"After all these years, I still look back...with wonder"
- The final words spoken by
Kevin Arnold (Fred
Savage) on the series finale of the adolescent drama
THE WONDER YEARS/ABC/1988-93.
On the last episode, Kevin Arnold, now grown, looked back on his life in
the late 1960s and summarized his youthful days
and his adventures with his first love Gwendolyn
"Winnie" Cooper (Danica McKellar).
“Once upon a time there was a girl I knew, who
lived across the street. Brown hair, brown eyes.
When she smiled, I smiled. When she cried, I
cried. Every single thing that ever happened to
me that mattered, in some way had to do with
her.
That day Winnie and I promised each other that
no matter what, that we'd always be together. It
was a promise full of passion and truth and
wisdom. It was the kind of promise that can only
come from the hearts of the very young.
Winnie and Kevin
look for their friends on July 4th
The next day Winnie and I came home. Back to
where we'd started. It was the 4th of July in
that little suburban town. Somehow though,
things were different. Our past was here, but
our future was somewhere else. And we both knew,
sooner or later, we had to go.
It was the last July I ever spent in that town.
The next year, after graduation, I was on my
way. So was Paul. He went to Harvard, of course.
Studied law. He's still allergic to everything.
As for my
father...well...we patched things up. Hey, we
were family. For better or worse. One for
all...and all for one.
Karen's son was born in
that September. I gotta say, I think he looks
like me. Poor kid.
Mom, she did well: business woman, board
chairman, grandmother...cooker of mashed
potatoes.
The Wayner stayed on in furniture. Wood seemed
to suit him. In fact he took over the factory
two years later....when dad passed away.
Winnie left the next summer to study art history
in Paris. Still we never forgot our promise. We
wrote to each other once a week for the next
eight years. I was there to meet her, when she
came home, with my wife and my first son, eight
months old. Like I said, things never turn out
exactly the way you planned.
Growing up happens in a heartbeat. One
day you're in diapers; next day you're gone. But
the memories of childhood stay with you for the
long haul. I remember a place...a town...a house
like a lot of other houses... A yard like a lot
of other yards...on a street like a lot of other
streets. And the thing is...after all these
years, I still look back...with wonder.”
[credits roll, with voiceover]
Young boy's
voice: Hey Dad, wanta play catch? Narrator
(Kevin): I'll be right there."
Kevin meets with
his family on Independence Day
