What's weird is that I would absolutely not resent a critic for preferring season 2 — it WAS better — but I'm worried about the whole grading structure.

Gay Witch Hunt might seem a bit dated now (nice to see how we've progressed), but it was an absolute classic in its time. Perfect writing, perfect performances. Irrefutably an A.

Here's what I feel is the more appropriate question:

There is also the alternative where the show ends with the wonderful scene under the umbrella…

But he DID CHANGE!

The whole sales pitch on situating the entire season in Farhampton was the idea that THIS was where he met the mother. Since it was literally the most important part of the story, it deserved an entire season's worth of coverage.

To me, the failure of this finale is more comparable to that of Lost than Seinfeld or Dexter.

I did think season 4 was the weakest at the time (I seem to have loved Season 1 more than most, and 2 & 3 are pretty universally revered), but that doesn't mean it was bad.

The success of that "original" ending is predicated on the idea that Robin was the perfect ending for Ted.

As someone who was familiar with him (and pushing him aggressively as an artist to watch), I was also surprised to see him there this early. That said, it was the right call. "Stay With Me" shot as high as #6 on iTunes after the performance. I believe that's the biggest spike this year by a considerable margin,…

"Look away, I'm hideous."

I agree with you that Mike isn't some greedy, callous guy — we saw that he was screwed over in trying to become a lawyer; it wasn't like he straight-up wanted to cheat the system — but I don't follow this rant about an exclusionary system.

His bar exam isn't legit though. I don't remember how they got him registered with the bar, but you can't actually sit for the NYS bar without graduating law school.

I'm not saying it's anywhere near the only problem, but some contempt for the show definitely could be alleviated if the acting were better.

Here's the difference:

But I'm confused - she didn't really negotiate her ass off. If I followed the scene correctly, she was basically saying she would serve as an unpaid intern (by functioning as a summer associate year-round) AND forego her signing bonus in exchange for the tuition payment. She actually got NOTHING beyond a promotion…

— "Mad Henry" is the best character on TV right now. It's not even a competition.

Was the writing really that good here?

So people liked the Party All the Time vocals but hated this performance?

I recognize that wasn't the intent. As noted, I didn't feel the episode had to be monumental from a storyline/emotional standpoint, and it's possible I would have even found the finale to be dishonest if it went too far with the emotional grandstanding.