As stated, being a funeral episode and such, I was expecting some cheap shots for tears. And there were some touching moments, I liked the fish scene with Jal and Michelle, I thought the cliffside funeral and Jal's speech were nice without too much schlock. And I liked that Chris' dad wasn't a total villain, (and that 'arab' comment from the funeral director was brilliant). The real meat of the show for me was in the friend's goodbye. FINALLY, we did something with Anwar. His fear of turning into Sketch and being left behind while his friends go off to great things was touching, (and I thought he looked so nice in his suit). When his going away party idea was shot down, I felt the lump in my throat. I loved what they did with his friendship with Maxxi and how that wrapped up. It was implausible, but I thought quite nice.
The other tear-jerker was the Sid and Tony goodbye. BTW, Nicholas Hoult brought it this episode. I never thought he was a tremendous actor, but he toned it down and I thought it worked this episode. The second take, when he told Sid to lose the hat, and that he always loved him best .... it got me. Truthfully, I don't care what happens to Tony and Michelle. When he asked "We were good, weren't we?" I wanted to shout "No". When he wasn't emotionally abusing her, setting her up with his friend, cheating on her or stalking her, they were actually kind of boring. So I'm not sure if it's a bad thing if they go off to different universities. I appreciated that the writers didn't have them decide to go to school together (even thought that kind of happened with Maxxi and Anwar).
And with Sid. I really want good things for Sid. His comment about not being able to say goodbye was so true. So I understand that Cassie was the only goodbye he actually had a chance to correct. But I'm really done with Cassie. The writers really dropped the ball with her this season and I don't empathize with her like in series 1. I think she is selfish and immature. I think Sid has already done the 'chase her down and declare your love,' I mean, that was him the entire season. Also, I really think it would have been better if the whole NYC thing was more of the surreal story, and she was in rehab again or something, but no, they made it literal. Truthfully, I think it would be more fitting with Sid's character to have written her a letter and moved on. But he's tracking her down and then who knows? They'll get a loft in Brooklyn and become hipsters? Cassie's got the dress down. I guess a reunion scene would have been worse, so I appreciate that they cut before or maybe left us hanging....but really, having Sid walk around Time Square with her picture? Even for this show, it's a stretch.
And lastly, the closing scene made me go, "Oh yeah, Effy...," she really wasn't that memorable this season, but it was a nice transition bringing in the comforter and her grin, even if I don't tune in next season.
Overall, perhaps giving a decent send off to this group was better than splitting them off, making spin offs and bringing in even more characters. Clean break, etc.
Obviously, series 2 was not up to par with 1, but they managed to get a few good episodes and end it with less gimmick than expected. I thought the goodbyes were realistic in that they were rushed and separate and ambiguous. There was no memorable last hurrah or group ritual, and that felt right. With Chris gone, the only one left behind was Sketch, and that seemed appropriate.
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