Some serious risks have been taken, both in terms of Jim’s mental and emotional states, as well as the disparate places that baseball has taken him, but every year these curveballs helped the show evolve into something even better and more special. These fearless, creative tendencies have never been more present than in the show’s final season, which somehow whips baseball, the apocalypse, and family values together into a powerful cocktail that Jim Brockmire greedily knocks back without a chaser.

Each of Brockmire’s seasons has chronicled Jim’s reluctant efforts to both better himself and better the sport of baseball, but the show’s final batch of episodes really go for broke. This year features an extremely surprising and ambitious story that utilizes chaotic pacing that helps the season feel even more crazy and extravagant. Sometimes multiple decades are covered in a single episode, others will methodically span just one evening, while some will then flashback to years in the past. It’s a structure that not only guarantees that Brockmire’s final season is more unpredictable than the others, but that it also feels more epic.

Previous seasons have examined pivotal moments from Jim Brockmire’s life, but this season covers entire lifetimes of events. It almost feels like these eight episodes equate to multiple seasons of the show or some new “reboot” that works as a satisfying lengthy epilogue. It makes for a radical change, but one that effectively meshes with the nihilistic feeling of Armageddon that brews throughout these episodes.

As Brockmire attempts to acclimate to the changes that he faces, the introduction of Beth (Reina Hardesty) makes for a successful approach that looks both to the past and the future as Jim determines what’s most important in his life. Previously, Jim Brockmire has been eager to push people out of his inner circle as he feeds his own ego, but this season reduces the presence of Brockmire’s various support systems as it takes a more concentrated look at him in his most stripped down state. Much of this final season sees Brockmire prepare for a future where he may have to tackle the world alone and how he’ll cope with such a transition. Jim’s put his life all back together, but now the hardest thing is to actually live it.

Reina Hardesty faces a difficult task as her new character gets thrown into this series and Jim’s life, yet she manages to feel like she’s always been around. Hardesty is so damn incredible as Beth and her character is forced to tackle a multitude of challenges and extremes. Some of the most emotional scenes from the season play out between Beth and Jim and they’re powerful, nuanced moments. Brockmire has always largely been the “Hank Azaria Show,” but Hardesty shows phenomenal range and holds her own against Azaria. The only shame is that she wasn’t around for longer.