PicoBlog

Finales for continuing shows with serialized elements are predictable. It’s the nature of the episodic medium. The season-specific storylines are going to get resolved, the main conflicts for next season are going to be previewed, and we’ll end hanging off a cliff. So from my point of view, it’s not what happens in a finale that is the main point of interest. It’s how those predictable beats get deployed.

Let’s take the big reversal/reset point of this finale as an example. Noel picked up on a subtle clue halfway through our initial watch, when Ada talks about all the paperwork associated with Luke’s passing. “Oh, I know what’s going to happen,” he announced. “Luke had a secret fortune.” Viewers who are keenly attuned to the plot devices of the era will see that one coming. And we might also feel pretty sure, on a meta-plot level, that the exile of the van Rhijns from the gild of the titular age will be brief—or even (as actually happens) avoided entirely.

But it’s what you do with those expected elements that makes the difference. Here the resolution of the brief van Rhijn poverty scare isn’t just a reset to the norm, but also a terrific twist: Because Ada is now the one with money, she is the new head of household. After Agnes blithely directs Bannister to tell the downstairs staff that their jobs are saved, the butler turns to Ada: “Is that your wish?” And we realize that the restoration is actually a change almost as profound as the one anticipated by the family all episode but miraculously avoided. Ada is in charge. The closing shot of Ada, with a tiny smile, holding herself straight and confident as if growing into her new role, comes across as if Cynthia Nixon has dropped a pretense and let her own personality emerge.

How do the other finale beats stack up? Let’s review!

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