emotionally invested

I'm done. Finished.

And I'm totally satisfied with the way it ended.

Still, I'm quite sad that it's over and that there is no more anticipation of wondering what's next.

What am I talking about, dare you ask?

Let me give you a [not so subtle, perhaps] hint with two stills from the finale....

You may have noticed over the past two months or so that I've been watching the television series "Friends" on DVD, courtesy of my little sister. I've also kept you updated on my progress throughout over on the sidebar.

I finally finished the last episode of season ten on Monday night. It was so awesome that I watched the last two episodes again on Tuesday night. Then I watched the special features on the fourth disc which were fantastic!

I watched the last two episodes again tonight...for the third time! Actually I've watched the final episode a total of four times because I watched it once on Monday with the producers commentary audio that goes along with it.

You know what? I got all watery-eyed every time. I'm not ashamed to say it. Even after the first go-round, when I knew what was going to happen, I still got all misty eyed.

The producers knew going in that season ten would be the last season of the series and so they were able to cleanly tie up all of the loose ends in the story throughout the eighteen episode final season.

I think there were several reasons why this show lasted for so long and was so popular. First, the cast and crew were extremely talented as evidenced by all of the awards and nominations this show won over the years. Second, there was a great chemistry and camaraderie that developed between the actors in real life and it translated into their performances. Third, the writing was consistently great which is always important. The producers and writers were willing to be flexible with the scripts and change them during filming when scenes weren't working or when a joke wasn't funny enough. Fourth, the majority of the show was filmed before a live studio audience (Wish I could have been there!) which gave even more energy to the actors performances.

Finally and most importantly, this was a show about the relationships between the six friends. These were characters that we watched grow throughout the series. We cared about them and became emotionally invested in the lives of Chandler Bing (Matthew Perry), Monica Geller-Bing (Courtney Cox Arquette), Phoebe Buffay-Hannigan (Lisa Kudrow), Joey Tribbiani (Matt LeBlanc), Dr. Ross Geller (David Schwimmer) and Rachel Green (Jennifer Aniston).

For me the most compelling story was between Ross and Rachel, not just at the end but throughout the whole series. If you're a true fan of the series, you'll know and understand what I'm getting at here.

I still can't believe that I never once, in 238 episodes over ten seasons, watched any of this series when it was on regular television. Oh what I was missing!

I can definitely tell you that I will, eventually, be adding this series to my DVD collection.

Gee, my birthday's coming up in June, just two short months from now. Kewl for you because now you know what to get me. Talk about advanced planning! Coordinate, people!