The following contains MAJOR SPOILERS for "Sonata," the season finale for the CBS show, "Moonlight."

The collective cry of millions of "Moonlight" fans everywhere could be heard at the end of this episode, the premature end of the series, and there is a lot to decry over losing in this series. The final episode, "Sonata," was an example of where this show could have gone. It had the potential to present many, many more compelling seasons.

First, there was the setting of the opening scene. Any "Veronica Mars" fan will know that Hearst College was the college that Veronica and her bad boy boyfriend Logan (played by Jason Dohring) attended. Josef donated the money to Hearst College to open a new sports arena. When Mick (Alex O'Loughlin) asked Josef if he attended Hearst College, my whole family laughed at the question, and Jason Dohring's expression was priceless. It's also worth noting that executive producer Joel Silver was also the executive producer of "Veronica Mars."

We also learn about "freshies." These are humans who allow vampires to feed off them, because they get a thrill from it themselves. Josef's lawyer/date, Simone, is a freshie, and it seems there is more to their relationship than a business arrangement, in spite of Josef's contention that human-vampire relationships can't work.

At the big Hearst bash ceremony honoring Josef for his donation, a star college basketball player Dominic gets murdered. How he died is a mystery to humans, but the vamps on the scene, and there are a number of them, including Dominic's manager , Jackson Monahan (Jonathan LaPaglia), and the manager's wife of 150 years, Emma (Heather Stephens).

Simone is found on the scene with Dominic's body, which makes her the prime suspect, but it's obvious someone else did the killing. Whoever killed him had B+ blood. Simone has B- blood. In a scene later in the episode, the way Mick and Josef determined her blood type is simultaneously hilarious and embarrassing, at least for Mick, when Beth (Sophia Myles) walks in on the two vamps feeding on Simone.

The equation between feeding on a freshie and having sexual relations permeated the story. Beth gives Mick hell over the feeding scene, as if she walked in on him cheating on her.

It turns out that number one suspect, Hank, who was seen getting into a fight with Dominic, witnessed vamp Emma Monahan engaged in sex with and then kill Dominic.

ADA Hottie Ben Talbot (Eric Winter), who's investigating the case, is getting closer to finding out the truth about vampires.

Mick has super vampire hearing. Vampires can speak so humans can't hear them. Cool!

Emma, who is in police custody, threatens to reveal every vampire in Los Angeles if she isn't released or helped to escape.

This causes some main players in the vampire community to get together to determine what to do. There's Mick, Josef, Guillermo (Jacob Vargas), Logan (David Blue), and Claudia Black as the leader of the Cleaners.

Mick comes up with a plan to create an accident that would allow them to get custody of Emma and then execute her themselves.

The scenario takes a wrong turn, and Logan throws himself in front of the police van to stop it. It causes an accident, and they take control of Emma.

As the vampires are about to execute Emma, her husband, Jackson, insists on being executed with her. The two are set on fire, and ended.

It didn't do what it was supposed to do, though. ADA Hottie receives a message, with a list of all the vampires in LA. Mick's name is on the list.

When Beth hears about the act of vampire justice, she decides to break up with Mick. This devastates Mick, who at first walks out when she tells him, but then refuses to give up on Beth. He returns and the series ends on the two of them embraced in a passionate kiss.

What Worked

So much of this episode worked. Did I mention Claudia Black as the leader of the Cleaners? Claudia Black! Does CBS not realize the dynamite casting coup they squandered by canceling this series? Can you imagine what the writers could have done with Black in a recurring role? Damn!

There were a number of lines that had me laughing out loud: Mick: "I got hit in the face with the sacred ass paddle." (About the reception he got from a hostile member of a college fraternity house.)

When Mick interviewed a vamp cheerleader (Erika Schaefer) who was a perpetual college student, she talked about feeding on the school's jocks. She described the jocks as waking up with hickeys they can't remember getting.

Mick: "They never noticed the puncture marks on the neck?"

Vamp Lisa: "That's not the artery I go for."

And my favorite quote of the episode, which got more play out of it later, was when Logan asked in the middle of the vamps plotting to get Emma "Can my code name be Lando Calrissian?" The silence of the vamps that followed was priceless.

What Didn't Work

Again, the generic who-dun-it was kind of, well, generic. Still, the murder mystery scenario is really just the backdrop to revealing more about vampire life and the vampire community - which was the heart of the episode and the series. The show is not really about the cases Mick and Beth investigate. It's about relationship and how they take on a new meaning when humans and vampires mix.

I'm really going to miss this show. It was the only series left on CBS that I watched, and now I have no reason to turn to the big eye anymore. It had so much untapped potential, that canceling it feels like a crime against the television viewer with a brain and a pulse.

"Moonlight" fades to black.

Giving Credit Where Credit Is Due

"Sonata," the final episode of "Moonlight," was written by Ethan Erwin and Kira Snyder, and directed by Fred Toye.

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