The beginning of the end has arrived for the loving, joyful and witty show that is “Schitt’s Creek.” It may feel like it’s leaving our lives just as fast as it was introduced, as many of us didn’t know it existed until we uncovered it on Netflix within the last year.
Regardless of how long we’ve individually adored “Schitt’s Creek,” we’re all here now for a final season. For more than five years, we have watched the development of Johnny Rose (Eugene Levy, “Finding Dory”), his wife Moira (Catherine O’Hara, “The Addams Family”), their adult children David (Dan Levy, “Admission”) and Alexis (Annie Murphy, “The Plateaus”), as they transitioned from their lavish lifestyles to one without money, where all they have is each other in the town of nothingness that is Schitt’s Creek. Now that the Roses have found their place in the town, this final season might be the last time they’re all together, as the premiere made it clear that the family’s lives are headed in different directions.
Picking up about a week after the events of the season five finale, the soap-opera star Moira is still in despair from losing the leading role in “The Crows Have Eyes 3: The Crowening.” Alexis is packing to leave for the Galapagos with Ted, while David and Patrick (Noah Reid, “House of Lies”) are looking for a wedding venue, and Stevie (Emily Hampshire, “Save Me”) is still trying to figure out her purpose in life. At face value, these stories will inevitably push the characters away from each other over the course of the season. The season premiere reassures us that despite the divergent arcs, the heart of the show has always been the family dynamic of the Roses.
Remember back in the day when Alexis and David were arguing over who should get murdered first? This season, with Alexis’ imminent departure for the Galapagos and David’s engagement, neither of them want to share how much they’ll miss each other, so they engage in immature bickering in a way that may feel a bit too familiar for those of us with siblings. It’s the kind of bickering where everyone but the people who are a part of it can sense the subtext. After a flight mishap — which results in Alexis not leaving for another month — accompanied by the sounds of animal slaughter off in the distance from a potential wedding venue, we are treated to one of the most hilarious sibling apologies ever. When pressured to say “I’m sorry,” David resorts to a roundabout way of saying so, eventually telling Alexis that he “might have overreacted, and for that (he is) apologetic and remorseful over an action (he) participated in.”
What is astonishing about “Schitt’s Creek” is how true it has remained to the original story it set out to tell. The decision by the creators (father-son duo Eugene and Dan Levy) to end the show after six seasons was met with surprise by many fans due to the perfection of the show. But the Levys are aware that what makes the show so special is its commitment to telling the same story it set out to tell in season one. Keeping it running for longer than originally intended risks sacrificing the quality storytelling that separates “Schitt’s Creek” from the rest of the family-centric television landscape. It would have been impossible to keep the Roses all together in Schitt’s Creek due to the individual journeys each character must face, as their career paths would naturally take them away from the town that brought them all together in the first place.
The season six premiere was not anything flashy or noteworthy, but a show as genuine as “Schitt’s Creek” doesn’t need to be anything other than itself in order to guarantee success. There are only 13 episodes left, and this first one reminds us how much we missed it in the offseason and how much we will miss it when it’s gone.