MovieChat Forums > American Crime (2015) Discussion > I don't know why people hate the season ...

I don't know why people hate the season 2 ending???

posted 9 years ago by giangcannesoscarmath
40 replies | jump to latest

I think it is brilliant. This season finale makes the series become more thought-provoking and haunting than any series on TV now! If the series solved every misteries of the case, I don't think it would haunt me and make me think about it that much (maybe I will forget it just after one day)!

And if you are disapointed because of the season finale, I think you completely don't understand the spirit of the series. From the begining of the series, it never tries to explain and give us a clear answer, it is not a series that tries to solve the misteries and who is at fault. It's a series about how people are affected by a terrible crime and it's a character study series- explore the characters in a naunced and heart- breaking look. That makes the series different and become one of the best series on television.

This is just my opinion. You may disagree or agree but I hope to discuss with you more about the finale and the series.

[–] tb-sch 9 years ago

Often when people are disappointed with a finale, the episodes leading towards the finale did not manage to focus on the question which is answered in the finale and raised different expectations. You can see that as well in the case of Dexter, where the last episode looks like a brilliant bookend on paper when held next to the first few seasons, but as it ties up questions which became unimportant on the way, it left the audience bewildered, after an especially messy and conceptless season.

The second season of AC is broken down the wrong way. The dramatic peak is the school shooting, everything afterwards is clearing up the mess. The characters which were featured the most sidelined with limited influence, some characters which might have been important before get more screentime in an attempt to tie the season to the first season. This leads to a strange shift of attention.

The show has the dynamic which lets one expect that the whodunnit would have another turn, but instead the initial event kind of falls apart in an underwhelming way. There isn't really anything to it one would not have known or expected before. It is a tragedy deriving from a lack of communication, without of course making this lack of communication the main question of the season. But everybody else is communicating quite a lot, in fact so much that few things become visible from the nonverbal action, while everything is said.

I don't dislike character driven shows, but in the best case characters and plot breath life into each other and allow dramatic structures and play with the expectations of the audience, which for me fell flat in the episodes after the shooting. It is not the lack of closure for the characters, but much more I am missing the closure for the audience, which could use the open ending for a Q.E.D. situation.

The last shots are a great end for the way the show began, but feel rather inconclusive in the way it developed.

[–] giangcannesoscarmath 9 years ago

You have made some valid points. But the most ironic thing about the series is that it actually gets better after the school shooting and the best episode of the season is ep 8- the episode right after the school shooting episode ( the episode which relates to the event of Columbine high school massacre).

I think that you are right, maybe the storyline doesn't develop much. But because of the way I see the series as a character study show, I appreciate the fact that the characters develop so brilliant and develop more than the storyline and the show itself.

I think people are disappointed with the series mostly because of their expectations. But that is their faults, not the series's faults. I have learned that some of the best films I have ever seen are exactly opposite to my expectation, so I never put any expectations in a series or a film.

[–] tb-sch 9 years ago

I think people are disappointed with the series mostly because of their expectations. But that is their faults, not the series's faults.

I would agree if the expectations would be about the show in whole. It is not a classic crime drama and si indeed it would be wrong to reduce it on the whodunnit angle. But in this case it is the show itself generating certain expectations by the way it is broken down and it is hard to blame the audience for expecting the show to end in the spirit it started.

[–] harryrstevens 9 years ago

I agree with your comments. It was a great ending. Just rewatched the last 5 episodes On Demand. This 2nd season could be used to build a 10 week adolescent discussion group. There are so many angles to discuss, whether in high school or afterwards. Leaving the final resolution of Taylor & Eric to the viewer is brilliant.

[–] fede_4488 9 years ago

I liked it very much but some people hate open endings. Just look at the strong reaction the Sopranos finale still evokes on people

If I don't reply, you're most likely on my ignore list

[–] giangcannesoscarmath 9 years ago

You are right, The Sopranos has such a provocative ending that it still causes so much controversy!
Maybe people hate open endings because they make them think and they don't like that at all???

[–] rubirub 9 years ago

I don't like American Crime season ending. As part of the audience I had invested in the characters, the storyline, etc. and I wanted some kind of resolution. No loose ends.

I'm sorry, but it was disappointing for me. If at least we get some kind of closure, but we don't. :(

[–] lrdcharlton 9 years ago

Then you simply didn't get it.

[–] maryrosenkranz 8 years ago

Did you watch season 1? It didn't have closure. Yes, season 2 was a bit more open ended, but that was because it had more of a story line going. One way of looking at it is how did you feel at the end in regards to whether you thought he belonged in jail? If you were a juror, whom only knows what he/she is told(because we did not see any of the crimes as they happened), how would you vote? It is pretty much how the series went. Throughout, all of us as viewers had differing opinions based on what we saw. We used our instincts, our own lives to come to our OWN conclusions as to what happened with each of them. We had our own opinions as to what kind of people each one was. Therefore, each of us should have our own idea as to how it ended. How many times have you watched a series finale & said "what crap" it should have ended.....?

[–] Dejay 8 years ago

I agree that it was a good ending. The drama has been resolved. A lot of pain has been spread around and nobody gets away unscathed. Taylor appears to have accepted the plea deal and Eric makes better choices. It's all resolved.

[–] denis-38 8 years ago

I preferred it to the season one finale. I did not find the implied possible reconciliation of mother and son and Asian wife at all convincing. Falling down in the parking lot notwithstanding.

[–] jennifer_libby 8 years ago

That old gag?

No, the spirit of the series is that the writers, for two seasons in a row, get themselves into plot twists and turns that they can't get themselves out of.