Confusing Endings

That 70s show is one of my favorite shows. I love each and every single one of the characters, and there has never really been an episode that has left me unsatisfied as a viewer. That was until season 8. I didn’t exist when the first episode aired on August 23, 1998, and although I did exist when it ended May 18, 2006, I was nowhere near able to comprehend and enjoy the show. I watched and grew to love the show on Netflix. I loved every second of seasons 1-7, and I thought season 8 was going to at least be decent, but the show, however, no longer had two of its best characters. Ashton Kutcher played Eric Forman, played by Topher Grace, and Michael Kelso. The show took a turn with these two significant losses, and they introduced a Character named Randy who lacked character, meaning, and purpose. This new character made me, as the viewer, feel like he didn’t belong. Season 8 lacked originality; it seemed forced, there was no real chemistry among the actors, and it felt really bland. This same type of energy continued until the season finale. However, in the finale, Eric and Michael both made an appearance, and that was at first exciting until whoever wrote the story messed it up. I did some research and learned that the actors wanted out, and although these are some things that were out of control of the writers, I would at least have thought that if they would have taken advantage of Ashton Kutcher and Topher Grace agreeing to make an appearance. The finale takes place on the last day of the 70s (New Years’ Eve), and Kelso is back in town from Chicago, and Eric comes back from Africa. Eric makes an appearance towards the end of the episode, and it’s uncertain whether he and Donna get back together, which was annoying. The new character Randy who was terrible, barely made an appearance which was okay, but it seems odd to base an entire season off of a character and then not include him at the end. Kitty and Red decide that they’re not going to move and sell their home and stay in Wisconsin, which was expected, but I think this could have served a better role in the ending. There were just a lot of things that didn’t make sense, and it felt like the whole thing was forced and put together last minute in a way. I think that they should have somehow found a way for Jackie and Hyde to end up together and maybe looked for a way to have Donna and Eric clear things up. As far as character development went throughout season 8, Eric seemed like a terrible person, so it wouldn’t have helped the plot, but I think that as a whole, his character should have been remade. Fez doesn’t end up with a girlfriend, and Michael ends up going back to Chicago, but I would have liked a happy ending where maybe Fex, at the very least, meets someone and maybe Kelso and Brooke get back together for the sake of their child.

500 days of summer is a movie that is exactly what it is titled. It is a movie about 500 days with a girl named Summer. Tom meets this girl at work named summer; they hit things off a bit, she tells him she doesn’t want anything and is clear with her motives but obviously, like a typical guy in love, tom completely ignores the signs and full fledge falls in love with this girl. You know, the typical romance plot, and what any guy who is sprung on a girl would do. The plot in itself was confusing, and it did have a unique approach to the way the story was told, but there were a lot of things that were upsetting. All of these things built up to the ending where Tom meets a new girl ironically but purposefully by whoever wrote the story named Autumn. Now some might argue that the film was very authentic and there was a reason that the story didn’t end the way we thought it should have and that maybe the film had a lesson to teach all of us, but that still doesn’t mean that the movie didn’t have a bad ending. The movie took its course, gave us all of these wonderful scenes with the two of them together, and then they end things off, Summer meets a new guy, gets married, and Tom is left to pursue his dreams. Along with doing that, he meets a new girl at the end, but there is no guarantee that Tom receives a happy ending. Tom was learning to be happy on his own and that he didn’t need a Summer or a girl to be satisfied. He was doing so good for himself, and then poof, another girl pops up. I think it was a nice gesture, and maybe it put the film together, and it was clever with the way they named her, but I think Tom growing from his past relationship and learning to rely on himself would have served for a better ending. I grew to like tom, and although it seemed like he was digging himself into a hole with summer, I couldn’t blame him.