Why Didn't The Other Two's Finale Feel Like A Series Finale? Grade It In Our Poll!
Thursday's supersized Season 3 finale of The Other Two is now officially a series finale, after Max announced the show is ending this week. But did it offer us any closure?
We begin with a flashback to simpler times, when Cary was still waiting tables with Curtis, and they enjoy a picnic in the park with food they stole from work. Brooke joins them and introduces them to Lance — who introduces them all to dabbing! But today, things aren't so simple: Cary is still living in that tent in the park while his Method actor boyfriend Lucas is off shooting his Brokeback Mountain ripoff, and he's slowly going insane, eating beans by the campfire and repeatedly texting his agent Mackenzie about finding a director for his Oscar bait movie. He loses all track of time, growing a beard and leaving a barrage of deranged voicemails for Mackenzie before deciding to confront her in person in the Hamptons. Great idea!
He shows up at her door and bellows at her for not answering his calls, but Mackenzie points out it's only been one day since their meeting. (His beard then promptly vanishes.) She snaps at him for ordering her around, reminding him of all she's done for his career. It's too late for him to get back to the city, so Mackenzie kindly offers him a spare room for the night... and when he catches a glimpse of Mackenzie's seriously ill mother in another bedroom, he realizes why she's been off the grid. Once he gets a moment to himself in the bathroom, he breaks down in sobs. The next morning, he calls Pat to tell her he doesn't need funding for his movie anymore — which comes as a big relief to her — and gets a ride to the house where Curtis is celebrating his birthday. But first, he sees a news report about Lucas wandering the streets naked and disoriented after finishing his movie. He doesn't know who to be anymore! And also, he's Australian? And has a husband?
Curtis is understandably guarded when Cary drops by, but Cary assures him he just wants to talk. "I'm trying not to care about work as much, starting now, because I think it's fully killing me," he admits, realizing that his ambition has left him with no friends. He asks Curtis about his new boyfriend, and the ice between them melts a bit, although Curtis can't invite him to stay since Cary was so rude to his friends. (He does show Cary a photo of his boyfriend's d—k, though, so that's nice.) Cary is wandering the beach alone when he gets a call from Mackenzie. Indie darling Kelly Reichardt wants to direct his movie, and Harry Styles wants to play his gay love interest! Cary mulls this golden opportunity as the waves crash around his ankles...
But before we find out what he decides, we cut to Brooke, who's giddy about receiving a Peabody Award for her charity telethon. She's worried that this is too good to be true — and she might be right, since reporters from The Atlantic and Buzzfeed are furiously typing away at competing takedown articles. They're not going after her, though: They're targeting Chase and Pat, him for exploiting mental health for album sales, and her for her nasty tweets about Ohio. When the stories go live, fans are enraged, and advertisers are pulling out of Pat's show left and right. They need a fall guy, and everyone naturally turns to Streeter... but Brooke quickly steps in, going live on MSNBC to say that Chase and Pat are innocent and she's the one who did all those bad things: "I'm a full bitch, 24/7. Ask anyone." She even released a statement in Chase and Pat's name firing her as their manager.
Her plan works: The MSNBC chyron literally says, "Brooke Dubek is bad," and they even rescind her Peabody. But Chase and Pat are eternally grateful, and Streeter says he's getting emails from people who want Brooke to represent them. (He just made up that part, though.) Brooke leaves the awards show... to find Lance waiting for her. He covered for her to back up her lie, and he even admits he hired a publicist to land that People magazine cover. (His publicist's name was in his contacts as Sharon Haircut.) Brooke starts to beat herself up for being a bad person, but Lance stops her, reminding her that she loves her job and she was there for her family. They both admit they miss each other, too, and though Lance says he wants to take things slow, he runs back into her arms for a romantic kiss in the rain: "F—k it! Let's just go fast!"
A week later, Pat takes her family back to that fake Applebee's for a nice quiet dinner, and Lance is moving in with Brooke. Cary explains that he turned down that movie offer and just spent the week on the beach, renting a house and decompressing: "I actually read a whole book." He even ran into the guy who played the judge on Emily Overruled, who invited him to join his beach barbecue and introduced him to a new set of friends. Meanwhile, Streeter is now managing Chase, who reveals he actually did get that unfortunate "Piglet with boobs" tattoo. (Yikes.) Streeter also tells Brooke he really is getting emails from big celebrities who want her to represent them and be the bad guy on their behalf. "So it's good to be bad?" Brooke asks, flashing a devilish smile at the camera.
So in the end, Brooke and Cary each got their version of a happy ending, we suppose — but the finale didn't tie up many loose ends or give us the sense that the series was ending. Chase's tattoo reveal, in particular, felt like a setup for a potential Season 4 storyline. The showrunners have said that "this was where we wanted to end" the Dubek family's stories... but this didn't really feel like it should be the end, did it? Or do we just love this show too much to say goodbye? (If Heléne Yorke doesn't get an Emmy nomination this year, we riot.) We want to know what you think: Give the finale a grade in our poll, and then hit the comments to share your take.