Did the ‘Nancy Drew’ Series End on the Right Note?

The series finale of “Nancy Drew” aired in late August this year. I simultaneously enjoyed it and was devastated by it. It’s over, so what do I watch now? While the CW did a good job wrapping up all the plotlines and loose ends, I felt a few details were lacking. It left me wanting a little bit more, though I know it won’t ever come to fruition. Let’s take a look at everything that worked in the finale and what didn’t.

The series wrapped up with a town-centered mystery and a historically linked solution. For generations, the town of Horseshoe Bay has called upon the Sin Eater to wipe away their misdeeds, overwriting the truth. Nancy (Kennedy McMann) and the Drew Crew come to the rescue by ending the Sin Eater curse.

Each generation, the Sin Eater requires a live body to use when called upon to “right” someone's wrong. During the investigation, Nancy learns that souls can be reincarnated. Thanks to Bess Marvin (Maddison Jaizani) and her research, they trace the soul all the way back to when the Sin Eater was created. It’s also discovered that Nancy’s soul is entangled with Tristan’s (Henrique Zaga), the Sin Eater.

They come together to disentangle their souls by burning away the old parts. During the magical procedure, Ace (Alex Saxon) stands watch to pull Nancy and Tristan to safety before they’re killed. I loved the simplicity of this. Season 3 ended with a magical showdown between Nancy and her ancestor, and all of Season 4 was riddled with spells and epic rituals. The show didn’t need to end with a big bang.

At the very beginning, Bess is seeking out her long-lost family. The Marvins are a prominent family in town and central in Seasons 1 and 2. However, the last two seasons are lacking the Marvins. Bess is cast out from the family, and that seems to be the end of it.

In Season 1, we learn that Nancy is actually part of the Hudson bloodline. Season 2 featured the Hudsons predominantly, with Mr. Hudson’s wrongdoings and Mrs. Hudson’s death. Season 3 features Nancy’s Hudson ancestry with the evil Temperance (Bo Martynowska).

Both the Martins and Hudsons are staples of Horseshoe Bay, and although their particular storylines were wrapped up in previous seasons, it’s not like the families moved away or disappeared. So where are they? The town founders created the Sin Eater, implying the two families should be involved, yet they’re nowhere in sight.

I’m a fan of how the CW ended the Drew storylines. At the beginning of Season 1, Drew is worried about Nancy. She’s grieving over the loss of her mother and has decided to stay in Horseshoe Bay instead of going away to college. Likewise, Nancy worries about her father and thinks she can’t leave him alone.

Now Drew has a child on the way with a woman whom he loves, and Nancy is moving on, pursuing something she’s passionate about. This is such a lovely homage to how everything started and how much everything has changed.

We’ve been waiting for Ace and Nancy to get together for four seasons. Just as they were beginning to understand their feelings for each other in Season 3, they’re cursed by Temperance. If Nancy and Ace were to act on their feelings, then Ace would die. The two fight for their love in the first half of Season 4. However, after a failed attempt to break the death curse that left Nancy in the hospital, Ace decides it’s too dangerous for them to continue.

While I’m ecstatic that they break the curse, it comes off as an afterthought. Their star-crossed love has been anticipated since the show's beginning, yet their moment happens only in the last 10 minutes of the finale. Their relationship deserves more attention than “Oh, great. Our souls were damaged when we burned August away, and now we’re not cursed.” More research and attempts should’ve been made to break the curse with climactic success.

Since this is what fans have been looking forward to all season long, it shouldn’t have been a footnote.

The Drew Crew says goodbye and goes their own ways. I Iove this so much because that’s what happens to friend groups after school. People grow up, pursue careers and families, and move away, so I appreciate the realism this brings to the ending.

Bess decides to travel the world looking for magical, ancient artifacts for the Historical Society. George (Leah Lewis) has been accepted into law school and is moving to Seattle to attend. Nick (Tunji Kasim) accepts an engineering job that will take him to Atlanta. Ace decides to pursue his dream of becoming a medical examiner by applying to schools, as long as he can visit Nancy on the weekends. After learning that there are Sin Eaters all over the U.S., Nancy decides to search for them to remove them from existence.

I love all the separate storylines and future plans, but instead of being told this, I would’ve loved to see it. The audience learns these plans from a scene of the friends having Chinese food together at Drew's house. I would’ve preferred seeing snips of the future, the group visiting each other, and their individual successes. Or better yet, a montage of newspaper clippings featuring the Drew Crew, an homage to the pilot episode with young Nancy’s triumphs.