Did the Nancy Drew Season 4 finale work as a series finale?

Nancy Drew wrapped up its four-season run with a finale that answered some mysteries and put the Drew Crew on a new path. But did it really work as a goodbye to the series itself?

Caution: This article contains SPOILERS for the Nancy Drew series finale

The final episode has the Drew Crew trying to stop sins from driving the townspeople of Horseshoe Bay crazy. As part of this, Nancy, Tristan, and Ace entered a dream world with Nancy and Tristan believing they were bound as “soulmates.” Instead, they learned that Nancy’s first incarnation had killed Tristian, thus creating the curse in the first place.

A horrified Nancy spelled out how she was the cause of the suffering and mysteries she had spent her current life trying to solve. Thanks to Ace sacrificing part of his soul and Nancy’s power to reincarnate, the curse was broken.

However, there were some serious endings, one of the biggest being the Historical Society, where the gang had solved so many cases, being burned down by a mob. The team decided to take new paths, with Nancy searching the world for more sin eaters, George attending law school, Bess hunting for magical artifacts, Nick going to work for Tom Swift, and Tristian traveling the world.

Best of all, Ace realized the curse on him and Nancy was broken so they could be together. The final scene had the gang putting together a board of memories at the Claw (including Nancy’s old waitress name tag) and Nancy, fittingly, being the last one out and shutting off the lights.

That was a good closing, but did it truly work?

Nancy Drew Season 4 was too short

The key issue of Nancy Drew’s last season was that 13 episodes weren’t enough. It felt too compressed, and not enough time for plotlines from Ace and his ghost friend to the conflict over the Historical Society. Tristan was meant to be a big character vying for Nancy’s affection but didn’t get enough time to establish that before the reveal of him being a Sin Eater.

The last few episodes really seemed rushed in the plotlines. The sudden reveal of Callie being the Sin Eater’s “minder” and then deciding to unleash all the sins came out of nowhere and lacked the build needed to make it a good payoff. With the producers learning partway through writing the season that it would be the last, this isn’t too surprising, though.

That affected the finale as it was obvious the writers had to spend the first half wrapping up the storylines and then the second bidding farewell to the characters. With more episodes, we could have gotten better insight into Tristan and more time for the plot to breathe.

The show did end well as each character got a good send-off, and that final scene summarized how much they meant to each other. The corkboard of memories was wonderful, as was seeing Nancy and Ace together. However, it just serves as a reminder of how this show deserved to last longer, so while the series finale was a good wrap-up, it oddly felt lacking for what the Drew Crew deserved.

Nancy Drew Season 4 is streaming on The CW App.