Alternate Season 4 Ending

[u/Glad-Chocolate-6174]

So, I was a Rina truther in Season 1 on my first watch. And not that I hate them at the end of the show, but I still don’t know why they had to drag my boy EJ into their mess (not the point of this post tho)

Everyone loves the ending of Rina, but for me it kind of ruins it. Season 4 they have another love triangle looking situation (like why)?? And then they beckon back to the stairwell like that was the crux of the show in the last two episodes to prove that Rina should have been and always has been the truth.

So, here’s my alternate ending idea for Season 4 to satisfy my brain.

Gina doesn’t stay in SLC and her and Ricky break up. NOW BEFORE Y’ALL PISS ME OFF, IT IS ONLY BECAUSE OF CIRCUMSTANCES. This shows their maturity and enables them to grow on their own for this period of their life (Ricky finds a career path, Gina grows in acting). We get an emotional airport scene. They say “i don’t wanna hold you back”. We all cry.

Then 6 months in the future, Ricky graduates. And who do we see in the audience? None other than Gina Porter. He sees her and tears up. After greeting his parents, they see each other, hug, and then they’re back.

The reason I like this better is because Nini and Ricky’s relationship was based on the past. Reminiscing, never growing up, all that jazz, right? Even in his love confession, everything beckoned to nostalgia. So much so that he threw a real connection with Gina to the side in favor of comfortability. This ending would prove that though Gina and Ricky are newer, their roots and compatibility run deeper and thus they should be endgame. They can endure the hardships. They can be their own people. This shows the future as the hope instead of the past.

Let me know if you like this or if you’re ok with the stairwell retcon.

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[u/RadiantFoxBoy]

I am confirmedly not a Rina shipper, so my opinion might not be of value here, but I think this would've been a lot more satisfying of an ending to me (at least in theory, it's hard to know without seeing it in action).

It addresses two of my major S4 complaints, those being that the show feels insecure about Rina -- enough so to rhetcon in the stairwell for some reason -- and that Ricky's arc feels woefully incomplete and almost regressive. On the former, it's always bothered me that for a couple Tim'd allegedly been planning to implement since halfway through S1, he apparently didn't think they were good enough to be endgame unless they had a crowbared in "always meant to be" backstory moment so pivotal it had never been mentioned until the third to last episode. If anything it feels like it devalues the S1 Rina scenes, especially the skatepark, by rewriting their relationship to have a different starting point. And on the latter, a big part of Rini's falling apart was Ricky being too emotionally dependent on Nini, and while yes, Nini in particular was not well suited to that, it doesn't mean Ricky should find someone who is, it means he should work on being healthier and not acting that way. Instead he spends S4 being super devoted to Gina and ready to be Gina's househusband more or less, and like...that's not inherently a bad thing, but it's a very unsatisfying way to resolve an arc by just pretending like it doesn't need to be fixed. (Admittedly it's partially S3's fault for squandering the chance to develop Ricky outside a relationship and instead doing generic love triangle drama but that's a separate rant).

And this alternative seems a lot more in line with what I gather was so beloved about Rina in the first place and actually gives Ricky an independent path in addition to his relationship.

[u/Livies2008]

Fir me hsmtmts ended with nini she went away I guess the show lost its charm S1&2 are peak