This was supposed to have been Part I of my two-part column for The End. I’ve been writing throughout the week, taking the opportunity to do so whenever work hasn’t been beating at my door, but despite that I’m admittedly unprepared to share my final thoughts with you all today. I discovered as I was writing that the Part I/Part II structure wasn’t working for me at all, and that concepts, call-backs and general ramblings I’d brought up at the beginning of the piece were ending up severed by the division.
Call it over-perfectionism or lame-ass excuse or whatever you’d like. The fact is that whatever I’d have published for you today wouldn’t have met my own (admittedly flexible and ever-changing) standards. And I don’t want to do that.
So instead, I’d like to invite you all back here on Tuesday morning when the entirety of The End – in all it’s overripe/overreaching glory – will be available to you all at once. Given the intensity of the discussion around the episode this week I actually think that this works out for the best. I’m not going to be burying the finale under an avalanche of angry/disappointed hyperbole, and I’m not going to be sprinkling fairy dust everywhere and shrugging. My reaction to The End was incredibly positive (COMMENCE YOUR STONING!) but also surprisingly complicated. Taking some uninterrupted time this weekend to express that properly is going to result in a much more satisfying wrap-up for me and, I hope, for you.
You’ve been collectively, wonderfully patient with me during past delays (see: Ab Aeterno), and I’d like to ask your patience one more time while I attempt to give this episode the kind of write-up I genuinely think it deserves. Those of you who’ve enjoyed my scribblings will, I think, be pleased by this.
Thanks (sincerely) for reading. I can’t wait to hear your thoughts.