ThomasMuf

I've seen every episode, many of them multiple times over, and I'm still watching it today.

That said, the first 3 seasons were definitely the best: No mushy sentimentality, lots and lots of belly laughs. And they had McLean Stevenson (who made the biggest mistake of his life by calling it quits), and Wayne Rogers (ditto). After that, it all went downhill.

Seasons 4 & 5 were still good, though Mike Farrell was pretty bland, and Seasons 6-8 were so-so, until Radar left. Everything after that was increasingly sentimental, preachy - and not funny anymore. Alan Alda took over, and the show never recovered. The last episodes are pure water torture.

I was skeptical about the show at first, following in the tracks of one of the best police procedurals in history, The Closer. Mary McDonnell played such an unlikeable and stiff character on The Closer I couldn't imagine her replacing the wonderfully off-center Kyra Sedgwick. But a great actress can be whoever she wants to be, and in Major Crimes McDonnell displays so much heart and soul it totally transforms her character. Here, Sharon is likeable and relatable and very much the centre of the show. She's terrific. Back are, of course, the wonderful group of supporting characters, brilliantly played as before. Of course, everybody's favourite character is Provenza, and as played by G. W. Bailey, he's mine, too. The stories are as interesting as those on The Closer, which is unsurprising considering the behind-the-camera talent are the very same people. In hindsight I would have loved a few more lighthearted Flynn & Provenza episodes, I enjoyed those so much. The only reason I'm not awarding Major Crimes the full score is: Rusty. This has nothing to do with the actor, as Graham Patrick Martin is terrific in the role. But too much time is being spent on his character in the later seasons, sometimes to the detriment of the main plot. But Major Crimes is a terrific show, and I was bummed when it was cancelled. There was life in this family of cops for at least another two seasons. I'm currently binging the show on DVD for the third time.

I must confess I haven't made it through the whole episode yet: Fell asleep after a few minutes on the first try, and got bored and turned it off around the middle of the episode on the second. I've seen the final scene on YT though.

This episode was a misconception. An innocuous caper episode of Jimmy yearning for his early days would have belonged in one of the first three seasons, but not in the finale with just 3 episodes to go. And if you make a whole b&w Gene episode, better make it count: more power, more consequence. This one was merely inconsequential, made all the worse by following two brilliantly intense ones. I know you lemmings love to rationalize so long as to make each and every episode appear a true gem, but this wasn't one.

Yeh, Saul is moaning for his glory days, so he looks at fancy shirts and puts them back because he realizes they're over. Booohoooo, big deal! All fluff and filler.

And that they had to recast Jeff because they couldn't get him out of other commitments must have felt like a huge defeat to Gilligan and Gould. And it is. In fact, it's inexcusable. With a smarter shooting schedule they could have avoided this. One more reason why this episode was a bust.