So sad it's over! | My thoughts on the final episode of BBC Ghosts
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- Опубліковано 9 січ 2024
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ghosts, BBC, television, horrible histories, yonderland, idiot six, idiot 6, tv, video essay, university, film and tv, film studies, button house, Alison, Thomas Thorne, the captain, robin, kitty, mary, julian, pat, humphry, mike, plague ghosts, fanny, Mathew Baynton, Simon Farnaby, Martha Howe-Douglas, Jim Howick, Laurence Rickard, Ben Willbond, Katy Wix, Lolly Adefope, Kiell Smith-Bynoe, Charlotte Ritchie, capvers, havers
Overall I agree with you and definitely think that the episode should have been longer! The last few minutes felt like "we've decided it's ending, so here's an ending" as opposed to it being a natural ending. I felt like it was a shame that didn't flesh out things like Mia being able to interact with the ghosts and the ghost's feelings around the changes.
They could have had a lovely montage with the mixed feelings of them moving out; going to ask Alison for things and then remembering she wasn't there anymore; the renovation work (maybe Robin recognising one of his "pals" and then the opening of the hotel; their new routines and habits; the excitement at seeing Alison again for the first time and then a few more visits over the years (perhaps including Mia losing the ability to see the ghosts and some of them moving on).
It was a decent enough concept, it just needed fleshing out a bit more.
It feels to me like this episode started off as a 60 minute script and then somewhere along the way (maybe quite last minute?) the creators got told they were only getting a 30 minute slot and had to edit it down as best they could.
I'd have liked to see Alison saying goodbye to each of the ghosts in parallel to the s1 scene where she asks them all what they want from her - they are standing in the same place in the driveway when she leaves so that could have worked really well.
Would have been nice to have some acknowledgement of just how much the ghosts were sacrificing, being parted from the only person who could interact and make meaningful changes to their afterlives.
Also would have liked them to remember that Alison is going to see ghosts literally everywhere, although I think it is implied that Button House does have an unusually high number.
So sad it's over but it will always have a special place in my heart😢❤
The ending really felt rushed to me as well and didn't feel natural after all the things that the prior episode set up. But another reason I didn't like this episode was that I feel like they really did Thomas' and Kitty's characters dirty. Thomas is still creepily pining over Alison in this very final episode and seems to have learned nothing from that (I was hoping that him watching Obi and his heartbreak in the prior episode would have taught him something about himself bc that would have made sense) and Kitty is back to being a jealous person despite her arc with Lucy in series 3 and in spite of how excited she was throughout series 5 to meet this baby. Tbh her character in series 5 in general did feel very lost to me bc they didn't seem to know what to do with her and this was the straw that broke the camel's back. And it just sucks to see that Thomas hasn't grown at all throughout the whole show apart from that one admittedly very good moment with Pat. I still love them both and the rest of the characters, but man did this episode feel rushed and sloppy. It wasn't a satisfying ending to me. Nobody should harass the creators though, that's ridiculous and mean spirited.
I like Mathew Baynton very much I always have and I always will💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖
@@EleanorWhite-ml9xw they typed a whole essay and then 💀
@@IEatRawOnions I like Mathew Baynton very much I always have and I always will 💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖he is the only one I love and look up to
Your critique is spot on!! Watching here in the US, I felt the same about the episode feeling rushed and they could have stretched it to an hour. They possibly had several episode ideas in the hopper that they tried to cram into this final one.
Hopefully, the time gaps leave the door open for a special "reunion" episode showing baby Mia seeing the ghosts because they could possibly not have had to move out of the house for a year or so before the resort took over. Here's hoping!!
The original UK Ghosts is far superior to the US version of Ghosts. I don't even watch it.
I absolutely LOVED this ep, but I also feel like the ending was a bit rushed and I wish it was longer, sadly I don’t think the episode length has anything to do with the writers, maybe the BBC only allow them about 30 minutes :(
I like Mathew Baynton very much I always have and I always will💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖
I’ve been a big fan of the show from the moment it first aired. But I felt a little underwhelmed by this final episode. It didn’t tug at my heart strings as much as other episodes and I didn’t find the story to be especially gripping. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t dislike the episode. But, being a final episode (and a Christmas episode at that) I was hoping for something a bit more epic and a little more profound. It could have been an average episode in the middle of an ordinary series. This is probably an unpopular opinion but I’d hoped for something more and was a bit disappointed.
Agreed. This fell very flat for me and I have mixed feelings about the ending.
i think that's the most popular opinion, at least from what i've seen on the ghosts subreddit.
In my opinion. They should have just stayed. The entire message of this episode is that your family will always love you no matter what……..
So just pack up everything and abandon them.
Thank you for waiting to post this ep for a while Aus didn’t get the ep until 3 days later which isn’t a big wait but I still got massive spoilers.
What an articulate and great review and its obvious how much you loved the show and cared for the characters.
I'm with you on it. Mixed feelings. It was brilliant but it definitely needed to be longer with a few more final scenes.
Seeing Alison and Mike in their later years at the end was a tear jerker definitely.
It would have been good to see some scenes building up to that or as you say how they came to get their own room.
(Also, why was the room called the Higham suite? I didn't get the reference there).
Would i have ended it differently? I don't know. Part of me thought when watching for the first time that when all the ghosts were so selfless they might have all been 'sucked off' (sorry couldn't help it!!), ahem moved on at the same time.
Also thought it would have been funny if Barclay had died in the house and got stuck with the ghosts and perhaps Julian had the last line "ahhh, not the most morally bankrupt now!".
Final thought is just that I'll miss it and just wanted more.
I agree with everything you said! My 2 big points are 1. This episode should have been at least 45 mins. The exorcism was kind of lame and you never felt like it was going to work on the ghosts. And the goodbye was rushed. I still cried buckets, but I did want something more. Ofc, I thought the sauna was great! 2. The end of season 5 never really made sense to me. Like, it didn't make sense for Mike and Alison to stay in the house when they had seemingly exhausted all avenues of making money there, and they didn't pan out. Why would you choose to live under a mountain of crippling debt when the payout from the sale of the house means you would be minted? Especially with a child to pay for. I think that Alison made her decision to stay based on emotion. But when the baby was actually THERE, it was a different story. She had a new priority. When it comes down to it, would you really base your life choices around people who are dead?
In general, I liked the episode. I'm not sad for the ghosts. In the long run the hotel is better for them because they can have adventures with the guests. They have touched on boredom a lot in series 5 and through the entire show. Even with Alison there, they were still bored of talking about the same things for the last several hundred years! And who knows? There is a good possibility that they will meet a guest or member of the hotel staff who can see them!!
Even though I'm really sad to see the show end, being an American, I know what it's like when TV shows overstay their welcome. It happens here all the time...
One more thing I thought would have been great is if Alison and the ghosts sang one last Christmas carol together!!! 😭
My feelings: I didn't like it. I don't hate it. I just did not like it.
The good: The entire plotline with Mike's Mom was perfectly fine and made sense. It was kind of bland as a plotline. But it was serviceable, it was well acted, and it made sense.
My reasons are a lot of the things you already brought up, plus one thing you haven't touched on.
1) If you weren't going to leave because someone in the house literally tried to murder you, leaving because you have a baby makes NO SENSE. If you're going to leave, that's when you leave.
Related comments:
--Living in a big house with a lot of people is a very traditional way to live. A lot of people have done it for centuries in those big old houses or even in smaller houses, so it doesn't make sense to suddenly be put off by having all the ghosts there.
--People live with children in old houses all the time. Alison and Mike have been fixing up the place forever. It is not a baby death trap and it's weird hearing you talk like it is.
2) Mike and Alison leaving doesn't actually fix their problems.
--Mike and Alison still have crap job skills and job prospects. Renting out the house was actually the most sensible thing they could have done.
--Alison can still see ghosts. Better to have a house in the country with the few ghosts she knows and loves than a new house with new ghosts to adjust to. Because even if it's not haunted now, there will be some eventually. And she'll have to walk the streets of whatever town she lives in going about her business to get food and clothes and so on. Are you really telling me she'd rather walk the streets of Manchester or London or some such, surrounded by thousands of years worth of ghosts rather than staying in her own house where she has a modicum of control?
So yeah, I'd take the house full of ghosts she knows and built-in babysitters and having a house she can rent out to people over having to find a new place and start over from the beginning with new ghosts who might not be as well-disposed to her and her baby. Kidnapping the baby of someone who can see ghosts is a valid plotline and entirely possible with various ghost abilities. And that's not even taking into account the found family aspect and her affection for the Button House ghosts.
It also means no reading for the ghosts, and that''s sad. And it means no more bedrooms for the ghosts. That's another thing to consider. Now that have to sleep in closets so they don't get people walking through them or sleeping on top of them. And we know going through a ghost is painful and icky for the ghost. So the more people sleeping there regularly the more uncomfortable and sleep-deprived the ghosts will be.
So yeah. I wouldn't have minded Alison leaving at the end of Series 5. That would have been a reasonable point to throw in the towel even with the apology. But she didn't. Doing so months later feels like her not reciprocating the ghost's gesture. Think gift of the magi, where both people give up a beloved possession in order to buy a gift for the other. The ghosts gave up something they dearly loved, and Alison ran off with it without a second thought after deciding previously that she would stay no matter what.
It was just weird and nonsensical, and that's why I consider it a bad ending.
I'm going to stick with them dancing to Achy Breaky Heart as the true Ghosts ending. It's better than either of the official endings we got.
ETA: And yes, if Alison had left after Julian's apology, I would accept that as the sad but true ending of the show. Her staying afterward was kind of meh, but doesn't conflict with my vision of them still dancing, so I still like the line dance as the best last scene.
See...I agree with what you're saying about how Alison is characterized: The ghosts are her children. She plays the role of a parent, and thus with Mia coming along, this requires a move on. That in itself made the storyline understandable for me but it's just...it's an instance of there being too much of a lesson for me to truly enjoy it and treasure it. It did what it meant to but as Mia was unnecessary to me, any lessons or whatever that are brought on because of her just fall flat, cause I would rather see Mike and Alison just live in the house with the ghosts (or, had Alison been a little more able/willing to find a way to bring Mia into the ghost life) I think I would have liked it better.
It felt so rushed and anticlimactic for me. Like I was expecting a tear jerker finale and I was just like… oh okay. It was too sudden to build anticipation.
And yeah the about face from the last episode of series 5 didn’t make a great deal of sense.
I enjoyed it as a general episode though, and there were funny moments. As a finale, not so much. It didn’t feel like one at all.
I think I agree with you. To me all the bits hung together well, but there did seem to be a bit of a rush to fit all the ideas in. I think they could have filled an hour easily without adding any extra elements in, just making more of each element, leading us to the final solution.
I feel the ending works really well in terms of where they end up. In modern western society, generally young families don't live with their extended families, they just keep in touch and visit often.
I wonder if they managed to sort out some method of communication where, with Julian's help, they could send and receive electronic updates. Maybe including a personalised set of emojis to save him wrist strain.
They perhaps could have set up a way of doing video calls - send a joining link for Julian to click on, so he doesn't strain his finger.
@@hannahk1306 It'd have to be an ordinary phone call, as the ghosts don't appear on camera or video. We know from Alison trying to take a photo of Thomas and the Plaguers that they don't show up - but we do know that they can be heard on a phone, from the episode where Robin tells Alison that Button House is being burgled. The only possible exception is Fanny, who has been seen faintly in photos but even she wouldn't be on screen in the same way a living person would.
@@tracyl8 Seeing as Alison can see the ghosts, I'd imagine that she could see them over a video call too and Mike wouldn't see anything except the occasional glimpse of Fanny or Julian moving something.
Similar to when they tried to call the police only the little plague girl could be heard, but in a later episode Alison could hear all of them through Mike's phone. So I think Allison's powers work across technology.
@hannahk1306 Yesh, Alison can definitely hear them over the phone where others can't. But she couldn't see any of the ghosts on camera even though she was looking directly at them and then at the screen.
It's fun speculating on what would work in the ghosts' world. They could definitely set Julian up with a phone for talking on at least, though! Then again, maybe they'd be afraid that they'd be pestered with phone calls!
It's certainly a shame that the series has come to an end, but I'm certainly happy with what we have gotten.
I did like how they ended it, even though as you said it was a bit of a strong contrast to s5e6's ending about them choosing to stay.
But I was happy with the episode, I liked the realisation that the Ghosts are just like Mike's Mum, and that they can't raise Mia in an environment like that. I also agree with you about it would've worked better if it was longer, there was a few things that felt a bit rushed to the point that even the emotional climax didn't get me welling up because it happened too quickly.
I've seen a lot of people hate on how this episode ended, and I think they need to watch this video to understand the messages a bit more. I love your parallel of the ghosts 'moving on' to Alison, Mike & Mia 'moving on'.
I'll definitely miss your coverage of the episodes, I'm guessing you'll still cover the US Ghosts as that's still going (hope they don't run that into the ground). Would you think about covering some of the six idiots other works like Yonderland? Or the more obscure Quacks, which had Mat in a larger role with Ben & Simon making small appearances? There'll always be a plethora of comedies to cover regardless.
Im the opposite. I couldnt stand the Betty plotline and found it took so much focus away from Alison and the ghosts. She wasnt a fun annoying character, just annoying, and the ghosts seemed to revert to the worst versions of themselves to play up them being as annoying and interfering as Betty which previously they had learned not to be. Kitty and Thomas especially. There were almost no wholesome moments between Alison and the ghosts, just her being done with them, you'd forget she loves them so much.
Im fine with Alison and Mike moving out, it was just so rushed, we had no real goodbyes just a montage and Alison looking sad I feel like Charlotte wasnt given much to say in her final episode. I would have liked to see the ghosts be happy at the hotel rather than it being confirmed after by the writers. I have a theory they wanted to do 40 minites or more but the BBC didnt let them which is such a shame.
Although it might not have been the ending i hoped for, i am glad we did get a proper ending. Spoiler alert ......The big plot-hole is that they did try to move out earlier but they didn't since she saw ghosts everywhere they went.. What i liked about this ending is also that they left the door to future special episodes wide open. Sad that it is ending but so much better than so many series that never get to properly end at all.
Overall, I quite liked this episode, but I would add just one thing, an epilogue to the epilogue, Alison returning in her old age, and dying there, staying on as a ghost herself.
I don't know about that! From the way the universe of the show works (think of the way all the other ghosts died), she'd have to die in some unexpected or sudden way (like say being pushed out of a window). It wouldn't be her just dying peacefully in her sleep or something, and I wouldn't want to see that...she's too genuinely nice a person.
@@cethomas324You could have a brief moment where she says goodbye to the ghosts that are left (that's her unfinished business) and then moves on.
@@hannahk1306Good idea. And I bet that’s exactly what she’d do!
Really hated the final episode. Too much time was wasted on obnoxious, meddling Betty. Exorcisms do not evoke that warm, Christmas feeling. I would have liked to see Alison find a way to balance the needs of her baby and the needs of the Ghosts. It would have been better if they "lived happily ever after" in the same house. Unrealistic? Hola! This is a TV show and it is supposed to be fun and warm... and not depressing, sad, and "realistic". At least, the Plague Ghosts got a happy ending in the Christmas special... unlike the rest of us.
I like Mathew Baynton very much I always have and I always will💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖💖
you should watch the dumping ground
OOO it hurt!! However I did like the ending
Of course it was heartbreaking
But I’m so relieved no one moved on I think that was the main fear throughout everyone. It’s a lovely ending it does make sense
I do love the fact that the Ghosts realise that Alison has her own family and of course her found family love her but they need to let her go to grow and to make memories with Mia & Mike which I’m sure she’d share with the Ghosts which is a nice thought and pictures of Mia too so it feels like they are involved in the family too. The fact that Alison keeps visiting makes that ending better and makes it easier to be at peace with it. I’ll miss Ghosts but I’m so excited for what the six idiots (or Themthere) have up their sleeves next! ❤