Ooh look: it's another season finale forced by the writers' strike. How not at all surprising.

More surprising is that I'm still writing about Moonlight.

As you might recall, I gave the first episode of the show, which was absolutely appalling, a somewhat scathing review. But miracles do happen and Moonlight had improved sufficiently over the next few episodes for me to pass a fifth- rather than a third-episode verdict.

I still wasn't that impressed though.

But I stuck with it, mainly because I felt sorry for Sophia Myles being stuck over in the US while David Tennant was breaking up with her. And while I wouldn't say the show improved drastically, it has still continued to moderately entertain and surprise over the course of its season.

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Of all the books and of all the networks to adapt them, Darkly Dreaming Dexter and Showtime seemed the combination least likely to produce decent television. Darkly Dreaming Dexter is pretty rubbish, a piece of poorly written slasher fiction about a serial killer who improbably only kills other bad people. Showtime, in turn, was synonymous with nothing at all apart from not being HBO, the cable home of quality shows like The Wire.

Yet Dexter turned out to be one of the best shows of last year. Clever, well written, well directed, tense, unpredictable and with an incredible performance by Michael C Hall, it and other shows have now made HBO look like the also-rans and Showtime the home of quality, edgy TV.

So hopes were high for season two. Could the producers who had made this break-out hit strike again and maintain the quality after such a strong opening?

Initially, I was a little worried. The first two episodes of the second season were good, but not outstanding and the changes in format suggested that the second season could be something of a let-down.

Fortunately, it turned out to be even better.

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I've been a little bit slack doing these Winter season finales. In my defence, there have only been a few so far and it's often been quite hard to work out whether something's properly finished or not. Bionic Woman's still with us and didn't have a proper finale; Life's still with us but did have a proper finale.

Journeyman, however, subject to the great gods of NBC deciding otherwise, has passed on to TV heaven, although it has left this proper - and really rather good - finale behind.

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Here's novel. It's the middle of winter and I'm doing a season finale. Even more novel, I'm doing a season finale for Heroes and I've already done one this year for the first season, and that only aired on the BBC last night.

That last point is very useful because I did have visions of a spoiler-free review of this finale for UK viewers that basically went along the lines of “some stuff happened involving some people”. As it is, I've had to use this generic picture from the finale (is she alive? I“m not saying, but remember time travel, etc are all possible in Heroes, so assume nothing, UK viewers) to avoid any real spoilers. Fingers-crossed, I won't be spoiling anyone when I get down to the details.

Brace yourselves: we're going in...

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House is a series that likes temporary mini-arcs. It never does a full-season arc; it never has an arc that really changes anything, since there's always a magic reset button at the end; and it's always about House himself, with the other characters rarely getting the fleshing out they probably deserve.

Season three has been no different. Probably the best so far, with Hugh Laurie now very comfortable in his role and even mellowing a little, it's been even more House-centric than usual. The highlight was the David Morse storyline, which was excellent but let down by a cop-out ending, unfortunately.

But the subsequent Foreman arc and finale show signs that the producers want to move things on a little. Since we aim to have spoiler-free reviews here for the benefit of UK viewers, I won't mention all the intricacies of the plot, only say that the little birds under House's not-so-tender gaze are feeling restless. Cutty and Wilson get their usual minor “Oh House!” moments, like principals in some rubbish 80s high school sitcom. But everyone else seems to be getting pushier and pushier to good effect.

The show ends on a cliffhanger of sorts - a cliffhanger only if you believe a magic reset button isn't being sent by parcel post to a certain New Jersey hospital right now – so be wary. But it's not the earth-shattering ending that season two promised, and with House warming up, it's likely that you'll leave it feeling optimistic, rather than trepidatious.

Tension: 5/10

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Well, if ever you're worried that Lost is just going to run around in circles, never getting anywhere, the third season finale should dispel that thought immediately. We got pay-offs, answers, a bucket load of new questions, and - the so-called “snake in the mailbox” game-changer, which unfortunately I guessed and you might too - a twist right at the end that lets you know what the exec producers have planned for the next few seasons.

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Monday night in the US was the battle to end all battles. No, not “you know who” versus “you know who” on Heroes, although that was one of the main draws. The fight was the battle of the finales, with 24 facing off against Heroes. On Fox, there were not one but two Jack Bauer power hours, while newcomer Heroes, fighting with only one hour to its belt, still had a few tricks of its own.

24, however, is tired. It's given up, more or less, and is hoping we'll turn up for season seven while it gets this one out the way. Despite an initial promise that everything was going to be new and nerve-wracking again in a land where bad terrorists can prosper, this season failed to excite in the same way as seasons two and four did, for instance. We had the same torture scenarios, the same threat, the same unconvincing love stories. Even the writers got bored and did a repeat of the first season's “there's a second shooter” plot reboot around hour 16. And there are only so many times you can kill off favourite characters before you run out of favourite characters and just start killing people you don't care about randomly.

Optimally, a 24 finale needs to leave you going “Aahhhh....” like some adrenaline-sated Bisto kid. Instead, while it had its moments, we didn't really care enough about those in peril to worry if they were going to die and we all knew what was going to happen anyway. Even then, the wrap-up to the new plot didn't really convince.

Indeed, I wouldn't be surprised if none of the plot strands apparently finished in the last episode turn out to have life in them still. You see, the finale had all the hallmarks of a show desperately trying to fan enough embers of nascent characters, relationships and plot intrigues that they can start afresh next season with something to build on. While else did that character's brother mysteriously appear for all of a minute, for example? Why didn't Jack kill the chief villains except to give them a chance to escape and be menacing towards him again? And how often did we need to have hints about a certain pair's retirement home to know that Jack Bauer pizza deliveries will be making a call there next season?

Still, with a reboot of 24 planned for season seven that might take it away from CTU and even Los Angeles, there's the outside possibility that next year's odd-numbered season won't be about crazy Euro terrorists wanting to blow up/infect/poison/irradiate LA for a change, and might have an original plot for once.

Tension: 3/10

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Finales are typically times for surprises. Numb3rs was no different and was practically bursting with them. But the biggest surprise was to see Martin “Rings on their Fingers” Jarvis going hardcore on the FBI's arses. Man he can get nasty with a mobile phone holster.

The second big surprise was that there were any surprises. The third season of Numb3rs has been - dare I say it? – formulaic. It's drifted here, it's drifted there. Pretty much every episode the story has been the same, with no real character development, no real characterisation, simply maths technique of the week and a bit of shooting. Even the occasional bit of new blood hasn't helped and the old blood have had negligible time devoted to making you actually care about them. It's never been awful, but it's never been great. So to have an episode in which everything gets shaken up is really quite amazing.

The third big surprise is that Ken Sanzel can write. Responsible for most of the series' worst episodes, he's co-written the finale and despite its somewhat derivative and convoluted nature, it does at least keep the tension ratcheted up.

By the end of the episode, there have been major twists for at least three characters. If you're a big Numb3rs fan, at least one development will have you asking plenty of questions - mostly how, why, who, when, and where, since it does come somewhat out of left field without much foreshadowing - and maybe we'll get some explanations for it next season, although I doubt it. What they'll do to build on it and other developments, I don't know, but it does at least demonstrate that even in the most tired of shows, the occasional dramatic twist can occur.

Tension: 8/10

PS Does MI6 do its own code-breaking and code-creation still or is that a GCHQ thing now? Anyone know?

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Scrubs holds an odd place in my heart. It's not as funny as it used to be, but I keep watching it because I'm weirdly like JD (except I'm nicer and more manly) and my wife's weirdly like Elliott (except she's nicer and more down to earth). We even look pretty similar to our fictional counterparts.

Anyway (disturbing and uninteresting glimpse into my life aside), Scrubs has gone through various peaks and troughs of quality this season that have tested us. It started off low, picking up mid-season, before sliding back down again to its starting point. Which is a shame, because when it gets right its trademark mix of comedy and the unfortunate realities of medicine, it's pretty unbeatable.

Problematically though, it's making the same mistakes it made at the beginning of the season, by making its protagonists cross over from merely misguided fools into plain nasty and selfish people who do frankly unforgivable things. That's fine in something like Peep Show, which has been like that from the beginning; but Scrubs has always been about pathos and people trying to do the right thing when they don't know how and when life throws them a wobbly.

It's hard, however, to keep laughing as we explore that rather shallow 'comedy' pit that Zach Braff seems to have created for himself in the show and in his movies (it's almost a manifesto now), in which he generally treats any woman he comes across extremely badly at the absolute worst times and then acts as though it's justified in a “being true to myself” kind of way.

Here, in the finale, he has the chance to treat two women extremely badly at the absolute worst times and waddayouknow, goes for the double whammy. Bad Zach.

So brace yourself, gentle reader. There's a cliffhanger of sorts. You hope bad things won't happen. There will be tension. Please be funny again next season, Scrubs.
Tension: 6/10

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Those season finales are coming thick and fast now.

Unlike certain shows I could mention that don't really do the cliffhanger thing, every season of Smallville ends on a cataclysmic series of deaths, destruction, revelations, and plot wrap-ups. This season was no different.

Despite being one of the strongest, creatively, since the show began, there has been a certain meandering quality to it, with plots laboured past their natural death point, minor reset buttons pushed and so on. I won't tell you how many of the major cast 'die' - they'll be back, you know they will – but it's rather a lot and if one in particular doesn't come back, well, I don't think there'll be much point watching next year for its final season.

Explanations, when they do come, are pretty far-fetched, but hey, it's a comic book - what you going do about it? Superman fans, however, will be delighted by the arrival of at least two characters from the comic books, one expected, and one me am expecting, too (there's a clue for you), although the origins of both have changed. And there is the possibility that something might finally have changed. Permanently. No going back on it this time.

Tension: 9/10 (1/10 really because we all know a giant magic reset button will be in the next episode, because there always is)

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