The Last Dance

When Nicole and Jesse are asked to perform at Chris' cousins wedding they start to have doubts about their own relationship and decide to break up.

Meanwhile Danny starts dating new student Jillian but he hadn't bargained on how protective her Police Officer Father and Brothers are.

I think this is a very different and unique episode. This is only one of two episodes in the whole series run where there are no actual songs. I have to say that I feel that the musical numbers in season 6 took much more of a back seat than in previous seasons and there were certainly less of them. It's as though the writers were trying to concentrate more on story and characters. This could be one of the reasons that adds to my dislike of this season over all. I would have liked to see a nice adult ballad somewhere expressing the confusion that both characters are feeling. 

Anyway the lack of songs in this episode gives it a very different feel. I also think this episode is much more mature in it's writing style than a lot of other episodes. So from that point of view I like it.

What I like is that the story line feels so real and they deliberately play down the drama to make it more real. Rather than give Jesse and Nicole a dramatic break up where they are fighting or hurting reach other or one of them is seeing someone else, the story concentrates on how they are feeling,  which in some ways makes it more dramatic. 

I have personally been in the same situation as Nicole, where a relationship has naturally changed, you're still good friends and don't want to hurt each other but the romance has ended. It really is as difficult and as confusing as we see on screen and I went though a similar break up, reconciliation and then ultimate final breakup, so I totally identify with how she is feeling.

As Jesse and Nicole are both such nice and popular characters I was pleased that the show didn't try to make one of them the bad guy and cheat on the other or something like that.  However it's interesting how the other characters react to Jesse and Nicole's split and the rumours that suddenly spring up making their break up more dramatic than it was. Then when Jesse gets angry it's interesting how the characters instantly side with either Jesse or Nicole. Pretty much the girls side with Nicole and the boys side with Jesse. Personally I was surprised by Danny's reaction, supporting Jesse as I always thought he was closer to Nicole, particularly after the events of "Danny De Bergerac" in season 4.

I read that the producers thought that the relationship should end as they were struggling to come up with ideas for the couple. I also read that and both Nia and Jesse were on board with breaking the characters up  too. This is where my dislike comes in. I really didn't want the two characters to split up. Everyone else only had doomed relationships that pretty much lasted one episode and I loved that for the last two seasons we had a real couple, with an on going relationship that was tested by numerous problems, but they stayed together. It made the show more realistic in my opinion. Also as the audience hadn't previously seen any indication that there were any cracks in their relationship, so this all comes pretty much as a surprise.

I do love the scene between Nicole and Lydia. It seems so real and there is wonderful chemistry between Nia and Debbie. Also they set up some nice continuity for a later episode "Pros and Cons" where the boyfriend Lydia is talking about suddenly shows up.

We have another new character, Jillian who makes her first appearance in this episode and we get to know her family pretty quickly. I'm not convinced we get to know Jillian that well though. Danny is straight in asking her out and I think I'd like to see her being more hesitant because of her family. We don't need to actually see them yet, lets just concentrate on Jillian and then introduce her family at a later stage. 

However, Danny and Jillian's relationship is quite confusing because here Danny is saying he thinks Jillian might be the one but then in a few episodes time he has another girlfriend and then Jillian falls for the movie director who makes a film at the school. Then later in the series Danny and Jillian seem to be back together, with no real explanation of what happened in the meantime. With all the pressure from Jillian's family I wouldn't have thought Danny wouldn't have wanted to mess around. I also thought as the writers were separating Nicole and Jesse that they might want Danny and Jillian to replace them as the solid couple on the show but sadly that doesn't happen.

Original  air date in U.S.A.  13th  October 1986

Original  air date in U.K.  The Children's Channel  Broadcast Early 1993

Original air date in Italy 02rd January 1989

Original air date  in France 10th March 1996