7th Heaven: Series Finale Recap. It didn’t suck!

The last episode of 7th Heaven aired on Sunday night, I taped it so I could fast-forward when necessary. I was quite shocked. I kept waiting for my usual feelings of disgust, but they never surfaced. For 7th Heaven, this was a really decent episode. There was some crap and fake-outs, but overall it was a good way to end the series.

The crap:

An RV shows up from Eric’s parents, so he decides that the very next day he will pack up his family [Ruthie, twins, random house guests, Annie] and go on a meandering trip across the country. Lucy thinks it’s a crazy idea, and then decides she wants to go too. In the end, all 52 cast members, except for Martin, get on the RV. Even Sandy and her gynaecologist boyfriend decide to go. Eric instates a one small bag plus three personal items rule. They spend 5 of their 43 allotted episode minutes clarifying that a cell phone plus charger equals one item. Ruthie brings ‘The DaVinci Code’. Blech.

The fake-outs:

They alluded to Eric dying in his sleep and that his heart problems might not really be gone. I thought they might end the show with Eric’s death and then a funeral, which would have been more realistic, given his ongoing heart problems (the focus of the season, apparently), but nobody watches 7th Heaven for ‘realism’, so there would be no point in that type of ending.

At one point I also thought that maybe Ruthie and T-Bone had gotten married during recess, since after school T-Bone told Eric that Ruthie had a surprise for them. T-Bone said it wasn’t a huge surprise, so I knew Ruthie couldn’t be pregnant. Turns out the big surprise is that Ruthie can graduate from high school because of her extra credits in ‘Scotland’. So this lets her travel in the RV indefinitely without having to go back for a senior year.

The Surprises:

1. The twins can finally speak in complete sentences and I can understand each word that they say. There is still a hint of the babyish slurring, but it’s not so terrible in the grand scheme of things.

2. Ruthie tells Martin that she’s not interested in him, and that she loves someone else, whose name is still tattooed on her back. Martin and I get the impression that she’s just staying with T-Bone because of the tattoo [in the world of 7th Heaven this is logical], but Ruthie clarifies that T-Bone is really nice and treats her well, etc. Martin realizes that he is an ass, and he’s not getting anywhere with Ruthie so he gives up. He was only semi-sad that after all of Ruthie’s pining that he didn’t succeed. I was worried that they were going put Ruthie and Martin together for the finale, which would be so typical of the dreck that is 7th Heaven. I was quite happily surprised when they handled it relatively quickly and we never had to see Martin again for the rest of the show.

3. Ruthie alludes to Simon being married, but it is not confirmed. That is pretty decent continuity, since Ruthie has always known all the family secrets before anyone else. Simon’s not on the show anymore, but they mention that they will be paying him a visit on the RV trip. They are planning on attending his graduation, which they had forgot about until yesterday because they forgot to open the mail for months. Apparently they do not know how to use the phone, or internet to contact Simon.

The end:

The beginning of the ending is an extended musical montage with no dialogue. Everyone lines up to have their three personal items inspected by Eric before they are allowed to board the RV. The last scene is Eric’s face, he’s smiling as he starts up the RV, ready to drive off into the sunset.

Related posts:

7th Heaven Sucks: The penultimate episode. Again.

7th Heaven: ALL posts