(no subject)
I've been hoarding the final episodes of FNL because I just couldn't bear to let it be over, but this week I finally sat down and watched the last six episodes, and now I'm just... a big soppy happy crying puddle. I started crying at Tami's talk with Julie after she found out about the engagement, and then basically just didn't stop. It was just... the best of everything about the show, heartbreaking and hopeful and messy and all about the shades of gray, filled with complex, flawed, achingly believable people loving each other the best way they know how.
I loved so many things about this episode I'm not sure where to begin. I didn't even let myself consider that Coach (and I just can't ever think of him any other way) would turn down a five-year contract in Dylan for Tami, so I wasn't surprised when she gave in--a little disappointed, but that's what happens, most of the time, and I understand why she made that decision. And I appreciated it that they made it clear that he was being unfair, and that was enough for me, though I hoped we'd at least get an apology and acknowledgment that he was wrong, even if the outcome didn't change. But then... then. He didn't just realize, he changed it. He said, no, goddammit, this is the chance of a lifetime for my partner--it's her turn to go after what she wants, and it's my turn to follow where she needs to go, and I just... I love the show so fucking much for that. I love them for always, always, always making the women matter. For making the women people, full stop; for making them an equal part of a show about small-town Texas football when no one could or would have expected that of them (hell, when there's a decent argument to be made that that was part of what kept their ratings low). Of all the things I love about the show, I think that might top the list.
But it's a damned long list, and I'm just going to start babbling because I'm way too verklempt to be organized or particularly coherent: I love Becky and Tim's friendship, and I love Becky becoming a part of Billy and Mindy's family, and I love Tim learning how to put his life back together again, how to love his brother again. I love that Jess got to keep working in football, and I love her relationship with Coach and how much it meant to both of them ("You know I have daughters, right?" just made me cry, god). I love that we got to see Tyra again, and I love that she's still as amazing as she ever was, and that she wants to be a politician, holy god, and I hope she and Tim find a way to be together someday, but I love that right now they're both working to be something more, to find out who they are and make their place in the world before making that kind of decision. And conversely, I love that Julie and Matt got engaged (married? I wasn't sure if they were in that final scene), I love that they took that chance, that they want to be spend their lives together being each other's best friend, just like Coach and Tami, and I love that even though the odds are against them, they've got a shot, and they've got the best role models in the world.
I love how much Vince grew up, and I love that he and Jess got back together, as much as I wanted to smack him for so much of this season, and I love that he's got a bright future now, that his reward for holding his family together with his bare hands when there wasn't anyone else to do it is that he finally gets to be a KID, almost, to worry about football games and the prom and not how to keep his mother alive (and my god do I love Michael B. Jordan--I desperately hope he continues to get roles in projects worthy of his talent). I love that his father came to the game (and I love that it was Coach who made him step up), and I love how overjoyed his mother was watching him play.
I love what an amazing job this show did with an ever-revolving cast, that their high-school kids actually grew up and move away and were replaced by characters just as compelling and impossible not to love, even when I didn't want to (the fierce affection I developed for Buddy Garrity over the series run continues to amaze me). I love that it was always smart and always nuanced and that it never went for cheap emotional shots, that it took on hard issues with intelligence and grace, and that, although it wasn't perfect, it got a whole lot of things right a whole lot of the time. I love that it respected its characters and its audience and that it took its characters and the subjects it tackled seriously without ever becoming preachy or dull. I love how visually gorgeous the it was, and I love that it could make me cry without feeling manipulated or embarrassed, and I love that I could get so lost in it that I'd forget to come up for air.
I love that this show, in the end, was all about the families we make for ourselves, about how hell may be other people but heaven is too, about how finding the right ones--friends, partners, teachers, coaches, mentors, the brother and sister-in-law of the guy who rented your mom's trailer :-)--and holding on to them with both hands is the only thing that really makes worth living.
I love Coach, and I love Tami, and I love Julie and Matt and Matt's grandmother and Landry and Tyra and Smash and Tim and Billy and Mindy and Becky and Vince and Jess and Epic (and god, Tami stayed in touch with her, right? She found her and stayed in touch with her because she couldn't do anything else) and Luke and Buddy and Lyla and Street and Herc and god know who else I'm forgetting right now, and I just. God. What an amazing, amazing, amazing show, and what a beautiful way to end it.
And I'm going to go rewatch a bunch of scenes and cry some more.
I loved so many things about this episode I'm not sure where to begin. I didn't even let myself consider that Coach (and I just can't ever think of him any other way) would turn down a five-year contract in Dylan for Tami, so I wasn't surprised when she gave in--a little disappointed, but that's what happens, most of the time, and I understand why she made that decision. And I appreciated it that they made it clear that he was being unfair, and that was enough for me, though I hoped we'd at least get an apology and acknowledgment that he was wrong, even if the outcome didn't change. But then... then. He didn't just realize, he changed it. He said, no, goddammit, this is the chance of a lifetime for my partner--it's her turn to go after what she wants, and it's my turn to follow where she needs to go, and I just... I love the show so fucking much for that. I love them for always, always, always making the women matter. For making the women people, full stop; for making them an equal part of a show about small-town Texas football when no one could or would have expected that of them (hell, when there's a decent argument to be made that that was part of what kept their ratings low). Of all the things I love about the show, I think that might top the list.
But it's a damned long list, and I'm just going to start babbling because I'm way too verklempt to be organized or particularly coherent: I love Becky and Tim's friendship, and I love Becky becoming a part of Billy and Mindy's family, and I love Tim learning how to put his life back together again, how to love his brother again. I love that Jess got to keep working in football, and I love her relationship with Coach and how much it meant to both of them ("You know I have daughters, right?" just made me cry, god). I love that we got to see Tyra again, and I love that she's still as amazing as she ever was, and that she wants to be a politician, holy god, and I hope she and Tim find a way to be together someday, but I love that right now they're both working to be something more, to find out who they are and make their place in the world before making that kind of decision. And conversely, I love that Julie and Matt got engaged (married? I wasn't sure if they were in that final scene), I love that they took that chance, that they want to be spend their lives together being each other's best friend, just like Coach and Tami, and I love that even though the odds are against them, they've got a shot, and they've got the best role models in the world.
I love how much Vince grew up, and I love that he and Jess got back together, as much as I wanted to smack him for so much of this season, and I love that he's got a bright future now, that his reward for holding his family together with his bare hands when there wasn't anyone else to do it is that he finally gets to be a KID, almost, to worry about football games and the prom and not how to keep his mother alive (and my god do I love Michael B. Jordan--I desperately hope he continues to get roles in projects worthy of his talent). I love that his father came to the game (and I love that it was Coach who made him step up), and I love how overjoyed his mother was watching him play.
I love what an amazing job this show did with an ever-revolving cast, that their high-school kids actually grew up and move away and were replaced by characters just as compelling and impossible not to love, even when I didn't want to (the fierce affection I developed for Buddy Garrity over the series run continues to amaze me). I love that it was always smart and always nuanced and that it never went for cheap emotional shots, that it took on hard issues with intelligence and grace, and that, although it wasn't perfect, it got a whole lot of things right a whole lot of the time. I love that it respected its characters and its audience and that it took its characters and the subjects it tackled seriously without ever becoming preachy or dull. I love how visually gorgeous the it was, and I love that it could make me cry without feeling manipulated or embarrassed, and I love that I could get so lost in it that I'd forget to come up for air.
I love that this show, in the end, was all about the families we make for ourselves, about how hell may be other people but heaven is too, about how finding the right ones--friends, partners, teachers, coaches, mentors, the brother and sister-in-law of the guy who rented your mom's trailer :-)--and holding on to them with both hands is the only thing that really makes worth living.
I love Coach, and I love Tami, and I love Julie and Matt and Matt's grandmother and Landry and Tyra and Smash and Tim and Billy and Mindy and Becky and Vince and Jess and Epic (and god, Tami stayed in touch with her, right? She found her and stayed in touch with her because she couldn't do anything else) and Luke and Buddy and Lyla and Street and Herc and god know who else I'm forgetting right now, and I just. God. What an amazing, amazing, amazing show, and what a beautiful way to end it.
And I'm going to go rewatch a bunch of scenes and cry some more.