Review
Send a Compliment at 12:40 PDT, 15 April, 2008
On the New Amsterdam finale last night, John Amsterdam discovered love hurts.
Yes. Yes it does when you're robbing the people you're dating with your lover and the head of your dating agency, or when you're immortal and can't get your girlfriend to believe you.
As John worked on a case about a woman found dead in the river (though he was supposed to be resting after he took a bullet to the chest), we got flashbacks of him when he was a mustached thief back in the 1920s. Apparently John has turned to drinking, women, stealing, faking death, and becoming a cop, to name a few coping mechanisms over the many, many years.
But while John was fighting everyone else's urges just to arrest and blame the woman's last boyfriend, John was also fighting the fact that Sara may not be "the one."
Since he's now come back to life twice since he's met her, this has become a bit of an issue. In the last episode, it was a bit confusing as to if she could still be the one even though he survived what should and could have been a fatal shooting.
It had seemed originally that the Native American woman's curse/blessing of John becoming mortal again only when he found the one meant he had to marry the one to become mortal. Apparently, though, John wants to believe this, but doesn't really as we saw him talking with Omar trying to make them both believe this.
It's interesting because we've already seen that over the years, John has fallen in love a few times, and sometimes even married the women. Yet, he seems to think things feel different with Sara, or at least he wants it to be different.
So Omar planted the much unwanted thought in John's head that maybe his one was a different woman at the subway station where he collapsed.
But then why was he so convinced from the security video of his collapse that Sara was the one? Was he just distracted by her because she came to his rescue? And maybe he does have to marry her to find out - is that why he married women in the past or did he just not want to be alone?
So many questions! But we sure didn't get answers in this finale. John dodged a bullet (literally) last week, and dodged a bullet with Sara leaving him when she realized she was pushing their relationship too much, and decided to give it another try.
But of course we couldn't be left with this form of happiness in the finale! Instead, John worked out the murder case, setting up a genius act of getting "fired" in front of the head of the dating company so she'd spill her secrets to him over a bottle of what turned out to be apple juice, but then he didn't have any genius plan at all that could hold on to Sara.
And with that, we were left with the quite dramatic scene of Sara leaving John because of all his secrets, and John walking down the middle of the road with his coat billowing behind.
We don't know yet if New Amsterdam will be returning for a 2nd season, but we can only hope so with such a good, yet tantalizing ending!
Has John just been sent out to find the one all over again or did he just lose her? Either way would carry on well to start up another season, so here's hoping!
Photo courtesy of daylife.com
last edited by Send a Compliment at 12:49 PDT, 15 April, 2008
Stumble It!
Comments (4 comments)
Actually, Sara left John the second time because he said it was over (she asked "is that it?" and he said "yes"). Sara patently isn't the one. The man got shot through the heart and survived therefore she couldn't have been the one. I don't agree he had secrets. He told Sara the truth. She refused to accept it, despite his anomalous blood test results, DNA and scarring. I am not sure what else would cause the results he had. If it looks and sounds like a duck, it's a duck!
As for him marrying in the past, I suspect part of it was love, part of it was a feeling the women were the one and part of it was about companionship. I think the whole 'the one' premise of the show could become a pain if given too much prominence. As it is, I think the general detective theme of the show, as well as his unusual background could carry it and the search for the soulmate should fade more into the background.
Personally I hope they write Sara out of the show completely. Considering how important her character is she isn't a valuable character to me, she doesn't have the on screen chemistry needed to be "the one". Personally John's partner or Boss would both be better fits, and his boss seems to have a thing for him.
I agree with the idea of pushing "The One" theme back. John's past makes the show far more interesting than his search for love. Considering his age, there are endless possiblities for what's to come!
I am so with you on that Jaximus. Sara's character just doesn't inspire "the one" status. You're right, I really didn't think there was any chemistry between them, she just wasn't interesting.
I also agree that the finding "the one" theme will get tired quite quickly if not dealt with in a smart way - but I guess we'll see.
I love the flash backs and find it really interesting to see how John has lived so many lives. I wonder though, since he has always been living in the same city how does he make an effective disappearance? Especially hundreds of years ago when the population would not have been so large.
I think John's partner is going to end up being "the one". There have been hints about how she is noticing the strange things about John and she's always there when he starts to tell a story about something he did years ago (when he should have been a baby!)
I LOVE THIS SHOW AND WAS PISSSED TO FIND OUT IT MIGHT BE CANCELLED