Gillian Anderson's Only Facial Expression
A TV series ending a season on a cliffhanger is the work of a hack. It says to the audience and to everyone two important things:
(1) The writer(s) can't keep you coming back for more based on the quality of the show, so they need some gimmick to try to keep the audience waiting to see what happens next;
(2) They can't write a decent conclusion to a story that leaves the audience feeling like something has been accomplished but there is still more worthwhile story to come.
The Fall's cliffhanger ending at the end of Season 2 fails spectacularly. It's not even good as far as cliffhangers go. The season ends with Spector in custody. Is there anything more to say about their whole cat-and-mouse thing? It ends with Spector shot and bleeding out in Stella's arms. She seems desperate to save him, which is completely out of character. It would be much more in character for Stella to walk over nonchalantly and with cool disdain order one of the nearby male cops to call for an ambulance and then walk away to take a phone call—and then sleep with that cop later. That would have been a conclusion true to character and to the story. Suddenly Stella cares if a man dies?
But anyway, my point was that the episode didn't even show me that there was more story to be told. Do I particularly care whether Spector lives or dies? I already know he lives, else there is no more story. That other cop that Stella slept with got shot too, but I don't give a damn about him—just like Stella in that regard.
Ultimately, I'm not sure I'll be back for next season.
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