Review of Jon and Kate Plus Eight Series Finale

I watched the finale of Jon and Kate Plus Eight and was bothered by many parts of this episode. As a casual watcher of this show over the years, I had stopped being interested in this TLC staple when the show stopped focusing on the children. Ever since the drama of Jon and Kate carried over into the tabloids this past year, this show has been mostly about the children's activity against the backdrop of the disintegrating marriage of Jon and Kate.

Curious to see the last episode of this show, I saw two parents struggling to deal with unhappy children separately. In a sense, this was showing the reality of many families in America, but for me, this reality was a little too real for me.

I couldn't help but cringe when I saw Jon trying to organize a lemonade sale for the local volunteer department with his children in order to teach his children about giving back to the community. Without Kate, Jon lacked the planning skills necessary to make this happen seamlessly, as many newly divorced or separated fathers have to deal with in "real life." Even the two older twins, Mady and Cara, notice their mother's absence, with one complaining that mother plans better activities. Jon reacts with anger and says they can't participate because the twins are acting ungrateful. I wonder, what is The Learning Channel wanting us to learn? That this is okay or what not to do?

But, Kate doesn't get off any easier. She spends most of the episode talking directly to the camera complaining about her soon to be ex and worrying about the fate of her children. At the end of the episode she says she never wanted Jon not to be in the driver's seat. She also talks about all the friends who comfort her and listen to her talk (whine) for hours. Neither her, nor her husband, seem to have any self-awareness about how they have contributed to the demise of their marriage and the current problems in parenting they face. They didn't even seem to be aware that this extremely difficult situation was affecting the children, beyond Kate's claim that the children have been asking lots of questions.

Watching this episode I couldn't help wishing for a new show, Jon and Kate go to therapy. I don't mean marriage counseling either, but a long series of individual sessions to deal with their narcissism. I want Dr. Drew to get involved and do a Celebrity-holics Rehab series with Jon and Kate as the first patients.

I was also disturbed with how Kate still feels committed to the original reason she says they began this show--to get memories on tape. How this final episode is worthy of being memories that they want to save and share with their children, much less re-watch themselves, is unclear to me. I am an adult with no relationship with this family and I was disturbed--how sharing this dysfunction with the world serves anybody well is beyond me.

Whether is is Jon wearing a T-shirt emblazoned with Lies, Lies, Lies around his children or Kate refusing to let her children pet the kitten and force them to learn about milking cows that they had no real interest in, this show did a version of jumping a shark. Usually jumping a shark occurs in a series when some kind of stunt is done that makes the show seem cheesy or unbelievable. In this case, I believe the show sunk like a rock. It's my new term for shows that end on such awful note you couldn't imagine or remember how the show got on the air in the first place. If only the show's finale really meant the end of Jon and Kate with their divorce still playing out in the tabloids and the eventual tales of what ever happened to these poor eight children.