Goodbye, SMASH

I've been in love with this show since I first skeptically tumbled upon the first episode. Which was when the show was about a month into Season 1, so pretty early on. Like most viewers I had plotlines and characters I didn't like, but I kept coming back and was rewarded for doing so.

I should say it's not a perfect show, but what show ever is? It's a good show. It's a show I am going to remember and rewatch in the future, and those songs are always going to have a special playlist on my iTunes. "Let Me Be Your Star" is still the constant melody in my head.

What is beautiful is that we got an ending. As multiple interviews have reminded us, NBC didn't have to finish airing or even filming once it became obvious that ratings were dropping rapidly. But they did, and thus we got a pretty solid ending this Sunday night. A little too 'wrapped up with a bow' you might say, but not entirely. Jimmy/Karen was pitch perfect, and Derek/Ivy had dealt with enough over the past few episodes that I could accept their brief and wordless scene.

Actually, let's take a second to marvel at how we've gotten to see both Jimmy and Derek grow up this season. The first half of the season was Karen and Ivy's maturing, the second half was Jimmy and Derek's. And it was great. We got to see them turn from really stupid selfish people into wiser, sober (er) adults.

We got to see Tom and Julia's friendship/writing partnership renew itself with promises of a new stage of their career in Hollywood. Eileen finally trumped Jerry by securing both "Best Actress" and "Best Musical" for Bombshell (thank goodness!). Ana was vindicated, Sam was... well he was there, at least. And Kyle was commemorated.

I have to not dwell on the fact that I won't get to see these characters in new episodes; that I won't get to listen to wonderful original songs and watch beautiful choreography. I have to think of this as a very long miniseries, because I can. I can go on and recommend SMASH to people because even though it was canceled, it is a complete story and a good one, if you're the sort of person who loves musical soap operas.

The love is out there, that's for sure. It is so gratifying to read articles in which the critics still bash the show, but the comments are filled with nothing but love for it. It's great to know that it is still topping polls (by 50%!) to bring it back. Even though the end is here, it's not over. We have the music, and we'll have the DVDs (and Netflix!) to go back and watch again.

And who knows. Maybe someday they'll bring Bombshell to Broadway for real.