SPOILERS BELOW Handling grief in tv shows is one of the most difficult things to do and especially the episode after a main character's death but this is one of the best portrayals of grief, importance of family and friends in hard times I have ever seen First of all, the person who died was THE rock of the show at that point. The relationships between the main characters have gotten scarred so many times that Gordon was the one keeping them tight together. I can bet that if unfortunately if it was someone else dying, it wouldnt have hit that hard because Gordon had a meaningful and beautiful relationship with each one of them and he never went in to be friends with anyone for his gains. He shared the best moments amongst the show with everyone and thats why that final moments in the previous episode hit wayyyyy too hard. Everyone was dealing with the loss very differently The whole ep when Donna was packing the belongings of Gordon, it felt she was in a place she has never been. Gordon and Donna were in love for like decades and were such a crucial part of each others lives but at that point when she lost her, she was just his ex wife, she was just someone they met at weekly/monthly dinners to discuss their kids, she didnt felt belonged there. She was craving to find something that could just remind her of how happy they were once together and instead finding that pic of Gordon and Katie and that must have just broken her and thats why the convo between them felt wierd asf. And Donna ended up not knowing that Gordon still cared for her so much. We as viewers knew that Gordon imagined her and the kids in his final moments but Donna would never be able to know that Cameron lost one of her closest friends and she clearly doesnt have a lot of them. She is one self destructive person who just doesnt do well with being social and really doesnt have much real friends and losing one of your closest ones hits way hard. Her conversation was Joanie was also great Joe was so shaken up by Gordon's loss that he was just not able to give into that. He was just about to break in that dinner scene. Lee Pace was aboslutely phenomenal there. He lost his best friend, Comet was nearly in shambles and Cameron doesnt want kids while he does, it was heartbreak after heartbreak after heartbreak for him. Still he almost keeps himself together at the dinner scene because it was family around him The scene where Gordon jumps off that cliff into the water was referring to scene earlier in the season where Donna was telling Joanie how she did a cartwheel off a similar place where Gordon chickened out but this time he didnt. In my understanding, at first earlier in that season I thought that Gordon was chickening out seeing her daughter crying nd leaving everything to Donna but in reality he was just scared shitless, probably about kids, moving, changes. So he tried to do what Donna did so he could overcome his fear and be there for his family because we all know family meant everything to him. "I miss him" "Me too" "I miss you" " I am here" That scene and conversation between Cameron and Donna was probably my favourite scene of the episode. Not wanna sound absurd but there was one positive thing coming out of Gordon's death, it brought Cameron nd Donna much closer and they understood they needed to be there for each other rn more than ever. And Donna also gets the opportunity to tell Cameron about finishing her game. "Ofcourse you did, I made it for people like you" They also end up discussing how Gordon's demise have affected Joe and Cameron's relationship in a negative way, it made Joe realise that he sees kids in his future but Cameron doesnt, and ultimately they cant even be there for each other at the moment in this tough situation "The Pilgrim was a child" That feels like Cameron's secret. She is still that child who got abondoned by both of her parents, its no wonder she doesnt want children. This felt way hard ngl, I felt so bad for her The stuff Joanie said to felt so bad but then also in the flashback we see that Donna complains to Gordon that her mother is just about appearences and then Joanie said the same to Cameron about Donna, so Donna indirectly became her mother. Joe and Haley tryna get Gordon's sweater could have just been the best moment but they didnt find the one but got a wrong bag, they sure had a laugh on that but seconds later Joe just got disheartened that he couldnt get it and he was already not dealing with it well One funny scene tho that I need to mention When Haley plays that song, Joe's expression killed me Overall, one of the saddest episodes I have ever seen. Watching 4x7 and 4x8 together was unreal to me, I cried for 2 eps straight, it was THAT impactful. One of my favourite episodes ever, very high up in my list and best of the show