A lot of great performances, absolutely. And the long-form presentation is really what gave Summer Glau room to do the kind of "robot becomes human" work that is not really possible in the movies.

I agree that the ending is kind of too specific to be satisfying. I don't mind ambiguous or open endings that leave you wondering (maybe forever) what will come next, but the ending we got told us too much and not enough at the same time.

TSCC ENDING SPOILERS, STAY OUT

I feel like cutting the episode slightly early would have worked better if they wanted to craft a "maybe we'll get a season 3, maybe this is the end" situation. If the cliffhanger was "Will John stay in the present or jump into the future?" and the show got cancelled there, there's nothing promised about where this story is headed and the possibilities for what adventures come next are basically endless. Instead, the show told us exactly what direction the story was going in and then ... didn't do it. That's worse to me.