There’s a thin line between love and hate, and “Life Unexpected” proved that in its series finale on Tuesday. I love the show, but I hate how it ends, with a flash-forward to the Class of 2012 graduation ceremony (which means that Lux inexplicably graduates a year early, but I’ll set that aside for now) showing that Cate and Baze end up together, as do Ryan and Julia, and Lux and Jones. And Math and Alice, for some reason.
Rushing to the finish line
I miss the days when prematurely canceled TV shows ended smack-dab in the middle of their stories, leaving the fates of the characters to our imaginations.
I have nothing against “Lost” pioneering the trend of guaranteeing an ending to viewers, thus soothing fans who had been burned by previous beloved shows ending in the middle of the story. However, those are story-oriented shows.
“Life Unexpected” Season 2 (2010-11)
CW, 13 episodes
Creator: Liz Tigelaar
Stars: Shiri Appleby, Kristoffer Polaha, Britt Robertson
Character- and relationship-oriented shows are another matter. The pleasure of “Life Unexpected” comes from popping in on Lux, Cate, Baze and Ryan for a year and seeing their journey; we didn’t need to see how the journey “ends” — and, in point of fact, a character journey doesn’t end anyway, so it adds a layer of artificiality when you put a period on it.
There’s a mystique that still surrounds “My So-Called Life.” Would Angela have chosen Jordan or Brian? It’s one of the great unsolved mysteries in TV history, but rather than being frustrating, it actually works if you watch the episodes. Angela clearly would’ve chosen Jordan, yet there’s just enough of a “you never know” quality to the other possibility that it adds poignancy to Brian’s arc.
It never works when shows cram too much stuff into a series finale. Joss Whedon has been guilty of this twice. I couldn’t emotionally connect with the final episode of “Angel,” because I knew Wesley was being killed off only because it was the last episode. And the “Dollhouse” finale, which attempts to cram another season’s worth of plot points into a couple hours, is confusing and forgettable.
It has its moments
Most of the “Life Unexpected” finale is satisfying, with many poignant moments. Eric is run out of town, but he gives one last gift to Lux (a compass, to guide her future. Aw.). Ryan and Cate decide they will be a team again, both on their radio show and in their marriage. Baze, thinking of buying a house or maybe even buying his bar from his father, discovers that success doesn’t have to be defined by romantic relationships. Those arcs end with satisfying grace notes.
And then those final five minutes — yikes. Cate randomly learns Julia is pregnant, and we jump ahead to the clearly rushed epilogue (as noted, they get the year wrong in the banner, because Lux is currently a sophomore) where Lux gives a synopsis of the show’s themes in her graduation speech. In the hugs and photo-taking that ensues, we see who “ends up” together.
The only good thing about the epilogue is that we see Tasha, who had been thrown in jail for protecting Lux from an abusive former-foster father (the worst storyline in the show’s run), for the first time in the two-hour finale. She yells “Go Ducks!” so we know that she and Lux are friends again, and they will be attending the University of Oregon together.
Those final minutes should’ve been a nice scene between Lux and Tasha, in a dimly lit jail cell, driving home the point that Lux got through those often-dark first 16 years of her life thanks largely to her best friend. With Cate and Baze, she officially has a family, and that’s no small thing, but she was doing OK before that with her makeshift family.
Furthering the “family is where you find it” theme, it would’ve been nice to end with the idea that Cate and Baze are both great parents to Lux, even if they aren’t together.
Needed more time
The epilogue came about because “Life Unexpected” creator Liz Tigelaar got caught up in the fairy tale of a lost kid seeing her estranged parents work everything out. That’s fine, but only if you earn it through storytelling, and obviously, “Life Unexpected” needed more time to earn that.
Although the idea of Lux-and-Jones isn’t too jarring (they have a history together, and that scene on the basketball court is very cute), Ryan-and-Julia certainly is, because we had never scene them together. I even had to check IMDB as I was writing this to make sure the character’s name is Julia.
Math-and-Alice isn’t offensive, but it’s also meaningless. Math, the sweet roommate of Baze’s who loves Cate from afar, is a tragically underexplored character, and throwing him together with another underused character (whose name I also had to look up on IMDB) doesn’t work. It cheapens the character’s struggles when you magically wave the “Two years later” wand.
It would be hypocritical of me to say that “Life Unexpected” is all about the journey, and then complain that the final few minutes ruin the series. And I’m not saying that. The final few minutes ruin the final few minutes, but certainly not the series as a whole, which is wonderful.
“Life Unexpected” was only on the air for a year, but the finale brings up feelings of watching the final episodes of “Once and Again” (which had a three-year run) and “Gilmore Girls” (seven years). I had learned to love so many characters, and these two 13-episode seasons have the emotional impact of many more.
Maybe it’s because I was subconsciously imagining the futures of Lux, Cate, Baze, Ryan, Tasha and Math all along. The writers of “Life Unexpected” should have left me to my imaginings.
What are your thoughts on series finales? Is it important that everything be “wrapped up,” even if it has to be rushed? Or is it better to have an episode that operates at a normal pace and leaves unanswered questions for web speculation and DVD bonus features?