After seven years, Netflix’s original comedy series Grace and Frankie came to an end last month. Grace and Frankie is one of the few shows that focuses on the lives of older people. The way it shows life after age 70 changes what people expect from aging characters on screen.
Even though Grace (Jane Fonda), Frankie (Lily Tomlin), Robert (Martin Sheen), and Sol (Sam Waterston), the four main characters of the show, deal with the challenges of getting older, they are also sexually active, have relationships with people of different ages, and are not stereotypes of old people.
Since the characters are in their mid-80s in the last episodes, many people might think that one of them will die at the end of the show. Grace and Frankie may have used hints that one of its main characters will die in its last episodes to play into these expectations. Still, in keeping with the show’s history of rewriting rules, the series finale pulls the rug out from under the audience and messes up its own set-up, which was all about death.
Frankie’s Death Story
Frankie’s death is set up in the storyline of the last season so that it can happen in the finale. When a local psychic predicts that Frankie will die, the rest of her story is about how she comes to terms with the fact that she is going to die. In the seventh episode of the season, “The Psychic,” Frankie’s future fortune is shown to be true.
View this post on Instagram
Grace and Frankie go to Frankie’s psychic, Madame Elsbeth (Artemis Pebdani), to try to find a friend who has gone missing. Madame Elsbeth correctly says that Grace and Frankie will become best friends. This piece of information shows that Elsbeth’s visions are true.
READ MORE: Who is Jovit Baldivino: What is the Cause of His Death?
In the ninth episode, “The Prediction,” Elsbeth says that Frankie will die. She calls Grace to ask her to tell Frankie that she will die in three months. Grace, who doesn’t believe in psychics, tries to ignore what Elsbeth says. Grace immediately sneezes after Elsbeth says, “You’re right, I’m not that good at this stuff anyway.
Bless you.” Even though it was meant to be funny, this moment proved what their first conversation had already shown: Elsbeth is always right. Even though Grace later tries to convince Frankie that Elsbeth is not to be believed, Frankie fully believes Elsbeth and spends the rest of the Season preparing for her death.
The Fake Funeral
Frankie’s death is also hinted at by two things that happen in “The Fake Funeral,” the episode before the last one. Frankie holds her own funeral while she is still alive so that she can hear all the nice things people have to say about her before she dies. When Elsbeth’s prediction is added to the fake funeral, it seems likely that it will turn into a real one.
View this post on Instagram
This leads to the second hint, which is that the episode ends on a cliffhanger. When the funeral doesn’t go as planned, Frankie goes to her art studio to calm down. Her hand shakes as she puts the paintbrush on the paper, and she drops the paintbrush.
As the brush falls to the floor, the camera follows it and changes to slow motion to emphasize how important it is. When the camera zooms in on Frankie’s confused face, the audience can’t help but wonder what’s going on. Frankie could be having similar symptoms again because she had a stroke in Season 3.
READ MORE: The King is Dead Long Live the King!
In the very first scene of the series finale, Frankie’s fake funeral and the unresolved ending of the previous episode are turned on their heads. When her son Bud (Baron Vaughn) opens the door to the art studio, slow music and a picture of paintbrushes in the foreground give the impression that something sad is about to happen.
But Bud looks offscreen and says, “Hey, girl,” and the show then cuts to a shot of Frankie sitting on the couch and looking fine. Even though this moment doesn’t completely explain why Frankie dropped her brush, it changes the idea that she may have died because of her health.
Grace and Frankie Brief
In the last episode, Grace and Frankie have a brief, but brief, an encounter with death, which changes the way the season was set up. Grace and Frankie fight at the altar after the fake funeral is changed into a fake wedding. When they hug, Grace’s martini and Frankie’s microphone bump into each other, which surprises them both.
Again, the show goes into slow-motion to make a dramatic point. The two characters fall to the ground, and then the show cuts to Grace and Frankie in heaven. Once in heaven, the dramatic tension is quickly cleared up by dialogue that is funny. So, death is not shown as the ultimate tragedy, but as a funny background.
View this post on Instagram
When Grace wants to go back to Earth, the two characters talk to their angel case manager, Agnes, who is played by Fonda and Tomlin’s 9 to 5 co-star, Dolly Parton. Parton’s appearance makes the scene even funnier, and the fact that all three women are there at the same time makes the extratextual reference sweeter.
Agnes lets Grace come back to the world of the living, but she won’t let Frankie come back. This starts a sad conversation between the two women, accompanied by a soft, ethereal score, in which the characters say goodbye. The moment when Grace and Frankie say goodbye to each other seems like a good way for the show named after them to end.
READ MORE: Who is Ronnie Turner: What is the Cause of His Death?
But Agnes, who cares about them, tells them to fake her papers so that Frankie and Grace can go back together. After giving many hints that the show would end with Frankie’s death, it goes in a different direction and ends with both characters happy and alive.
Grace and Frankie’s Subversive Series Ending Explain
Grace and Frankie’s subversive series finale is important because it gives the older characters a happy ending. Grace and Frankie don’t show another story of an older character’s life ending with their death. Instead, they just start a new part of their lives. At the end of the show, the two main characters are on the beach.
Grace and Frankie get out of the water and head toward land. Grace has been afraid of the ocean her whole life, but she has finally gotten over it. This moment shows that the characters still have time to change. Then, the two women walk along the beach together, and Grace asks, “Now what?”
View this post on Instagram
This last line adds to the twist of the series finale because it suggests that the two main characters have a lot more to live for. Instead of ending their stories with death, as older characters usually do, this two move on to the next part of their lives. Because of this, “The Beginning” is a great name for the last episode of the series.
Robert and Sol’s Ending Explain
In the last episodes, Robert’s memory keeps getting worse, leaving Sol feeling helpless. So that he could keep functioning normally, Sol would hide the fact that he was getting worse by giving Robert his lines when he was acting on stage and by starting fights so that no one would notice that he was confused.
But he has to tell Brianna and Mallory in the end. Soon after, he tries to get Robert to go to the doctor, but Robert won’t listen. Instead, Robert insists on putting on a brave face for the group at the funeral as “Party Robert,” which actually works. until he forgets how he met Sol and gets it mixed up with how he met Grace.
Sol is understandably upset, and Robert finally realizes that he needs help with his memory. In an honest conversation, Sol says that he worries that Robert will forget him and the years they’ve spent together.
Later, Sol brings Robert to New York to the hotel where they first met so that he can help Robert remember. At first, it doesn’t work because Robert forgets that it was where they first met and fell in love. But when the pianist plays “The Way You Look Tonight,” he soon starts to remember.
Sol tells him that he wants to keep making memories with the man he loves. A teary-eyed Robert agrees, and they kiss on the way up in the elevator.
Brianna and Mallory’s Ending Explain
After agreeing to get back together with Brianna, Barry continues to split his time between her and his new baby daughter, Molly, which is a life she has never wanted.
When Brianna finds out, the two of them realize that their relationship has hit a rough patch and they need to make changes quickly or give up and break up. When they broke up, everyone was sad, but for Barry, not for Brianna.
But Barry is doing well after the breakup, which throws Brianna off. She knows what she’s giving up when she lets him go, and she’s worried about her “fresh start future.” Mallory is the first one to notice, and as she cries, she is held by Mallory.
Comments are closed.