We Bid Greek a Final (and Tearful) Farewell
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All little children do grow-up, even those students over in Ohio's Cyprus Rhodes University. Tonight, we said our goodbyes to Casey, Cappy, Ash and the gang in Greek's series finale.
Honestly, I feel cheapened. I feel like someone I shared a deep and intimate three-year relation with just broke up with me via post-it text message. As though someone I was so invested in had the gall to end things without closure, and with so many questions unanswered. Don't you? Tonight's episode, the episode to end all episodes, simply fell short in so many ways. Really, who cares about the KT house hijinks? The show is about so much more than a little gambit involving Pledge Bieber's Dad, and yet this is the plot we have been left yet. Life is never fair. Well let's back up, shall we?
We learned that that guy Lasker, Pledge Bieber's Dad and KT alum, is Villain X. He has slowly been sabotaging KT because that is what rich and powerful adult CEO ‘s do when they need something to be done. The whole thing was simply a clever ruse to purchase the house to have it torn down so that a gym can be built in its place. Because sure. So Rusty and Cappy put their noggins together and decide that nostalgia is their most effective weapon in getting heartless money bags Lasker to save the house rather than destroy it. They steal some of Lasker's old KT paraphernalia- because who wouldn't experience tears of joy at seeing an old paddle they were once beat with in a slightly homoerotic hazing ceremony?- and attempt to change the old bastard's mind.
Meanwhile in what was a plot first for the show, Casey's moral convictions are tested. She and Evan have been chosen to assist their only Professor, Professor Pervskins, with a special case. Turns out that the special case involves doing research to aid in the tearing down of KT. What's a girl to do? She must decide between her future in law school or helping to defend her boyfriend and brother's fraternity house. If I had a nickel for every time I've been faced with this dilemma….
But let's not forget that emotions are running high in the love department as well. Ashley and Rusty continue to have boners for each other, but are still not acting on them. Rebecca and Dale – I will forever have beef with the writers for not creating, at the very least, a drunken love night between these two- are single and wondering why. After bagging on Matthew Mcconaughey, they agree to visit their old flames and figure out where things went wrong.
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To everyone's dismay, the house is torn down anyway. I mean, I get it. The house represents youth and college and the past; all of the things that the gang are leaving behind as they embark on the next phase of their lives. That's all well and good, but it doesn't do anything to fill this empty hole in my heart that no other show, no matter how many Lifetime film actors or famous celebrity-daughters star in it, will be able to fill. It's nice that Casey and Evan crossed over to defend the good from the evil corporate monster, but again, there is a hole the size of a fraternity house land plot in my soul and nostalgic symbolism is doing little to relieve that ache.
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After the house is demolished, Cappy- or rather, Captain John Paul Jones-goes to take his final final exam. He is one credit from graduating, and in a miraculous final speech that doesn't nearly answer his professor's question, he plunges head first in to the real world. He and Casey decide to leave CRU for the unknown, but they will face it together. Thankfully, the writers gave us this to cling to. With Rusty at the helm of KT as the new president (and Ashley on his arm!), a new generation of lackluster slackers will thrive and party. Nostalgia certainly is a powerful weapon, but it is the new memories we are constantly making in the present that truly count. Yikes, are any of you still listening to this?
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And just as quickly as it began, it was over in an instant. As the recognizable bars of "Forever Young" begin to plink away in the background, it's clear that this is really happening. If any of you are like me, that is, a grown-up adult watching a show on ABC Family and crying tears of sadness for your own lost youth, you are not alone. Oh wait, Cal decided to go abroad and soul search because he's confused. Poor Cal, we still don't really care. Anyway, betwixt the steady falling of tears I began to wonder about that Neil Young quote: "is it better to burn out than fade away?" I'm sure that a YA TV series ending was exactly the situation Mr. Young had in mind when he inscribed these immortal words. But anyway, Greek took the bold way out. They quickly extinguished the light that shone oh so brightly for so many before we were ready and thus, have left us wanting more for eternity. So let us be nostalgic for CRU. Let us remember the good times we had with the characters we loved so dearly. Let us remember the way the sun fell across the leaves in front of the ZBZ house, or the way Dobbler's looked at the beginning of an episode- so full of promise and hope. But let us also remember that, like the KT house, the show was just a casing for the memories we made while watching. All little children do grow-up, and so must we. So keep the memories you made always in your heart, and may you take them with you as you embark on the next ABC Family original series adventure.