User blog:Mattalamode/A Second Opinion: The Finale



So... after a nice, indefinite break, I'll just try to finish up the last two articles with as much festive enthusiasm as I can muster.

"The Finale" is an episode that I've been dying to discuss ever since I conceived this whole series of articles. There are few episodes out there that people truly seem to despise; if it's an indication, the tone of this round of articles has been more along the line of defending moderately-liked-but-not-enough episodes... but "The Finale" sits on that pedestal like nobody's business. Or maybe it just sinks inexorably into a void... The point was that it's got bad reception. I killed the joke again. Go figure.

This isn't just an episode that did a few things iffily, though, like "The Promise." This is an episode that was unjustly set to fail. We'll get to all of that in a second, though. That's how hooks work.

The Actual Start of the Article


We start with the Wattersons perusing old family photos, but their brief bit of nostalgia is cut short by whatever the opposite of nostalgia is, with the realization that the events of their past are coming back with a vengeance. All that damage they've caused over the years? Somebody's gotta pay for it, so now the Wattersons are given the insurmountable task of digging themselves out.

With monetary payback out of question, they dash around town trying to right their wrongs. While Nicole and Anais try to do a little bit of kissing and making up, Richard and the boys scheme on how to get money as fast as possible. Needless to say, impersonating Alan and Bobert in a money-laundering scheme doesn't work, nor do Nicole's apologetic words (and subsequent aggression) negate their destruction, and all the whole family reunites behind bars.

It's there that they make the realization that if they can't fix the situation, they might as well keep on Watterson-ing it up; if you can't fix it, you might as well stick to what's in your lane, so the family sets out to be even more destructive. Unfortunately for them, that doesn't work out too well either, leaving the town utterly destroyed and their lives in the balance as they get engulfed by the entire population of Elmore.

And then there was black. And then there was nothing.

Analysis


I know that, when people look at "The Finale," they never focus on anything except the ending, so I might as well diverge from that general trend a bit.

First of all, the whole idea is legitimately brilliant. No other season punched down on cartoons as effortlessly as Season 2 did, and "The Finale" is the smartest bit of commentary the show's done of its medium to date. The status quo is a key component of cartoons in how they set a precedent of "anything can happen," with gleefully minimal consequences. TAWOG is one such show, but "The Finale" sends that whole principle up: suddenly, everything matters, and the characters are screwed by virtue of their once-blissful ignorance exploding all over their faces.

Their earnest efforts to patch everything up, naturally, prompts even more destruction. It's not a particularly shocking twist - the damage the Wattersons deal on the daily is mostly out of haphazardness anyway - but the show knows that, and it pushes it one step further with some much-needed self-awareness. All the characters know that they can't fix the situation, so the natural conclusion is to do the complete opposite, and instead of becoming some meandering slogfest of accidents, the show results to joyous nihilism. Even the Wattersons don't know how that'll fix the situation at all, but if there's no other escape, you might as well go all out and see what happens. This is the whole family affirming that they are who they are, and that ain't changing, no siree.



This takes us to our ending, and it's where the episode becomes divisive. I'll just lay out my thesis right now: the ending of "The Finale" is one of the greatest injustices of modern animation, turning a potentially superlative episode into one of the most loathed in the series.

The fact of the matter is that what us American viewers got was an incomplete episode.

The culminating joke isn't the ending of the episode itself: it's the credits and the severe mood whiplash it creates, where after cutting to black at the episode's most desperate, the cheery credits music comes in, completely oblivious of the unresolved conflict it dismissed and depriving us of any cathartic release by shutting down the entire operation. The joke is that the episode goes full circle; even the break in the status quo is immediately fixed by the status quo.

If I may, I think part of what made Season 2 so interesting to me was the immediacy built into how the show ended its episodes. "The Colossus," for instance, ends with Gumball smashing a hammer into his computer before cutting to the credits without hesitation, and "The Job" ends with an ominous thunderbolt, darkly suggesting that the conflict isn't truly resolved. "The Finale" isn't necessarily on its own in using the ending credits to give a final punch, but it's distinct in using them as its only support and in refusing even the slightest bit of satisfaction to whatever quick action precedes it. However abrupt episode endings are when done à la "The Colossus," they still mark a definitive ending to the episode's conflict. "The Finale" prefers to leave the canvas unfinished before dousing it in kerosene and setting it mercilessly ablaze.



The issue is in the fact that all of that never translated across. Looking back at forums and discussions when this episode came out is interesting in its own right - general consensus was that the ending was lazy. One person watched it again and changed their 4/10 rating to a 0/10. (Said the guy in question, "For some reason I really wanted to shoot them when watching the episode.") That's how insulted people felt. And I can get why: that final joke doesn't even get the chance to land, and the next thing you know, you're in the middle of a Teen Titans Go! commercial. Even in the absence of the credits, viewers weren't provided a chance to let any of what happened sink in before the next hyperactive program stormed their screen, either, and the punchline wound up lost entirely.

And before you to interject, yes, I get that I'm being ever-so-melodramatic, and I'm 100% sure that my admittedly narrow-minded knowledge of modern animation makes declaring it "one of the greatest injustices" a bit radical... but this is the Internet, people, and if you want those comments, you gotta incite debate. From what I've seen, though, I'm willing to make the assertion if a mere twenty seconds manages to completely obliterate the sole point of an episode. (The only other episode that even rivals it in terms of the extent of its destruction is "The Apprentice," but it's not like that episode had anything going for it in the first place.)



Most important to my claims is the simple fact that this wasn't what the show wanted to do. You could argue it was an oversight on their part, but in that case, it's still equally a fault of CN to cut down the show considering that the credits were actually a part of the full product. I'm not going to argue that the the move was out of disrespect, but it's a complete shame.

Restored to its full cut, though, let it be known that "The Finale" is a massive treat. Don't let those tainted preconceptions say otherwise.

There we go. One article down, one article to go. Expect the next article on Christmas - consider it a little present so we can go and put this year to rest. And what better way than with "The Slap?" See you then.

For the last article from way too long ago on "The Girlfriend," CLICK HERE.