More than one 'Revelaiton' in 'GCB' season finale

ABC's GCB brings its first season to a close with "Revelation." In the episode, pretty much all of the main characters head to unincorporated Juarez. Carlene (Kristin Chenoweth) leads the trip as a groundbreaking for her Christian condo project, but each of the others have their own agendas for coming, other than just friendship. Tension sparks bickering, especially when the women are briefly kidnapped, but in the end, all's well that ends well, right?

Only on television would a large group of friends end up out of town in the same place at the same time for a bevy of different reasons. This alone tosses all believability out the window. But it doesn't detract from the enjoyment because, honestly, GCB does not thrive on realism. It's a series of exaggerations with larger than life characters whose every obstacle become cataclysmic. Keeping this in mind, the Mexico trip is a fun romp, rather than a distracting ploy.

The characters in GCB have come into their own. Like Desperate Housewives, most of them aren't exactly likeable on the surface. That makes GCB hard to get into, especially because, at first, it lacks the campy charm that makes Housewives so entertaining. But as each person has become better defined, including the men, who were originally nearly interchangeable nothings, their chemistry has gotten better, and thus, so has the show. While GCB remains on the bubble, it could definitely fill the void that will be left by Desperate Housewives next year, if ABC decides to renew it. It's juicy, salacious fun.

"Revelation" isn't exactly the most surprising episode. It's pretty clear right from the get-go that Ripp (David James Elliott) isn't cheating on Carlene, but rather, has a secret daughter. GCB goes for the comedy of errors on this one, but by using such a predictable story, it fails. But other twists, such as learning that Cricket (Miriam Shor) now, though no direct action of her own, owns Sharon's (Jennifer Aspen) business, have some serious implications for next season. Also, it's fun that the kidnapper is revealed to be a ridiculous woman (Sandra Bernhard, The L Word, Roseanne) who wants to protect her "ancestry."

Of course, as much fun as these things are, the serious romantic entanglements are the real draw of a show like this. "Revelation" finds two of the main women facing major changes in this department. Mason Massey (Grant Bowler, True Blood, Ugly Betty) is more than a minor nuisance for Cricket, especially once he learns that her marriage to Blake (Mark Deklin) is a sham. Cricket and Blake have an arrangement that has worked for them for many years, but it's not like they're sexually attracted to each other. Someone is bound to come and disrupt the status quo, and by casting Bowler to do so, there are implications of a huge, permanent change on the horizon. But, considering Bowler will soon be starring in a SyFy series, he will probably just make a mess, then leave them to clean it up.

The second woman facing new love is Amanda (Leslie Bibb). Given her past, it doesn't matter how justifiable Luke's (Eric Winter) reasons for lying to her are; they are done. Considering these trust issues, though, is it any surprise that she falls into the arms of the man least likely to betray her, Pastor Tudor (Tyler Jacob Moore, Shameless)? Amanda doesn't seem pious enough to a minister's wife, but that doesn't mean she won't try out the idea, and shock the community along the way. There are all kinds of juicy ramifications that could come from this coupling, meaning, it's probably going to happen if the series is renewed.
GCB airs on ABC, and should learn of its fate soon.

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