It hurts me to write this. It hurts me to rate this like this. But dang it, this was the end. This was it. They could've done better. They should've done better.
This great show went the way of so many others, especially since, where that last episode grounds one out to first as opposed to knocking it out of the proverbial park.
I love Northern Exppsure.
I still do.
But this, for the last episode ever, is just frostbitten.
It's awful.
Did they know this would be it?
I'm assuming they did.
And this is the best they could come up with?
Similar to what Seinfeld would pull in its series finale a few years later, pile everybody they can into that last show?
And then Janine Turner, who I'm more convinced than ever here in 2024, is one of the most beautiful women ever in the entire history of television.
Wow.
A total newfound appreciation for her and her character, Maggie.
Just total one hundred percent yowza every episode she appears in.
And yet, in this final episode she doesn't even show up until about the last ten to fifteen minutes?
What?...
What?
How?
Why?
And now she and Chris Stevens are in love? Now?
They've known each other for years, and in the beginning he was irresistible to all women and they've never been involved before, not even prior to Fleishman's arrival in Cicely?
There is nothing in the show's history to lead us to believe there's ever been anything there between those two. Ever. As unlikely as that is to believe in reality.
But in this last season, the latter half, this feels rushed and totally fake.
Trying to add some emotional investment for viewers as the show sparks out and fades away.
This last episode is so bizarre.
It focuses on probably two of my least favorite characters in the entire series.
Teri Polo as the new doctor's wife and Officer Semansky played by Diane Delano.
I don't mind the actresses but I've never been a huge fan of their characters in Northern Exposure.
I watched this episode twice days apart just to make sure I disliked it as much as I did.
Yep, I did.
Just as bad going down a second time.
Holling, John Cullum, stomping around, grunting like some moose in heat. Barely saying a word. Acting like some animal.
It's just dumb.
And totally out of character.
And I love John Cullum.
I think he was great as Holling all along.
But this was a stupid way to send him out.
And speaking of being out of character, just an episode or two before this, Elaine Miles, as Marilyn is teaching some class, and she's yelling over people and barking orders.
She of so little words? So soft spoken, now hollering and telling others what to do?
No.
It's just sad how this show had to end this way.
Still, it was a great show.
Barry Corbin as Maurice. Darren E. Burrows as Ed.
Both excellent throughout, both legends.
I hear or have read producer David Chase is to blame. He took over in 1993 and ran it into the ground after that.
He, of course, had success with The Sopranos but I heard that series' finale was a massive disappointment also.
I never saw the end of that show, but I did see the movie prequel, The Many Saints of Newark in the theater and can attest to how weak and dissatisfying that whole experience was.
He produced that too.
Anyway, it feels weird to judge a thirty-year old show so harshly on its last episode.
The entire show is a 9.5.
The remaining shows after Rob Morrow's departure keep it from a total ten and sheer perfection.
It's still one of the best shows of all time.