Farewell, Bravermans: Parenthood Comes to A Close

I’ve written here before about my love for NBC’s Jason Katims-created family drama, Parenthood. Tonight at 9 p.m. CST, the show is ending after six seasons and I have no idea how to cope.

I caught the pilot the night this show first aired, back in March 2010, almost exclusively because Lauren Graham was on it and I miss Gilmore Girls more than any other cancelled show. I didn’t enjoy it then, and didn’t re-visit the show until I was urged to years later by my friend Stef. She’d just binge-watched all the Parenthood Netflix had to offer because she was then suffering from Friday Night Lights withdrawal. Skeptical, I went back to that first episode but stuck with it. Now what am I going to do after tonight’s series finale?

This show isn’t perfect. Many on social media have reminded me that Lauren Graham’s character never really developed past being a love interest for a series of men. Many of us also have complaints about Kristina’s outlandish story lines, made all the more frustrating after an extremely realistic and meaningful one about her battle with cancer in season four. I personally have rarely cared what’s going on with any of the show’s many children, save Max.

But as I’ve written before, the show portrays realistic relationships within a close, loving family, and those relationships are human, flawed, and lovely. Straight up, this show makes me cry at least once every episode. Maybe I also cry at some beer commercials featuring animals, but Parenthood brings real emotion and conflict to the table consistently, every week. I love spending time with the Braverman family and I am genuinely, truly going to miss them. They have grown and so have I, and we’ve all come a long way since spring of 2010.

That said, I’ve got some predictions for tonight’s finale. Naturally, if you’re not caught up, be warned that here be spoilers:

• First and foremost: Zeek is totally going to keel over in this final episode, right? Like, I feel like this entire, shortened sixth season has been prepping us for this death. I’m surprised he didn’t die in the last episode, after learning his great-grandson had been named after him. It’s the circle of lifeeeeee.
• I call some final development between Max and Dylan, although I have no idea what that will look like. I only think this because the camera lingered on her a little too long in a scene at the end of last week’s episode.
• Haddie will make an appearance. (But will they address that the last time we saw her, at some point in season five, she was dating a woman? Or are they just never going to re-visit that? So many questions.)
• There will be at least one José González OR one Ray LaMontagne song playing in the background.
• There will be a family dinner held outside, under some strings of lights.
• A minimum of seven hugs will be seen.
• Stef predicts that Drew will still have failed to wash his hair.
• A second friend of mine calls that the Luncheonette will expand and somehow partner with the Chambers Academy, hopefully assuaging the financial woes Adam and Kristina have found themselves steeped in thanks to these, their respective creations.
• Another friend predicts that a cleaned-up Ryan will come back to Amber, but I kind of really don’t want this to happen.
• And finally, a fourth friend predicts the last shot will be of Camille hanging up a portrait she painted of Zeek. This seems pretty solid to me.

Will you be watching? What do you see happening in tonight’s finale?