Reviewing this season-ender as if it was one episode seems to make sense, because the story clearly flows right from one into the other and they originally aired the same night. So, here goes.
In "Part Un", I was frustrated by having the restaurant scene cut short. Rory and Missy calling back to the fact that they "at least" had lobster wasn't nearly enough of a button on the whole thing with Jim and C.J. figuring out who was going to pay for what turned out to be a very expensive dinner.
And in "Part Deux", the whole subplot with C.J. and Sissy just disappeared without a trace. I suppose all the humor had been wrung from such a simplistic setup already, but… come on. Closure, people. It's the end of a season; don't leave loose threads hanging.
Speaking of loose threads, it's going to sound silly if I now go on to excuse what was set up between Cate and Ed Gibb, but that's different because it wasn't a forgotten plot line; it was a setup for season 3. Hoping we at least get a reference to the final frog-herding scene in 3x01, though.
The weirdest part of this whole season was that, once they adjusted to losing John Ritter so suddenly, the show's tone markedly improved. I was never a big fan of the cheesy "front door" intro, which wouldn't have worked with Jim or C.J. at the door instead of Paul. Losing that intro and jumping right into the story is the best change that came of the casting change, forced though it was.
As of writing this, TMDB has both 2x23 "Final Parts Un & Deux" and 2x24 "Finalé Part Deux". The former is locked, which makes me wary that the latter—this episode—could be deleted. I'll therefore cross-post the thoughts above, plus my history & rating for this episode, to 2x23 just in case.
Review by dgwVIP 10BlockedParent2023-08-14T12:09:23Z
Reviewing this season-ender as if it was one episode seems to make sense, because the story clearly flows right from one into the other and they originally aired the same night. So, here goes.
In "Part Un", I was frustrated by having the restaurant scene cut short. Rory and Missy calling back to the fact that they "at least" had lobster wasn't nearly enough of a button on the whole thing with Jim and C.J. figuring out who was going to pay for what turned out to be a very expensive dinner.
And in "Part Deux", the whole subplot with C.J. and Sissy just disappeared without a trace. I suppose all the humor had been wrung from such a simplistic setup already, but… come on. Closure, people. It's the end of a season; don't leave loose threads hanging.
Speaking of loose threads, it's going to sound silly if I now go on to excuse what was set up between Cate and Ed Gibb, but that's different because it wasn't a forgotten plot line; it was a setup for season 3. Hoping we at least get a reference to the final frog-herding scene in 3x01, though.
The weirdest part of this whole season was that, once they adjusted to losing John Ritter so suddenly, the show's tone markedly improved. I was never a big fan of the cheesy "front door" intro, which wouldn't have worked with Jim or C.J. at the door instead of Paul. Losing that intro and jumping right into the story is the best change that came of the casting change, forced though it was.
As of writing this, TMDB has both 2x23 "Final Parts Un & Deux" and 2x24 "Finalé Part Deux". The former is locked, which makes me wary that the latter—this episode—could be deleted. I'll therefore cross-post the thoughts above, plus my history & rating for this episode, to 2x23 just in case.