Schitt's Creek: Happy Ending (6x14)

Y'all when I tell you I cried... gosh. This was just so perfect and lovely, and it's exactly what I want to be feeling after watching a finale of a show like this. Gorgeous.

Cons:

I honestly... don't really have any? I guess maybe it felt like Roland and Jocelyn and Twyla got slightly short-changed by this finale, but that's a nitpick. The focus was where it was supposed to be.

Pros:

Where to even begin?? I love a show that can be cheesy without feeling over-wrought or unrealistic, and this finale hit that spot for me. You have all of the "I love you" moments between all of the family members. It might seem like a simple thing, but hearing Alexis tell her mother that she loves her, hearing Johnny and Moira say that to their kids, hearing Stevie say it as Johnny and Moira drive off... it's just so perfect and meaningful and sweet.

And Patrick and David's wedding... god, it means so much to have something like this, to have the finale of the whole show be centered around this wedding between these two men, to see the whole town rallying around them and supporting them. Sometimes I get annoyed that every sitcom wedding has to have some catastrophe, and when I heard that the venue was ruined because of the weather, I was prepared to roll my eyes. But this show is so absolutely amazing at taking a concept you'd think would be played out, and then adding to it, or contextualizing it, or just imbuing the characters within it with so much pathos and humanity, that I don't mind a cliche or two.

On the comedy front, I kind of loved that David got a "happy ending" massage, and Patrick and Stevie's contrasting reaction to that fact were just pitch-perfect hilarity. I particularly loved Stevie asking if it was good, and Patrick saying: "Don't answer that. Was it? Don't." And also how hilarious is it that David assumed Patrick knew about it, and was paying for something a little extra for his husband-to-be? These two are a disaster. But in the best way. David even tells Patrick in his vows: "you are my happy ending" which is the perfect mix of comedy and sweetness. A little inside joke for the two of them and their best friend Stevie, to share in that intimate moment.

The vows, though... the vows were so amazing. I got incredibly choked up when Patrick started singing, and then David talking about feeling safe... it was just so much and I love them to pieces and they were so cute and affectionate the whole way through the episode and their love gives me LIFE.

Then let's talk about Alexis. She's going to be heading off for New York soon, but I like that this episode didn't linger too much on that. We saw her make some more in-depth goodbyes to the town, particularly to Twyla, in last week's episode. This week she's here for David, and I loved that. Again, mixing the comedy with the genuine emotion, we see that Alexis is wearing a white gown to the wedding, one that very much looks like a wedding dress. As she's walking David down the aisle, they end up looking a bit like bride and groom. What I really liked about this little snafu is that Alexis wasn't doing that thing where she wanted to be the center of attention so she dressed in white. It was kind of genuinely a screw-up, and she denies that it's a problem, but then actually feels bad about it later and talks about how she wanted to impress David on his big day. Of course, David says that Alexis always impresses him, and the two walk down the aisle together.

I just... I love Alexis so much. She's probably the character, out of the four members of the Rose family, that it took me the longest to understand. I don't necessarily mean this as a bad thing, I just... she sneaked up on me, in a way. I thought she was funny at first, but now I think she's funny, and dear, and powerful, and means so much to me.

Speaking of mixing comedy with sincerity, there's Moira, with her elaborate Pope-inspired wig, and her heartfelt officiating of the ceremony. I just love Moira so much. She's so strange, yet so undeniably human. I love how Johnny was rejected as a candidate for officiating the wedding because he was going to be too emotional, and then Moira was kind of a mess too, even though nobody will tell her so.

I do want to take a brief moment to talk about Stevie and Alexis. Because... is it just me, or was there a nod to the idea of the two of them being a couple? Maybe it's just shipper goggles, but in the final scene, when David, Patrick, Alexis, and Stevie are all standing outside of the motel, and Moira and Johnny are preparing to leave, David mentions that Alexis hasn't gone to bed yet, and Stevie sheepishly confirms that she hasn't either. It's not really discussed more than that, but then Alexis pulls Stevie to her while she stands with her arm around David right at the end, and I just... yes, please. Let's pretend that happens for them. I'm all about it.

I love a good call-back, so the fact that the "Welcome to Schitt's Creek" poster now includes a representation of the Rose family, in the familiar troubling pose, but now with Moira behind Johnny who is bending over... that shit is golden.

This is one of those episodes, one of those shows, that I could talk on and on about forever, so I think I'll stop here, and give the finale a perfect score.

10/10

And now for the show as a whole. God, it's hard to believe I only discovered Schitt's Creek long enough ago to binge it and catch up before season six began. It feels like such a big part of my heart. Everything about it is a celebration of joy, and it far surpassed any expectations I had when I first started watching. I really fell in love with these characters, with this town, with the atmosphere of hope and growth that it all represented. This is a show I'll be recommending to people for a long time, and coming back to binge again before too long. The only thing stopping it from being a perfect 10/10 is that I felt like the beginning took a while to get its footing when it came to developing the family relationships, and Stevie got a bit short-changed in the final season. Those are just small things, at the end of the day, so this show still gets incredibly high marks from me!

9/10