fandomsecrets | [ SECRET POST #3053 ]

[ SECRET POST #3053 ]

⌈ Secret Post #3053 ⌋

Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.

01.

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02.

[The Kid (Charlie Chaplin)/Starsky & Hutch ("Gillian")]

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03.

[Network]

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04.

[Sci-Fi/Fantasy]

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05.

[In Plain Sight]

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06.

[Captain America: Civil War]

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07.

[Samurai Warriors]

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08. https://i.imgur.com/Tr3NZUD.jpg
[NSFW image (shirtless 16 year old? girl), discussion of underage sexuality]

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09.

[Joss Whedon]

Notes:

Secrets Left to Post: 01 pages, 011 secrets from Secret Submission Post #436.
Secrets Not Posted: [ 0 - broken links ], [ 0 - not!secrets ], [ 0 - not!fandom ], [ 0 - too big ], [ 0 - repeat ].
Current Secret Submissions Post: here.
Suggestions, comments, and concerns should go here.

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I watched this series on and off and while Mary (and Marshall tbh) did things that would obviously get someone in the real world into real trouble, she's overall pretty awesome. I liked that she was basically the hardboiled detective stereotype turned on its head. Also, I in general like characters that say what everyone else is just thinking.

The ending though... *shudder* I'm glad I pretty much stopped watching a season before that, but I'm sad I took time out of my life to ruin a decent show with that finale.

Seriously. I *still* can't watch any episodes because of the ending.

Maybe in ten years (which is how long it took me to get over the Voyager finale)...

The Voyager finale was a total shit-show too, but at least it didn't decimate *all* the characters' personalities. I shipped Janeway/Chakotay (and Janeway/Seven), but I didn't honestly believe Janeway was going to end up with either one of them. (I have to admit, I was pleased to hear the Chakotay/Seven relationship is over in the novels - at least some writers recognized what a terrible idea that was!) I know that's most people's biggest "WTF" from the end of the series anyway.

Overall though, yes, that finale was just a hand-waving, "pay no attention to how little sense this is making" mess. They had YEARS to figure out how to get them home - obviously that would be the finale. And that was the best they could do???

I accepted that they wouldn't put J/C together, but what they did was soooooooooooo much worse. UGH.

But on top of that, there was just such little for anyone other than Janeway to do in that episode (and I LOVE Janeway).

Just ugh.

Yeah, I know. I mean, I get it - it's a big cast. That's why most episodes centered one to four characters, not all. But they knew this was coming. I have to assume they're experienced scriptwriters and producers. There had to be a better way to do it!

Rushing a random romance was a million times worse than putting together any of the "will-they-won't-they" pairings, for sure. Seven/Doctor or Seven/Harry would have made more sense! I can't think of many conversations Seven ever had with Chakotay that weren't Voyager-related. Maybe talking about nebula gets him hot though...

Man, I will never stop being bitter over Chakotay/Seven. I know J/7 never had a chance of actually happening in canon, and I guess I'm grateful that at least J/C wasn't canon in the show, but everything about C/7 -especially the reason it came about in the first place- was and is terrible.

There *was* a reason? I don't even remember that. I just remember going, "Wait, what???"

Oh, you're going to love this. The short version is that towards the end Robert Beltran was complaining about his character having nothing to do and was threatening to leave the show, so C/7 was hastily written in in order to placate him.

In all fairness, it wasn't exactly an unjustified complaint

Too true. He never had a whole lot to work with on Chakotay's character, and that problem got worse as the series went on. I don't blame him for being frustrated.

I knew he was unhappy with the character - he's one of the ones cited when they say how unhappy the Voyager set was in comparison to, say, TNG. But that development came SO late - what did that accomplish other than make bad writing? Sheesh. Might as well not have done it at all. If he'd left a few episodes before the end, it would've been weird, but they could've played it into the finale. Raised the stakes or something.

So many missed opportunities. Like you and anon said below, I can't blame him for the sentiment, but surely there was a better way to deal with it.

What happened in the ending? (feel free to spoil)

From what I remember, Stan gets promoted and there's a "who's going to get his job?" question, even though it's totally not a question at all. Marshall gets the promotion and gets engaged to that really obnoxiously cheerful police detective girlfriend of his. Mary meets some random single dad at the park and invites him to some get-together in the final scene, somehow implying in the space of 5 seconds that he's the one for her. (Also, Jinx and Brandi move back to Albuquerque to live with Mary, and Brandi's pregnant by some random other guy.)

I didn't watch the episodes that lead up to the finale, so I remember being a bit confused, but I *do* remember being intrigued by the teasers which implied that Marshall was going to admit his feelings for Mary. I kind of half-heartedly shipped them (no one else can put up with Mary, after all), so I watched. Instead, it was all a build-up to this scene where he tells her that he loves her and will always be there for her... as a friend. And somehow that's a resolution to the whole issue of Mary being dependent on Marshall and calling him constantly and that ticking off the obnoxiously cheerful girlfriend/fiancee.

Basically, it didn't deliver, which would have been fine if it was resolved better and in keeping with their characters. Or at the very least that the network didn't tease exactly what much of the audience wanted but was the opposite of what did happen. I still want that hour of my life back.

It is my understanding Mary McCormack personally approved the ending and, as she was the producer...

I didn't see all of either the fourth or the final season but I wasn't thrilled with the way it was going.

Yeah, I heard that too. Proving once again that actors can play a character for years and yet have no clue what makes sense for said characters narratively.

I stopped around the same time as you. I wish I'd left it alone.

I stayed for Marshall.

Except I didn't like his intended.

She was awful. I know she was supposed to be this spunky, happy, outgoing foil to Mary in Marshall's life, but they crossed the line from making her irritating to Mary to making her irritating for the viewers. Also, the way he did drop everything and run to Mary just made it so obvious that Marshall didn't change what he likes in a woman naturally - he forced it, and everything about the writing makes it feel forced. In the end, I both didn't like the girlfriend and felt pity for her.

Yes, I get that completely.

The kid was her ex-husband's, wasn't it?

Mary's? Yep. I don't know about Brandi's though - I don't think that rich guy she dated for a season was the dad though.

Brandi states that she has no idea who the father is.

The last few episodes clearly point to Mary and Marshall getting together (more than any of the previous three seasons) and then does a complete 180. The single dad thing made ZERO sense. It would have been way more believable for Mary to have stayed single and happy.

The Marshall promotion also makes zero sense because at no time in five seasons do we have any indication that he wants to move up in WitSec. And there's not a chance in hell that Mary would be able to work under him. As disrespectful as she was to Stan, she was a million times worse to Marshall (and I say this as someone who liked Mary).

And on top of that, they manage to just destroy the Mary/Marshall FRIENDSHIP in that stupid balcony scene. It was the ONE THING that the show really had going for it.

The ONLY thing that made sense to me in that whole ending WAS that Brandi got knocked up by some unknown guy (I chose to believe it was Raph since they were both in Florida at the time).

One of the worst endings ever.

I agree with all of this (and I love the headcanon that it's Raph's baby, ha!) - it was really just a damn mess. I don't think audiences appreciate when writers play "gotcha!" games. Play with our hearts, sure, but don't pull the rug out from under us. It feels like a dirty trick.

Exactly!

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[ SECRET POST #3053 ]

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