Seven years ago, The League debuted on FX. It starred a cast of mostly unknowns and it was built on a premise that no one thought would work: a sitcom about fantasy football. As it turned out, however, fantasy football had really begun to take off in America, so much so that seven years later, ESPN’s coverage of the NFL is actually slanted toward the fantasy football fan. (For better or worse, but mostly for the worse.) Now everyone — even the most casual NFL fan — has a fantasy football team, and most people have more than one. It’s ruined civilized conversation in America during football season.
Turns out, there’s also a lot of relatable material to cover with fantasy football, mostly revolving around how fantasy football affects the friendship and relationships of those in a league. (In the case of The League, it’s a crappy eight-person snake-draft league.) FX’s The League covered most of the relatable material in the first couple of seasons, and it has since only loosely revolved around actual fantasy football while featuring the occasional NFL cameo. The series unfortunately has also been sputtering creatively for a few seasons, shedding viewers along the way. Last night, The League limped away quietly, but like a dying dog, it still had some bite left in it. In its series finale, The League offered up the best episode of the season, and fittingly bid farewell to each of the characters.
So what happened in the series finale?
As in each season finale, the Shiva and the Sacko were handed out. Ruxin faced off against The Coin (a team in which all managerial choices were made by the flip of a coin) in the Shiva Bowl. Ruxin also discovered that Meegan — who had reunited with Andre — was pregnant with Pete’s baby during a baby gender party. (This was the first of two baby gender parties last night on FX. One also served as the setting for You’re the Worst.) Meegan insisted that Ruxin keep the secret from Andre, and Ruxin fought with himself over whether to reveal it or not. He was visited by his future self — played, appropriately, by Larry David — in a dream, who said that if Ruxin revealed the secret, Kevin would die and Taco and Jenny would end up together, but that if he didn’t reveal the secret, he’d end up sleeping with Shiva and winning the Shiva Bowl.
Ruxin took future Ruxin’s advice, but he didn’t win. Future Ruxin screwed him. The Shiva Bowl ended in a tie, and the winner was determined by the flip of a coin. The coin won.
Meanwhile, Kevin and Jenny were also facing off in the final week and had placed a friendly wager on their matchup: If Jenny won, Kevin would have to get a vasectomy. If Kevin won, Jenny would have to get a tubal ligation. The trophy was a large pair of bronzed scissors. Jenny lost, but she was so angry about losing that she threw the scissors trophy, inadvertently hitting Kevin and slicing off his testicles. Fortunately, Taco volunteered one of his testicles to Kevin, and Andre volunteered to perform the testicle transplant procedure.
Pete had reached the finals in the Draft Kings tournament, facing off against 10 other players for $1 million. Pete won, but he also ended up with the Sacko Award, which put a damper on his $1 million check. On the bright side, with the money he could afford to fix the burned down beach house awarded to the Sacko winner. Pete got one hell of a happy ending.
Elsewhere, a pony burned down Taco’s EBDBBnB; he hoped to collect insurance money. Instead, he was summoned to jury duty, which he mistook for his own criminal trial and he disappeared. He would later return during the Shiva ceremony.
Finally, Andre won his bet with Pete from the start of the season. They had wagered on who would be the happiest at the end of the year. With Andre and Pete’s ex-wife Meegan together and a child on the way, Andre collected his $1 and Ruxin kept the secret about the paternity of Andre’s son… for nearly two decades. Fast-forward 18 years to when Andre invited his son into the fantasy league. His son’s first video message on the boards came from the rest of the league, who joyfully sang a song about how Andre’s son was actually Pete’s son. No one was happier than Andre’s kid to find out that Andre wasn’t his actual father.
There is one other postscript: Taco accidentally smashed and killed Rafi’s girlfriend Margaret, who is a watermelon. In one of the last times we see Rafi, he’s f**king his dead watermelon and demanding that Kevin stare him in the eyes so he can come. Typical Rafi.
So long, The League. You were great! And then not so great, and then great again!
