TV Review: Pan Am 1.14, '1964'
And so it comes to this, the season finale and for better or worse, we’ll never see this show again.
rating: 3.5
And so it comes to this, the season finale (possibly series finale?), of Pan Am. As I write this, ABC hasnt yet announced if theyre going to pick up the show for a second season, but I rather doubt they are. If they do, it would likely have to be without Mike Vogel (Captain Dean) who, it turns out, has signed up to do another TV show. So, yeah. Anyhow, we resume the plots wed left off after last weeks bizarre blip, starting with Colletes (Karine Vanasse) relationship with the future king of Qumar, or whatever fictional country hes from. Yes, theyre still seeing each other, and now he wants to start officially courting her, which would require her moving in to the palace for a few months. It also requires an extensive background check, which ends up revealing far more than Collette had ever expected. Meantime, Captain Dean is still pining for Collette, which still doesnt excuse the rather ham-handed fashion in which recognition of the name-change from Idyllwild to JFK was handled. He also learns that hes being formally investigated over the events that happened a few episodes back in Haiti; events which Id largely forgotten thanks to the way ABC has aired the show. His situation ends up getting resolved in an interesting way. As for Maggie (Christina Ricci), shes still hanging out with pilot/smuggler Captain Broyles (Darren Pettie). He persuades her to bring a lot of jewelry through customs, promising to share the wealth with her. It turns out this isnt the first time shes done this. No, by this point ole Mags has been smuggling for about a month now, and seems to be impatient about the way shes being treated. She comes along on the buy, only to learn that the whole thing is a set-up by the would-be buyers who plan to steal the jewelry for themselves. Over at the Laura/Amanda/Ted Triangle o Love, we find that Ted (Michael Mosley) is starting to develop cold feet over the way that Amanda (Ashley Greene) wants to handle their relationship. This worsens when he finds out that his father plans to turn their wedding into a great big social occasion with the governor presiding over it. Ted understandably feels like a fraud throughout all this, not least due to the fact that hes falling hard for Laura (Margot Robbie). Things get complicated when something is announced that was spoiled in the advertisements but wont be spoiled here. Then finally we have Kate (Kelli Garner). Shes hanging out in her apartment minding her own business when her CIA handler, Richard, shows up. It seems hes been shot by someone who was attempting to steal some microfilm that he was carrying. Now he wants Kate to take the microfilm to CIA headquarters and drop it off. She agrees, and on the way is accosted by Anderson, her contact from London, who explains that Richard has gone rogue (a phrase I thoroughly detest and I will bet you real intelligence agencies dont use. Also probably no one used it in 1964). Now Kate is stuck in one of those fun situations where she cant figure out who the bad guy is. This was an ok episode. It would be a shame if the series ends here, because I feel it could have been stronger, but at least they didnt end on a cliff-hanger and they did tie up almost every plot line that had been dangling during the season, so thats no bad thing. Ill also give out some kudos to pretty much everyone in the main cast, who all did their usual good job with material that, while it wasnt always great, was at least handled with a level of enthusiasm that was nice to see. On the other hand, I couldnt escape the impending sense of doom as I watched the show. I do hope that it doesnt get canceled, because I feel it has improved since the first few episodes and does still have plenty of potential to succeed. But lets be honest: for better or worse, well never see this show again.