Awkward: Executive Producers on the MTV Finale Twists

When Awkward was last renewed, it was reportedly for a fifth and final season, leaving the show effectively cancelled, which is… you know, awkward, especially with some of the developments in the finale. Showrunners Chris Alberghini and Mike Chessler would like to do a sixth season and say most of the cast is game to continue the series, too. In other words, the show’s fate is up to MTV.

Awkward stars Ashley Rickards, Beau Mirchoff, Nikki DeLoach, Jillian Rose Reed, and Brett Davern. In last night’s Awkward season five and possibly series finale, there were some twists. Did you see them coming? Chessler previously said it was designed as a series finale, just in case it is the end. Did it feel like one, to you?

After Matty McKibben (Beau Mirchoff) and Jenna Hamilton (Ashley Rickards) reunited at Camp Pookah, he bared his soul, but then told her she should pull a Kelly Taylor and choose herself.

He also told off Sadie Saxton (Molly Tarlov). Alberghini talked to EW about that. Here is more:

 

That was very deliberate because historically, Matty is the one who has always remained friends with Sadie and supported her even at her most awful. He’s been the one who has stood by her and been the nonjudgmental, platonic friend. For us, if you can’t even get along with Matty McKibben, you’ve gotta think about some of the things that you’ve been doing wrong in your life. It’s what pushed her over the edge.

 

The EPs also talked to EW about the Matty/Jenna/Luke (Evan Williams) triangle:

 

Luke and Jenna have a falling out.
ALBERGHINI: When you’re in a relationship with someone and at the beginning, it’s all great and you grow close and you love everything about the other person and all of the person’s faults and idiosyncrasies seem charming and you love them. But then as you get to know the person more, and as you get to have a more realistic viewpoint of your life and of the relationship and what it brings you, you start to be a little more critical. Those things you once found charming and cute, you now find maybe a little bit annoying. They had their arc this season with moving in together and playing house, and isn’t it great and cute to live together, and slowly, the reality of that starts to come into play. Two people that don’t know each other all that well, really, and I think what we’re getting in these last few episodes is just a dose of, okay, as much as I may love this person, and want to be with this person, it’s still a challenge, there are still things that we don’t see eye-to-eye on.

Matty and Jenna return to the closet where it all began.
CHESSLER: We made that decision pretty early on when we sat down and talked about season 5. We just felt like, to bring this chapter of the show to a close, it just seemed very right to go back to camp and to go back to that closet where it all began and really highlight how much they’ve grown and how different they are, but at the same time, how that fundamental attraction that they’ve always had to each other and that that pull was still there and stronger than ever after all they’ve been through together.

ALBERGHINI: That moment in the closet in the very first episode was a defining moment in Jenna’s life, and informed so much of who she became as a person as the show progressed. We felt it was important to go back to that place.

CHESSLER: We had a lot of conversations about what would be the most satisfying end to the Matty-Jenna story at this point. We talked about different versions and we did talk about a version of the speech where Matty said, “Choose me over Luke.” The more we talked about it, we had the realization that the most selfless, generous thing Matty could do would not be to say, “Choose me,” but to say, “Choose yourself. Go have your own life. Don’t be determining your future based on who your boyfriend is going to be.” That just felt very right for the show and for Jenna and where she is. It seemed like a great thing for Matty to do, and certainly, the doors open in a way that, how could she not end up with somebody who is so wonderful to come up with that? We felt like it gave us everything we thought we wanted to take that story to a completion at this point.

 

Since MTV could still pick up Awkward, season six, TV Line asked the EPs if they were afraid making last night’s finale too conclusive. Here’s what they said:

 

TVLINE | Given that there could be more, were you worried about making this finale feel too conclusive?
ALBERGHINI | Yeah, a little bit. There were a lot of discussions about how much we wanted to wrap everything up. We just wanted to get to a place where this era in their lives feels like it has adequate resolution without completely setting anything in stone that might affect a later season of the show.
CHESSLER | You have to remember, these characters are 18 and 19, so we think it feels truthful to where people at that age are in their lives. For example, we didn’t want Matty and Jenna to get married as freshmen in college.

 

TV Line also asked about Sadie’s “suicide attempt” (i.e. the car accident that was mistaken as such), Lissa’s (Greer Grammer) conclusion, and if they ever talked about hooking up Matty with Lacey (Nikki Deloach):

 

TVLINE | I feel like the answer is obvious, but Sadie’s “suicide” was a nod to Jenna’s “suicide” in the pilot, yes?
CHESSLER | Yes, absolutely. We started talking about wanting all of the characters to have big moments at the end of the season, and we all agreed that Sadie was due for a comeuppance. She’s had some hard times with her parents, but her friends have never fully called her out on how bitchy she can be. We really liked the idea of taking what happened in the pilot and turning it on its ear. We loved the idea of her being in Jenna’s shoes, since she was the one who really enjoyed the rumor that Jenna tried to kill herself.

[…]

TVLINE | Lissa’s ending was perfect. Is it safe to assume she’s going to become a big success?
CHESSLER | Absolutely. We always liked the idea of Lissa — the one everyone thinks is a dingbat, the least likely to succeed — becoming a mega mogul with her atonercise tapes all over the world. That’s definitely one version we talked about seeing, and it makes me laugh.
ALBERGHINI | As time goes on and she becomes more successful, she only becomes more cuthroat and savvy.

TVLINE | If this is the last question I ever get to ask you guys… Was there ever talk, even jokingly, about Matty and Lacey getting together?
ALBERGHINI | Those two actors obviously have a lot of chemistry, and they play off each other very well, but no. We’d never go there. [Laughs] Oh my God, can you imagine Matty sleeping with Jenna’s mom? That would ruin the entire show!

 

Right? Talk about awkward…

What do you think? Did you get enough closure from the fifth season finale of MTV’s Awkward TV series? Do you think Awkward should be cancelled or renewed for a sixth season?