Farewell to Greek

I suppose one thing to be said for last night’s series finale of Greek is that it put to bed any lingering questions we’ve had about where the show was heading this season. Not that it answered most of them, but in the sense that there’s no longer anything that the show can do with the story lines, it’s become a moot point.

I want to be clear about something: I will miss this show. I’ve enjoyed it since the beginning, and to one extent or another I became invested in many of the characters who have come and gone as the story’s unfolded.

I think I liked Rusty better as the wide-eyed nerd he was when he first came to CRU. There are things he’s done as the show has progressed that have been so out-of-character that at times I’ve wondered if he hadn’t become an entirely different person. Which he shouldn’t have; I think the show realized that right around the time they threw the science grant at him.

I was proud of the way he finally stood up as the new KT president. That is, when he rallied the troops at the end of the episode and promised to find them a new house. His lame attempt at standing up to Lasker Parkes (Jonathan Silverman) was embarrassing. And Rusty and Ashleigh ending up together? Not only would I have never bet on that when the show premiered, but that’s wrong for so many reasons.

Cappie’s awesome. His philosophy “final” — first of all, he studied all night for that? And second, finals already? — was a cheesy way to sum up his time (and ours) at CRU, but I love that his chapter came to an end last night. And I was proud of him, and the way he felt ready to hand off KT president to Rusty. I was excited to learn his real name — Captain John Paul Jones … who’d have guessed that Cappie wasn’t just a nickname — but I realized that it hadn’t been milked quite like Kramer on Seinfeld; I didn’t even remember that we didn’t know it.

I hate to say it, but I think that Cappie could do a lot better than Casey. I really was a fan of hers for a long time, but ever since she woke up midway through a career drive — there was zero organic progression to her story — she’s been too much to deal with. I don’t at all understand why she thought that she couldn’t quit being Professor Segal’s (Josh Randall) research assistant without jeopardizing her law school career, and I also don’t understand how then it did affect her law school career. Her admission to law school wasn’t contingent on her having a job; the research assistant position was an honor, not a requirement. Quitting might have soured things with Segal, but that’s the extent of it.

Which also means that Casey wasn’t being strong by leaving school and going off into the great unknown … she was being stupid. Just because Segal made an idiot of himself with the line “Your legal career hangs in the balance right now,” that doesn’t mean that Casey couldn’t have just gone right along with the rest of her education. I don’t get it.

Evan and Cappie ended things on good terms, although again I have no understanding of what was up with Evan this season. It feels like he traveled a long road to have ended up where he was a year ago, so what was the point of the journey? Plus I almost wish that they’d ended things still hating one another … don’t you now want to spend more time watching them hang out? I feel like we were given a gift only to have it snatched away from us as soon as we wanted to use it.

Calvin’s season-long build toward a major and a future went absolutely nowhere with his deciding to go to India for a semester. And what about Heath and medical school? Did he forget about that? Calvin was such a strong character, and he had so many things happening in his life. It’s strange for his story to be slapped together so haphazardly.

The last thing I wanted was for my final glimpse of Daley to be of him teamed up with Rebecca. I’m glad that he found happiness with Laura (Aynsley Bubbico), but that’ll be the last that we see of Clark Duke as an innocent religious guy. I’ll miss him. But what a way to end it — he got his kiss with Casey!

It was nice to see some old faces return for the rally: Wade (Derek Mio), Jen K. (Jessica Rose), Lucky Lisa Lawson (Arielle Vandenberg) … it was no “calling all hands” parade, which the rally would have been a great occasion for, but it was nice.

In the end there were definitely some solid send-off moments, but not only did this not feel like a series finale — it could have better served as a finale for the graduating seniors, who were leaving the rising juniors behind for another two years — it also wasn’t a very good episode. I’m glad I have three other seasons to look back on, because these final ten episodes weren’t worthy of the series that Greek once was.

Either way, the show will be missed.

Clacked by Aryeh S.
on Mar 08, 2011 @ 12:00 EST5EDT