Chew, Vol. 12: Sour Grapes by John Layman
My rating: 5 of 5 stars
Ah, endings.
We love to hate an ending.
Think about it. Which TV endings were beloved? Any? Off the top of my head, I can remember Seinfeld, Lost, the Sopranos, all of which were totally reviled.
But I think we too often confuse our feelings about the fact of a series ending with the ending itself.
And we want endings to do something impossible, to wrap things up in such a way that we feel really happy and satisfied, and that we feel these things so strongly that we’re okay with the fact that there will be no more of a series.
To go on the food theme, the last bite of a meal, even a very satisfying one, is rarely as good as one of the first. It just isn’t. And yet, I never heard anyone say, “That was really good, but the very last bite was so-so. Meh” when it comes to food, but when it comes to entertainment, I hear that shit all the time. When it comes to rollercoasters, we don’t get all pissy when the end of the rollercoaster doesn’t deliver the same thrill as the first drop. We expect it.
In almost all other realms, we don’t expect the climax to be the ending.
The ending of Chew was in line with the book, as a whole. It made sense. It was a little wild, a little sad, and it made sense in its special, Chew way of not making a lick of sense. Was it the peak of the book? Hell no. But it delivered answers, and it delivered content that was satisfying.
I’m very sad to see the series go. But I’m not sad it ended the way it did. I quite liked the ending. It was memorable without being the purpose of the series. Something actually happened, but the something didn’t negate a bunch of other stuff in the series.
It was a damn good ride, and all good rides come to an end. Thanks to writer John Layman for taking this wild idea as far as you did, for telling some great jokes, and for writing a series that went somewhere fast. And thanks to Rob Guillory for your art. It’s so, so hard to imagine this series with different art by now, and I can’t wait to see what’s next.