Say Hello, Wave Goodbye

I don't know if there's any more that I can say about the Friday Night Lights series finale than I said last night on Twitter.  It was, in my estimation, the perfect ending for the show. 

The thing I have always tried to make people understand is that FNL wasn't about football or about high school or about teenagers.  Rather, it was about the town of Dillon, Texas where high school football is a religion and therefore provides the center point around which many of the stories revolve.  It's about the people, the community.  It's always been just a glimpse into the regular lives of regular people.  For that reason, I didn't want the finale to be grandiose or big - it wouldn't have fit with what the show was.  Not that I was worried, of course, with but one exception (cough-murder-cough) the show hasn't really veered into the manufactured drama or plot excesses. 

Coming into last night, of course, there were several loose ends that needed to be gathered and tied up thoughtfully.  Tami's pending job offer in Philadelphia and Eric's reluctance to make a compromise or sacrifice for her career remained a prominent plot point for most of the episode.  The state championship game, of course, loomed as did the speculation as to which of the Lions would and would not be part of the Panthers "super team."  And myriad relationships were on questionable ground.  I think all of these stories were given closure that was both satisfying and realistic. 

I don't much want to go through point by point what happened with each of these stories. For one thing, it'd make me cry all over again and one if I shed one more tear I'll turn to dust; for another, you should watch it for yourself.  Telling you what happened isn't nearly as beautiful as seeing for yourself how wonderfully it unfolded.  This is Friday Night Lights - the journey is the destination. 

What I am interested in telling you, is that it ended exactly as it should have - we got to see that life goes on for everyone we've come to know and love in Dillon, and they're all going to be ok.  I couldn't have asked for anything more than that.