A Goodbye to Gilmore ... plus: Veronica Mars and Heroes - reviewed.

On the GILMORE GIRLS series finale:

I think most fans of this show realized that this season was probably the last. And I think that most fans were okay with that, on one important condition - that the show went out with a fitting series finale that felt like an ending that the show deserved after such a long, great run. Well, I don't think there's a single fan out there who could find much to complain about with last night's superb finale. For me - this episode, both as a standalone and as a series-ender, was darn near perfect. I honestly can't think of a single thing to complain about, and for me, that's saying something.

About five minutes into the episode, from the moment Rory walked into her grandparents' house with the announcement that she had gotten a job to follow Barak Obama on his campaign trail on a beat for an online magazine, they totally had me. From that point on, I was right there with the characters in Stars Hollow, just another one of Rory's admirers wishing her well as she rode off into the great wide open. That's how great and alive the characters and world of this show have always been. In my post yesterday, I talked about how this vividness serves to magnify all of your emotional attachment to everything that goes on in the world of Gilmore. Because the characters are so beloved, when you laugh at them and with them, it's a deep laugh that has you laughing until you cry. All the great little funny and quirky character moments that have made this show what it is were on full display last night - but the humor was so entangled with the happiness and sadness and emotion of the story that you really didn't know quite when to laugh, when to cry, and when to smile.

There were so many great, wonderful little moments. My personal favorite may have been Emily's constant nagging of Loreali about converting the Dragonfly Inn into a spa. For a while, you can't help but be frustrated with Emily - always such a pain in the ass at the most inappropriate moments! But Emily is such a great, well-acted, well-written character, Gilmore fans quickly knew what was up - the nagging was her way of coping with her life falling apart around her - she's such a stubborn old coot that she could never bring herself to actually ask Lorelai to spend time with her just for the sake of spending time. Lorelai finally caught on, as her mother went on about setting up appointments to discuss the spa idea (right in the middle of Rory's party!), and then there was such a great, sweet little moment that would make anyone with a pulse well up a bit. Lorelai just smiled, and reassured her mother that they'd discuss the idea - at their usual Friday Night dinners. With one line, and a rare moment of understanding between mother and daughter, a whole swarm of emotions and characterization came together. Emily had secretly feared that Rory was the lynchpin that had for all these years given her any kind of relationship with her daughter - with Rory leaving, might that delicately held-together relationship fall apart? It's just one more example of Gilmore having some of the best, most complex, most REAL depictions of family ever seen on television. Sure, the moment is sentimental and makes you smile - but its so nuanced and realistic and in character - it's no wonder it makes the most hardened cynic go soft.

Everything with Luke, I thought, was handled to perfection. Sure, the character has been down this road before - quietly showing how much he cares for Lorelai without wanting any undue attention or credit. Luke is always the guy standing in the back of the room, arms folded, trying to hide a smile in the name of preserving his crabby exterior. Any guy can relate to this. Guys don't give big speeches or talk endlessly about their feelings. Luke is a character that any guy can relate to - someone who believes in honest work and small dreams. So yeah, even though Luke's often done these grand gestures while trying to be modest and whatnot - that's just how the character is, it's what he does, and it was gratifying to see Lorelai finally be completely won over by that.

As for Rory's journey ... I feel like everyone can relate to this on some level. Everyone leaves their bubble and has that moment of freaking out when things happen suddenly and without warning, and all the careful planning and strategizing that goes along with having great expectations placed on your shoulders falls apart when you're in the real world - things just tend do happen - and that is both exciting and terrifying. Coming from a small Connecticut community, I can't help but see a lot of Rory in myself, and I couldn't help but think of how suddenly found myself going from sitting around in CT one moment worrying about my post-collegiate future to running around like a madman preparing to embark on a journey to California and the next phase of life. Rory's dealing with her new job and her future was handled beautifully - it was rushed but that was part of the point. There was the excitement, the panic attacks, the regrets, the goodbyes. Of course, most of us don't have an entire town come together to throw a party in honor of our leaving, but Stars Hollow has always been a great representation of all the quirky, weird, beloved, annoying, supporting characters that populate all of our lives.

Again - so many great little moments. Rory and Lane's goodbye. Sookie and Luke plotting the party, and Sookie's enthusiastic reveal of Luke's involvement to Lorelai. The town meeting scene was vintage Gilmore - hilarious yet filled with so much heart. Every little side character - Taylor, Kirk of course, Ms. Patty, Babette, Lulu - they all had their time to shine. Zack was a lot of fun as always - again I couldn't help but think that his and Lane's story has been so strong as almost a show within a show that it could very well be its own show. Richard Gilmore is one of those amazing characters that can make you laugh and cry in the span of one sentance. His speech to Lorelai, along with the previously mentioned moments between her and Emily, were memorable, sad, funny - classic Gilmore.

And that final scene of Lorelai and Rory in Luke's diner, a small slice of vintage Gilmore, was the perfect way to end things. That last shot, of Rory and Lorelai chatting endlessly about whatever random topic they happen to broach, with Luke quietly preparing their food in the background, as dawn breaks in Stars Hollow ... artful, classy, and a great ending to a wonderful episode.

In a world of crass reality shows, soulless dramas, and ineffectual comedies, Gilmore went out the way it came in - a show that felt real even as it was whimsical, that presented moving drama without ever being melodramatic, that elicited deep laughter without ever failing to be clever, witty, and classy. A great finale to one of the great shows.

My Grade: A+

- And isn't it a shame, that the CW's Tuesday night lineup is all but disappearing next season? When Gilmore was on its game, paired with Veronica Mars, this was perhaps the best one-two punch of TV anywhere on the network schedule. To think of it replaced by reality shows or generic soaps is truly depressing. And as of this morning, there is STILL no definitive word about Veronica's future, though it does seem to be looking pretty bleak ...

VERONICA MARS:

- I really enjoyed last night's ep, though I think I was still wiping my eyes from the Gilmore Girls finale for much of it and therefore couldn't give it 100% of my attention. Hahahaha ... um, seriously though ... This week's ep was much like last week's - a great ep of TV, but ultimately Veronica Mars-lite. There were no legitimately high stakes, no dark, noirish grit, and Veronica herself was never really in any danger. Still, for what it was, this was good stuff. I enjoyed the mystery of the Ugandan author at Hearst college, and as always this show is the best in the biz at weaving a compelling standalone mystery story that involves you in its plot twists and keeps you guessing until the end. As for the character stuff - I loved the reunion of Dick Casablancas with his skeevy father - man, was that ever a long time coming, and we finally got a bit of a bookend to Season 2's shocking ending. You gotta love Ken Marino as Vinnie Van Lowe, and his race against Keith to be Neptune's sheriff is a nice subplot with a mix of humor and darker intrigue. Parker is another character that has grown on me and Mac is of course great - it's just that their respective subplots are emblematic of how the show has gotten a bit too soapy, which isn't always bad, but that soap has replaced the overarching mysteries to some extent, which isn't an even tradeoff. I'm still not sure how I feel about Piz - I've been a fan of the character, but I like him as an every-geek who is fawining over Veronica. This episode, he seemed to slip a bit too easily into the typical boyfriend role. And I also wish we could see more of Wallace - the character has been woefully neglected after being so well-featured in Season 2. Still, I recognize that this season has seen its share of interferenct from the network, and I still have complete faith in Rob Thomas and co that they know what they are doing. If next week really is the series' last episode, and even if it isn't, I fully expect it to go out with one hell of a bang - the talent behind this show is way too good for it not to. As for this episode, a nice mystery, the usual stellar dialogue (Keith had a few classic lines here with his P.I test schtick) ... it's just you can tell the show is a bit schizofrenic as it waits to hear its ultimate fate. If there's any justice in the world, it will be back.

My Grade: A -

- I also caught Monday's HEROES. One word can describe why this episode kicked some ass: Sulu! George Takei friggin' ruled it in this ep, and his campy sense of melodramatic timing made his scenes with Hiro unbearably fun to watch. When Hiro asked "What do you know about killing?" only for his dad to whip out a samurai sword and wield it like freaking Ninja Gaiden, any geek worth his or her salt was smiling from ear to ear. And by the way, nice to see the show acknowledge some of the guys who made its premise possible, with the action centered at KIRBY plaza, and Micah looking through some old Silver Surfer comics. Hail to the King, baby.

Unfortunately, some aspects of this episode still felt contrived and just plain off. Nathan Petrelli still feels like a hollow shell of a character to me. If he is complicit in nuking New York, that would make him a sociopath mass-murderer, but there's nothing we've seen from his characterization that would indicate that Nathan would REALLY be willing to go this far. Sure, he's been shown as slightly sleazy and underhanded, that I'll buy. But mass-murder? It just seems way outside the realm of plausibility for this character as he's presented.

With Nikki / Jessica, the show seems to be all over the place. I couldn't remember if they were separated, merged, or what, and now it just seems like Ali Larter goes back and forth between compassionate Nikki and ruthless Jessica at the drop of a hat, without any real explananation. Does she or doesn't she care about her son or about DL? This aspect of the show is pretty frustrating, especially in Monday's ep.

Finally, like I said last week, the buildup to the Nuke in NYC has been kind of boring. Everyone could see that Sylar would absorb Ted's powers and go on to try to become a human bomb, so everything leading up to that just becomes a matter of aligning the chess pieces so that our Heroes are all in place for their big "Save the World" finale. They could have thrown in some clever twists to counter our expectations, but instead everything pretty much just proceeded as we were led to believe it would, with character bumping into each other seemingly at random in order to set things up for the finale. The Mexican standoff between Mohinder, HRG, and Professor X, I mean, Molly - was similarly contrived with no real logic as to why all these guns were being waved around.

Of course, I do have to give props to Malcolm McDowell, one of the greats, as always doing a nice job as Linderman. I was shocked to see DL lobotomize him in such gruesome fashion though - kind of excessively violent for a show like this, in a way.

So yeah, I'm excited for next week's finale, and enjoyed this ep primarily for the awesomeness that Takei brought to the table alongside Hiro and Ando, who once again gave this episode its only real moments of heart and soul. Still, I just don't like the feeling that I'm watching a show simply spin its wheels to get from Point A to Point B, without this progression coming via the depth of the characters and the cleverness of the story.

My Grade: B+

- Alright - leave your Gilmore love here as well as any other thoughts. And also, congrats to the Jazz - but, please let the Suns beat the Spurs though, who wants to see a Jazz vs. Spurs Western conference final?