MovieChat Forums > Flesh and Bone (2015) Discussion > The last episode.

The last episode.

posted 8 years ago by reddahlia
21 replies | jump to latest

I really, really loved this series. I fell hard for it. No, it wasn't genius writing and no it wasn't brilliant acting (with exceptions, of course) but it was still damn good. It pulled me in with its melodrama and the New York of it all and the uncomfortable topics it adressed. I was surprised to find myself going from hating and fearing Bryan to feeling sorry for this tragic character. I sneered at Mia and then came to pity her (what with that awful mother of hers and her prognosis). I absolutely loved to hate Paul; what a fantastic actor and character he was. And though Claire was pretty one dimensional, I still rooted for her and wanted to see her go far.

UNTIL that final episode!!

They just lost me with that. It was way too out there, way too fantastical and what was an interesting series that had me dying to rip through every moment of it as fast as I could - with that final episode it all came to an unsatisfying, screeching, boring, dull, halt.

And the entire thing that happens with Bryan and Romeo? So ridiculously over the top in an (again!) unsatisfying, *beep* kind of way. I'm still rolling my eyes.

Anyway, TL;DR: wonderfully entertaining show all throughout until this dull and over the top last episode. Color me deeply dissatisfied.

[–] PatientWolf 8 years ago

read this... you may find a new appreciation for the story, including the finale

http://www.vulture.com/2015/11/flesh-bone-is-structured-like-a-real-ballet.html

[–] !!!deleted!!! (5167015) 8 years ago

Claire and Bryan's final scene together was heartbreaking... what I found surprising about this series was how it made feel sympathetic for them and their improper relationship.

I got the impression midway through the series that Claire and her brother's story was like a tragic ballet tale, and logically, one of them would have to die.

His death on a literal stage was on-the-nose, but I felt the build-up across the episodes to this moment was rightfully earned.

[–] BettyX 8 years ago

Felt for Bryan especially. He just had a shait life all the way around. An abusive father that he was stuck with, yes Claire also abused their relationship and he had nothing. On top it being a veteran that came back home to nothing. Can see what he was so broken and wanted to die at the end.

[–] !!!deleted!!! (5167015) 8 years ago

You could say Romeo's addled mind did recognize their improper relationship by processing it as a darkness/dragon that was destroying Claire.

[–] 8 years ago

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[–] ceric-703-490951 8 years ago

I agree. Claire even says to Romeo at one point, "I don't know how you know so much." He sensed there was something wrong with the sibling relationship and once Claire told Romeo he was the "hero," he recognized Brian as the "dragon" and had to destroy him. Not sure what's over the top about that. Crazy homeless guys do kill people and usually it's because the voices in their heads tell them to.

[–] svetaswan 8 years ago

Actually, "crazy homeless guys" are more likely to be victims of crime than perpetrators of crime - just to be clear. I just don't want the misconception to spread that homeless people are largescale threats who turn homicidal at the drop of a dime.

[–] ceric-703-490951 8 years ago

That is true, but it does happen. One went off on a woman taking his picture in Hollywood recently - he stabbed her to death. And an actress who used to give money to a transient who hung out near her home was attacked by him. So, it's not unrealistic in a work of fiction that something like that would happen.

[–] svetaswan 8 years ago

I suppose that you're right - since some (not all) people who are mentally-ill can get violent, and many homeless people are mentally-ill. But it's easy for some people to get carried away with the assumption that every mentally-ill and/or homeless person is prone to violence - when most of them do not pose such a threat. Most of them simply want to co-exist in peace and be respected as human beings.

[–] thisscreennameblows 8 years ago

Romeo was my favorite character throughout - I was rooting for him the whole time, maybe even as a love interest for Claire, but the show never let you forget for too long that he's mentally unstable and living in the window well beside her building. I think one of the most tragic parts of the finale (aside from Bryan's general awful luck with life in general - poor bass turd) is that in saving Claire's life, Romeo alienates himself from her forever.

[–] 8 years ago

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[–] CBC-5 8 years ago

It ended perfectly with that resounding, much anticipated and finally realized, "No."

[–] dbryn 8 years ago

Agreed. Loved the series and was looking forward to story closure, but then.... ??
What was it, 10minutes of dancing? Ok, I apologize, I don't enjoy the ballet but was drawn in by the characters and story. So, I was a little disappointed with what I felt was a major loose end. The whole build up of the Russian Mob, and then nothing. Jessica makes a deal with the devil, and... nothing. I thought for sure somehow someone was going to pay for their evil deeds. The moment Bryan stepped foot in New York I figured he'd end up killing Romeo. Ok, so I sort of got it right. That situation made sense, but was a little stumped with Claire and Paul. I didn't like the artsy, fluffy, "try and figure out the really deep meaning behind the last 30minutes you just watched" ending, at all.

In short, a great series that fell flat on Episode 8.

[–] wp02366 8 years ago

I guess all those 'loose ends' may have been left there intentionally to have hooks for another season.

[–] chris-bushwacker 8 years ago

How you felt about the last episode, I felt the entire way through. Had to snort with laughter at the idea that it only became over the top and fantastical in the final episode. It was over the top melodrama the whole way through as far as I was concerned. All the characters were either resentful and aggressive or moping and pathetic by turns, so in fact every character was exactly the same but at different stages of the same.

It was unremittingly bleak from start to finish, they were all victims - with the sole exception of the rich Russian villain who stepped up to save the day in the last episode, and I honestly sat through 8 episodes tutting and huffing/puffing with irritation. I watched to the bitter end in the hope of finally seeing some real dancing, which when it eventually happened did not disappoint. However, it was a long, deadly slog to get to that point.

I hope I never have to suffer such a group of grotesque people in reality as I witnessed in this series. Only one character (Ross) seemed halfway normal. I felt so sorry for him having to put up with all the others. No wonder he was covered in tattoos. He was no doubt trying to obliterate himself.

[–] 8 years ago

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[–] svetaswan 8 years ago

Only one character (Ross) seemed halfway normal. I felt so sorry for him having to put up with all the others.

I found Ross to be rather sleazy. First of all, he looked less like a dancer, and more like some slacker who did cocaine on the side (I guess I may have a stereotypical view of male dancers - but the male dancers I've seen usually look more clean-cut - including the actor who played Ross!). Then, speculating on Claire's virginity in almost the same breath he used to introduce himself to her - and while she was 3 feet away, no less - was crude and off-putting. And the topper was when he and Claire were rehearsing a dance sequence in private - and he chose to act as though they were in some sexual position, and he started rubbing her thigh. What a sleazeball move; dancers can get into some rather "close" positions with each other at times....the situation can be awkward enough without someone using it as an opportunity to make a sexual advance.

So, no - calling Ross the most "normal" one of them all is too much of an honor for him. In his own way, he fit into the sometimes-creepy atmosphere.

When Paul made that sexual advance on Ross during their "private rehearsal" together - I considered it Karma!

[–] chris-bushwacker 8 years ago

Well I did say "halfway normal" rather than the most normal. I am sure there's a difference (like the glass being half empty or half full ..!).

I cannot imagine how anyone could function in that kind of atmosphere and workplace culture. They should have all danced out and refused to come back, except their attitudes were also a big part of the problem. It was almost like some version of purgatory and they were damned to dance there until their toes fell off.

[–] ktsparks 8 years ago

"The actor who played Ross"??? So I'm guessing you didn't read the bios? He wasn't an actor, he was a DANCER. In ballet all his life in San Francisco, danced with the Moscow Bolshoi at age 15, became soloist in 2003 at ABT. Hardly "an actor". I'm actually quite shocked to read the bios of these dancers, and to see how well they also acted in this series.

[–] ambrakay 8 years ago

You've never watched the movie Center Stage? It was a huge hit when it was released. I'm pretty sure all the girls in my high school (myself included) went to see it for him alone. He was a very good actor and dancer in that movie as well.

[–] svetaswan 8 years ago

I am well aware that the "Ross" character was played by a real-life dancer (Sascha Radetsky) - I didn't have to read the bios, I knew that already. Perhaps I should have said "the dancer who played Ross"....since the point that I was trying to make is that most of the real-life male dancers I've seen - including Sascha Radetsky himself, IIRC - aren't as grungy-looking, and carry themselves differently. Ross seemed like he could have fit in with a motorcycle gang fairly easily - that's not something that you can say for the majority of male dancers that I've seen.

I admit that I'm not all that familiar with Radetsky's characteristics in real-life - so I cannot say for sure just how much Ross's physical appearance differed from Radetsky's usual physical appearance....but it seemed to me that Radetsky may have altered his physical appearance at least a little to play Ross. And I know (or I hope?) that Ross has some character traits that Radetsky doesn't have. I don't think that Radetsky lasted at American Ballet Theatre for as many years as he did by speculating on his female colleagues' virginity with those colleagues standing right there, or by trying to cop a feel of his dance partners during rehearsals.

It seemed that Radetsky was portraying a male dancer who was closer to the extreme end of "butchiness" - to the point of being crude and (relatively) lumbering.

Btw - it isn't wrong to describe Radetsky as an actor; this was, first and foremost, an acting role. Radetsky was not dancing on stage with ABT here; he was acting in a miniseries - so in this context, he is an actor. And - let's face it - it definitely seemed like he was utilizing his acting skills to play a dancer like Ross.