Final(e) Thoughts: The End of an Era

Last year I wrote a series of blog entries on the different season/series finales of my favorite shows. That was supposed to be one-time thing since Chuck, House and Desperate Housewives were ending and I thought How I Met Your Mother was, too. But I decided to do it again this year for lack of better things to do. Ha.


I start this year's festivities with Glee's Season 4 finale, "All or Nothing".

glee by Brittany

Going into "All or Nothing" everyone expected a Klaine proposal by the end of the episode/season because of all the sneak previews and shit, but we didn't get that instead we had:

1. The Catfish Storyline Coming to An End (Thank god!)

The world's worst kept secret was finally revealed to the lone person who didn't know as Unique admitted to Ryder that she is Catfish. Ryder was so enraged he decided not to talk to Unique ever. I think he would've been less mad if Jake was Catfish.

I think this storyline was dragged out a couple of episodes more than necessary but, to look on the brighter side of things, because of it I appreciated Blake Jenner as an actor. He wasn't super good but he was more than average. Too bad, he may not be returning next season, as Ryder announced he will officially leave glee club after Regionals.

Uh Ryder, I think you can leave glee club even unofficially.

2. Regionals

Jessica Sanchez aka Frida Romero, despite owning the New Directions' sorry asses with her two-song performance, places 2nd (ouch) to the New Directions.

If our love is a tragedy, why are you my remedy?
If our love is insanity, why are you my clarity?

3. Wemma Wedding (Finally!)

Mr. Schue and Emma finally tie the knot in the choir room with the New New Directions and Kurt, Santana, Mercedes and Mike. Notably absent is Finn Hudson who was on rehab during the filming of this episode too busy studying to be a teacher to actually come back for his best friend's wedding.

No more running away.

4. Brittany Saying Goodbye

The episode surprisingly centered on Brittany. It started with her MIT interview, then her demand for solos, two Fondue for Twos (first with Mr. Schue and Coach Sue and second with Santana), and ended with a heartwarming speech for everyone in show circle and her and Santana walking off the stage after the New Directions win Regionals. With all the airtime she got just to say goodbye (it was more than what Rachel, Finn, Kurt, Santana, Quinn, Mercedes and Mike got in Season 4's finale "Goodbye") and of course the rumors that Morris will not return for Glee's Season 5 to focus on her impending motherhood, I am 75% sure this is Brittany's last Glee episode.

Brittany started as a non-entity, the other blonde Cheerio who danced Single Ladies with Kurt and Tina. Who would've thought that her goodbye would be one of the most central storylines in the show's season finale episode four years later? Who would've thought her relationship with Santana would start the phenomenon that is Brittana and inspire thousands of fan fictions? Who would've thought Brittana would mean more, much more, than just fans wanting to make their own stories by borrowing their favorite characters?

Like many Brittana shippers, I hated the horror that was Brampocalpyse and I was convinced that Brittana is endgame. I honestly cannot watch the scene where Brittany said goodbye to Santana without feeling anything close to sadness. Words were not spoken because they were not needed. Heather Hogan said it best: [t]heir truth transcends words. Silence does speak louder than words ever could.

Goodbye for now, Brittany.

As I watch Brittany and Santana walk off the stage silently with their arms around each other, I mourn for the end of an era but I am also grateful to Glee for giving us Brittana. 

The end of an era.

Glee has had its faults and flaws. Season 4 was hard for it was the first time it tried to balance the need to maintain it's character as a show about a high school show choir and the need to follow the lives of Rachel, Kurt and Santana, and to an extent, Finn--characters that are very special to the fans and the show itself. Sometimes it succeeded in creating that balance but most of the time, it did not. It is precisely because of its rare moments of greatness (for example, "The Break-Up", "Shooting Star" and "All or Nothing") that I cannot let go of the show completely knowing that it can be great. I hope Glee's Season 5 (and Season 6, too) will bring the show a step closer to this greatness.