This whole Schitt’s Creek season six has been leading us to this heartbreaking, inescapable moment. The Rose clan finally leaves the seldom-named town, and neither they nor Schitt’s Creek will ever be the same. It’s the advantage that Eugene and Dan Levy had, knowing these 14 episodes would be the last, enabling Patrick and David to get engaged, building to this finale wedding; Johnny, Roland, and Stevie to clinch a prosperous new business deal; Moira to return to the sunny climes of Sunrise Bay; and Alexis to say goodbye to Ted and prepare for a new life in New York. We already know how it will all end; all that’s left are the goodbyes.
Naturally, those goodbyes are as heartwrenching as you’d imagine, as these scenes involve cast members saying their final farewells on a set they’ve grown to love. It’s funny how Schitt’s Creek has transformed: The first season was a little rocky, to be honest, but the series soon settled into its charming combo of sentimentality and hilarity (just the Moira Rose turns of phrase alone). It’s not easy for us to say goodbye to these characters, but just from the expressions in the multitude of hugs this episode, it’s near-excruciating for the cast themselves. We saw the Kardashian-like Roses come back to each other over the course of these six seasons, so that now, wherever they are, they have a stronger bond than ever before.
It’s wholly appropriate that both Johnny and Moira credit the town for that; Johnny thanks them for “helping to save my family over these past few years,” while Moira calls out the Roses’ temporary home for placing her family on solid ground “in this little town in the middle of nowhere.” As she so eloquently puts it, “It is all but impossible to explain why things happen the way they do.” The Rose family losing all their money and having to move to the one thing they had left turns out to be the same thing that ultimately saved the family in the end, as Alexis so astutely points out (I especially like all the props Alexis gets this episode).
Not a fan of the “happy ending” David got from the masseur, though; I know massage therapists that get “happy ending” jokes thrown at them all the time, and this doesn’t really help. Maybe Dan Levy just couldn’t resist the pun, but with only 24 precious minutes, I resent even the few that that misunderstanding took up. Small matter, though, because the rest of the Roses saying goodbye to each other, and to us, was just so perfect.
As was the town saving the Roses, yet again, when David went for a pizza oven over a tent for his nuptials and the whole town quickly chips in to help the event find a new venue. It so nice to see Roland, Jocelyn, Bob, Ronnie, Ray, Twyla, et al. offer their various skills to make Patrick and David’s day so ideal, down to the the Jazzagals performing “Simply The Best,” the song Patrick so memorably sang for Patrick (and it looks like Gwen did sneak in there with the rest of the gals, right? Bob must be thrilled).
The series even ends with a perfect callback to the third episode of season one, when Johnny tried to get Roland to change the town’s offensive sign. Now instead of “Don’t Worry, It’s His Sister!” we have “Where Everyone Fits In,” another double-entendre but also, a perfect motto for the welcoming little town in the middle of nowhere.
You could make a case that Schitt’s Creek may have wrapped up too neatly: Moira and Johnny back at the top of their respective fields, Patrick and David off to the lifetime of domestic rural bliss, a more confident Alexis heading out on her own. But the series so carefully set all those balls into motion, starting off with Moira’s comeback vehicle The Crows Have Eyes 3: The Crowening, and the brilliant “Sunrise, Sunset” episode, which gave us her verbally sparring against her old co-star, Victor Garber’s Clifton Sparks. Alexis’ heartbreaking breakup with Ted. David and Patrick’s long-simmering romance. And Johnny et al. didn’t immediately sweep into success in “The Pitch,” but wound up with a successful plan B. Put all into place, all those happy endings now make sense, and the fact that at least David remains into the town gives us some solace, as Johnny assures Roland that he’ll come back to Schitt’s Creek to see his son.
Poetic wedding vows aside, it’s those goodbyes outside the hotel that are the highlight (and for some of us, the apex of sobbing) of the episode. How all the Roses didn’t dissolve into ugly crying is some of the greatest acting I’ve ever seen in my life (Dan Levy came close though, and who could blame him). The Roses left Schitts’ Creek better people than when they arrived there, and we all got so much out of viewing their journey. How Johnny and Moira went from ducking Roland and Jocelyn to becoming friends with them, for example; how David traded up from working at Blouse Barn; how Stevie realized that working at the motel was her true destiny; how Alexis realized that she was so much more than a party girl. I miss them already, but like most Schitt’s Creek viewers, I look forward to years of multiple rewatches.
Stray observations
- Moira’s wedding headpiece is one of the most over-the-top costumes I’ve ever seen and I really shouldn’t have expected anything less.
- “Driver, we’re ready.” Maybe you are, Johnny Rose.
- What is up with Ronnie’s hatred of Patrick? What possibly is there to dislike about him?
- For some surprising revelations from the Schitt’s Creek documentary episode, click here.
- My favorite Schitt’s Creek moment, of course, is Moira’s closet meltdown after The Crowening got some initial bad reviews: What was yours? Please add in the comments (Runner-up: “A Little Bit Alexis,” naturally).
- “Room seven needs a turndown.” Good god, the tears.
- And that’s a wrap for Schitt’s Creek, my little bebe crows. If you’re crying after that finale, just remember, you’re among friends.