Credit where due, but also...

Despite all of my angst over the last half of the series, there are also places where I can acknowledge reasons.

For example, I pointed out the illogic of sending various characters from place to place (like why wouldn't they have brought the books with them?). I know one reason for that is that the more characters you have in a given scene, the more complicated writing it becomes. Killing off characters both increases the drama and makes the ensuing scenes easier.

That sounds cynical, but the direction they went with it - the Destroyer needed to be given the stick, so was breaking Nick down so that he would gladly give it up to get his friends back - did work. It followed logic and emotion. That was probably the most resonant part of the finale for me.

That could easily have been the part where Nick's mother and Aunt Marie came to help him instead, but that felt off to me for two reasons. One is that the Grimm blood being the answer and the potion being pointless - okay, you spent a lot of time on something that didn't matter. Also, Nick's legacy has had good things about it, but his opening his circle has been better. Aunt Marie told him to let Juliette go, and she closed herself off to relationships. Nick was happier and a greater force for good by letting people in. Her acknowledging that would have been good.

That was frustrating, but not as much as - in addition to many of the character inconsistencies mentioned in previous posts - the inconsistent logic of the prophecy. The stars were getting aligned for the Destroyer to come through, but really he needed a Grimm to follow through. That's fine in that it explains his desire for Kelly, but what are the stars for if the Grimm is enough?

If Eve is secretly planning on going through while saying she's not, that can be a choice, but they should have had her saying more cryptic things - either lying better or causing more concern with the others. Also, it appears that the only real development from her time on the other side was noticing that the staff consisted of pieces put back together, indicating the necessity of the stick. That's a fairly simple concept to require a whole episode in a horrible place that is not going to be fixed and that clearly suffered from a lack of budget.

Those types of problems come from not thinking things through, which is of course where we also get dropped plot threads and connections from out of nowhere. For example, Renard's mother (whose knowledge would have been handy) went to search for Diana because she wanted her grandchild. She never shows up again. How did Meisner end up with Hadrian's Wall?

Here are some thoughts on what I would  have done differently. I am picking up after Season 4, despite objections that I have raised to some things that happened in previous seasons.

We know the Royals wanted the keys, but they probably also did not know their purpose. We also have seen them exert some control over Wesen who are getting out of line. I propose that the disorganization in the wake of the king's death was the catalyst in Black Claw really bursting out. The Resistance has Black Claw sympathizers, because there are appealing things about being able to be open and in control. It definitely pulled in the scattered Tribunal members. That is how Diana ended up with Black Claw after Kelly's death. Meisner felt guilty about this, and his attempts to right the wrong are what got him involved in Hadrian's Wall.

Bonaparte knew that the portal was going to open, and part of Black Claw's actions were preparations to receive the Destroyer, giving him a Wesen kingdom.

The combination of Eve's hexenbiest blood (which can be used as for passage into other realms) and her being healed with the stick, causes her to still be a target for the Destroyer, but seeing him in the mirror is enough to show the staff and its fragmentation. There is no need to go through.

The inclusion of the cottage in the final episode did not make sense, because the people who spent the most time there had no association with it. However, if instead of "Where the Wild Things Were" you had an episode where Nick ends up back there with Renard to come to terms, that could make sense. Their children are siblings, and Renard's involvement with Black Claw was largely to get Diana back. There could also be a moment where Nick talks with Juliette about what has been lost. Then she could talk about her new sense of purpose, and that she doesn't regret it, even if some of the losses have hurt.

Speaking of moments, it would have been great if Adelind and Rosalee had been the ones who came across that last formula. Perhaps they were having a moment expressing frustration with how pregnancy and motherhood makes them vulnerable, and sidelines them when they want to protect their friends and their children. Then they could realize that potential spell and realize how it would be impossible for any other group but them, as if it was something that was meant to be all along. (Instead of everyone going, oh, that would be really hard, but I guess we can do it, or also forgetting they didn't need to wait for Nick for Grimm blood, because Trubel was right there.)

They create the potion, but it needs some time to take effectiveness and the Destroyer shows up early. The fighting goes down essentially the way it did, except that while Diana is initially okay with being the Destroyer's queen, she is not okay with him killing her parents. However, she is at first too upset to know what to do. As Kelly and Marie encourage Nick, promising that all is not lost, Kelly address Diana, to whom she was a mother figure.

Diana brings the vessel with the potion out telekinetically, causing the destroyer suffering but not killing him, which is done by Nick lopping off his head. Nick hugs the children, but Diana is grieving that everyone else is gone. Nick promises that he is still there and he will always love and protect her, just like Kelly. Then the Destroyer body crumbles and the portal opens up, sending us back to basically the same It's a Wonderful Life ending.

(This will probably require a scene where Eve almost goes through but doesn't, perhaps having Nick, Adelind, and Diana save her and the others are on their way for that big reunion.)

And if you have other moments along the way, where Adelind talks to Nick about her powers being back but not having the old wicked urges, or she gets to talk about being a good hexenbiest with Eve, or where Eve and Rosalee could have had a chance to talk about the changes she was going through before she totally went to the dark side, those are all things that could be good.

Plot matters because of what it does to people we care about, but we need that time to care.

Anyway, I hope that's enough. I may still have some thoughts about the show unexpressed, but I got a lot out too.