Dear Dan Levy,

I love Schitt’s Creek. It’s one of the comfort-watch shows that is getting me through the pandemic, and if I were still at the fan-fic stage of my life, I’d be Mary Sue-ing without shame. You and your family–on both sides of the camera–have given the world a gift, and I’m so, so thankful. 

I’m just a tad younger than your father and Catherine O’Hara, and my children are roughly the ages of David and Alexis. Like your family–like all families–we’ve had changes and loss, but not on the scale (or with the grace and chuckles) that were brilliantly scripted for the Roses. I cheered for David and Alexis as they stumbled their way through their (somewhat belated) coming-of-age to find a new place in life, and I was impressed by Johnny as he transitioned from one type life to find happiness in a new challenge. But that brings me to a question I hate to ask: Can we talk about Moira?

All the other family members (and Stevie, Patrick, and Ted) experience significant shifts in their worldview through the course of the show. At the end, their goals and their definitions of “success” are different than they were earlier. They’ve changed. 

But Moira? She’s excited to be heading into the life that she used to have. Sure, she knows her children’s names (but maybe not their middle names), and she has harmonized with women who she previously would have snubbed, but after all that, she’s going back to where she was–even better, in prime time. Her disgrace at Sunrise Bay has been vindicated, and she’s gotten her revenge on the duplicitous Clifton–that redemption is good, and may give her the freedom to move on.  That’s worth noting, of course, but where’s her evolution?

An irony hit me when I watched interviews where you, your dad, and Catherine talked about how reluctant O’Hara was to be in the show. O’Hara had not been home sitting by her phone longing for the rigor and commitment of a series. She had to be convinced to become Moira. The fact that the challenge you offered her went far beyond anyone’s expectations and she became a household name is icing on the cake–or fondant on the confectionary, as Moira might say. O’Hara is still embracing new challenges; Moira’s success is in returning to what she was.

So Dan, do you see any new horizons for Moira? Any staring into the abyss leading to an epiphany? I hoped that her experience directing “Cabaret” might lead her to directing and producing, or that she would become passionate about..something other than the life she used to lead.

I am a woman of a certain age. Like O’Hara, I can choose the challenges to embrace in my next phase of life. As much as I love Moira and cheered her on through her internment at Schitt’s Creek, I’m going to have to look to O’Hara as a role model for the next phase of life.

…and if you do write anything further for the Roses, I’d love to see Moira discover that there are new challenges for her, too. Johnny has a new career reflecting the changes he made in Schitt’s Creek; I think there’s a good chance that Moira is going to find that after the initial thrill of prime time, being where she was just isn’t enough.

And Dan–you are simply the best. ❤ Jeannine