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Eleanor Barkhorn

Eleanor Barkhorn - Eleanor Barkhorn is an associate editor at The Atlantic, where she edits the Entertainment channel.
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Eleanor Barkhorn is an associate editor at The Atlantic, where she edits the Entertainment channel. She is a former producer for the Food channel. Before coming to The Atlantic, she was a reporter at the Delta Democrat Times in Greenville, Mississippi. She graduated from Princeton University, where she majored in American literature and wrote her senior thesis about Oprah's Book Club. For her first two years out of college, she taught high school English with the Teach For America program.

'30 Rock' Season Finale: Best and Worst Moments

By Eleanor Barkhorn
May 21 2010, 12:27 PM ET Comment



30 Rock had its season finale last night, and it was packed with plot twists. (Love triangles! A surprise pregnancy! A MacGruber cameo!) Unfortunately, some of these big surprises don't bode well for the future of the series...

First, let's start with the bad news:

Liz Lemon butchers "Wedding Song (There Is Love)"
In her attempt to stall the wedding between Floyd and his yoga-instructor bride, Liz pulls out all the stops, including playing "Mash" with the Bible. The lowest point happens when she pulls out her guitar and delivers a cringe-worthy rendition of the Peter, Paul, and Mary song: Check out the real version here—it's a very pretty song, and quite appropriate for weddings.

Avery is pregnant—and she and Jack are going to keep the baby
This isn't so bad in and of itself—Avery is a great character and a good match for Jack. But this plot wrinkle is problematic because it puts a relatively definitive end to the sexual tension between Liz and Jack that lit up the show's first season. Jack's about to be a father—this means the show's writers have decided to abandon the possibility that Liz and Jack will end up together.

Liz Lemon finds her soulmate—and he's played by Matt Damon
Like the Avery pregnancy, this is not a bad thing by itself. Carol ("It's a family name!") is a great match for Liz—he's handsome; he loves TGS; he's a pilot, which satisfies Liz's desire for a man who's into flying. Finally, after dating a beeper salesman, a himbo, and a man she hates, this guy could be "The One." The only catch is he's played by Matt Damon. An Oscar nominated actor. In other words, a guy who is not about to become a regular on 30 Rock. There's no way this relationship will last, because there's no way Damon will stay on the show past a few episodes. So we're heading for another Liz Lemon breakup, followed by more sad-sap episodes about how she can't find true love.

The episode did, however, have one shining moment:

Kenneth pulls a Jerry Maguire
When the cheery page gets fired for giving a bad tour to a group of network executives, Kenneth goes on a bender and tells the TGS staff what he really thinks of them...

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