“Just when you think she can’t surprise you, she does. She keeps becoming more of a person, don’t you?”
Simon
In a way, it feels like these two lines sum up There She Goes. It’s not easy with Rosie – it hasn’t been when she was younger, and it certainly isn’t now – but ultimately, underneath the messes and the noises and the difficulties, she’s Rosie. She’s right there. And even though progress is slow, there is progress. Rosie is growing up.
Spoilers ahead.
It seems fitting to wrap up this series the same way we’ve started it – with Rosie making progress. In the beginning of this series, Rosie spoke for the first time; now she’s exploring a whole new emotion. We may still not know what she wanted, but we know how she feels. And having followed her grow up over the past two series, I feel like maybe – just maybe – I feel a tiny bit of what Simon and Emily must be feeling. Joy and excitement and amazement and sadness, all rolled into a single scene. Even just writing this brings tears to my eyes.
One of the things I loved the most about this episode was seeing more of Rosie and Ben’s dynamic. I love the way Ben seems to understand Rosie, at least a little bit; his ‘rules of Rosie’ idea was just beautiful, and it showed that even as a child, he understands how to act around her. Even with his anger and resentment – both perfectly natural – towards her in 2017, he played with her and did everything he could to make her laugh. And it feels to me like Rosie looks up to him, even when it’s not entirely clear that she does. There was something about the way she cried looking at the video of him that made me think that Rosie misses how things used to be; that maybe she’s aware of his resentment and she wants the brother she remembers back.
I’m actually really glad Ben finally let his frustration and anger out. We haven’t really seen much of him this series, but in a lot of his scenes irritated me. It was a nice change to see Ben talking about how he really feels; about how much he struggles being Rosie’s brother. It’s easy to forget sometimes that Rosie’s condition is hard on him, too, and for the first time this series, I could really feel it. I was sad, not because of his very natural anger towards Rosie, but because he had to go through it in the first place. Because it can’t have been easy for him, growing up feeling like everything is about Rosie, and the older she gets, the more difficult it seems to get. For him as well as their parents.
And clearly, this holiday hasn’t been easy on Emily and Simon. Emily’s tiredness when she said, ‘I’ve not thought it for years, Si, I really haven’t. Why couldn’t she have just been born normal?‘ really brought it home: with Rosie, things are complicated. Even as she grows up and starts communicating. It always has been, and maybe it always will be. It’s exhausting and messy and even though you love her, sometimes you can’t help but wish she was normal. And that’s just the way it is with a child like Rosie. Even on holiday.
And that’s what There She Goes does best, isn’t it? Showing their reality – and I imagine, to some extent, all families’ reality – as it is; be it in the joys, the frustrations, the difficulties or these beautiful touching moments like that final scene.
And we’ve certainly had a bit of everything in this series finale. The frustrations of trying to get Rosie to enjoy the holiday the way she usually did; the laughter of 2007 Simon acting like a child (adorable and hilarious, if I might add) and of Rosie and Ben in the pool; the emotional, touching moment of Emily and Simon dancing and talking and just being together; not to mention the explanation (finally!) for Rosie’s obsession with Xs. It even ended on this hopeful, touching note that once again brought on the feeling that this family can handle everything thrown at it. Absolutely beautiful.
Weirdly, though, there was one thing that bothered me: it felt like we didn’t get enough of almost everything in this episode. I would’ve loved to see more of Simon’s family, and particularly his sister (not to mention, Simon’s Older Brother act). Possibly for the first time this series, I would’ve loved to see more of Ben; as said, this felt like the first time we’ve seen how Ben really feels and how deeply he, too, struggles. Of course, I would’ve loved to know what Rosie wanted; it felt very much like she was trying to tell us something, but I still can’t quite figure out what it was. Then again, perhaps we’ll never know, just like we wouldn’t necessarily know in reality.
That’s not to say I didn’t enjoy the episode. I very much did. It’s just that there’s still room for more (although, admittedly, this episode was probably right as it was and this is just me wanting more). So… is it too early to ask the BBC for a third series?