A surprisingly sweet and satisfying ending for a series that ended up defining MTV and reality TV as scripted drama. While it didn't create the reality archetypes - the heroine, the villain(s), the stunning locations, the years of story lines which magically existed with no plot to support them - The Hills will always be known for making them all so seductively watchable - for being addictive TV that truly was about nothing.
But was it real?
The penultimate scene featured the on-again / off-again couple and default stars Kristin and Brody saying a final and tearful goodbye. But what appeared to be a true conclusion is quickly seen to be just another TV fiction - the scene (and by inference the whole show) was shot on a sound stage, not in the street and - in a scene as dizzying as anything in Inception, The Truman Show or Brazil - the sets fall away and the cameras pull back to reveal a full camera crew breaking for the last time while Kristin and Brody rush into each other's embrace...
Left behind are numerous questions, first and foremost being: if it was all just a scripted drama, who can explain the Andy Kaufman like transformations of Heidi Montag and Spencer Pratt? The second question (for me) is: did I like The Hills - and why?
8 months later I find this glossy epic resonating inside me while the final episode of Lost begins to fade and be forgotten... Hopefully the future will regard The Hills as an 'Important' TV show, but I think that was not the point.
But was it real?
The penultimate scene featured the on-again / off-again couple and default stars Kristin and Brody saying a final and tearful goodbye. But what appeared to be a true conclusion is quickly seen to be just another TV fiction - the scene (and by inference the whole show) was shot on a sound stage, not in the street and - in a scene as dizzying as anything in Inception, The Truman Show or Brazil - the sets fall away and the cameras pull back to reveal a full camera crew breaking for the last time while Kristin and Brody rush into each other's embrace...
Left behind are numerous questions, first and foremost being: if it was all just a scripted drama, who can explain the Andy Kaufman like transformations of Heidi Montag and Spencer Pratt? The second question (for me) is: did I like The Hills - and why?
8 months later I find this glossy epic resonating inside me while the final episode of Lost begins to fade and be forgotten... Hopefully the future will regard The Hills as an 'Important' TV show, but I think that was not the point.
