[spoilers] Harry and Ruth. The Wonder Years.

[DogSoSmall]

I'm really struggling to understand why so many people would find a satisfactory, romantic ending for Harry and Ruth such a stretch of credibility. What is the alternative? Yes, everyone (including them) accepts that they love each other, but they go their separate ways anyway. And then what? Do they each find someone else (a la George) whom they couldn't possibly love as much but with whom it would somehow be more possible to settle down? Or is it supposed to be a satisfactory conclusion that they both remain alone for the rest of their days because love is clearly far too difficult for either of them? Both of these scenarios are far more unrealistic and ridiculous to me.

As watchstrap says, this relationship is hugely dependant on intellectual compatability, and that is why it always appealed so very much to me. Why, if they were together, would that compatability suddenly disintigrate? It really annoyed me in 9.1 when Ruth said "what would we do? What would we talk about?" If any two people had more interests in common, I have yet to meet them. For me, the only reason that Ruth is backing off is that in spite of her adoration of Harry, she has so little sense of her own worth that she can't believe that if they were together that Harry would not be hugely disappointed in her, start to think as little of her as she does of herself. It took very little in S5 for her to scuttle back into hiding once it looked as if their relationship might actually progress, and then she only acknowledged it when she thought she would never see Harry again, so he would not find her out. Series 9 has had a lot of moments where people have showed their appreciation of her, including Lucas at the end, and I wonder if gradually the message is hammering home that she is in fact worthy of Harry. Especially if they can show that Harry is not always perfect himself. To me this is all about Ruth believing that she is worthy of Harry, and once she can accept that, I can see absolutely no reason on earth why they should not both be together and be ecstatically happy together.

Please?