Brilliant final episode.
When in real life I contemplate what it might be like to be fired from a long term job where you are settled, I always imagine this episode and wonder what everyone was doing the next day, how they were feeling, who took over in the newsroom?
The episode itself is a fantastic story with some well-done drama moments, poignant moments, and funny moments.
Mary Tyler Moore was adept at both comedy and the poignant stuff and does both really well here.
Seeing Rhoda and Phyllis show up at the new apartment highlights how much I loved the original apartment, and how great Rhoda and Phyllis were. But they became such strong, and big, characters, it made sense to spin them off. During season four it started to get a bit incongruous to have Rhoda do a brief drop in neighbour bit then exit, when in a way you wanted the whole episode to be about her. Having the replacements Georgette becoming Ted's girlfriend and Sue Ann of course being a WJM employee made it much easier to include them in any story and be at WJM: the script didn't need to keep inventing a reason for them to be there, and scenes could feasibly take place in the newsroom. I guess Mary's later, smaller apartment was more practical for filming especially when fewer scenes needed to take place there.
Yeah this final episode was great. Too bad the preceding three episodes were unusual formats that were probably fun for the cast and crew but less entertaining for audiences. A neat run up of newsroom-oriented episodes to the end would have had greater impact.