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Daytime Divas cleans it up for a decent season finale. Not one to necessarily rave about but it was never really that type of show, was it?
My Little Girl: Brad, Ella, Heather
Being that Heather’s child is going to an inclusive school, there are many who don’t want her holding a beauty pageant. However, she pulls the trans card on them and even the parents who were upset have a good time. Though what perhaps matters the most to Heather is not only does Brad show up but he acknowledges his daughter’s name and gender. Alongside him and Heather, so it seems, officially reconciling without any doubt.
Commentary
This was a nice feel good ending. However, I still think Heather and Brad’s reconciliation was rushed. For it wasn’t like Ella was the sole thing causing conflict between them. Heather working and gaining some sense of independence was seeming a real craw in their relationship. And it doesn’t seem like she is trying to slow down her career at all. So while I get the show can’t cover everything that happens, it would have been nice to have seen them have a heart to heart or Brad to have come to couples therapy. That way, we could have at least been shown how they have worked to an almost blissful state.
The End of “In A Pinch”: Mo, Maxine, Kibby
In passing, I called Vance R. Kelly in the last episode, but it seems that may have been an accurate comparison. For it seems he started working on Kibby when she was 15 or so, getting her into drugs, and using the fact Sheree wouldn’t do so much as get up early to take Kibby to the set to manipulate her. To the point, by 18, they were living together. All the while, Sheree was paid off to stay quiet and the network turned the other way because they had a hit on their hands.
But while most of the women of The Lunch Hour believed there had to have been a reason Kibby snapped and shot Mo’s bag, Mo doesn’t see or understand the issue until talking to Tandy. That is when it is over for her and she decides to, with Maxine’s blessing, expose Vance on The Lunch Hour.
Problem is, that backfires. Especially for Kibby who now is seen as the slut who tried to sleep with America’s favorite dad. However, Kibby, after being advised by Maxine, decides to ask Maddie Finn to back up her story. After all, Vance preyed on her too.
Together, they lead to “In A Pinch” getting cancelled and after Maxine has Kibby sent off to rehab, she rejoins the ladies of The Lunch Hour.
Commentary
I’d they cleaned up Kibby’s storyline nicely. It wasn’t a perfect and clean fix, but good enough to forgive episode 9’s over the top nonsense. But here is the thing I’m worried about when it comes to Kibby, alongside Heather: Their story lines got wrapped up. I’m talking about, in case this only ends up being one season, the fans get closure type of wrapped up. So where can either, though specifically Kibby, go from here? There was a lot of questions about her father and of course there is reconciling with her mom, but what about Heather? May we actually see the difficulties of being a conservative Christian taking your trans child into religious spaces? Much less, maybe talk about hormones, transitioning and all that? For while Ella has become more than a plot device, arguably they have barely touched the surface with that character.
The Truth About Ted: Shawn, Nina, Anna, Maxine
As known since early on in this show, Shawn killed Ted. It is just he was so blackout drunk he doesn’t remember. So, with finding that out, Nina is trying to 180 all of her nonsense and shut down Anna. However, Nina, like Heather, doesn’t know how to lock up her things, so Anna just uses her old studio pass to break in and listen to the tape Nina had restored.
With that, Anna is ready to fish for a publisher and become big. Maxine is brought in to stop her but it is too late to be using the show as a scapegoat. You dangled that carrot once and now it has been bitten off. So, being that she loves Shawn dearly, she makes a deal. As does Nina. Maxine says Ted died due to her defending herself from his abuse and gets arrested on the air. Then with Nina, she is supposed to get exposed for a liar but it seems Anna is waiting out the Maxine hype dying down before dropping that bombshell.
But, to make matters worse, despite this effort to keep Shawn in the dark, he hears the tape and learns the truth. Thus closing out the season.
Commentary
Vanessa Williams made it work. The culprit of Ted’s death was clear as day, but there was some attempt at crafting intrigue. Trying to make the two driest characters on the show interesting, but a legendary actress can only do so much. Even Meryl Streep would have a hard time with the writing and who she was working with.
But with that said, the fact Nina really dug into Maxine’s business for the sake of Shawn knowing the truth, and solely that, was so dumb it gave me a headache. For while it would have been quite devious if it was for a better segment or maybe Maxine to work her magic so she, Nina, could have a respectable moonlighting gig on the nightly news, I could accept that. After all, she is going to be part of this family so she has to know the way they do things right?
Alas, that wasn’t the case. All we get is Maxine being hauled off to jail, Anna cleaning her guillotine for Nina’s head, and Mo wiggling in the left chair ready to take over. All the while, Shawn is dealing with his guilt and I’m left a bit ho hum about how this all ended.
Collected Quote(s)
The truth doesn’t set you free. It just brands you a liar.
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