Even though "Portlandia" and stars Fred Armisen and Carrie Brownstein have earned a victory lap for completing eight seasons in a rapidly evolving TV landscape, the series finale Thursday wasn't a self-indulgent nostalgia-fest. Rather, it was a self-aware goodbye to the show and to the city that inspired it and where it filmed on location.

The final episode, titled "Rose Route," had a continuing plotline about the Mayor (Kyle MacLachlan) and his trusty assistant, Sam (played, once again, by former Portland mayor Sam Adams) trying to redo the route of the Portland Marathon. The annual event's route, the Mayor declares, should be shaped like a rose, in honor of the Rose City.

The Portland Marathon story was interesting, considering that in real life, the race was hit by controversy in 2017, over disagreements with the City of Portland about the route and the Oregon Department of Justice ordering the Marathon leadership to provide documents relating to the organization's finances, budget, and other related matters.

But let's shelve that for the moment, and get back to "Portlandia." The final episode wasn't mushy, true to Brownstein's comment at the Television Critics Association 2018 winter press tour that ending a sketch comedy show doesn't call for cornball plot developments.

"People aren't looking for everyone to get pregnant or die or, I don't know, go off into space or something," as Brownstein said. "So we were able, I think, to avoid sentimentality a little bit."

But that didn't mean there weren't a few moments that felt sweet -- in that understated "Portlandia" way, of course. The finale also touched on the nostalgia Portlanders feel for the way the city used to be (before "Portlandia," as many have complained, and the writers surely have heard). The ending, with its fairy-tale ambiguity, raised questions about Portland's future.

Here are some highlights:

Portland nostalgia for the way we were: Probably the best joke (at least to us hometown folks) of the episode involved the Mayor and Sam meeting with neighborhood groups to get their approval on closing streets to allow a rose-shaped marathon route. Every one of the groups had the same request: you can close the street if you stop a planned condo from being built.

"The neighborhood doesn't need another condo," as guest Mike Chase (of "Mike & Amy in the Morning" on The Wolf 99.5-FM) said of a proposed development, "The Coop," to be "built on the former site of food carts."

Another group objected to a project called "PDX Condos: The Millennial Collection," while still another wanted to stop an apartment complex going up on North Williams Avenue (hear, hear).

Candace apologizes (gasp!): We got one last look at Candace (Armisen), the temperamental former feminist bookstore co-owner. When Toni (Brownstein) goes out of town for a few days, Candace shifts into Airbnb mode, welcoming a visiting marathon runner (played by guest star Dolly Wells), and displaying her high-maintenance personality. But even Candace shows a softer side when, after behaving badly to her guest, she drives a car through the marathon, trying to catch up and apologize.

Fred and Carrie share a moment: The Fred and Carrie characters are stuck in news-alert hell. They're so upset, both have skin break-outs. And I'm so upset at a teen movie-caliber gross visual gag, with Carrie popping a zit and a quick cut to the Mayor squeezing mayonnaise on a hot dog. But I digress.

To try and reduce their stress, Fred and Carrie decide to run in the Portland Marathon, and sign up with a trainer (played with zest by guest star Tessa Thompson). The trainer is flirty and encouraging with Carrie, and totally ignores Fred. When they show up for the marathon, Carrie is downcast to see the trainer flirting with other runners she's trained. Fred and Carrie start running, and they're not sure they can keep going.

But Fred bucks Carrie up by assuring her, "We're in it together." They finish the marathon, and Carrie tells Fred, "I couldn't do this without you."

"The race?" Fred asks.

"Any of it," Carrie says. The lines were a nice, not too sentimental, tribute to Armisen and Brownstein's collaboration.

What's up with the Mayor?: Bringing back MacLachlan as the Mayor for the series finale was a wise move, since MacLachlan's portrayal of Portland's gee-whiz fictional leader has been such a treat. But things got a bit mystical with Margaret (guest star Cherry Jones), the crone in the stone house the Mayor visits to get permission to open a bridge to let the marathon runners pass.

On one level, this sequence played off Portlanders' real-life frustration with how the city has changed, with more people moving here, traffic congestion, high housing costs and all those condos going up.

"Don't you think that it's time that we got back to how things used to be?" Margaret says to the Mayor as he asks her permission to open the bridge. The Mayor asks Sam to step out, and then the Mayor goes into visual effects fantasy mode, shooting lightning bolts out of his hands at Margaret and bellowing, "I NEED THIS BRIDGE!"

But his powers -- powers? What powers? Where did that come from? --don't work on Margaret. The Mayor wearily tells her, "I just want what's best for this city. Didn't you once want that, too?"

Margaret replies, "We just want to keep the world the way we've always remembered it." And Margaret says she only wants one thing in exchange for allowing access to the bridge to open.

The Mayor then appears at the end of the marathon, greeting Fred and Carrie. I"m going to be heading out," he tells them. "I wanted to come and say goodbye to my two favorite Portlanders."

Fred and Carrie think the Mayor means he's just going back to his office at City Hall. He finally reveals his first name: "Call me Sean."

Lifting an old-fashioned hobo bindle stiff -- a pole with his possessions bundled up at one end -- the Mayor, er Sean, says, "There's no going back, you know. Right or wrong, you can't go back."

"Where's he going?" Carrie wonders as the Mayor walks a few steps away. Then he turns to wave goodbye, and disappears in a golden haze. We then cut to a peaceful view of the Portland skyline, and see a flash of light, like a comet, in the sky.

And then we're back in the woods at the stone house.

"Sam?" the crone says.

"Yes, Ms. Mayor?" Sam replies.

"Shall we begin?"

As she says that, Sam smiles a little and closes the stone house door, which bears the sign, "Office of the Mayor."

End credits roll, as the theme song, "Feel It All Around," performed by Washed Out, plays.

Was Margaret Portland's Mayor before Sean? And is she planning on taking Portland back to the old, pre-"Portlandia" days? Heck if I know. I feel silly even asking these questions.

So, "Portlandia" ends not with a bang, but with a flash of golden light, some warm words shared between Fred and Carrie, and a touching performance by MacLachlan, whose emotion came through in his final scene with Armisen and Brownstein.

It's not a typical finale for a series. But in its eccentric way, "Rose Route" seems kind of perfect as a "Portlandia" swan song.

-- Kristi Turnquist



kturnquist@oregonian.com

503-221-8227

@Kristiturnquist