Colleen Hayes/NBCI've never cried more over a TV episode. And many of you will be saying the same thing after watching the Parenthood series finale tonight.
The final hour of Jason Katims' six-season-old NBC masterpiece is impeccably crafted, deeply layered and emotionally resonate.
You will cry. But it's also important to know: It's not depressing. The storyline itself is actually beautiful and uplifting and hopeful…But oh, how you will cry buckets on top of buckets. Because what Katims and his writing team can do nothing about is this sad fact: When the episode ends, we have to say goodbye to a very real family we fans feel like we have been a part of. People who don't watch this show don't get it, but we fans know: This show has been unlike anything that has ever been on TV before. We all have felt like a Braverman. We feel like we KNOW the Bravermans. And this damn family will be sorely, sorely missed.
Rightly so, it's all the FEELS that the creator and cast believe to be Parenthood's legacy.
"The thing I'm most proud of on the show is just how deeply personal it is," Katims tells me, "and how you know, when people watch it, how emotional they get, how much they respond to it and it feels real to them. That's the thing I'm really proud of."
"It's the most honest show I've ever been a part of," says Braverman patriarch Craig T. Nelson (Zeek). "Honest meaning that it comes from a place with the writing where…the actors have the ability to tone it to who and what we are. It's collaborative in a way that I haven't really been a part of before."
"It's just a show that makes you feel," Monica Potter adds. "It's so relatable to everybody and it's just very…I don't know, I had no idea it would touch people's lives like it has."
"You touch people," Bonnie Bedelia says. "They're not just sitting there trying to figure out whodunit or whatever. They're engaged, they related and I think that's why we became actors, most of us."
Monica teased that fans would be feeling "like Sybil" a k a have multiple personalities, when they see the end because of all the conflicting emotions. Clearly, she's kidding, but the hopefulness and sadness of it all is richly poetic and you might need to rewatch the last five minutes a few times. (Or 20.)
"It's about life. Living the glory. The beauty. Everything," Joy Bryant teases in the most vague—and yet most accurate—non-spoiler of all time.
"We all felt so lucky to come back for this sixth and final season that from the day we started in the writer's room to the day we started shooting, our goal has been to try and give this show a great ending and that's all we've tried to do."
Dax Shepard just tweeted:
Kardashian jokes aside, it must be said: Kudos to NBC for keeping this gem around for so long, despite the ratings. Fans know that this show that in its smallness lied its beauty.
We'll miss you, Bravermans. #NeverForget
Check back right after the episode ends for the full scoop from Jason Katims on why everything ended the way it did—and the chances of a reunion. (YES, I AM ALREADY ASKING.)
Follow me on Twitter tonight to group hug and bond...I'm in the market for a new chosen family: @KristinDSantos