“If you join with us, we will have enough leverage to knock Barry out of the game for good.” – Hal Brennan
Lights Out peaked around episode eight and it was pretty much all downhill from there (with the exception of the very good stand-alone episode “Rainmaker”). The show killed whatever momentum it was building during the run-up to the Lights/Death Row fight in the penultimate episode and just couldn’t pick itself up off the canvas.
I might be in the minority here, but virtually nothing in the finale, “War,” worked for me. It felt corny and uninspired, but most of all it felt fake. Let’s run through, bullet-point style, some examples of why I felt this way:
The Slow Clap
Early in the episode, Brennan (Bill Irwin) calls a meeting with a dozen or so boxers, many of whom are, like Lights (Holt McCallany), former champs. They take turns going around the table and sharing stories about how Barry (Reg E. Cathy) has ripped them off in the past. “If you join with us, we will have enough leverage to knock Barry out of the game for good,” Hal says to Lights. Patrick responds by suggesting that the only way he will join the “boxers rebellion” is if they commit 10% of future earnings to start a fund for retired and disabled fighters. Lights’ compatriots start a classic “slow clap” without a hint of tongue-in-cheekiness. Seriously? The slow clap? Groan.
Mrs. Death Row
One of the things I like about Lights Out is the way Reynolds (Billy Brown) and his wife became more nuanced as the season progressed. In fact, I would have preferred to see more of Death Row’s family and less of Lights’. In “War”, Jessica, Row’s wife, squanders all of the good will the show has built for the family by reverting into a one-dimensional shrew.
The Dive
After the episode when Lights fought Morales, I noticed that the way the fight ended seemed fishy. I suspected that Morales took a dive. Well, as it turns out, I was right – he threw the fight. Now, when Barry brings this to Lights’ attention in “War” it seems, for a moment, that the realization that he hadn’t won fair and square would shake his confidence. I like the way the show brings back stuff from earlier in the season (i.e. the cash cake). But if it doesn’t end up going anywhere, what’s the point? Morales’ dive winds up having no influence on the Death Row fight. This is indicative a larger problem I had with the way Lights Out wrapped up. There were so many plot threads that were left unresolved. In the finale, there was little or no mention of Lights’ legal troubles, nor did we ever find out what took place between Barry and Brennan in that smoky backroom. It seemed like the two were hatching some sort of nefarious plot, but unfortunately it was never revisited.
The Fight
I have said it before and I’ll say it again; I am not the biggest boxing fan in the world. However, am I totally off base for thinking that the Lights/Death Row fight looks extraordinarily unrealistic? First off, Lights enters the ring to CCR’s “Fortunate Son” – quite possibly the most overused song in TV/movie history. The choreography is sloppy, I don’t believe for a second that I am watching two actual boxers fight. It comes across on screen as two actors throwing wild haymakers back and forth. Honestly, I get a distinct professional wrestling vibe from the fight. Guys are going flying through the ropes and out of the ring, evil referees are blatantly influencing the match, reporters are abandoning all semblance of objectivity and shouting encouragement. It is a farce.
Do we think that Lights had any business winning that fight? By all accounts, he was overmatched in nearly every way. It seemed like the only strategy that he employed was to absorb as many blows as he can early in the fight, in hopes that Death Row will tire himself out. (Which, incidentally, is pretty much the same strategy Dickie suggests to Mickey Ward in The Fighter).
What did everyone think of the very end of the episode, the whole “Who won?” thing? I can see how some people might consider it a clever way of putting a bow on the season. I went back and forth on this, but I eventually decided that it was kind of gimmicky.
All things considered, Lights Out was a good, but not great, show. I’m glad that I was one of the few people out there who gave the show a chance and stuck with it until the end. Although I wasn’t exactly satisfied with the finale, it didn’t sour me on the show as a whole. I don’t regret spending 13 hours of my life with these characters but I don’t think I will spend much time or energy lamenting its cancellation the way I did for FX’s other recent ratings failure, Terriers. What did everyone else think of the finale, and of the season in general? Please use the comments section to discuss your thoughts; what you liked about Lights Out, what you didn’t, what you’ll miss about the show (if anything), and what you won’t. Thanks for following Lights’ journey with me these past few months and please check back early and often as I find a new show to review and recap each week.
This review originally appeared on TV Geek Army.