I'm gonna say it. I thought the finale was... awful.

Okay, how do I word this... it had the makings of a perfect series finale (throwbacks, closure, ect.) but to me, it just didn't work. At all.

First of all- I thought the episode itself was just all over the place. I seriously had a hard time even following the timeline of it all. And I just couldn't connect the different scenes together, or connect them with anything we've been seeing for the last 3 seasons. It was a weird feeling that I can't really explain. It was all kind of one big mess to me. Not to mention that some of the scenes just completely... clashed with the tone of the episode. One second, Mark is trying to make us feel all sentimental with a throwback/closure scene. And the next, we're seeing Chase & Chris being peeping Toms. I dunno. Parts of the episode just made no sense, and had no place in the SERIES finale.

Secondly- I felt like it was WAY too much, crammed into one episode. I feel like the ending of this show was poorly executed in that respect. I really wish that Mark had spent less time this season introducing new storylines, and more time really developing, and unfolding the proper close of the show. I feel like the whole season was just a bunch of... junk. And like they saved what the whole final 13 episodes should have been about, and crammed it all into the ONE final episode. Really, really bad call IMO. Don't wait until LITERALLY the final hour to try and wrap everything up. Doesn't work that way.

And one more side note- the final scene with the time jump was almost hard to watch for me. Because it was SO freaking cheesy & forced. Jamie beat Nathan's record? WTF? Whatever happened to him being all about baseball? And why spend 9 seasons developing the character of "THE almighty Nathan Scott"... just to have his record beaten at the last minute? By a kid who (until now) has been all about BASEBALL, at that? lol. Just lame. And Millie's pregnant? Skills & Bevin are together again? Ugh. Too much. TOO MUCH.

And finally- You all know it's coming... the lack of Lucas & Peyton. The void that was there throughout the entire episode was borderline distracting for me. How can you honestly try and wrap the series up, re-visit the high school years- THE BEGINNING, celebrate Tric's anniversary, show us Peyton's bedroom, show us the prediction box, end it with the whole gang together with their new families... AND LUCAS & PEYTON NOT BE THERE?!? Or hell, even MENTIONED?? Seriously?? How does that happen? There's just no explanation or excuse for that. So Mark- you didn't fool anyone. Through all of the chaos of tonight's episode, I garauntee people still noticed LP's absence. And it's not right. Period.

*end rant* bottom line... the finale was a huge disappointment for me. In more ways than one.

Actually i did like it! I loved everything! there were only two things that were a little bit forced for me. 1. Dan giving all that money to mouth... random and 2. Buying brooke´s old house. But really i liked it a lot! of course loved the scott james family! im just sad its over

With the whole leyton issue, im not a fan of them so it didnt affect me... but i get why a leyton fan would be upset.

i am noyt a lp fan, at all, i kinda loathe them as a couple but i am a huge fan of the characters of peyton and lucas, the series finale without a mention of them... no, NO, JUST NO! right u couldn't get them to come back, computerise them or something using old scenes, hell a mention, at the game have someone say luke and peyton are running late but sawyers there, then show a grown up sawyer! and jamie beating nathans score :( the next gen is gonna just have to beat it again then.

i havent watched it lol, i have to wait, but from what kellyrin said it sounds like exactly what i expected and was not hoping for, it a finale for what the show is these days and not for what it use to be. but damn i can't wiat to watch it, there'll be good stuff hidden in the bad writing.

I don't know. I have mixed feelings. Part of me thinks they did a lot of things that were really appropriate for the finale- like having Haley, Chris Keller, and Gavin DeGraw all perform at Tric (and imo they were pretty good performances)- and while it was definitely SO cheesy, I still thought it was a nice idea to have the whole cast singing along to "I don't wanna be" at Tric. I liked that Brooke opened her store right next to Karen's cafe & the scene in Karen's cafe was cute were everyone was just grown up, content, and enjoying life. I don't feel much of an attachment to a bunch of the characters that were in the scene, but they did the best they could with the scene imo.
I liked the Mouth scenes... but it was definitely random. Dan leaving Mouth a half a million dollars?? But they turned it into a sweet memorandum for Keith & Jimmy which was nice. Mouth & Millicent getting married and pregnant was cute. While I would have loved to see Lucas & Peyton in the episode because they are 2 important characters in the history of OTH, I actually thought they handled the references of Lucas & Peyton well, since there wasn't an option of having them in the episode. We had 45 minutes of interviews and flashbacks (and these flashbacks were majority naley, leyton, and breyton scenes... they were lacking in lots of other types of flashbacks, but definitely focused on those 3 couples/friendships), and then during the actual episode we got to go back and be in Peyton's bedroom. That was totally a tribute to her. And Brooke talking about growing up in Peyton's bedroom was certainly a Breyton scene. And then Haley talking about her "predictions" that she made with Lucas and passing it on to Jamie was a nice tribute to Laley's friendship, as well as Haley bringing out her copy of Julius Caesar a couple of times in the episode of course was a reference to Lucas. I also really liked the beginning of the episode with current Nathan, Brooke, and Haley watching their 17 year-old selves.... but I couldn't help but think it reminded me of 5x13 when Peyton is driving in her car and she sees 1x01 Lucas run in front of the car like he did in the pilot.

And funny that they made those scenes kind of similar.... because then they decided to use an entire quote from 5x13 at the very end of the episode. That I did NOT understand. I really don't get the point of Nathan & Brooke quoting what they said earlier in the episode, and then the rest of them all quoting 5x13. Maybe I'm missing some sort of symbolism there, cause it seemed strange to me.It felt like they just loved the quote from 5x13 so much they decided to include it again. I also thought the Chase & Chris Keller scenes w/"the twins" were a waste of time. It was cool to see Bevin but her & Skills...again...? I don't know. I would have loved to see some of the other actors even if we couldn't have CMM and Hilarie Burton (I don't know if Whitey would still be alive with so many time jumps, but if he was (haha that's so sad to say) it would have been nice to see him at the Ravens game, or even if Lucas wasn't there, Karen could still come back to see her cafe, or even just see Deb in the episode.... but I guess we got Bevin instead). But my main complaint is I feel like nothing happened in the episode. I mean stuff did happen- Clay & Quinn got married and adopted Logan, Mouth got $500,000 from Dan's estate and started a foundation in Keith & Jimmy's honor, Julian bought Brooke's house... and all those things are nice, but they aren't what makes a great finale in my opinion. I wish they had a story line to resolve in the finale. I knew it would be an episode of just "fillers" and references to the past, but it would have been cool if they actually had a story line to wrap up (the way Dawson's Creek, BH 90210, Friends, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Charmed, Lost....etc. all did in their series finales).

This was really really EPIC. All those memories, quotes, couples, music and everything ... I almost lost it.

oh my god shut the hell up, i mean really what's wrong with u guys everybody HAD their happy endding so what of some of the dietales were wraped up so fast just enjoy it for god sake,every character we love on the show r happy with their family,everone got what they wanted since they wereteenagers everyone had their dream come true, yes it sucks they leytin weren't there (even though i hate both them as a couple and characters) but we still saw part of them with peyton's bed room and lock with nofx stiker on it

stop Complaining

^ WTF? We have every right to voice our opinions on the episode... good OR bad. Everyone getting a happy ending is fine and dandy, but there's more that goes into making a good series finale than just that. Those happy endings don't mean that we can't still think that there were flaws in the overall writing of the episode/season.

I don't think it was awful!!!! It was better than most of the rest of the season that's for sure.

It was perfect, sad and beautiful, i loved it!

I expected so much more from the series finale. So much more:/

I did expected peyton and lucas in the finale