Post by Doo on Feb 9, 2023 15:52:44 GMT -5
Not a great end to the show, but my issues were mainly the same as they have been all along with the cringey Twitter one-liner type comedy, and the writing being not great quality in general. I thought Velma was the worst she's been in this series in episode 9, where she not only lies to her mom about Norville getting her pregnant, but she drops the baby twice into heavy traffic, and admits to trying to sell the baby on the dark web as she's doing it. She treats Norville like trash the entire episode, and I honestly was happy when Norville ended their friendship because she's been treating him awfully since the beginning of the show. The interactions between Velma and Diya also feel very stilted, which didn't help my opinion of the episode.
The finale was not the best either. A lot of the plot revolved around cringey social commentaries, like Velma getting herself arrested because Fred says an Indian woman is bothering him. I felt the clues were found too easily, as is pretty much every clue in this show. Velma suddenly falling in love with Norville was awful to watch, particularly since "I Will Remember You" was played in the background as she randomly falls in love with him for no reason. While that could have been a sweet moment, Velma has continued to treat her friends like dirt the entire show, so her realizing how she'd taken Norville for granted wasn't at all sweet. She's basically just finally realizing she should do the bare minimum that any good friend would, so her character development was not compelling to me. She doesn't even actually learn any lesson, because she immediately goes from that to telling Fred and Daphne "stop talking before I think less of you!" and locking her dad out of the house that same day.
Beyond that, the edgy humor continued to be a hindrance to my liking of the show even in the end. Making the Mystery Machine into a "trashy pedo van to trick teens" and Velma twerking over Fred's mom's dead body (whilst Norville is throwing up and blood is spraying everywhere) is honestly just a testament to this show's obsession with being edgy. I completely understand that some people enjoy edgy humor, but the fact that the writers feel the need to constantly shove it in people's faces to that extreme level is really annoying, especially when it's a hindrance to developing the mystery, which it often was throughout the show.
The story with Daphne's internship and Fred's mom being the culprit was creative, and I did enjoy watching that part of the mystery unfold. It become increasingly obvious as the last episode ran its course, but they at least pulled off a decent surprise ending where it wasn't totally obvious who the culprit was. Her motive was somewhat interesting as well. It was surprising to see Norville kill Fred's mom.
Overall, this show was definitely not for me. There was too much focus on the edgy humor, and I did not enjoy the love rectangle in the slightest. We don't even see Gigi more than just a brief cameo in these two episodes, despite that Shaggy is apparently now dating Velma. Moreover, the writing felt like it cut a lot of corners, where they'd just inexplicably drop storylines for no reason. The writers often seem fixated on making certain social commentary plots happen, and it's often times to the detriment of the mystery. "Fog Fest" would have been a great time to have an episode focused on the killer, but instead we get a social commentary on Velma experiencing male privilege that has been done so much better in other shows and movies. The show feels overly focused on comedy at times, and it ultimately leads to the writing and characterization being subpar because the comedy is so heavily focused on. Regardless, I'm glad I watched this all the way through to see what it was like, even if I didn't end up enjoying it.
The finale was not the best either. A lot of the plot revolved around cringey social commentaries, like Velma getting herself arrested because Fred says an Indian woman is bothering him. I felt the clues were found too easily, as is pretty much every clue in this show. Velma suddenly falling in love with Norville was awful to watch, particularly since "I Will Remember You" was played in the background as she randomly falls in love with him for no reason. While that could have been a sweet moment, Velma has continued to treat her friends like dirt the entire show, so her realizing how she'd taken Norville for granted wasn't at all sweet. She's basically just finally realizing she should do the bare minimum that any good friend would, so her character development was not compelling to me. She doesn't even actually learn any lesson, because she immediately goes from that to telling Fred and Daphne "stop talking before I think less of you!" and locking her dad out of the house that same day.
Beyond that, the edgy humor continued to be a hindrance to my liking of the show even in the end. Making the Mystery Machine into a "trashy pedo van to trick teens" and Velma twerking over Fred's mom's dead body (whilst Norville is throwing up and blood is spraying everywhere) is honestly just a testament to this show's obsession with being edgy. I completely understand that some people enjoy edgy humor, but the fact that the writers feel the need to constantly shove it in people's faces to that extreme level is really annoying, especially when it's a hindrance to developing the mystery, which it often was throughout the show.
The story with Daphne's internship and Fred's mom being the culprit was creative, and I did enjoy watching that part of the mystery unfold. It become increasingly obvious as the last episode ran its course, but they at least pulled off a decent surprise ending where it wasn't totally obvious who the culprit was. Her motive was somewhat interesting as well. It was surprising to see Norville kill Fred's mom.
Overall, this show was definitely not for me. There was too much focus on the edgy humor, and I did not enjoy the love rectangle in the slightest. We don't even see Gigi more than just a brief cameo in these two episodes, despite that Shaggy is apparently now dating Velma. Moreover, the writing felt like it cut a lot of corners, where they'd just inexplicably drop storylines for no reason. The writers often seem fixated on making certain social commentary plots happen, and it's often times to the detriment of the mystery. "Fog Fest" would have been a great time to have an episode focused on the killer, but instead we get a social commentary on Velma experiencing male privilege that has been done so much better in other shows and movies. The show feels overly focused on comedy at times, and it ultimately leads to the writing and characterization being subpar because the comedy is so heavily focused on. Regardless, I'm glad I watched this all the way through to see what it was like, even if I didn't end up enjoying it.