Like I've said, I'm torn. I think in one way they ended spectacularly, in one way they failed miserably. Saying plot doesn't matter after six years of plot driven stories (and they were, as much as the characters matter), saying the plot is irrelevant is basically breaking a deal with the audience.
Take the out-rigger shooting for example. In the PLOT of the story, that moment was more or less irrelevant. Nothing came of it other than some built up tension -- but it led us all to wonder who was shooting. The assumption was eventually they WOULD tell us - why bother with the moment if it's half a mystery that they're never going to solve? It's a cheat to the audience. Now, if someone had actually DIED during that, it might have been more understandable, but no one did - it was there solely for the mystery of who was shooting at them.
I read somewhere that they had an answer to it and it didn't make the final cut of the episode they were putting it in. Well, that's just BS as far as I'm concerned. It's not like speculating on it means anything - the idea that time travel led to that shooting is kind of cool - they missed the chance at a payoff and left the audience confused and angry, rather unnecessarily so.
Hi, Shirley Temple Pudding.
