While the series finale certainly provided an ironic and mostly satisfying ending, I must confess a degree of surprise and mild confusion about the direction the writers turned the show. Sophie's biological relationship to Brother Justin was certainly not unexpected nor was her timely magnetic attraction to his presence, but the beginning of the second season seemed to suggest an alternative possibility for events. More than anything else in the show, this baffled and misled me.
In a show in which Destiny--capital "D"--runs the show and perpetuates the cycle of Good and Evil even from Samson's monologue in the opening moments of Season 1, Season 2 flirted with the possibility of real resolution and reconciliation brought about by its characters. This suggestion (hinted at in Sophie's drawing of "The Lovers" card in reading Ben's future) culminates in the emotionally visceral love scene between Sophie and Ben in a car, which supernaturally brings renewing rain to the parched Dustbowl landscape, but it is quickly undone by the booming and threateningly seductive voice of Brother Justin's broadcast. While an ending that emphasized Destiny didn't entirely sideswipe me, I was a little taken aback by the show's deliberate and brutal undermining of the theme and power of The Lovers. I suppose it's very Shakespearean in its tragedy: although the ending is necessarily tragic for its heroes, they tantalizingly hover on the edge of success. Star-crossed lovers even from their birth.
