What I’m Watching: The Event (Series Finale)

The Event: Season 1, Episode 22 “Arrival” (F)

Are we done now? Good. Did we learn anything, or experience anything worthwhile in the twenty-one episodes since that glorious final scene of the pilot? No. Finding out that the title refers to an evolution of the aliens that we’re not even going to see is beyond dull and disappointing. I was going to compare this to the finale of “V” before the last minute or so happened, to say that it really didn’t take any chances, wrapping it all up neatly in a bow by reinstating Martinez, reuniting Leila and Sean, and having Sophia get caught. The final moments don’t help all that much since there’s no future to be seen and would likely have led only to certain stupidity. The entire process of having to put Martinez back in the president’s chair was a waste of time, and there’s no reason that he couldn’t have just accused Jarvis of poisoning him and have had his chief of staff back up his claims rather than be ridiculed as delusional by him. That should have been enough for sure. Cutting out the vote and just showing a victorious Martinez exiting the conference room is the ultimate sign of disrespect to Jarvis, and I can’t think of another character that has been this much of a punching bag since his very first appearance, constantly portrayed as an incompetent patsy. Having Sophia go through security underlined what was wrong with this show, among other things, showing how it chose to emphasize uninteresting moments and frame plotlines in unengaging ways. That’s not the only reason it’s going off the air, but this show really didn’t deserve another season. It wasn’t anywhere near as inventive as “Flash Forward,” and, in fact, it was really quite ordinary form the start, merely disguising itself as clever due to the involvement of aliens. Good riddance.

Series grade: F
Series MVP: Hal Holbrook as Dempsey