now it's over
Things I wish we'd have gotten: Penny's last name. I know, doesn't matter, would've been nice though. Meeting Howard's dad. Would've been nice to see some resolution there. Meeting Stuart's parents would've been cool too. Raj getting a long-term girlfriend. I always liked both Emily and Anu. I know, not everyone ends up with someone. But he wanted it a lot. And I can tell you from personal experience, it's sucky being the only long-term single in a group of marrieds. And I would've liked to see Penny have a big break as an actress.
The writers have long said they don't plan their arcs, they just let it go organically. Fair, but you can do both, and I wonder how many of these missed opportunities were missed because they didn't plan much. Because then they just become loose threads. And it seems a little more planning would've been beneficial so as to not waste time in a show where some episodes only hit 19 minutes because of commercials.
Decent finale. Not too heavy, which was good. Loved the previously on. Made me think of the famous Buffy one then oh look her. Loved that they kept the focus on the main cast instead of shoving too much in. Cute to see the Wolowitz kids. Sheldon's speech was touching, but it didn't need to become 100% about his friends either, nothing wrong with tooting your own horn a little bit at winning the Nobel Shelly.
Random, but in retrospect, I'm glad Leonard and Penny eloped instead of spending a season planning a wedding. That would've resulted in too much back and forth of "are we doing this or not?"
Lastly, poor Penny. I'm a man and 100% pro-choice, and I find this whole thing bothersome. I read they did it because of Leonard's line in the pilot about their babies, and going full circle. Couldn't they have come full circle that she still didn't want kids? Did it have to be about HIS desires getting placed above her autonomy? As a single who doesn't want kids and sometimes gets told otherwise, it's bothersome to me to see that two female leads on this show both made it very clear over time they didn't want kids then they get pregnant and just magically are thrilled about it.