Entertainment News - TV

THIS ISSUE: Nashville, The Americans, Wayward Pines, Arrow, Law & Order: SVU TOP MOMENT OF THE NIGHT Nashville Ends on a Cliffhanger ABC BECAUSE: How could they have known?! With ABC canceling Nashville just two weeks ago there would have been no way for writers to know that the season 4 finale was not the time for juicy cliffhangers. Things were bumping along fine in the closure department with Rayna and her crew finding a little familial happiness, and Scarlett and Gunnar letting out an explosion of feelings... but the series finale took a sharp left turn when Juliette boarded a plane back home only for Avery to receive word that all contact had been lost with that plane in the final moments -- cut to black. Give it up Nashville -- we know you've got footage of a happy ending somewhere!

Arrow The CW WHAT HAPPENED: All ya need is... hope! At least, that's what Oliver and the people of Star City need in Wednesday's Arrow finale now that Damien Darhk has gained immense power from nuking that nearby town -- so much power that it's nearly impossible for Ollie to stop him. Plus, Darhk is extra excited because he just launched thousands of nukes all over the world, the better to complete his evil plan with. But Darhk forgot about one thing: the power of motivational speaking. Mayoral nominee Oliver Queen climbed up on a yellow cab and delivered a speech that reminded the people of Star City that their town was worth saving. Their collective hope following the speech was enough for Oliver to go all glowy-eyed and defeat Damien Darhk and it earned him the position of Mayor of Star City on the spot. But not everyone is feeling so hopeful about the future in Star City; in the final moments of season 4, the team disbands: Thea to go find herself, Diggle to look out for his family and rejoin the Army, and Lance and Donna to just straight-up skip town. And as for Felicity? "You thought I was leaving, too? Not a chance." WHAT PEOPLE ARE SAYING: Killed the bad guy, still got the girl (well, y'know, in theory) -- not too bad for Oliver Queen. But Stephen Amell is still looking for a few changes in season 5... or rather, to take a step back from a few changes the series has already made. As Amell told EW, "When we startedArrow we were the superpower-less superhero show. Because of our success and because of opportunities that The CW has had, we've had to break away from that original modus operandi a little bit ... Even though Supergirl is joining the ranks, there's no new person or new show to introduce this year, and I think as a result of that, we need to get back to focusing more on some of the core elements that used to define Arrow." And what would those be, Stephen? "Hand-to-hand combat, no superpowers, and dealing with the job of cleaning up Star City." We like what we're hearing.

The Americans FX WHAT HAPPENED: Being a working parent is tough, but add the fact that your body is a lethal weapon and your number one priority is Mother Russia, and being a working parent on The Americans becomes a real head-scratcher. In Wednesday's episode, the ever-present Pastor Tim stops by to chat about "all the things being a parent can mean." It's the first of three conversations Elizabeth has with Pastor Tim throughout the episode, each one toeing the line between manipulation and true seeking of counsel -- after all, Elizabeth goes through some real stuff in her thorough takedown of Young Hee's husband, and subsequent disappearance from her life -- more thoroughly than the next. Elizabeth seems to both be looking for something from Pastor Tim (a certain incriminating tape, perhaps), while proving to him her true parental connection to Paige. And Elizabeth ends up proving that to Paige herself in the darkest of ways when the two are mugged at the end of the episode, and it's only a matter of seconds before Elizabeth has a knife to the would-be mugger's throat... before Paige sees what her mother is truly capable of. WHAT PEOPLE ARE SAYING: While this was a world-altering moment for Paige, it's really only a small glimpse at the truth of her parents' careers and capabilities. As HitFix points out in its review of Wednesday night's episode, "Paige doesn't walk in on Philip poisoning somebody's drink or Elizabeth choking out a CIA agent; she experiences a much more everyday form of danger, and her mother responds to it in a way that Alice or Sandra couldn't." That opens Paige's eyes up to the reality of what her mother does for a living, while still keeping the internal conflict simmering: "A Paige who saw her mom drop a car on an innocent man, or drug and molest her best friend's husband as part of a blackmail scheme would be forced immediately to make a huge decision about what she wanted to do in response. This gives her, and the show, more room to maneuver."

Wayward Pines Fox WHAT HAPPENED: Wayward Pines is a slippery one, so let EW recapper Shirley Li summarize Ben's opening voice-over for you: "It's the year 4032, the fascist First Generation ultimately took control of everyone's favorite Idaho town, and Ethan (Matt Dillon) died for nothing in the end." Well then. In the season 2 premiere we follow a man named Theo as he's abducted from his present-day life, put in suspended animation for a few centuries, and wakes up as Wayward Pines' new resident doctor. He heals Kate, witnesses firsthand what Wayward Pines does to resistance members, reunites with his wife, and is dropped outside the fence in the premiere's last moments to maybe get eaten by Abbies. Alright then. But the most important happenings of the premiere have to do with Kate. Though Megan tries to provoke her anger with Ethan gone, feeling that her cause is lost, Kate simply gives up. She says humanity is headed nowhere if all they have is Wayward Pines: "I don't want any part of it," she says, and slices her own throat. WHAT PEOPLE ARE SAYING: Yeeeeeesh! That's one way to make us deal with the fact that we're now facing a Wayward Pines with neither Matt Dillonnor Carla Gugino. Perhaps we should have seen this coming as Gugino has to make her way to Cameron Crowe's new series Roadies, set to premiere in June, but still... throat slicing? Gugino told EW that once she knew she could no longer stay on with Wayward Pines, she wanted more for Kate than to just have her disappear, and the writers knew exactly how to stage her exit in season 2: "The town has this horrifying ritual of reckonings, where [people are] brought up in front of the town and their throat is slit, so [for Kate], it's a self-reckoning. And I think the fact that it happens face-to-face with Hope Davis' character Megan is interesting, because they just have entirely different viewpoints of where they want the world to be and where the world is. It was certainly an intense and bold way to go." Certainly.

One More Thing...

SVU's Season Finale Looks Inward CBS OUI OUI: Law & Order: SVU concluded its 17th season on Wednesday night, and things are going about as smoothly for Olivia Benson as ever (think: hostage situation, fallen squad member, and debilitating guilt). But there's always Paris...