Don't Worry, I Still Love You Mary

As I find myself on the eve of completing my The Mary Tyler Moore Show run and after blathering away re: how surprised I was by how ridiculously funny the last season was, the penultimate episode - the iconic one in which she & Lou see if they should date each other, to a laughable result - is immensely disappointing. She spent seven years telling women they could be badasses without a man, both at work and socially, but then right before the end she cracks and has decided that her only chance for happiness is not only a man, but her boss/good friend? I mean I love Lou Grant like everybody else but this human triumph of feminism is suddenly going to settle for short, fat, bald & old? Really? Oh yeah and then HE gets to go out and pound a few scotches with Murray before the big date while SHE runs home to cook for him before their big date...I mean serious Mary, dafuck?!?!?

Of course I know the final episode is incredible and I'll be in pieces and will immediately start the whole series all over again, but this was a surprising stumble at the (almost) end.