IT’S NOT LIKE THAT: Episode 108: “Hope and Peace and Joy and Love”
A heartfelt, well-made season finale — with grown-up subject matter to weigh first.
Should You Watch It?
This finale earns its four stars. Scott Foley and Erinn Hayes anchor a season-ending episode built on excellent performances, confident camerawork, and drama that actually lands emotionally — grief, co-parenting, teenage rebellion, and a Christmas season that forces two families to face hard truths together.
It also does something rarer: it takes faith seriously without flinching. Characters go to a Christmas Eve service, sing hymns, quote John 3:16, and talk plainly about the cross. The finale closes on a scene of a daughter reading her late mother's Bible and finding that God's love "never fails."
That said, this is a show for older teens and adults, not younger children. A teenager drives drunk. A married couple shares an implied bedroom scene. There's bullying, light profanity, and honest conversation about sex and alcoholism. None of it is gratuitous, but none of it is for kids, either. If your teen is 15 or older and you're comfortable discussing those themes together, this is worth watching.
The Story
NO SPOILERS — WE KEEP THE SURPRISESMalcolm, a pastor, and his friend Lori have both become unexpected single parents — Malcolm after his wife's death, Lori after her husband asked for a divorce. As Christmas approaches, both families lean on each other while quietly unraveling under the weight of grief, adolescence, and old wounds. The season finale brings those pressures to a head. Whether the holiday brings the healing everyone is hoping for, we'll leave for you to find out.
Is It Any Good?
Four stars means this is the season at its best. The finale has strong production values, and Scott Foley and Erinn Hayes carry the emotional load with performances that keep the drama grounded rather than melodramatic. The direction is confident — well-shot, visually pleasing, with camera work that lends the story real authenticity. The unfolding drama keeps you engaged and invested in the characters rather than just waiting for a resolution. It's a satisfying, well-crafted hour, marred only by an ending that stops on a cliffhanger rather than a full close.
The Worldview
This finale is built on a strongly Christian, redemptive, pro-family foundation. Characters attend a Christmas Eve service, sing hymns, and quote John 3:16 as they talk openly about Jesus Christ's sacrifice. Parents discipline and guide their children rather than abdicating the job. People own their mistakes and apologize. Siblings carry each other through grief. And the episode's final image — a daughter opening her late mother's Bible to read that God's love "never fails" — gives the whole hour its emotional and spiritual center.
The content that earns the caution rating doesn't undercut that foundation so much as sit alongside it: an implied married bedroom scene, teen drinking and a drunk-driving storyline, bullying, and frank adult conversation about sex and alcoholism. These are treated as real problems with real consequences, not endorsed — but they are present, and younger viewers shouldn't be handed this one unsupervised.
The show's deepest claim is the one it makes explicit: love that doesn't fail. Scripture makes the same claim in stronger terms — "Love never fails" (1 Corinthians 13:8) — and grounds it not in family loyalty alone, but in the character of God Himself.
The Content Guide
The specifics — spoilers included by nature — so you can judge for your own family.
Content Summary
<span data-contrast="auto">(CC, BB, L, S, N, V, A, M): </span><b><span data-contrast="auto">
Dominant Worldview and Other Worldview Content/Elements
</span></b><span data-contrast="auto"> S</span><span data-contrast="auto">trong Christian, redemptive, moral, pro-family worldview where people attend a Christmas Eve service, sing Christian hymns, quote the Bible verse John 3:16 and talk about Jesus Christ’s sacrifice on the cross, parents are shown disciplining and guiding their children, people own up to their mistakes and apologize, siblings support each other through hardship and grief, and a character reads the Bible; </span><b><span data-contrast="auto">
Foul Language
</span></b><span data-contrast="auto"> One “d” word, one “h” word, three light OMG profanities, and people use words like crappy, screwed and sucked;</span><b><span data-contrast="auto">
Sex
</span></b><span data-contrast="auto"> A married couple kisses passionately in bed, and it’s implied they had relations, discussion about sexual performance, an unmarried couple kisses, a man seductively holds a woman’s face like he might kiss her, and there are several other conversations about sex;</span><b><span data-contrast="auto">
Violence
</span></b><span data-contrast="auto"> Scenes from a car accident, but nothing too graphic, and an emergency room scene where a character has a black eye; </span><b><span data-contrast="auto">
Nudity
</span></b><span data-contrast="auto"> One scene with upper male nudity and a woman’s bare shoulders are shown in bed, plus a woman wears tight dresses and low cut shirts; </span><b><span data-contrast="auto">
Alcohol Use
</span></b><span data-contrast="auto"> A character drives under the influence, several conversations about alcoholism but it’s rebuked, a character talks about being in recovery, and teenagers drink at a party; </span><b><span data-contrast="auto">
Smoking and/or Drug Use and Abuse
</span></b><span data-contrast="auto"> No smoking or drugs; and, </span><b><span data-contrast="auto">
Miscellaneous Immorality
</span></b><span data-contrast="auto"> A teenager takes a car without permission, a man and woman are divorced, and a character dates multiple men at once.</span><span data-ccp-props="{}"> </span> <span data-ccp-props="{"469777462":[360],"469777927":[0],"469777928":[1]}"> </span> <span data-ccp-props="{"469777462":[360],"469777927":[0],"469777928":[1]}"> </span>
Talk About It
Questions for the couch, the commute, or the couple bingeing it together.
Malcolm's family grieves a mother's death, and Lori's family grieves a marriage's end — different losses, same season. What does it look like to mourn well as a family, together?
Romans 12:15 · Ecclesiastes 3:4The finale ends with a note about a love that "never fails." Where in your own life do you need to be reminded of that promise? | 1 Corinthians 13:8 · Lamentations 3:22–23A teenager drives under the influence, and alcoholism comes up more than once in this episode — treated seriously, not as a joke. How does your family talk about alcohol, and what boundaries make sense for your teens? | Proverbs 20:1 · Ephesians 5:18Parents in this story guide and discipline their kids even while struggling themselves. What does it mean to parent honestly, without pretending to have it all together? | Ephesians 6:4 · Proverbs 22:6The Final Word
This is a well-made, warmly Christian season finale — funny, sad, and honest about the mess families actually live through, right down to a closing scene that leans on Scripture rather than sentiment. It's also frank enough about drinking, sex, and grief that it isn't for younger children. Our answer stands: worth watching — ages 15 and up.
