I’m not going to lie, the beginning….no, 90% of this season finale for Bluff City Law was on point. We had our dream team fighting the good fight, and making people’s lives better. We even had a couple tense moments where we thought everything was going to go wrong for Sydney or Leila would get killed. Seriously, I was tense af.
And then we had the Thanksgiving dinner. It was perfect. Everyone was together. Old relationships were being laid to rest. New ones were forming. And everyone was celebrating the holiday by each others side, in honor of Elijah’s recently deceased wife. It worked so much so that when they threw that twist of an ending, I was more than dissatisfied.
I was pissed.
And I felt like I was robbed.
Let me explain. *deep breath*
We’ll start off with Sydney, Robbie, and Jake. Sydney and Robbie sleeping together felt like it came out of nowhere. They had laid their relationship to rest for the final time and I hate that the show made us believe this story arc of forgiveness and moving on, to only throw them back together, and for what reason?
It’s been more than evident that Sydney and Jake have been catching feelings for each other. And a huge part of that happening is Sydney moving on from Robbie and allowing herself to be with someone new for the first time in ages. And it worked. The flirting and bantering between Sydney and Jake was grade A quality goodness. Then they had to ruin it.
Bluff City Law isn’t that show to deal with stupidly overdramatic personal issues like this. Like, this isn’t Days of Our Lives or a cheesy soap. These are people taking on hard AF cases while trying to survive the day by leaning on each other. So, I don’t understand who thought this Sydney and Robbie twist was going to be a good idea.
Where did it come from? Because I surely don’t know!
And then there’s everything that happened with George. *insert sigh here* I can’t speak from personal experience because I have never had someone close to me decide to kill themselves. And in many ways it feels like it’s not my place and that Bluff City Law could’ve possibly been building up to this moment from the very start.
What I can say, and what I think makes me the angriest, is that there was no trigger warning. This isn’t something tiny or something that can be brushed aside with a wave of a narrative wand. This is someone deciding that the pain in their mind is so powerful that it’s convinced them dying would be better. And that’s all sorts of fucked up and needs a trigger warning.
People watching the episode don’t deserve to be confronted with the pain of something so damaging as suicide; either because they almost committed suicide or they know someone who took their own life. Trigger warnings matter and I’d really love to have a conversation with studio execs, EP’s, or anyone behind the scenes to talk about the importance of why warnings matter.
Until then, and I think it’s going to take a long time to get there, I’m going to warn friends. I’m going to be honest, I’m going to tell them that this show or another has moments of pain and tragedy that can be off putting. And that isn’t me ruining or spoiling things for people. This is me caring for myself and those around me to the greatest of my capabilities and I’m ok with that.
Bluff City Law‘s fate is still up in the air at NBC.
READ ALL OF OUR REVIEWS OF THE SEASON
- ‘Bluff City Law’ 1×01 Review: The Moral Arc of the Universe
- ‘Bluff City Law’ 1×02 Review: “You Don’t Need a Weatherman”
- ‘Bluff City Law’ 1×03 Review: Prove Everyone Wrong
- ‘Bluff City Law’ 1×04 Review: “Fire in a Crowded Theater”
- ‘Bluff City Law’ 1×05 Review: Still Here
- ‘Bluff City Law’ 1×06 Review: “The All-American”
- 77 Thoughts We had While Watching Bluff City Law’s “American Epidemic”
- ‘Bluff City Law’ 1×08 Review: “Need to Know”
- ‘Bluff City Law’ 1×09 Review: See you later, Alligator
- ‘Bluff City Law’ 1×10 Review: “Perfect Day”
I disagree with your assessment in one way. Trigger Warnings are ridiculous. Suicide is terrible and tragic and overwhelming. For the audience to have any semblance of how devastating a suicide is it must be sudden, without warnings or buffers, and unexplainable. Real life, real issues don’t come with warnings. Bluff City frequently deals with uncomfortable issues and that is part of the appeal.