The end of a great series : Friday Night Lights

Final episodes of final seasons tend to be maudlin and teary and a bit drawn out. The final-final of "Friday Night Lights" is probably guilty on both counts but still is a great and satisfying ending to this highly likable, fun, and even thoughtful 5-year series. Is there anything in the final episode that is hard to believe? All of the wrap-ups do make sense for the characters and the town - and they leave just enough open space around them that you almost think there could be another season, if need be, but they also close enough of the doors, bring enough closure to the narrative lines, that it seems, yes, FNL followed a complete arc, the characters learning and growing and changing (one another) as the series and the season progressed. (Spoilers coming) So: was I surprised that Eric and Tammy move to Phila. so that Tammy can take a college job? Well, generally colleges don't hire h.s. guidance counselors as deans of admission, but accepting that for the moment, yes, the move makes sense - and was just surprising and edgy enough really to work. Eric learns he has to give up something very important to his life in order to save his marriage, and he will move on to face a new challenge in a new school. Vince has received all he needs from Eric and moves on to the new Dillon High team, which of course will go on, with Buddy ever-present. Julie & Matt - not totally clear how serious their engagement is, but it's obvious that they'll have many issues to work out living together, so young, in Chicago. Riggins is central to the whole series, and he, too, ends on an ambiguous note - staying in Texas, maybe, as he says, his life will cross with Tyra's, but he's never given up his serious drinking and you have to worry about what will happen to him as he ages. And the championship game - what a brilliant way to show it's conclusion and to blend the final play of the game with the epilogue. Great series.