Jami and the Perfect Ending

No, not the blog, though I realize posting once or twice a month isn't what I originally was doing. Anyway... This week saw the last episode of Ugly Betty, a soapy, drama-filled, comedy based on a Colombian telenova. I started watching Betty on a whim, really, when the Husband brought home the first season on DVD in case I was interested. I started the first disc and couldn't stop until the credits rolled on the last episode of that season. Smart, funny, clever, unpredictable and even though it had some of the elements of your basic soap opera, it had just enough realism to keep me watching. The snappy writing and clever twists definitely caught me, someone who hasn't ever watched a real soap opera regularly. And so Betty drew to a close this week, in what may have been the BEST finale episode ever, if not, certainly the best in a long, long time. It's hard to write finales for beloved show, I know. Fans want it to be the best episode ever, they want the plotlines wrapped up, but the feeling that their favorite characters will still be going on, they want happy endings, but not magic fairy godmothery endings, they want laughs and tears and love and all of it to be perfect, and normally you get 30 minutes to an hour to do it; I get when some of the finales just can't live up to it. And of course, some shows are cancelled before the writers have time to write a satisfying ending, frustrating all. We all can think of some of the good endings - M*A*S*H probably being the best known, but it was a 2 hour movie, Futurama had a great farewell (followed by 3 straight to video movies and returning this summer) - the Bad: Seinfeld, St. Elsewhere - and the forgettable: Frasier? Cosby Show? Family Ties? By the time they were cancelled was anyone even still watching? So why did Ugly Betty's finale work? Why would I call it "perfect"?

1. The plotlines were all wrapped up, over the last few episodes in believable ways. Even Amanda's MIA dad, a storyline I'd forgotten about, closes up. Is it a little bit too coincidental? Sure, but not outrageously so. In the world of soap operas, it was positively tame.
2. The characters showed they've grown and changed, but they're still themselves. Willie softened a little, but she will never be nice. Mark still made fun of Betty, etc.
3. There were no huge surprise twists. Did you see the ending with Daniel coming? Probably, it was hinted at clearly enough. But he didn't pop the question, or make a grand sweeping gesture at the airport. No one made big silly speeches or had surprise pregnancies, engagements, divorces, or deaths (yes, Halston died, but he was a fairly minor character ;-)
4. You felt good about even the sad parts. Betty leaving, Hilda moving out - it's about time. They're adults. It's bittersweet, but it's right and you feel it. Like the "rightness" of Sam turning out the lights on the final Cheers, it's sad, but it's also time.
5. The plotlines wrap up, but the characters are going on, Betty starting a new job, Mark moving up, Justin coming into his own, Ignacio on his own, you feel like it's a beginning as well. You aren't left hanging, but your imagination gets to carry their stories onward. Joss Whedon did this excellently with Buffy and Angel - both shows ended with big epic battles - but left places for the surviving charcters to live on.
6. The tone of the finale fit the tone of the show. A finale that suddenly changes tone or tries to teach a lesson or does something completely out of the show's "character" (I'm talking to you, Roseanne) can be disastrous.

So farewell, Betty and friends. Thanks for the giggles, gasps and sniffles. And for the perfect ending.