I hearted the finale in a big way.

I swear, it seems (totally pulling this anecdotage out of my ass and probably ignoring many exceptions) all the guys I've seen talking about it loved the finale, and the girls are a little more iffy.

It might just be that the women I know who saw the finale are on LiveJournal, and LiveJournal tends to breed pickiness and discontent.

I'm a little worried about next week, though -- half the people I know seemed to really hate the finale.

the finale definitely isn't my favorite episode, but it wasn't awful. i just wasn't happy with the killer reveal. YKMV.

Which also means that they don't plan to premiere Season 2 at the same time it will be showing in the US. I don't like this network anymore.

I have heard this. there are some people in my community on livejournal who are writing CTV to voice their displeasure. here's the info, if you're interested:

Email: programming@ctv.ca

Telephone: (416) 332-5000

Mail: CTV Television Network P.O. Box 9, Station O Scarborough ON Canada M4A2M9

I was kind of meh on the finale, I thought most of it was gratuitous.

I am thrilled, however, that most of the dangling plotlines over the course of the season were resolved. I want to burn an effigy of J.J. Abrams in Rob Thomas's honor.

Oh, I've already written them.

It might just be that the women I know who saw the finale are on LiveJournal, and LiveJournal tends to breed pickiness and discontent.

Really? Cos TWOP - surely the ground zero of joyless reductive sniping at TV - loved the finale.

I thought the finale was a little melodramatic, but that by that point, they'd earned it.

I had no particular investment on who the killer might be, so was pretty happy with the reveal in the finale. I thought it made good sense in terms of characterizations and so forth. I liked "A Trip to the Dentist" (which BLEW ME AWAY) better than the finale for reasons too spoilery to reveal here, but enjoyed the finale on its own merits. It had a lot of emotional high points for my favorite relationship on the show, i.e. the one between Keith and Veronica. In fact, several people have said that the finale was a stealth Keith episode, which struck me as very true.

By the end, Couch Baron was eating directly out of Rob Thomas' palm. Which, great, but he wasn't as critical as many people out there. In fact, he was pretty nice to the show all the way throughout, not that I don't think the show earned it cuz I do.

Mostly, it hinges on whether you like the killer reveal. Some felt it was a bit asspully. I happen to disagree. Others don't like the fact that Veronica doesn't handle the situation with perfection and power, and instead gets in trouble. I happen to think it's one of the best aspects of the episode, and, in fact, the series as a whole. She's a verbal badass but guys? She's 5'4" and seventeen, and as far as we can tell doesn't have much in the way of martial arts training. Simple brute force is her kryptonite.

The only thing I don't like? I think the ending door thing is cheap. Especially since they didn't tell Kristen Bell who it was, so her reaction is completely random - what a waste of an actress who could write a novel with her facial expressions. Should have left it at the bridge - I'm much more concerned about that than the door. In fact, I'm concerned that they're going to pretty much ignore it, which would suck.

Especially since they didn't tell Kristen Bell who it was, so her reaction is completely random

Heh. This reminds me of the end of the S4 X-Files finale, "Gethsemane", in which Scully learns Mulder has "died" (eye-roll), and Gillian Anderson was told no different and proceeded to act her little heart out. Then in the S5 opener, we learn that Scully knew Mulder was alive all along, which made nonsense out of her genuine display of grief.

Whenever people have finished watching "A Trip to the Dentist", I always point them to this phenomenal essay by Mars, which says everything I could have said about why I love this episode so much, and more.