With years of hind sight, I can say that nothing they could have done would have lived up to the hype behind the finale of such an iconic series. They went out as the #1 dad sitcom, mind you. They left on a high note. I still remember the finale being a topic of discussion during my sophomore year in German class on the day after it aired. The teacher was not one to deviate from lesson plans. I failed the class but you don't care about my life story.

I think the cast, writers and staff had fun making that episode, and despite the criticism that received, maybe we owe them enough respect to at least appreciate their final days of working together. As fans, we get to relive little moments through references and clips, but they actually relived some of their best days as a team by bringing back The Soup Nazi, the low-talker, Jackie Chiles, Sidra, Marla etc.. They even gave a great one-liner to Puddy right before Elaine is hauled off to jail.

Most notably, they also blessed the episode with Babu. Babu? Babu. Babu...

Babu's deliberate finger wagging is one of two moments that truly redeemed the finale for me. During his earlier appearances, it's an erratic finger wag, but when he got on the stand to testify against the very bad man, it was...

\

/

\

/

The other moment that must be mentioned: George admitting that he cheated during the contest. George, the most unethical, insecure and petty member of the party feels so guilty in the moments before he expects to die that he has to come clean. You have to appreciate the irony of a show with a rule about "no hugging, no learning" to write that in.

tl;dr The finale was disappointing, but they were already at a peak going into it. At least the Puerto Rican Day episode finally managed to get Art Vandelay, Kel Varnsen and H. E. Pennypacker together.