Up late talking games & writing? You're...

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TV: So the wife and I have been following Harper’s Island since it started, and the series ended with a two-hour finale this past Saturday.
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For those who aren't familiar, the premise was that the show would be a finite program with a clearly defined beginning and end, similar to the way many shows are structured overseas, particularly in Europe. In this particular case, a group of attractive late twentysomethings travel to a fictional island to celebrate a wedding, and at least one person was murdered each episode. The attraction, of course, was knowing that the mystery would be completely unraveled by the time the season was over.
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This series was a bold move for CBS not only thanks to the unusual-for-America pre-planned endpoint, but also because it was skewed towards younger viewers and built on a Horror/Suspense theme… not exactly what you'd expect from a network known for having its base made up of mostly senior citizens.
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The writing wasn't the best, it was sometimes hard to keep the characters straight (the cast had to start large since the body count was upped each episode) and the first four or five installments just sort of ambled along-- but I have to admit that by the time Harper’s Island passed the halfway point, we were looking forward to it each week.
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So, the ending…
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SPOILERS BEGIN HERE
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The way things were tied up at the end, it almost made sense… however, it missed the mark just enough to feel less-than-satisfying. (And the following few paragraphs will probably make NO sense at all if you haven’t been watching the show. Apologies in advance!)
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Events were muddied by the fact that the suspected murderer (Wakefield) was presumed dead at the start of the show and then later revealed to still be alive. This in itself would have been fine, save for the fact that this “I’m not really dead!” person wasn't the true spiritual culprit.
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When the biggest psycho on the show (Henry) was revealed for what was (I assume) supposed to be a big ‘A-HA!’ moment, his motive just didn't feel completely dialed-in. If he was as sociopathic as he was portrayed to be, it seems to me like there were plenty of ways he could have gotten what he wanted without going through all the hoops and trouble of murdering one person a week, not to mention the fact that his cooperation with Wakefield felt far-fetched.
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I mean, when you get right down to the nitty-gritty, what happened was Henry met Wakefield, felt a “connection” with him (totally aside from the fact that they have a father/son blood relationship, if he was to be believed) then they team up to lure everyone back to the island under the pretense of Henry’s marriage. This already feels dangerously shaky to me, but then you add in the fact that their motives were unclear; if Wakefield wanted revenge for something that had happened to him in the past, it seems as though at least 3/4ths of the victims on the show weren't responsible in any way. Why go to the trouble of killing them all?
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It was also mentioned that Henry was getting revenge as well (with Wakefield presumably assisting him past any drive from his own motives) , though at the end it was really about Henry wanting to have a delusional relationship with someone who ends up being his half-sister.
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This thread was the sickest, and would have been the most satisfying if it had been strengthened. My impression was that Henry’s true plan was basically to kidnap his sister and then murder every single person who knew either of them so that they could live together in peace. Pretty bizarre and twisted, but it seemed a little doltish for someone allegedly smart enough to pull off such a complicated plan and execute it flawlessly over the number of years required to put all the pieces in place beforehand. I mean, has he never heard of the path of least resistance?
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END SPOILERS
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Although I can't say that the series ended as strong as I would've liked it to, it was a huge checkmark in the ‘plus’ column that the series ended. Seriously, half the reason we hung in was because we knew we would be getting a complete story in a reasonable amount of time and I certainly support the concept of finite series. I mean, how many programs have started off with a bang, only to finish much weaker, and usually further afield than the writers ever intended? It's a natural consequence of finding success and being strongly encouraged by a network to keep a show going past any logical endpoint for the sake of continued profit.
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For example, I'm not a Lost fan but I tried to get into the series in the beginning and felt like the writers lost their way once they realized they had a hit that wasn't ending on their hands. They may have gotten their mojo back, but they lost me a while ago and I'm not about to jump back on the bandwagon now that they’ve actually announced when the show will be over-- but if they had announced the endpoint from the start, I very well may have hung in there.
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Another example of a series that could really have benefited from an endpoint is Heroes. The first season was literal must-see TV at my house, each episode keeping us on the edges of our seat every week. Once the first season’s story arc ended, it became painfully obvious that the writers had no idea where to go or what to do, but the networks weren't about to let such a monster hit go away. As a consequence, the show has only gotten progressively worse with the creative team struggling to present compelling narrative that demands closure and failing to deliver it since the show must go on. Although I could write an entire series of blog posts about what's wrong with Heroes, I really don't think there's any question that having a discrete beginning, middle and end would have been better for this program than letting it metastasize into the drawn-out comedy of errors it’s become.
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Getting back to Harper’s Island, it seems as though the series did not garner the kind of ratings that would ensure a second season next year, and that's really too bad. I think the basic premise was good, there are essentially infinite stories that could be told using the same ‘kill one person a week’ framework, and I really do think that America would see the value of finite storytelling if given the chance. If Harper’s Island doesn't make significant headway in this area, I hope another series will take a cue and keep this concept going.
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