Spoilers for last night’s finale of Parenthood follow
There were multiple song montages, there were countless family photos, a wedding, a saved business, two babies, a puppy and a death that made me cry my eyes out. Parenthood ended its six season run last night on what I considered a high note. I disagreed with the fact that Zeek died; I felt that he should have been able to spend more time with his great grandson, but we saw it coming and the show handled it well. (Some people disagree, check out this touching editorial on E! about how the family’s grief could have been shown.) I also didn’t think that Julia and Joel should have adopted a baby; they just reunited and their marriage didn’t need the extra stress of a newborn.
Still, it was a satisfying end to a show that somehow came across as genuine and true every week despite its ability to manipulate my emotions. I’ve watched Parenthood from the beginning and I can count on one hand the episodes that didn’t make me cry.
I’m going to quote People here as they have a nice, bullet-point recap of how things ended up for the Bravermans:
Before the wedding, Hank (Ray Romano) paid a visit to Zeek (Craig T. Nelson) to ask for his daughter’s hand in marriage, not knowing Zeek would die shortly after.
“No one has taught me more about unconditional love,” Zeek told Hank about Sarah (Lauren Graham). “She gives her heart to the people she cares about most. I would just ask you to take care of my daughter. You gotta be there for her.”
“It would be my honor to do that,” Hank replied. “I never met anyone like her. I’ll never stop loving her.”
The wedding was picture-perfect – and not just because they had Max (Max Burkholder) as their photographer.
At one point Zeek and Camille (Bonnie Bedelia) admired their family together from the sidelines.
“We did good,” Camille says. “We sure did,” Zeek responds.
A lot of major events went down at the wedding:
Max had his first dance with a girl. Crosby (Dax Shepard) decided to take over the Luncheonette and asked Amber (Mae Whitman) to come back and help him run it. Not only did Amber get her job back, but Zeek and Camille asked her to come live with them with her new baby. Julia (Erika Christensen) and Joel (Sam Jaeger) agreed they were going to adopt Victor’s (Xolo Mariduena) newborn stepsister. “I was up last night thinking: she’s Victor’s sister, she’s already ours,” Joel told Julia. The episode ended bittersweetly, beautifully:
After Zeek died in the comfort of his own home, his family scattered his ashes on a baseball field and then played a ball game.
We found out that Amber found a new boyfriend (played by Scott Porter from Friday Night Lights, another project from Parenthood creator Jason Katims). Her ex-boyfriend Ryan (fellow FNL alum Matt Lauria) was still in the picture and helping raise their son Zeek. [Everyone pulls out their tissues.]
Max graduated from Chambers Academy, and Adam (Peter Krause) handed him his diploma after taking Kristina (Monica Potter) up on her offer to replace her as principal.
I referenced the “third act” quote in the title because I honestly thought that Zeek and Camille would get a third act; that Zeek wouldn’t die and that we would get the satisfaction of seeing him raise his great grandson. Of course this didn’t happen, and I felt cheated, like the show had dangled a carrot this episode. His death was foreshadowed for weeks, but I was hoping that they wouldn’t go through with it.
It was nice to see that Amber remarried (I love Scott Porter!) and that everyone sort-of got a happy ending. (Except Zeek, goddamnit.) Also, People didn’t mention that Jasmine was shown pregnant in that end scene at The Lunchenette. Now that I consider it, there were a few too many “extras” at the end. Did we really need to know that Julia and Joel got a puppy for the kids for Christmas? (Update: they also had yet another baby, thanks to Kate and Laurabb for that. I was so busy staring at the puppy I didn’t notice.) Does it matter that Amber’s ex is peacefully co-parenting with her? Did we need to see Max graduate? This was the finale though, and I guess we got the closure we wanted. More than anything, I wanted Zeek to be around. I’m still sad he had to go.
photos credit NBC
Didn’t Joel and Julia have TWO new babies at the end? I could have sworn that Joel was holding a baby and a toddler was helping open the Puppy present…
I thought it was really nicely done. Honestly, I don’t think we needed to see the family grieving. I thought it was a nice, bittersweet ending.
Also, Peter Krause has bad luck with fictional fathers. That is all.
Rewinding to verify the two new babies thing….
-edit- additional baby verified and story updated, thanks!
Also it’s Victor’s half sister, not his stepsister.
We not only got to see Julia and Joel’s puppy, but they had another baby, so four kiddios in their future.
I loved that show, cried my eyes out! I always knew Sarah was his favorite, she was mine too!
This was a quality show with great actors – unlike a lot of the other drivel on offer these days!
I will miss this show. I do agree with you Celebitchy that Joel and Julia, whose marriage strain was the worst handled storyline on the show, should have never adopted the baby. It just did not ring true to me as it did not seem like their marriage was in the right place to handle a newborn. Considering last week, weren’t they fighting over Julia still working with her ex?
I was so sad Zeek died even though the show was foreshadowing it for so long.
Also in that ending montage,I’m pretty sure Hank was holding a baby too. I don’t know if we are to believe that Sarah and Hank had a child or that Amber had another baby. It also showed that Drew was still with his girlfriend. I wish we had some follow up on Haddie as well. I am glad they had her make her peace with Max, but I would have liked the see a flash forward into her life too. I know the actress is getting her college degree in real life and her availability on the show was limited but I’d still like to see it.
I’m pretty sure Amber and her husband had a little girl sitting between them, because I was like, “where’s little Zeek?” and then he returned with his father. So Amber has two kids.
And Crosby and Jasmine’s third pregnancy was foreshadowed when they went over to see Amber and baby Zeek and C said to J, “Don’t let your ovaries go on overdrive” or something when she held the baby.
The writers actually said that Scott Porter was also a single dad, so I’m assuming that’s daughter from his previous relationship. So, it’s Amber’s step-daughter.
Now this is how you end a show ( Take notes HIMYM )….I ugly cried my way through the entire episode, so beautiful and moving!! And Craig T.Nelson/Ray Romano bit….sigh…where did I put my tissues??
Read Jason Katim’s interview where he said the 4th baby was their biological surprise.
i cried the whole time, i love a good family show, that was a GREAT ending to a fantastic show. 🙂
Great series finale. Happy endings for all, even Camille who can travel and have the 3rd act she really wanted. Zeke would’t go with her, she gave it up for him, they had their time, then she got to follow her dreams, just like the rest of the family.
Re Julia and Joel, when you come from a large family, a family that loves kids and siblings by the barrel full, the times with babies are actually the least stressful. The little girl would have reinforced their connection, and give a new deeper, layer for making it work. Babies bring way more love than they do stress. (In a financially secure family, etc.)
I’ll miss this family so much.
I was disappointed. I just felt like the flash forward was unnecessary and cheesy. Then again I also hated the ending to 6 Feet Under. I think both shows would have ended perfectly without them. Also, the Joel and Julia storyline was horrible. Worst couple ever. Plus they coupled sweet Drew with his awful girlfriend. Amber ended up being able to co-parent with Ryan? Don’t buy it!
I’d have to agree that the flash-forward was totally cheesy, but I bawled and kinda loved it. I even rewatched it this morning and paused along the way…and teared up AGAIN! But I’ve got to say, the ending to Six Feet Under was the best there ever was or WILL BE! For a show about death, it was perfection and I STILL think about it. ‘Parenthood’ was sweet and a lot of fun and I think they ended it well. Hey, our parents die and good on ’em for going there.
i still think about that Six Feet Under finale, too. love the fisher family.
I’ve never cried so much and so hard at a finale like I did with six feet under, I’m tearing up just thinking about it!
Oh yes….before I forget….did Sarah use Amal’s gloves for her ‘something borrowed”?
Hahaha totally thought the same thing!
Craig T Nelson hit it out of the park this season (so to speak). I found his character the most annoying at first–selfish and blowhard–but he gained so much dimension over the last two seasons. I would have preferred seeing him very frail but enjoying his great-grandson (ie the end is not far), but I understand it was framing the cycle of life point. Sarah and Hank was the thing I could never wrap my head around. I just never saw chemistry beyond friendship and missed Mark with her. The rest was very sweet and lovely. I don’t know that the writing ever matched the actors’ great character work, but I will really miss this show.
+1. Totally agree that Sarah and Hank felt forced. I loved this show the first few seasons but several of the story lines felt forced toward the end of the show: Adam/Christina’s school, the Joel/Julia resolution, Sarah/Hank, etc.
LOVE this show! I cried through the entire thing and appreciated the flash forwards. It’s hard to let go of such wonderfully written characters, so the flash forwards helped by giving a glimpse of how the circle of life goes on. The entire run was about a family’s very real ups and down, and I love that it always retained its optimism.
seconded 🙂
I just finished watching. I thought it was beautifully done. Tears…
I just saw the finale too! It made me cry happy tears at the wedding and sad tears when Zeek passed. The spreading of the ashes hit very close to home to me, since my sister passed away last month and we did that for her remains.
In terms of the show, I loved the flash forwards and seeing a glimpse of how it turns out for the Bravermans. So many babies, I really loved that. After such a huge loss it rings true that married adult children may want to expand their family.
I absolutely loved Sarah with Hank, and was very happy they ended up together. I think they worked much better together than her and Mark (it was unbalanced. Mark was great guy but he was bending too much to hold on to Sarah, and it wasn’t fair to him.).
I really wanted Amber and Ryan to work out, but I can’t be mad that they didn’t. It’s more realistic for them not to get back together.
I loved that Adam found his passion working with kids and Crosby decided to run the Luncheonette on his own! I loved Crosby and his family with Jasmine. When I started watching Parenthood I thought Jabbar was absolutely adorable and he made me root for his parents to work out their issues!
Joel really annoyed me during the separation, but I was very happy that he and Julia got back together! And yay for them have four kids in the flash forward!! Love it!