Summary
Brilliantly arranged but frustratingly unresolved, the ending of American Classic plays to all the show’s strengths — but also its unexpected weakness.
Since the very beginning, American Classic has had an obviously deep and abiding love of art in general and theatre specifically. This has sometimes flirted with being obnoxious, but it’s only right that the show’s ending is the most explicit manifestation of art’s power to not only imitate life but to shape and color it with new details. Thorton Wilder’s Our Town is indeed an American classic, and in building much of the finale around the work’s closeness to the interpersonal dramas of Millersburg’s locals, MGM+’s underratedly charming comedy pulls off its deftest and most thoughtful flourish.
But as we predicted in the penultimate episode, the late revelation about Miranda’s real parentage leads to a slight lack of resolution that Episode 8 would have benefited from. If any show would have suited a happy ending, it’s probably this one, yet the subplot is avoided rather than dealt with, and while there’s a little bit of thematic meaning in how it all shakes out, I can’t help but think the whole thing would have been slightly more satisfying had it ended more completely, esspecially since it isn’t the type of thing that’s likely to be renewed in a competitive streaming market.
Crossed Wires
Things get pretty complicated immediately. Kristen and Richard decide to tell Jon about their affair, which might have sired Miranda, but Jon is eager to tell Kristen about his having gambled away Miranda’s college fund, and he gets there first. Initially, this seems like an opportunity, since if Kristen can forgive Jon for his most significant transgression, perhaps he can do the same for her.
Beginning a trend that lasts the entire finale, though, Kristen doesn’t quite have the opportunity to get the words out. Jon is still none the wiser. And with opening night coming up, there are other things to be focusing on. Miranda is the same. Linus has some encouraging words from the Bard for her — a quote from Hamlet: “To thine own self be true, And it must follow, as the night the day, Thou canst not then be false to any man.”
In other words, she’s going to wait until after the show, tell Jon the truth, and then never speak to Kristen or Richard again. Time to cling to the work.
Art Imitates Life
The highlight of American Classic Episode 8 is, predictably, the performance of Our Town itself, and for various reasons. The newly lo-fi production shifts all the focus onto the text itself and to the nuances of performance that help to bring it to life in lieu of elaborate props and theatrics. In the process, we get to see in real time how its timely themes and enduring characters relate so closely to the present-day dramas of Millerburg’s citizenry.
This effect is also achieved through a lot of nifty cinematic craft; how the camera often lingers not on characters performing the scene, but on other actors listening to it and hearing their own lives reflected back at them. It’s a very smart and effective approach that really understands the universality of great art and does a lot of dramatic heavy lifting, allowing us to understand the headspace of characters like Richard, Jon, Miranda, and Kristen, by the way they interpret the material and the way they interpret each other interpreting the material.
You probably don’t need me to tell you that the performance is a resounding success, as we all knew it would be.
Actors Act
Where the ending of American Classic is slightly let down is in the lack of resolution following the performance. Immediately, Miranda darts off to find Jon, who’s in the kitchen, while Richard and Kristen attempt to find her before she can spill the beans — or to least help clean up the mess once she does. On the way, they’re relentlessly stymied by people demanding their attention, including Connor, who loved the production and especially Nadia’s understated role in it, and Richard’s nemesis critic, who hasn’t been seen since the premiere.
Miranda is able to get to Jon, then, but she doesn’t tell him the truth because she can’t bring herself to break his heart. And that means telling Richard and Kristen not to tell him either. From this point on, they all need to portray one big, happy family, and since they’re all actors, that should be a doddle.
Except it won’t, thanks to Linus, who announces to everyone that Richard is Miranda’s father just as a family photo is being taken. And that’s where we leave things, somewhat disappointingly. But perhaps we’ll return to Millersburg after all.
