Spoiler warning for anyone who hasn't yet watched the Season 1 finale for ABC's Whiskey Cavalier.
There are few more frustrating TV-related actions than watching the season finale of a series that has already been cancelled by its network. Such was the case Wednesday evening, with the ABC drama Whiskey Cavalier capping off its beleaguered first season with a cliffhanger finale, leaving some dangling threads that would have theoretically been wrapped up with a second season.
Warner Bros. TV is currently shopping Whiskey Cavalier around to see if any other networks or streaming services will step in to fund a second season of globe-spanning secret missions. So far, no one has jumped at the chance to bring it back for Season 2, which is a bummer for the show's more hardcore fans. The silver lining here, though, is that executive producer Bill Lawrence (he of Scrubs fame) confirms fans will find out what happened with Will and Frankie no matter what happens. Here's how he put it:
So according to Bill Lawrence, Whiskey Cavalier fans will eventually know everything we need to know about the finale's unexplained moments. Not that he can guarantee that people will be satisfied with the answers, since happiness about TV finales is hard to come by these days.
Let's run down all the issues that need following up on. The most life-threatening one, of course, concerns Dylan Walsh's Alex Ollerman shockingly showing up in the last minute and sticking a knife in Tyler James Williams' Edgar Standish. Now, it's easily assumable that Standish survives the confrontation without bleeding to death. But then fans probably assumed Ollerman killed himself whenever he fell out of that window, so nothing is concrete, I guess.
Standish was in the middle of alerting Will to the fact that Markia Domi?czyk's Tina was the one who actually murdered Ophelia Lovibond' Emma, who'd started up some romantic feelings within Will. So technically, it was the perfect time for Ollerman to mysteriously pop out of the dark in order to get his revenge on Standish. How in the hell did he ghost out of falling off a building, though?
The second major issue, as referred to in Bill Lawrence's tweet, is that final romantic moment shared between Will and Frankie, when "fate" brought them together for a potential kiss. Not willing to give audiences what many had waited to see all season – namely, Will and Frankie hooking up – Whiskey Cavalier cut away when the characters' faces were still inches away from each other.
Considering Bill Lawrence semi-promised to show fans "the kiss" if Season 2 doesn't get picked up elsewhere, it's probably safe to assume they finally did lock lips in that moment. Of course, knowing this show, there could have been a last-second phone call from Standish or Ray, or maybe Will brought up one of his ex-girlfriends in the process.
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Unfortunately, it wasn't made more clear just how Bill Lawrence and the Whiskey Cavalier team aim to show audiences the aftermath of that finale cliffhanger. Perhaps there is footage to be shown that covers both Standish's stabbing and that kiss between Will and Frankie. Or maybe he'd just explain it all via tweet.
In any case, the best case scenario is one in which Lawrence doesn't have to worry about how to clue fans in on what happened, and audiences would get to see the explanations and kissy moments happen during a proper second season. As the executive producer made clear on Twitter, the #SaveWhiskeyCavalier social campaign has gotten a lot of attention since ABC pulled the plug. Will it be enough to save the expensive and middling-rated series, though? Here's hoping.
Whiskey Cavalier is now done with Season 1, just in time for a round of summer TV programming. Make your voices heard online and in any other ways possible, and perhaps we'll be talking about Will and Frankie again when the fall season rolls around.
