Kristina Sees What's At The End Of The Campaign Trail

When Kristina announced her intention, earlier this season, to run for mayor of Berkeley, I wanted her to win because she was passionate about the office and the good she could do in it; because it would be a victory for Heather, her badass campaign manager (who I'll really miss); and because she could rub Adam's face in her success after he was so shitty about it. Sadly, we see in the latest episode that Kristina will not end with her in City Hall. But it still feels like things went as they should.

Kristina has been a good candidate for all the reasons that made her want to enter the race in the first place, but she's also been a bad candidate for the reasons we could have predicted based on what we've known about her over the course of the series. The qualities that make her a good friend and mother and wife (a better wife than her husband deserves, some might say) hinder her in the debate, as the conversational habits she's been brought up in as a woman make her too timid in the debate; and when Bob Little's campaign resurfaces Adam's old arrest for assaulting a guy who was abusive toward Max, Kristina can't respond in kind by bringing up his liaison with Amber. Basic human decency and strength of character are not assets in politics. I mean, duh. ("Those clowns in Congress did it again. What a bunch of clowns!" - Tara Ariano.)

So when Kristina figures out on Election Night that Heather's hedging means Kristina's going to lose, and though we hope she's wrong, we have to see her report that she's conceded the race to Bob. She gives a beautiful speech in front of all her supporters — which now includes the mostly shitty husband who finally realized what she was capable of and wished for her success.

And after Kristina's speech, when she's hugged Heather (for the last time???) and left the stage, the woman from the debate audience — the one with whom Kristina connected over their shared difficulties with the local school district in securing resources for their children's special needs — approaches Kristina to introduce her daughter.

Kristina has been more than a spoiler; her campaign was not just a protest. And she's going to continue her work in one way or another, because it's too important, and because it has to be now. EXCUSE ME, IT JUST GOT VERY DUSTY IN HERE.