First of all, I absolutely love this series to death. Keeping that in mind, there were a few things that I couldn‘t quite wrap my head around.

So after I watched S3 episode by episode every week my main criticism afterwards was that Nate was allowed back so easily on the team and that he didn‘t really have a redemption arc and so on. After rewatching it now, I still think it could have been handled a bit better but I‘m not as annoyed at it anymore. Instead, I think that there are 3 much bigger issues with S3:

First, the ungodly amount of side plots that I just couldn‘t care less about. Everything related to KJPR, Zava, Nate‘s love life, the fortune teller and so on. Honestly I started skipping through some of it because I was too bored watching it.

Second, to have all this screen time for these subplots they dropped some already established ones that I actually did care about. For example, Phoebe barely had any screen time and I was excited to see what was gonna happen between Roy and Phoebes teacher after S2.

And third, the in my opinion unresolved (and unsatisfying) ending and plotlines. The Roy/Jamie/Keeley situation wasn‘t really solved. Beard getting married to an abusive PoS. The Dr Jacob situation. Richmond not winning the league??? Seriously, would it have been any worse for the plot to give people the happy ending they were waiting for?? And lastly the biggest issue: Ted‘s ending. To me it didn‘t feel like he is now in a better place than when he started at Richmond or after the promotion. He actually regressed during S3 and yes he‘s now back with Henry but I just can‘t help but feel like he‘s not in a happy place.

Feel free to discuss

  • jianantonic@alien.topBEnglish
    1·
    10 months ago

    I think a big theme of the show is working on oneself. To tie that all up neatly with a perfect bow at the end of the series would be unfaithful to that theme. Sassy correctly assesses that Ted is still a mess, and will need years of work before he’s out of that hole. It doesn’t mean he can’t have a happy and fulfilling life, but that he can’t know how his story ends because he’s got a lot of work to do before he gets there. Same with Roy, Jamie, and Keeley. Jamie’s been doing the work and you see it pay dividends over the run of the show. Roy is only just beginning, but we do see that he’s putting in the work. And Keeley has baggage to work through, too.

    I think the ending is as hopeful as it can possibly be while still being real and honest with viewers. You can’t make a show that is largely about mental health and then pretend that a year of therapy and a couple of difficult conversations is enough to fix everyone’s lives. But the show gives us several examples of how lives improve through working on mental health, and we leave with the uplifting knowledge that all the characters are committed to doing that work, so even though we don’t see their specific happy endings, we can leave the show knowing that they are on the right track, and they will likely find their peace as they do the work.