Review: YOLO: Silver Destiny “This is LITERALLY the Finale”

Overview:

A season’s worth of storytelling comes to a head as Sarah, Rachel, and even Lucas seize their respective destinies. Sarah celebrates the completion of her garden, while Rachel explores the narcissistic lows of being a Dark Empress, all as Lucas’ love potion finally comes to fruition. Sarah, Rachel, and Lucas must accept or deny these destinies, which will have repercussions that will forever change their friendships, and possibly, all of Wollongong.

Our Take:

YOLO: Silver Destiny has celebrated a banner season of television and it’s gratifying to see this year go out on top. “This is LITERALLY the Finale” is a very satisfying culmination of each characters’ season-long destinies as they get to the bottom of who they are as individuals and as a group, for better and for worse, in an exercise of soul-searching that’s necessary for YOLO to grow and continue. There have been multiple deconstructions of friendship throughout the series and this season finale keys into “fake friends” and who is really real in life when things get tough. Sarah and Rachel have had their highs and lows, but YOLO truly gets into a break-up this time around. “This is LITERALLY the Finale” is one of the best episodes of the series and it’d make for a rewarding finish if this happens to be the end of YOLO.

“This is LITERALLY the Finale” begins in a really interesting place with an unspecified amount of time having passed since the destabilizing events of “Journey to the Chasm of the Bees.”  Sarah, Rachel, and Lucas are all in their own respective worlds, so to speak, and there’s a very different feeling that carries throughout this episode. It’s kind of remarkable that Sarah and Rachel don’t interact until 10 minutes into the installment, at a point where a standard YOLO episode would be approaching its conclusion.

“This is LITERALLY the Finale” benefits from how it segregates its characters and the episode neatly jumps between its three separate, but complimentary, storylines. Sarah finds her popularity transcends to new heights after her garden post accrues 15 million likes and turns her into an overnight sensation. She’s now so popular that she’s cool enough for the likes of Brett Brettington (yes, the Brett Brettington). Her paradigm-shifting photograph clocks up 15 million likes, but it lacks the social media validation from the one person who really matters: Rachel.

One of the consistent highlights in YOLO: Silver Destiny is that it’s an 11-minute series that somehow feels like it covers thirty minutes’ worth of story in a quarter-hour. This makes every episode of YOLO a marvel in pacing where a ton is thrown at the audience, yet it simultaneously never feels too rushed. YOLO has learned how to make these restrictions work for it, but what makes “This is LITERALLY the Finale” so special is that it’s the first time that YOLO truly has the luxury to really take its time and breathe with this super-sized runtime. The finale for YOLO: Crystal Fantasy was ostensibly two-parts, but Silver Destiny combines three episodes into one story that feels like YOLO in its purest state. 

Furthermore, it’s a treat that this season basically receives two extra episodes in comparison to season one’s eight-episode order. YOLO: Silver Destiny just as easily could have been a season of five regular episodes where the sixth, seventh, and eighth entries get bundled together like this. YOLO: Silver Destiny has earned the trust to be given a slightly larger canvas to work with, which is a complete success, and hopefully results in any potential third season being entrusted with the same level of freedom. The heights of “This is LITERALLY the Finale” are bigger than anything Michael Cusack has done before in any of his series, not just YOLO. Silver Destiny absolutely makes the most out of this finale rather than padding out the extra time with creative ways to troll the audience. Cusack has spoken about how working on the second season of YOLO reinvigorated his love for these characters and their world. This passion is palpable in “This is LITERALLY the Finale.”

It’s always fun to dissect the different visual flourishes that make up an episode of YOLO: Silver Destiny and there’s a lot to appreciate in this department in the season’s big send-off. All of the mermaid’s aquatic friends have wonderful designs and there are some exquisite Lucas animations present as he acts like a hero during his quest. Alternatively, some of the darker moments in Rachel’s cave get especially stylized and don’t hold back from depicting her like some decrepit Disney princess. It’s an effective approach for a finale that’s so concerned with transformation. 

YOLO: Silver Destiny never struggles to get grandiose, but “This is LITERALLY the Finale” truly feels epic. It’s a heightened energy that’s earned, but also feels deserved and takes the episode to some extremely absurd places, including the “real world.” That being said, in the end all of this madness comes down to simple conversation and honest humility that’s able to unite friends and heal old wounds. There’s a really sweet message of forgiveness that results in satisfying closure for the series. The live-action interpretation of everyone’s “Silver Destiny” is true nonsense, but it’s so ridiculous that it works and implies mock-prestige as if all of this has been part of a grander cosmic plan. YOLO: Silver Destiny concludes with a finale that’s emotional, absurd, and thought-provoking–everything that this glorious, weird, wonderful series represents.

Get ready for the era of the Evil Black Hat, everyone!