Seriously? Another reviewer gave this episode ONE star out of ten? For real?
I thought this episode was the perfect way to end the series and was truly everything in the series coming full circle.
Two older crotchety neighbors, Old Tony and Joe Static, are involved in a feud that goes on throughout the episode. Mark and his friend Lorrie are invited to Tony's property to look for arrowheads and to have lunch with him. Danger arises when Mark and Lorrie get stuck in quicksand and Lucas has to save the day.
So, okay, that's what the episode is about on the surface. But there is more going on here. Old Tony is basically where Lucas may potentially end up. The series started when Mark was 10 and he is now a 15 year old teenager. In a few years, he will fall in love, move off the ranch, get married and have children and a family of his own. Micah is getting older, not younger, and will clearly not live forever. And Lucas is obviously not married and there is no real way to determine where things may have gone with Lou, she may have moved out of North Fork like Milly did. So, where would that leave Lucas? A loner widower, who may have eventually become a bitter recluse like Tony. So, Tony is a cautionary tale for Lucas to not shut himself off from the world when Mark moves off of the ranch.
Mark is now fully grown and we as the viewer have watched him grow from the young boy in "The Sharpshooter" to a young man in this final episode of the series. His friend Lorrie asks him what he thinks makes a good marriage and, although he repeats what Lucas told him in a previous episode that friendship is the most important ingredient, he is clearly uncomfortable and seems to think of Lorrie more as a friend than anything else. But this episode conveyed to the viewer that Mark has matured to the point where he is ready for a serious romantic relationship and is old enough to contemplate marriage with the right woman. Mark has had childhood crushes before (notably in the episode where he sang "Something Special") but nothing serious. This is a progression for the character in the series and was signaling that the time was approaching that Mark would be leaving the ranch to establish his own family.
I also absolutely loved Mark's rendition of "Greensleeves". It was a great scene where someone like Tony who had shut himself off so much emotionally from the world was able to be deeply touched by Mark's singing. I am upset that the song was never released on LP.
Okay, yes, was it stupid for Mark to literally walk into quicksand after Lorrie? Should he have grabbed a rope or a branch? Of course. I did cringe a bit watching that scene. But you know what, I did not mind one bit Lucas saving him because that is one of the themes that the show was centered on: the love that Lucas had for his son and him coming to his rescue time and time again. I did not mind being able to see that one last time as the series came to an end.
So, to me, this was the perfect way to wrap up the series.
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