Life: One [season finale]
By fred | April 9, 2009
(S02E21) Make no mistake about it, that was it. The very last episode of Life, the last time we’ll ever see Charlie Crews and Dani Reese. I put up season finale in the title because that’s still what it officially is, but it clearly was more than that. It was the series finale, doesn’t matter how good the show is/was, or that it comes from NBCU, ratings are not good, not good at all, and with an infection of Leno at 10.00 it’s just maths : Life is over.
But at least we got something to feel good about : creator Rand Ravich and his team were not stupid enough to hope for a third season to the point of letting us hanging, frustrated and disappointed. While I’m sure they hope(d) for a third season, they also knew it was likely the last episode ever, and they wanted to give closure to the fans, make them feel good about the show when looking back.
Did it work? Yes and no. Overall I’d say yes, because the episode was rather good, even tough it was nowhere near the awesomeness of last season finale, but that’s true about the entire season, it was different from that amazing season that was the first one, it was different and just not anywhere as good. Still, it was satisfying, and probably as much as it could have been.
But if you look a little more closely to things, it wasn’t perfect, many things didn’t always made much sense, or weren’t what they should be. There were things like Roman killing the guy behind the famous documentary. It was fun, but really how come that one guy was able not only to know what others (like the FBI) didn’t, that Roman wasn’t really behind bars, and decided to question him. Besides the point that he had to find and get to approach Roman somehow, why ask such a dangerous serial killer like him?
There was also how they had to give Tidwell something to do, so of course he was the only one to hear the subway, despite how it could he heard easy, subway is a very common thing, and it’s their fucking job to clear such tapes and pinpoint noises to locate the source. And Ted leaving for Spain was funny I guess, but isn’t he still on probation or something?
My biggest issue though, would probably be in that math Charlie was obsessed about all along, 1+1=1, love. It seemed to be, even though I really didn’t want to see it, it seemed to me they were trying to hint at some kind of romance between Crews & Reese. With that, the almost touching hands, Bodner mentioning how his wife was his partner and that’s how they met, the the looks on their faces all along, especially Dani by the end of the episode, it just had a little too much of romance in there.
If that’s really where they wanted to go with those characters, if that’s what they thought we, fans, wanted to see, then I’m really happy this is the end. Because Life was all about Charlie and Dani, yes, it was about the two of them, but the two of them as partners, working together, supporting one another, being there for the other, but they were just that, partners, despite how they are of the opposite sex. (I almost don’t want to say it, but PS: isn’t Dani supposed to be in love with Tidwell or something?)
Not according to anything they’ve ever said or shown us, no. He might have feelings for her, but they’ve never said she returned them, sex notwithstanding. Thanks god (I hate Tidwell still).
Loved it…i think they left it open enough for a next season.. He still had a few question marks on his wall….lets just hope
I actually really liked this episode it’s not perfect but for an ending I think they did pretty well. I thought the conspiracy stuff was convoluted but I was never interested in that, I was only interested with it as in regards to how it connected to Reese but other than that it’s always been about Crews and Reese for me.
And I liked the Crews-Reese thing at the end. I mean, I’m quite certain despite the realization I don’t think they’ll jump into each other’s arms and declare their everlasting love for each other.
This is Reese and Crews we’re talking about. They don’t do things over dramatically for another if we do get a third season (please, please please!) I don’t think Crews or Reese are willing to do anything to disrupt the status quo of their partnership. They’re happy as partners regardless of what they feel for each other and unlike Brennan and Booth I don’t see any forced sexual tension between them even with the revelation because it’s never been about sex.
They make each other into a better person and I think they genuinely like each other’s company. I honestly think they could go on working for years without getting together because they have no need to do so.
Everything about Crews and Reese is understated when and if they will come together I think it’ll happen years from now but if (and I hope to God it’s not) this show is never renewed I say this was a good way to see the final moments of Crews and Reese: standing on the edge of something more.
I think it helped that for me, I think it’s been building for quite a while now and things were edging that way since after the gunshot. It was obvious they cared about each other, they’re easy with each other’s company but it took a separation and the events in this episode that made them realize the depth of their feelings.
isn’t Dani supposed to be in love with Tidwell or something?
I never thought there was any indication that Reese was ever in love with Tidwell (just the thought is enough to make my skin crawl). Tidwell might feel something more for her Reese but I never thought she felt more than she did. And she never ever looked at Tidwell the way she looked at Charlie at the episode’s end.
I think you said only one thing that is good for me: this one
“the two of them as partners, working together, supporting one another, being there for the other, but they were just that, partners, despite how they are of the opposite sex. (I almost don’t want to say it, but PS: isn’t Dani supposed to be in love with Tidwell or something?)”
when this ep ended and you were in Nirvana, I was so angry I cannot tell you how much.
The writers have spent the whole season making the love between Tidwell and Reese grow, and now they don’t let them rejoin? WTF?! NBC, do you call this “a satisfying ending”?
I don’t.
@ monic:
Dani had the SAME look she has at the episode’s end when she saw Tidwell throwing away his alcohol for her. THE SAME LOOK. You can go and see it. and she keeps it even while she tells him “Go to bed, I’m not done with you either.”
I think she loves him. In a “Reese” way.
But I do agree with you when you say that Tidwell is definitely more involved.
What happened to Reese’s addiction to anonymous sex? I hate dropped story lines.
@ BobDob:
I think she’s become addicted to sex with Tidwell! (he must be very good! LOL)
Love the show; loved this episode and it is not over.
1+1=1 does not mean that Crews and Reese must become lovers, but that what began as an uncomfortable partnership for Reese (what has happened to her career as a cop, that she is now partnered with a detective hated by all of LAPD?) and just an uncomfortable for Crews (how could it be a coincidence that his new partner is the daughter of the man who was involved with killing his best friend and framing him for the murder?), through all of the efforts by outsiders to turn them on one another they have finally realized that they are indeed a good team.
So no, I don’t think there is any attempt to link them romantically. What I saw was a Reese who was suspicious of Crews and his off-the-book investigations, so much so that she went to work with the FBI as a potential out from the LAPD and an out from Crews. She let the FBI question her personal life and almost beg her to launch her own investigation of Crews, before she pulled back and realized that Crews has been the one person she has been able to trust – something she could not do with her own father.
If anything, Crews plays more of a father figure for Reese – in a strange way, for one so close in age – so the idea of bringing them together romantically would be more of Reese continuing to make the bad romantic choices she has for so long – as she has done with Tidwell.
As far as why frame Crews initially? Yes – Rayborn wanted him to join in the corrupt officer ring; but when Hollis went overboard and killed the family, a new narrative needed to be created. Work had already begun on making the bar operation look dirty, so tying Hollis to the crime would have meant tying Jack Reese to the crime – as Hollis was his confidential informant.
Money laundering to Hollis to Reese: it’s all connected.
So, the plan changed. Keep the bar shady and make the fall guy the cop who co-owned the bar. Story goes away, cop goes to jail and Rayborn needs to find another replacement. No one expected Crews to survive in prison – much less re-emerge – and open an investigation to pull the covers off.
There will be a season three. There are still three unknowns from the photo – “not for nothing, there were six, there is five, there could just as easily be four” – and some of them have to be still on the force.
Just a few questions: who is the lead DA, the one who hired Crews’ attorney? What did that DA say to her that made her forget that she heard Hollis confess to going to see the Seybolt’s at the behest of Jack Reese? And why should any of us believe Roman, when he claims to have killed Jack Reese? Where was the body?
@jericho4119:
just…wow.
Your POV is fascinating, and your questions are rightful!
And I love you being so sure about a third season! :D
They MUST give us a third season…
I watched Crews and Reese’s finale scene on youtube. It’s a good one and i do like it. But i don’t think that they were trying to hint at some kind of romance between them (anyway, if they really do, they must give us the third season to make eveything clear ^-^ ).
The look Reese gave Crews is beautiful. It reminds me of the look in “the walk”scene (S1.ep6:Powerless). But that one is different from this one. Because in Powerless, she just needed him to give her a moment. Just a moment to save her self. He gave. And she did it. During the “the walk”, Charlie and Dani gave each other adoring looks with smiles on their faces. She knew she needed him and she was grateful to have him by her side. But now, she can’t do anything. And when Charlie comes, she smiles because she knows he will be there for her, and this time, save her. It’s Charlie. He’s her partner.He’s what she needs. He is Where her loyalty belongs to. And he is who she can trust completely. Now he proves that to her. Again.
I think that’s all. Nothing more. It’s about something more than partnership, but it’s not love. Although I have to admit that their looks make me feel like they have been in love for hundreds years.
About Tidwell, he must have strong feelings for Reese. I think he loves her. But, he is not the right guy for her. It must be Charlie. That’s why Reese (not anyone else) was there when Crews got shot. And that’s why Crews (not Tidwell) is here to rescue Reese. I think Tidwell will stay ’til the end. Finaly, he will help Crews do something. And finaly, both crews and reese will learn (or get) something from him.
I absolutely love these two, and always ship them into some kind of romantic relationship. I just don’t expect it to come that soon. Because “anytime you get your two lead characters together, there’s really nowhere to go from there” (Sarah’s quote).
For now, i am more than happy to have them as partner, as a team. Charlie please keeps taking joy in annoying Dani with your constant chatter and curiousity. Dani please keeps reacting to him in your own way, with your “more than words”-looks and smiles (only Sarah Shahi can do it, so Sarah, please come back). You guys please keep working together, supporting another, solving crime. We will have many more seasons. I love Life and i need it to live.
So it is much better if the loving thing happens in the last ep. It will be slow and full of beautiful Creese-moment. I will love every second of it. And please don’t let them have sex with each other. They really hook up? OK, i’m so grateful, please let us know just by a “hand in hand”-scene, or a smile or a hug or a kiss (or both of them). That’s enough. That’s beautiful. Please no sex. This show is never about sex.
@ jericho4149: I agree with you about “1+1=1 does not mean that Crews and Reese must become lovers, but that what began as an uncomfortable partnership for Reese and Crews”. But i think it’s uncomfortable for Reese not because “she is now partnered with a detective hated by all of LAPD” but because “partnership is important for cops and something that she values”. Now she have to face a (potential) fact that “partner becomes lover”. I bet that she doesn’t even want to think about it. She never wants her personal life and professional life messed up. If it really happens then she really has them messed up. That’s the biggest problem for Reese. And maybe for Crews too. Everything is just not the same for them. That’s why i want it happens in the last ep.
Ps1: I don’t really get the “almost touch hand” scene but i love the smile on Charlie’s face in that scene. Still, i think they will give us the third season. There are so many things need to be clear, including the Crews and Reese relationship. They must give us an answer for all that stuffs. So let’s wait… and hope. And if you think it is the series finale, then make some noise. NBC will hear us and they will know what to do (i hope so). It’s what we supposed to do, right?
Ps2: there is a lovely fanvid on youtube about Crews and Reese, you guys should check it out:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FfwU9Nq2P-U
The biggest plothole seems to be “why did Charlie go to jail for the Seybolt slaying when Raybourne wanted him to join their club?”. Well my answer is that Roman was responsible for that part of it.
The thing that Crews kept saying/implying is that Roman was not interested in Raybourne for the money, there was more to it. Basically I think that Roman, despite being what is apparently a sociopath, actually craves the attention and love of Raybourne. Check it out: Raybourne and the others, elevated Roman to his position so that he could be useful to them, and Roman felt like he was chosen, like he was special.
If what the hooker said was true, and that he was born in prison, then he would not have had any real parental love, until he was chosen. So when he finds out that the closest thing he has to a father has actually just been using him and that he seems to have picked some cadet at the academy to be his “favourite son” he took sibling rivalry to a whole new level. He made sure that when Tom Seybolt refused to be bribed (if was ever given the choice) he was murdered, along with his family, and Charlie was framed for it. Roman changed Raybourne’s plan at the last moment. Roman put Charlie in jail.
hi everybody!
okay, we’re here together because we both love LIFE.
But as we all know, LIFE is going to be cancelled. That really sucks!
Campaigns have been started to save the show.
Fan-vids, posters, avatars,…. have been made to attract people’s attetion.
Letters are written and sent to NBC.
“SaveLIFE” is the #1 topic on USA_network!
We have a campaign on twitter.com and it really works!
But that’s not enough! We need more!
you love LIFE and wanna save the show?
please join these campaign.
For more information, visit LIFE’s official forum on NBC’s website
Join us! We can save our LIFE !
Go LIFERS!
bunch of thanks !
>>>>>>> we love LIFE! we save LIFE! <<<<<<<
if you find it interesting about the fanvid and pictures, go searching for “saveLiFE NBC” on flickr. I can’t post the link here. Don’t understand why !!!!!!!