MSCL.com

I never got to see the entire series until I bought the DVD set. After watching the last episode, I have to say...what the hell happened next?!
It must be a testament to the quality of the show but I have an empty feeling now inside that can never be filled. Was episode 19 the season finale or did they never actually complete the first season production?

How did the play turn out? Did Rayanne and Angela ever make up? What happens with Angela, Jordan and Brain..er Brian? God, I'd settle for roughly sketched out scripts for season 2 if they would only had written them.

Episode 19 was indeed the last episode. As to what happened next, we will never know and it might be better that way, so that each of us can imagine what should have happened the next day, the next week, the next month.

There was a book by Catherine Clark called "My So-Called Life Goes On" which picks up where "In Dreams Begin Responsibilities" ends, but the fan fiction available at this website is much better, IMHO.

I never got to see the entire series until I bought the DVD set. After watching the last episode, I have to say...what the hell happened next?!

I loved the uncertainty of the ending. As Candygirl said.. thats kinda the magic of the show, leaves us wondering.. what did happen next?

I guess it was probably written in mind to continue in another series, but i'm glad there was no cheesy 90210 ending where everything works out just fine and all the characters live happily ever after. The loose ends are open to interpretation and thats why we have these great fanfics from fans!

Gem

If time travel happens to be practical anytime soon I would most certainly go to the lot when they were filming the episodes and PAY them to at least wrap up the season in full....


IN the meantime I would settle for the wrtier to tell us what was going to happen.

Red !

I mentioned this in another thread, but I'll say it again. I'm happy the show ended where it did. I like the open-endedness (real word? ) of it. It's good that people are left not knowing who Angela chose to be with and how Graham's restaurant biz turned out. It leaves a lot to the imagination, which is something lacking in today's world. And just think, it could have ended one episode earlier, The Weekend, with Danielle saying "best weekend ever!" and Angela saying, "by the way, thanks." How lame would that have been? It's just like a great book or CD where you just want to start over again the minute you finish. I love it! I almost don't want to know what happens next. Mysterious-like!

I just got the dvd for christmas and its probably been 2 or 3 years since i've seen it. i watched the last episode and in a way forgot the ending and now that i've seen it i wanna cry for this television series. Has anyone ever seen a movie and wish that it never ended. I wish this had never ended. I mean what a freakin awesome show and abc never picked up more of it and it just ended. And how depressing to...all the actors prolly thought that they were just taking a break and then it just ended. thats it...NO more MSCL. i mean wtf!!! And i gotta say as stupid as Jordon was I loved him, even if he was reaaaaaaal dumb i wanted her to be with him, well thas all

I think the begin and end points were just about perfect. It's like a 15-hour movie, where each important story arc begins in transition and ends resolved. (Some of the less important ones do not; Life is hard. )

Examples...

Then: Angela and her childhood friend Sharon have grown apart. Angela has learned all she can from Sharon and has become friends with the vastly different and interesting Rayanne. Rickie has not admitted that he's gay, and is being persecuted by a family that will not deal. Graham is working at a job he hates, and Patty is unhappy knowing that. Angela has the hots for Jordan, but is too unsure of herself to go after him. Brian has the hots for Angela, but is too unsure of himself to tell her that.

Now: Angela and Sharon's friendship has been lost and rebuilt in a new form. Rayanne and Sharon are becoming friends, they will learn from each other and grow as people. Angela's friendship with Rayanne has ended but will return in a new form once Angela realizes how much she owes Rayanne. Angela has become more confident (Rayanne's doing), and so has been able to get the attention of Jordan. Jordan has realized that there is more to girls in general and Angela in particular than looks, so a real relationship between them has become possible. Brian has finally, albeit indirectly, told Angela what he thinks of her, and you can feel his relief, that he can finally let it go. Graham is doing something he loves, Patty loves that. Rickie has admitted who he is, he has a new "family" where he is accepted, and he has a real friend who is not Rayanne and is not destroying him with her craziness.

One more episode would have been nice, I can see where it would (or at least should) have gone, and I'd love to see it happen, but where it actually ended is fine.

As I understand it, It was meant to be the season finale but it was assumed that there would be a second season so it was never intended to be a proper series finale. Therefore, I think we have to consider MSCL an unfinished work. Unfinished works of art can still be very meaningful and important (like the Canterbury tales for instance) but they should never be evaluated or treated as self contained complete entities.

What we can do is use our knowledge of the characters and situations to speculate on what would happen next. But, unfortunately, the sad truth is that speculative fanfiction cannot ever really fill the void left by the premature cancellation of this show. I think the thing that depresses me the most is the tragedy of Brian. In a second season, it very well might have been the case that Angela would have eventually realized that she was indeed in love with Brian, and at some point there could have been an episode in which they suddenly release their pent up emotional tension and kiss, and so forth. And even if they never did hook up, at least Brian could possibly have hooked up with Someone. In any case, that would have been unbelievably powerful to SEE, and even though I can imagin it, an idea like that can never substitute for the actual sight and sound of the real actors in a real episode. So my biggest regret is that we never get to SEE anything truly good happen to Brian Krakow, and that means that we really have no idea what it would look like. My only hope is that one day computer generated animation will allow us to recreate the characters perfectly; then maybe the original cast would be willing to do the voices and the series could be completed...
But I won't be holding my breath...

Arch Geek wrote:As I understand it, It was meant to be the season finale but it was assumed that there would be a second season so it was never intended to be a proper series finale.

I could be wrong, but I'm not sure that's true; I think that by that time they knew they were cancelled (although I could be confusing my facts with Freaks and Geeks' cancellation.) Anyway, I enjoyed reading your post, welcome to the forum Arch Geek!

Here's where I got that from:

Dan: When you wrote the final episode, did you know at that point that there wouldn't be any more?

Winnie: No, that's why the episode is the way it is. I mean, the episode... I was pretty...it was really unclear.

This is from the partial transcript of the Bonus DVD interview on this website. I wonder what she would have done differently had she known it was the last one...

Ah, that does clear it up. I questioned my post even as I was posting it; it's been so long since I viewed the extra DVD, it was misplaced for so long, but reading the transcript, it did ring a bell. I was definitely thinking of Freaks and Geeks' episode 18 season finale.

I'm sure this has been said before, but for the most part, I'm glad the show ended like it did. Most shows, even high-quality ones, tend to lose steam and end up "re-tooling" to be more appealing to a certain demographic. Because it was cancelled when it was, it remains a time capsule for a certain age group; a moment in time that kept its power because it was never watered down.

You don't know what an empty feeling is after a show is ended.... how about the 2 main characters getting blown up in a tunnell and you not knowing if they made it out or if they died.... this has been destroying me in side for several years now....

lecter5761 wrote:I'm sure this has been said before, but for the most part, I'm glad the show ended like it did. Most shows, even high-quality ones, tend to lose steam and end up "re-tooling" to be more appealing to a certain demographic. Because it was cancelled when it was, it remains a time capsule for a certain age group; a moment in time that kept its power because it was never watered down.

I guess they did it in this way so we could make our own end....what would hapeened with Angela and Jordan or Angela and Brian....with Ricky and his unhappy life .... I don't think the show would have a happy end......

lecter5761 wrote:I'm sure this has been said before, but for the most part, I'm glad the show ended like it did. Most shows, even high-quality ones, tend to lose steam and end up "re-tooling" to be more appealing to a certain demographic. Because it was cancelled when it was, it remains a time capsule for a certain age group; a moment in time that kept its power because it was never watered down.

i agree with this. i love the show because it reminds me of a really good time in my life. i loved what was going on in culture, and i was just getting into going to dances and seeing girls, and it's just nice to watch and remember the time period.