Christmas comes early with a sweet cap to the season!
On Blockbuster Season 1 Episode 10, a former child star (Bobby Moynihan) causes chaos, while things come to a head with Eliza and Aaron.
There was a lot to love about this finale, even if it ended on a predictable cliffhanger.
Called it — the internet, and thus streaming services, are down thanks to the solar storm!
Hold onto your DVDs if you’ve still got them (and a way to play them). They might be worth more than toilet paper one day.
The solar storm is real. It’s why China built a second sun.
Hannah
Blockbuster works because, at its heart, it is a show that believes in the inherent goodness of people, and it is fronted by a kind and caring person — Timmy.
So, when characters (such as Kayla and Percy) are mean, it’s jarring, and more off-putting than it would be in a show where everyone is morally grey.
For instance, take the scene when everyone was mean to Connie in Blockbuster Season 1 Episode 7 after her friend died. It was ghastly.
Bobby Moynihan’s Lil’ Stevie was funny, but his humor was so much more crass (particularly being racist and overtly sexual with kids) that it felt a bit inconsistent with the rest of the show’s wholesome tone. Maybe that was the point, to shake things up a bit.
Stevie redeemed himself somewhat by warning Carlos about Hollywood, but Carlos — again, due to his good nature — only saw the good side of this, as a sign that he should keep trying in the face of rejection.
At last, Kayla and Percy, still building off of their heart-to-heart in Blockbuster Season 1 Episode 9, finally find some common ground. He’s the person she feels closest to, and she is comfortable lashing out at him because she knows he’ll forgive her.
This is what Connie told Eliza in Blockbuster Season 1 Episode 2, and though we still haven’t met Eliza’s daughter, it was nice to put a bow on that callback.
Speaking of Eliza, she finally came clean with Aaron.
It was time. Everything has been building up to this. Aaron’s confusion was understandable, but he was always so clueless. He seemed to love Eliza, but we never really heard him talk about his role in the deterioration of their marriage in the first place.
Doing a bunch of little things right doesn’t cancel out the big thing you did wrong.
Eliza
Eliza’s just not feeling it anymore. Even if it doesn’t work out with Timmy, her reasoning is sound, and she should still be confident in her choice to end things with Aaron.
It was probably a good thing Eliza didn’t get the words out to confess her feelings for Timmy.
There was too much going on, and she needs to sit with her feelings about the end of her marriage before rushing into something else, and Timmy needs to process losing his girlfriend (and his store).
Well, we knew it couldn’t last with Lena. It’s a shame, as Lena seemed pretty confident in her and Timmy’s relationship, at least before Eliza showed up and made it all awkward. What was sad about this is that Timmy didn’t fight for Lena.
If he had explained that he just saw something intense happen with his good friend, Eliza, which is why he said her name, Lena might have seen reason.
Eliza: Did you know that lips are technically a mucous membrane and not skin?
Timmy: Huh, I did not know that or want to.
Is Timmy still into Eliza? Is this going to be the pattern, where one of them always has feelings for the other, but it takes a while for those feelings to overlap between the two of them? Timmy seemed happy about Lena being his girlfriend.
Whatever happens, Timmy has more significant problems to deal with right now.
The cliffhanger (Hannah discovering Eliza’s feelings for Timmy) signals that this story is not over, and hopefully means the series will get renewed.
And why not? It’s probably relatively cheap to make as it’s all primarily filmed in one location. It could go either way.
I’m looking for a movie about a pig, but not Babe. It’s too big a city.
Danielle
Some fun things:
- The payoff for the newscaster gag was subtle but satisfying. Remington Alexander is finally back from vacation, and he’s sunburnt. That’s it. Whatever, I laughed!
- When Connie mentioned that Eliza’s posture was horrible, Eliza’s bones cracked as she stood up straight. Oh, the joy of being in your early 40s!
- Several customers from throughout the season showed up during the riot — Danielle, stoner Dustin, oncologist Thumb Head Joel — and each got a moment or two.
- The Jingle Bills were all genuinely pleased when they found out Hannah got into community college! Delightful.
I thought you died, or worse, hated me.
Connie
The underlying thread of bleakness, which reared its head near the end when the store was trashed, knocked the wind out of Timmy’s sails. He has the right to feel like he’s on a sinking ship. Maybe people aren’t all good.
When a show has been built on this premise, we feel the devastation along with Timmy.
Never underestimate nostalgia. Nothing thrills people more than knowing their memory still works.
Lena
TRUER WORDS, LENA! NEVER SPOKEN.
This is the crux of it. This kind of lampshading is acceptable because it’s not the show making a dig at itself, but pointing out a truth about the viewers who have made it this far — this critic included!
Using the washed-up child star as a metaphor was apt. We want to cling to the things we loved from the past, and it doesn’t matter if they were necessarily good or not because memory is a way to escape the horrors of the present.
It speaks to the decay of modern society. More and more things will be obsolete until we can’t keep up anymore. People, businesses, and ways of life will get left behind.
This is Y2K all over again. They said the computers would shut down, so my dad panicked and printed out all his porn. Nothing happened except I had to use the other side of that porn to print out my essay on Gatsby.
Timmy
It’s hard to be an optimist in the face of this reality, but somehow Timmy managed — at least until the end. Blockbuster (the store, not the show) isn’t a sustainable thing.
It was apparent from Blockbuster Season 1 Episode 1 that this was never going to be some revolutionary show (few sitcoms are). Still, Blockbuster is what it is — funny, relatable, diverse, and diverting.
It flirts with some dark ideas, but ultimately it’s a little piece of self-aware nostalgic fantasy. It’s basic, sure, but sometimes you just want some popcorn.
Did you enjoy Season 1? Who were your favorite characters? Mine’s got to be Madeleine Arthur’s Hannah, though Connie and Carlos come in a close second.
What moment gave you your biggest laugh? Do you find the finale fulfilling?
Are you looking forward to Season 2 — if there is a Season 2? Let us know in the comments.
Mary Littlejohn is a staff writer for TV Fanatic. Follow her on Twitter.