What <i>The Four Seasons</i>’ Ending Teaches Us About Starting Over

Spoilers below.

Tina Fey’s newest limited series changes one very large thing from the 1981 Alan Alda film on which it’s based: The eight-episode Netflix show kills Nick (Steve Carrell) in its penultimate episode. In doing so, the series about three longtime couples and friends, whose lives change when one of them gets divorced, forces the group to grapple with everything they did and didn’t know about their late friend, and learn to accept his version of happiness—even if their acceptance is accompanied by their grief.

Nick and his ex-wife Anne’s (Kerry Kinney-Silver) divorce forced a season-long introspection among the other couples—especially Kate (Fey) and Jack (Will Forte)—as they examined whether they were happy in their own relationships. Their fighting escalates during the annual New Year’s ski trip when Kate accuses Jack of cheating on her after she discovered that he had changed his phone passcode, and their unhappiness with each other continues during the funeral arrangements, which Kate is helping to plan. Jack accidentally suggests that Nick’s much younger girlfriend Ginny (Erica Henningsen) should speak at the funeral (which Anne is strongly against), and Kate feels she has to do damage control by telling Ginny that this relationship was just a blip in her romantic life.

Meanwhile, Danny (Colman Domingo) is irritated with his husband Claude (Marco Calvani) because he keeps referring to Nick as a butterfly. Claude has good intentions, trying to find meaning in a senseless accident, and has picked up on a recent motif in their lives. When Danny finally breaks, he tells his husband that referring to his dead friend as a butterfly doesn’t leave any room for his feelings; it doesn’t allow him to just be sad. Their exchange highlights how differently people grieve—what works for one person isn’t necessarily the answer for another. But once they’re back at Anne’s house that she once shared with Nick, Danny finds a picture that their daughter drew for her dad. Next to the word “Daddy” is a butterfly, and Danny’s subtle smile indicates that he’s open to seeing the signs, too.

Ginny is, of course, offended by Anne gatekeeping Nick’s funeral and Kate’s insinuation that she was just Nick’s fling. She insists that they were building a life together and that they were soulmates, an idea that Kate scoffs at. After she blows up at the friend group for throwing together such an awful celebration of Nick’s life, Ginny goes off on a walk by herself and doesn’t return.

The friends jump into action, and Kate, Jack, Danny, and Claude head out into the snow to find her. Kate and Jack accidentally find their way onto a frozen lake and Kate slips through into the icy water. Jack is able to get her out and coaches them to roll off of the ice instead of standing up again—something Kate initially resists. But she listens and they make it off alive, overcome with emotion about how short life is. After taking a hot shower, Kate apologizes to Jack and tells him he’s her soulmate, a nod to Ginny’s emotional maturity that Kate had previously ridiculed.

Back at the house, Anne looks through the semi-inappropriate photos of Ginny and Nick that Ginny gathered for the funeral slideshow, realizing that the woman her husband left her for actually made him happy. She finds Ginny sitting on a bench outside and apologizes to her, acknowledging that she resisted Ginny’s eulogy because it would have rendered her 25 years of marriage null and that she wanted to sabotage Nick one last time. Ginny admits that she wanted to speak mainly because she and Nick had been fighting when he died, and she felt as if she was responsible for his death. Before they go inside, Ginny tells Anne something off-screen: She’s pregnant with Nick’s child, which the gang (and us viewers at home) find out at dinner when Ginny opts out of taking a shot of Scotch in Nick’s honor.

In a beautiful way, The Four Seasons’ finale is about starting over. Ginny gets a fresh start with Nick’s friend group, finally able to say her piece and likely have their support as she moves into this new chapter of raising her and Nick’s child. Anne’s conversation with Ginny allows her to finally put the grief of her divorce in the rearview. Danny and Claude, and Kate and Jack are all able to communicate with their partners for what feels like the first time—a breath of fresh air in their previously stale relationships. While Nick’s actions set off a tumultuous time for his closest friends, his life and death seem to have inspired them to live theirs more fully.