This is the first of the 2011 posts. After this it is exclusively OTH (I think) until the last ep before season finale. The season finale review was never put on LiveJournal, but was one of my first reviews on here.
And here we go.....
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Wow. That is the way to end a series (assuming that this is the series finale). I am so glad I was not spoiled on the ending because I would have so killed anyone who spoiled me....
And now for what is presumably the last time, my review of the episodes....
There's a lot to cover, and even though this was a double episode, I won't be splitting the review into parts, so there will be a certain amount of backtracking.
Lux, Lux, Lux, all the lies you've been telling all year are finally coming home to roost. And surprise, surprise, Lux handles them with absolutely no grace. All year, she's been being told that dating Eric is a bad idea and that it needs to end, but she has been so consumed with trying to be what she thinks Cate and Baze want her to be that she didn't listen. Tasha told her to end it, Eric told her to end it. Heck, even Sam told her to end it. But instead, being Lux, she ignored all of them and kept driving this train until it wrecked in the worst possible way. I do have to say that I am glad that Sam fessed up about what was going on. And based on what was going on before he said anything, I doubt her did it to hurt her. Given that outburst he had at Baze and then the way Baze defended him to Cate, I think he did it to be a better person and to make Baze proud. Baze showed in the best possible way that he truly wants what is best for Sam, and Sam reciprocated. I feel so bad that Sam lost Baze because of Emma, because he really seems to need someone who will believe in him and help him out.
Anyways, back to Lux. She plans a wonderfully romantic evening for her and Eric only to have Baze and Cate walk in and spoil it (thank goodness). I do also have to say that I am glad that Eric finally worked up the guts to tell someone and then end everything. No matter how grown up she may act, Lux is a severely screwed up kid who needs guidance. Don't get me wrong, I love her to death and given the ending, she is obviously a good person, but her choices this year have sucked. When she first met Eric and they had a date, that was cool. But once she knew he was a teacher, things went beyond dicey to just flat out weird. She then proceeded to suck Tasha into her web of lies and got Tasha in major trouble, and then sucked in Sam was well. Fortunately for Eric, Cate and Baze let him leave without pressing charges.
After Eric left, Lux went from bad to worse. She acted like the entire thing was Cate's fault because Cate didn't want to hear about her prior life. While there may be some truth to that, the fact of the matter is I don't think Lux ever really tried to talk with Cate. She seemed to assume that Cate didn't want to know anything and therefore she said nothing. She blamed Cate for giving her up (understandable) and seems to never really have let that go. Fortunately, Cate's maternal instincts seemed to have kicked into high gear here and Cate knew something was wrong. A little late, but at least we know that they exist. Unfortunately, Cate seems to have picked the worst possible way to deal with them. She went into uber-overprotective mode and Lux withdrew even further. While I am very sorry that Cate can never have any other children, I am glad that she was able to use that tragedy to become a better mother for Lux.
Baze continued his growth into a wonderful father and human tonight. While the road was rocky after Lux let him in on the secret that Emma and his dad had an affair in the most hurtful way possible, he recovered nicely. When he had the chance to take the low road and hurt his dad tremendously during the toast at the birthday party, he instead took the high road for his mother's sake and got in a couple of shots at his dad while allowing the affair to stay a secret. He gave Sam very visible evidence that someone in his life wants what is best for him and even gave Eric a chance to get away without ruining his career. His growth from when we first met him until now has been astonishing and glorious to behold.
I do feel sorry for Emma. She obviously really loves Baze, but given everything, was anyone really expecting anything different? Admittedly, the line, "Oh, by the way, I had a four year affair with your dad." does not exactly roll off the tongue easily, but to never tell him seems horribly wrong to me. At least we know a large part of the reason that she initially refused to date him. Can we just say "weirdness"? And the less said about the @$$hole who is Baze's dad the better....
I feel even worse for Sam. Finally there is someone who believes him and believes in him, and it goes down in flames because mommy messed things up. That seriously sucks.
I have to say that I was seriously touched by the scene of Lux going to talk with Jones. His revelation about his mom and his worries helped Lux realize that being weird is a part of the high school, heck, part of the adolescent experience. She needed that and it helped her get back with Cate nicely.
And now for the last 5 minutes. I will insert spoiler space, just in case anyone has not seen this and wants to remain unspoiled....
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We start with Baze, Math, and Jamie working on the bar. Ryan and Lux walk in and most of this weird family unit are together. Cate is at the doctors office and sees Julia (Ryan's ex) there and she is *PREGNANT*. Instantly, everyone goes, "Oh no...." and then we see Cate walk into the bar and she sees the family unit having a blast. Ryan sees something is troubling her and she says, "We need to talk." Then the screen goes black and up pops the words "Two years later..."
And we are at graduation. Lux somehow managed to become valedictorian (at least I assume so given the fact that she is giving a speech with a yellow stole on over her graduation robes) which was schmaltzy, but cool. We see Tasha and Jones sitting next to each other. Then we pan to see Ryan, Cate, Baze, Jamie, and a women who is presumably Jamie's girlfriend (have we met her before?) who are joined by Julia and her baby who sit next to Ryan. After her speech (which was really nice by the way), Lux comes down and hugs Tasha and then kisses Jones. May I just say that it is really cool that she and Jones ended up together and Tasha is still with her? Then we see Ryan and Julia together and then (and this shocked me) we see Baze and Cate kissing. This was followed by a line that made my jaw drop because I do not think we have heard it before:
Lux: Mom, Dad, do you want to stop making out and take pictures?
HOLY CRAP! Did Lux really just call Cate and Baze, "Mom and Dad"? Wow, that was nifty. Then we get a nifty picture of the cast.
While I do hold out a small amount of hope for a new season, I do wonder where it will go if it happens. Are they going to redo the last two years so we can see how everyone ended up together? Or are we moving onto college? If we don't get another season, at least we got a nice, solid ending and closure. That is enough for me.
Until next Tuesday when OTH comes back....
