Good God, Lemon.

Thoughts on 30 Rock and the end of an era

I just watched the series finale of 30 Rock tonight. And I need to write about it. I'm not going to worry about spoilers, because this isn't technically a review, it's just my thoughts. So if you haven't seen the show all the way through and you're planning on it, I'd recommend just skipping off and doing something else with your precious internet time. (Haha, like people read this >.<) So here it goes.

I started watching 30 Rock all the way through this past summer. I'd seen an episode or two before here and there, and friends I knew were in love with it, but I just didn't start it, for some reason. I don't really know why, other than the fact that I was watching other things and I never really thought about it. But this last summer I'd been thinking a lot about what I wanted to do with myself and focusing a lot on finding strong women role models and figuring out what they've done to make themselves who they are, and Tina Fey struck my fancy. Plus she was a strong woman WRITER on a show where she played a character of a woman WRITER, creator of her own TV show. Something I would love to do.

So I started watching. I was hooked from the beginning, and it was a whirlwind. And now I am finished.

What am I to do now? I have watched Liz Lemon fight her way through seven years of the TV industry, bouncing from relationship to relationship, from problem to problem, and always coming out on top--even if it takes her a few tries. I want to be that, I want to be her, but I can't seem to find my way to start. But the thing I think that will help me the most from this show is something that Jack said in their last encounter during the series finale. "I called you up for one meeting. And you just kept coming up here." Liz Lemon taught me to be persistent. That I can do whatever I want to do, as long as I pester someone long enough for them to give me my chance to shine. She taught me that it's okay to be weird and make up words, that I don't have to sell out and show my boobs to make it--rather that I can wear my dorky glasses and make a beeline for the shrimp.

Speaking of making up words, Jack Donaghy. From "innoventing" to Six Sigma, Jack was Lemon's perfect counterpart, the way to continually address the "having it all" conundrum--something they hit hard in the finale episode. The Donaghy-and-Lemon relationship has been touted as one of the best platonic relationships on television, and for me, it's true. Being at a point in my life where I could really use a mentor, I found that relationship far more intriguing than Liz's parade of different but equally attractive and emotionally messed up boyfriends. The way that Jack pushed Liz through all the years, the way he "imparted wisdom" when really he was just an alcoholic with a great voice, as Lemon realizes in the end, is really inspiring to me. The fact that a man with as much going for him as Jack Donaghy still has some stuff to work out is refreshing, and it helps me to remember to allow myself some space for happiness and fun, rather than just the drive to get the job and make the money and be a general paragon of cookie-cutter success.