Is 'Graduation' REALLY any way to end this series? You be the judge.
Although I haven't actually seen GRADUATION in its entirety, I've been disappointed with the word of mouth regarding it.
First and foremost is the overuse of the "Sidekick saves the day while Heroine gets demoted to damsel" gimmick, which began with SINK OR SWIM. That's been done so many times throughout the series, there's no longer any suspense as to whether or not the world will be saved. The suspense is in wondering whether Kim herself will actually get the chance to do so--also, whether her wits and resources will extricate her from mortal peril--before the "Hand of God" does. After all, since the series bears Kim's name, it's no fun watching her get upstaged by her family (friends, guest stars) in almost every other show of the series. At least, not unless the end of said episode complements the proceedings.
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Here's an example:
Suppose, at the end of GRADUATION, Ron--having become the Supreme Monkey Master, to "save the cheerleader (Kim) and save the world" from those evil aliens--is recruited (right in front of family and friends) by other, good, aliens to keep their planet safe and free from the Lowardian Empire. Get this: The leader of these good aliens is a dead ringer for Kim! She talks and behaves like Kim, and looks like her...except for her Drakken-blue skin. So does Ron's fear of being separated from Kim after graduation come true, sort of. But Kim just wishes Ron well and blows him a kiss, calling after him to "send a postcard!" After all, there's no way she could protect the world as well as the Supreme Monkey Master...right? Naturally, the planet in question just happens to have a shortage of naked mole rats, so they need Rufus to breed and save the species from extinction. And so, in an homage to THE MATRIX, we pull back to a long shot of Middleton; then we pull back further, to an even longer shot of Planet Earth; THEN Ron, with Rufus in his pocket, literally flies out of Middleton and off into space to meet his destiny. Also, being Ron, he wastes little time introducing his alien hosts to the Naco.
Later, at the post-graduation beach party, Kim gets another hit on her site. Instead of responding to it, however, she recruits Felix to handle it. After all, Kim points out, "You're better at everything else than I am, so I'll just retire from saving the world and tutor Bonnie for her GED." When she mentions how Felix repeatedly rescued her and Ron from Motor Ed, Felix argues that was just the easy part...thereby proving Kim's point. With a smile and a shrug, he taps a button and his high-tech super-wheelchair transforms into a mini-jet plane. This makes things easier for Wade, since he'll never need to wrangle a ride for his new day-saver-for-hire. After Felix soars off to fill Kim's shoes, Senor Senior Junior takes his place on the volleyball court...having proven himself useless at helping Bonnie with her makeup-studies. When Kim steps in to assist her longtime rival, Bonnie is deeply touched; they walk off into the sunset, arm-in-arm. "Bonnie, after four years, I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship." (An homage to CASABLANCA.)
Over the end credits, as Drakken (and Shego)'s former colleagues discuss his (and her) reformation and full pardon by the UN, Felix and his super-wheelchair burst into the room. He thoroughly cleans all their clocks, trashing the room in the process. Finally, in an homage to THE NAKED GUN, he calls back to them: "And don't ever let me catch any of you guys in Middleton!"
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So, what do you think...better or worse than the GRADUATION script they actually used, or about the same? Thanks for your feedback!