More (positive) thoughts on the Parks and Rec finale

[author_by_night]

I rewatched the P&R finale, and I actually liked it better the second time.

I think the way I'm looking at it is this - there's really two finales. Season six was a straight series finale; we wrapped up character arcs, we had callbacks to earlier seasons and episodes (bye, bye Little Sebastian...), and the former rival towns of Pawnee and Eagleton successfully merged. Season seven was almost more what a movie may have been like - we see the characters at a later point when the town's changed a lot, and we see them going away. Then we get an idea of what it might have been like for them moving forward from that. So this finale was an epilogue to an epilogue, or to a movie version, and as clunky as that sounds, it actually worked well for those purposes. There really wasn't supposed to be a grande finale in the same way season six  had one.

So season six's finale is more of a series finale to me, but I also like season seven's finale as a "where are they now?" finale. :)
One of my LJ friends asked if there's any shows with similarly great female characters and dynamics currently on the air.  I couldn't think of any. Anyone?

I think there's shows now off the air that come close. FRIENDS actually has pretty well written dynamics between the female characters,  and Buffy did in the beginning with Buffy and Willow, but I'm not sure what else even in the past, let alone now. I think TV is almost afraid to write female characters having any non-volatile relationships. Same with movies. (Books do, although I feel like a lot of them go the other extreme, where one of the friends dies in the end. Or you realize all four friends were melodramatic southern belles who traumatized their children for life. I love Ya-Ya-Sisterhood, I really do, but...)

Comments

[author-by-night.livejournal.com]

how a given show or movie might have some decent female characters, but rarely has multiple female characters working together as a team.

Exactly! I haven't seen this past season of SH, but I know last season we barely saw Abbie and Jennie. That's what I like about Parks and Rec, the female characters really work together.

[rhoda-rants.livejournal.com]

Oh, there's lots more of Jennie this season. It's not perfect, still pretty formula-driven as far as plot goes, but she's a fully integrated part of the Team now, which is cool.

[author-by-night.livejournal.com]

I'll have to catch up. I think I heard there was drama between Katrina and Ichabod, too... not that I have anything against them as a couple and want them to suffer (although it was also a bit hard for me to care about them as a couple), but that's certainly a twist.