| RATING: | 80% |
| FORMAT: | DVD |
Some of the actors are acting slightly out of character for this final season to make it even more fun for the viewer than usual. The writers have run out of ideas for places to take these carefully-crafted personalities, so are going out with a bang rather than with a whimper - the performers being determined to do likewise.
Of course, it is always better to go out on top (&, indeed, over-the-top) rather than await the slow inevitable decline that is to come to William SHATNER’s character with his diagnosed Alzheimer’s.
Returning to the ideas and situations of the first season, especially the endemic White supremacy and sexism of the two central characters; getting worse as they age.
Yet, SHATNER has become even more of a likable teddy bear than before, who gets women to sleep with him more by making them feel pity - or overpowering them with his wealth - than with any solid, gentlemanly virtues. The two central characters suffer an inability to make a commitment to another human being – except each other – and this is a good way for the series to explore the poor quality of male-to-male relationships in the West. Male bonding is usually treated ironically, as if it were a guilty secret that should be hidden in case anyone should think the men concerned are gay. Yet, when all is said and done, they are the one true love of each other’s lives.
This theme of masculinity-in-crisis is the basis for the whole shows’ relentless – and often satirical - critique of contemporary (2008) social mores and a legal system bloated with christianized legislation that is neither logical nor just. The former is more emphasized here than ever before and the two principals obvious chemistry aids this endeavor; while partly sidelining the other, equally interesting, characterizations.
This abbreviated final season wraps up the series as a whole as best as can be expected despite the many plot cul-de-sacs created along the way.
That a show centering on the shenanigans of a gun-toting White supremacist and an emotionally-retarded neurotic – both of whom are irretrievably sexist – can be so addictively enjoyable is testament to both the high quality of the writing and the superlative nature of the acting.
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