Will Graham (and a few others), the extremely visual corpses and the weak script, I quite enjoy watching Hannibal. At times, it reminds me of Jamie at Home, only with a much more pleasant host (I mean the magnificent Hannibal Lecter by Mads Mikkelsen, of course). Yes, the creators of the show like to spritz characters' faces with blood as if it's some sort of adult movie, and invent absolutely idiotic, irrational crimes with far-fetched motivation, but most of the time it's a fun watch. And it's surprising to see something like that on NBC.
Orphan Black is not exactly Utopia, but it's one of a few conspiracy series that doesn't annoy me with the irrational plot. There are some iffy turns, but overall, the story is coherent and full of action, even exciting. But we'll see how it ends, that's usually a weak point for this genre.
