Greek – At least Spidey’s wig didn’t fall off

I have to hand it to the creators of Greek. Their genius plays on such a high level that it wasn’t until I’d fallen under their spell that I realized just what was going on. Think they’re leading us into a ditch from which stories will bumble to the finish? Or maybe that they think a lack of closure will get the network execs to give them more time to wrap up the series? Well, think again.

But before we get into all of that, there was one thing that I enjoyed about last night’s episode: Calvin taking back the Omega Chi house, with an assist from Daley. Well, at the very least they’re attempting to return Omega Chi to the path it was once on, if we can believe that their fraternity was ever about more than drinking beers and getting girls.

The point is that I’ve been wondering why Calvin wouldn’t have already fled the house; I’m still wondering, but there’s a certain amount of dignity in what he’s trying to do. That, and I loved when Dale busted in on the house meeting and the pledges — as well as some of the older brothers — finally found the guts to stand up to Trip (although who wouldn’t have been able to do that in the first place?). Yet I can’t shake the feeling that the brothers are much like unaccompanied minors on an airplane — no one responsible is looking after them. Trip and Calvin negotiating the house’s future sounded like a couple of kids playing make-believe.

Halfway decent was Rusty and Evan going together to the Chambers’ house in an effort to learn what Chambers Inc. wants with Rusty’s wire. But Rusty did kind of sound like a crazy person when he told Evan that he wasn’t asking Evan to reconcile with his parents, just to do him a favor. Because a) that takes priority, and b) Evan and Rusty are so close so why shouldn’t Evan just do it? And it’s great that Evan seems on the road to repair with his family, but that was like tending an amputation with a band aid; no way would the cure be so simple.

The KT plot with the bed was silly, and Lasker Parkes’ (Jonathan Silverman) return was totally predictable. Unfortunately just as predictable was Spidey being behind all that’s gone wrong in the house, in some sort of revenge on his father. I called that already. Which parent-based complex does he suffer from?

Then there was ZBZ and the chase for the Golden Lily, also known as ZBZ’s equivalent of a Congressional Medal of Honor. Bringing Frannie (Tiffany Dupont) back was cruel and unusual, although I’m grateful that we didn’t have to experience a “real” Justice Beaver sighting (as Dwight on The Office calls him). Regardless the benefit for the Foundation for the Amazon Red-Eyed Tree-Frog was another crummy ZBZ event.

So I realize you’ve been waiting patiently for my take on what’s going on as Greek moves to its series finale next week. When do you miss something the most? When you really like it and it goes away. Seinfeld went out as it did because the creators rightly determined that we’d never have been satisfied no matter what they did for a finale; instead of attempting to achieve the impossible they chose to please themselves. Lost touched some fans and burned bridges with others when it went dark … so what’s Greek doing? Chew on this idea: if we build up enough animus toward the show as it drives into the ground, those negative feelings will carry over after the series ends and we won’t miss it. Because you don’t miss something you didn’t enjoy, and your opinion of something is usually colored by your most recent experience with it — which is to say that I enjoyed Greek right up until it began its fourth season.

So are the creators really looking out for us so we won’t be sad? I wonder….

Clacked by Aryeh S.
on Mar 01, 2011 @ 16:00 EST5EDT