I must tell you Beautiful People frustrated me as much as Gilmore Girls did and 2 Broke Girls as the show ended and left questions I feel should have been answered before it ended. Because Beautiful People is a difference between a television show ending and a television show leaving you hanging. Beautiful People did the second one.
When I finished watching the series, I didn’t feel like the story had reached a natural ending. I felt like I had been introduced to these people, watched them go through all of this drama and change, and then suddenly someone turned off the television before I got to find out what happened next. And there were a lot of things I wanted to know.
For me the first question I would like a answer to is what happened to Lynn? She was one of the reasons I enjoyed Beautiful People in the first place. She wasn’t simply the mother standing in the background while her daughters had all the interesting storylines. She had her own life, her own relationships and her own hopes for the future.
And then there was that relationship with the father of her youngest daughter’s ex-boyfriend. Did they actually end up together? Did they decide they were better off as friends? Was there a real future there? I wanted to know! That storyline alone could have carried part of another season because Lynn deserved an ending of her own.
We spent so much time watching her try to build a new life for herself and her daughters. I wanted to see where that life eventually took her. Did she find love? Did she choose her family over a relationship? Did she finally get the happy ending she deserved? We never got to find out and that just wasn’t fair.
Then there’s the oldest daughter, Karen. Her modeling storyline had so much potential. She was trying to figure out what she wanted, where she belonged and whether the modeling world was actually going to give her the future she imagined. And then everything became even more complicated when she discovered that the guy she had trusted had betrayed her during the modeling competition. That was quite a twist. Wasn’t it? That changes everything. So what happened after that?
Did Karen walk away from modeling? Did she decide she was going to prove everyone wrong and continue? Did she actually become successful? Or did she discover that modeling wasn’t really what she wanted after all? Did she ever find true love? Did she move out on her own and begin her own life? Those are not little questions. That’s a major part of Karen’s story.
Of course, I also wanted to know what happened romantically. After discovering the betrayal, did Karen ever forgive him? Did she go back to him? Or did she finally realize that she deserved someone who wouldn’t betray her? And what about the other relationships she had along the way? Did she eventually find true love, or was she still trying to figure that part of her life out?
That’s another place where another season could have taken the story. Karen didn’t need to immediately get the perfect relationship. Honestly, I think it would have been more interesting to watch her learn from what happened and figure out what she really wanted. But I wanted to see it and I still do.
And what happened to the youngest daughter? That’s probably one of the biggest reasons I wanted another season. Sophie was still growing up and figuring herself out. While Karen’s story often felt like it was moving toward adulthood, Sophie was still in that stage where so much of her future was ahead of her.
She had friendships. She had relationships. She had family issues. She was trying to figure out who she was. And then the series ended. Just like that. I wanted to see what happened to her. Did she stay in New York? Did she find her place? Did her relationships work out? What did she eventually want to do with her life? There was so much more story available for her.
That’s why I don’t think the show was finished and this is what bothers me about the cancellation of Beautiful People. It wasn’t as though the characters had reached the end of their journeys. They were in the middle of them. Lynn still had questions about her future. Karen still had questions about her career and her relationships. Sophie was still growing into the person she was going to become.
And we, the viewers, were invested enough to want answers. That’s what a second season could have given us. It could have allowed the writers to take these storylines somewhere instead of leaving them suspended in midair. Because there were Sophie’s friends what happened to them and why is another question I would have liked to have been answered.
And here’s the thing. I didn’t need every character to get exactly what they wanted. Karen didn’t have to become a famous model. She didn’t have to end up with the guy I wanted her to end up with. Lynn didn’t have to marry the man I thought she might marry. Sophie didn’t have to suddenly have her whole life figured out.
That’s not what I mean when I say the show deserved another season. I simply wanted answers. Let the characters grow. Let them make mistakes. Let some relationships work and others fall apart. Let Karen discover whether modeling was really her future. Let Lynn figure out what love looked like for her. Let Sophie discover who she was becoming. Just give us the opportunity to watch it happen.
I think that’s why revisiting Beautiful People years later has been so much fun. I’m not just remembering a television show from the past. I’m wondering about the people in it. And when a show makes you ask, “But what happened to them?” years after it ended, that’s a pretty good indication that the characters mattered.
I was invested in this family. I wanted to know where their lives went. And I still do. So, Did Beautiful People Deserve Another Season? Yes. Absolutely. Not because every episode was perfect. Not because it was the biggest television show of its time. And not simply because I enjoyed watching it.
It deserved another season because the story wasn’t finished. There were relationships that needed resolution. There were dreams that hadn’t been answered. There were betrayals that still had consequences. There was a mother whose future was still uncertain. There was an oldest daughter trying to figure out love and her career. And there was a youngest daughter who still had so much growing up to do.
We were left with questions. And I would have happily watched another season just to get some answers. Honestly, if someone told me tomorrow that the original cast was getting together for a Beautiful People revival, I wouldn’t need to think about it. I’d watch. Because I still want to know what happened:
Did Lynn find love? Did Karen make it as a model? Did she find true love after everything that happened? Did she go back to the guy who betrayed her? or the guy she had been dating? And most importantly… what happened to Sophie? Those are the stories I never got to see. The one’s that keep me awake at night. And that’s exactly why I still believe Beautiful People deserved another season.
Thank you,
Glenda, Charlie and David Cates