Episode Discussion - 3x10 - And the Wrath of Chaos

[fangirlishness]

Airdate: 22 Jan 2017 in the U.S.

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Let's discuss the season finale!

(If you're reading this post months later and feel like jumping in, please do.)

Comments

[dhampyresa]

LOVED THE RESOLUTION.

[erinptah]

Liveblogging:

Okay, the minute we saw Eve bargaining with the DOSA woman, I assumed it was part of a plan. No suspense there. And the show knows there's no suspense there, because it doesn't try to drag it out, just goes right to the next scene with Eve explaining her double-cross to the team. Smart! And then we start into the plot of Eve triple-crossing the team, so we know they're not acting for DOSA's benefit, and we genuinely don't know what Eve is doing...that's a solid setup. Now I'm in suspense again.

Jenkins' "so done with this" look as he's being zapped with the Medusa head was priceless.

Ooookay, Eve's plan is to get enough layers of double-crossing deep that DOSA trusts her, and therefore will let her at Apep's coffin. Not sure why the Librarians can't be in on this, other than to give the audience suspense. Does Eve have that little confidence in their acting skills?

"Let's be dumb, smartly." That's cute. (Although, honestly, DOSA -- put everything behind random codes!)

"We had to be dumb." "Oh, I'm sure that was very difficult."

Mirror Charlene! Continuing to be great.

A'ight, Flynn was in on the plan for the Apep-trap. Jenkins was kept in the dark because he would know what the Eye of Ra does, and try to stop it. And the LiTs were kept in the dark because...they might tell Jenkins? Thin, but I'll allow it.

The LiTs having accidentally collected the ingredients to make a human -- heart, mind, and soul! -- was really cool.

On the other hand, Flynn: "You guys could've thought of that a lot sooner. Saved me a lot of trouble." Gee, maybe if you had TOLD THEM AHEAD OF TIME, instead of leaving them to improvise at the last minute...?

Mixed feelings about the Flynn-Eve conclusion. I like the recognition that Flynn has Issues that run too deep to be wrapped up in a single Very Special Episode about Working Together. A lot of narratives don't do that. But we need more than Eve learning not to be mad about it -- we need to see Eve strategizing to account for it. (Like, if you have a friend who's chronically late, you'd start pre-emptively building extra time into your schedule.) And I'm not sure how to get there.

The team getting all fired-up about the visions on social media, and Jenkins going "I'll make the tea," was a sweet ending. And, hey, now they all have "powers" they've promised each other not to use! No prizes for guessing where that's going.

[fangirlishness]

And then we start into the plot of Eve triple-crossing the team

That was pretty well done.

Jenkins was kept in the dark because he would know what the Eye of Ra does, and try to stop it. And the LiTs were kept in the dark because...they might tell Jenkins? Thin, but I'll allow it.

Yeah, that works.

Gee, maybe if you had TOLD THEM AHEAD OF TIME, instead of leaving them to improvise at the last minute...?

Argh, yes. I was glad he at least talked with Eve and it was their joint plan, not his alone. Without telling her the main thing, though, but better than nothing.

Mixed feelings about the Flynn-Eve conclusion. I like the recognition that Flynn has Issues that run too deep to be wrapped up in a single Very Special Episode about Working Together. A lot of narratives don't do that.

I thought that was the one thing that made me see his episodes in a better light - they weren't meant to show he could change. They tried, but they all failed. Or, they just nudged him in the right direction, but we shouldn't expect him to flip immediately. Which is something I can definitely accept better than my original expectation that he'd see the error of his ways and then seeing that he never did.

Also, I don't think Eve should give up trying to make him more communicative and cooperative with the team. Realizing it takes time, yes. Accepting him and loving him anyway, yes. Giving up, no.

[fangirlishness]

Hm, I see we're falling all over each other with excitement here. Not.

I think I was done with this season before the finale, so much so that I didn't actually care who would sacrifice themselves. Seeing that nobody died after all (except if you count Charlene) was just a dull realization at that point. I mean, I'm relieved nobody had to die in the finale, but I wouldn't go so far as to call it "happy".

I'm still captivated by Noah's acting. He was great.

The plan, though? Accidentally collecting things that will let them defeat the baddy throughout the season? That's exactly what John Rogers did in season 1 - and he did it better. It felt like they were trying to emulate that, and badly.

The plan hinged on Eve talking her DOSA counterpart into opening the coffin? That's very likely. :/ Why couldn't she do it herself? I mean, that would have been a sacrifice I could have bought into - and it would have been damn creepy to see "Eve" and Flynn go up against each other towards the end.

Why the LITs weren't in on the plan is still a mystery to me.

The idea that a love potion, telepathy, and a tattoo would combine to create a heart, mind, and soul... *sigh*. The tattoo is the most likely there - although I still don't understand why Jake got that tattoo in the first place. The last time at least it was the Library orchestrating them acquiring the needed artifacts - that I can buy. This, not so much. How is that a good plan? And they were all equipped with those things in the last three episodes, too. This is what happens when you try to fit your narrative to a given plan at all costs.

The final promise from the LITs not to use their powers rang hollow. Pretty much like Flynn's promise not to run last season. These things have to come from a character journey, and I didn't see one. If anything, now they saw that using those powers can save the world, they'd be more corrupted by them, not less.

All in all, what remains for me after this season is disappointment.

[meridian_rose]

I was underwhelmed too. Leverage played tricks on the audience, but not within the team and I didn't like the Eve/Flynn vs the LiTs; there was not enough plot reason for the lie. I was concerned about the boxing up of artefacts because these have to handled carefully, stored correctly, etc and supposedly DOSA built a facility and knew everything about all the artefacts? DOSA who've been fumbling around all season, trustworthy to handle them? Did not compute.

Poor Ezekiel. His special power was a leftover vial of love potion.
On the other hand at least we got some teamwork, which I'm always keen on.
Flynn wrenched the amulet (?) off his head once he realised his team had a better plan - for the love of everything holy can this entire team start trusting each other more?! - but Apep stood there and got vaporised?

Jenkins continues to shine.

Eve and Flynn get their happy ever after. The two LiTs with actual powers promise not to access them for no good reason. Hey everyone, throw away your calculators, maths is only exciting and right if done by hand! Or something.

Eve was supposed to do something great with the Library if she lived? Is that something held back for any future seasons?

It felt like a wrap up, a series finale. And I'm not sure where they want to go from here anyway.