How not to Season Finale

At this moment, I'm ashamed to tell you of my love for the show, Royal Pains. I got hooked on it from day one because the characters were amazing. They were so real and relatable. I have been loving the character arcs. As a writer, I found the characterization fascinating.

So here we were at the season finale, and we had a number of character arcs to close up. But did they? Um, no. Not even close. Nor did they give us a hint of any kind of new arc to look forward to for the next season.

Divya and Raj... okay, I admit, THAT was a satisfying way to season finale.

Hank and Jill... um... oh-kay... and that was.... ??? Come on, end it on a high note or on a low note, but not this lukewarm junk.

Evan and Paige... Good! I like where it's heading, and now I can't wait to see what's next for them.

Boris and Marissa... Wait.. Boris kicks them out in the epi before the season finale, and we don't even get deets?! That's just wrong. Put it in the season finale, but not the epi before the season finale. Sorry, but that whole thread ended on a cheap shot. As far as Marissa's pregnancy, okay, I can end it with him finding out and freaking out. But again, so wrong to put it in the epi before the finale.

Eddie... I actually liked that one too.

But overall, the whole thing ended on a blah, so what note. The writers didn't give me anything to care enough about to be anxiously awaiting the next season. Unless you're super excited about the Divya plotline and ready to see what Divya will do next with her life, there's nothing exciting to draw people in to the next season.

For me, it's a great lesson in writing. Hubby and I both looked at each other and said, "this is it? So what?" That's not how you want to end a book. If your readers (or viewers) don't care about what happens next, you've lost them. The primary characters and storyline ended with the equivalent of people driving from point A to point B talking about the weather. No one wants to read on talking about the weather.

Hopefully, next season will be better. I don't know when it is, and I won't be counting the days. But I'm at least invested in the characters enough that I'm not willing to give up on them yet. That, at least, is something the writers did right.