In "The Finale" the gang gets a free trip to Paris becomes the new head of NBC decides to pick up the show "Jerry". On the way, the private plane has technical problems and lands in a rural Massachusetts town. There the gang witnesses a robbery and stands idly by watching and making fun of the victim. They're placed under arrest under a new Good Samaritan law and the prosecution brings in all sorts of character witnesses from their pass who all bad mouth the group for their tactless behavior. The four of them are sentenced to a year in prison as the show ends.
Series finales are hard. They always have far, far too much build up for them to ever meet expectations. Sitcoms are a bit easier since there are no loose ends of season-long or even series-long threads that need to be tied up.
I think the writers had two goals in mind with this episode: bring back fan favorites and have the gang end up in jail. They were able to come up with a plot to accomplish this. I do find them ending up in prison funny. It's very subversive from your average sitcom where the finale would be one big, happy reunion. We get the new nostalgia of past episodes but with the twist that they all despise the main cast. I'm not sure what finale would have satisfied fans but I'm completely okay with the way this ended.
Series finales are hard. They always have far, far too much build up for them to ever meet expectations. Sitcoms are a bit easier since there are no loose ends of season-long or even series-long threads that need to be tied up.
I think the writers had two goals in mind with this episode: bring back fan favorites and have the gang end up in jail. They were able to come up with a plot to accomplish this. I do find them ending up in prison funny. It's very subversive from your average sitcom where the finale would be one big, happy reunion. We get the new nostalgia of past episodes but with the twist that they all despise the main cast. I'm not sure what finale would have satisfied fans but I'm completely okay with the way this ended.