I have to say, I loved the finale. Yeah, it was a bummer, but it was supposed to be a bummer. There's something to be said for a series finale that plays out the aspects of the initial premise that you really could not have allowed to play out any earlier in the series. Not everything should have a happy ending.

I would say the preponderance of shows that do have happy endings tends to lessen their impact- it's predictable. So, when a show doesn't go that route, it makes it really intriguing. In a world where there was like a 50-50 ratio of happy endings to unhappy endings, I'd probably prefer happy endings, but in a world where that's not the case (Which is the one we live in), something like the end of Dinosaurs stands out in a good way.

I also feel like it delivered an important critique of modern society by implication, which is not something one expects from a family sitcom featuring anthropomorphic dinosaur muppets, but which actually makes it more impressive for it's emotional impact, because in theory one would think it wouldn't really be possible for them to go serious without being laughed at. This worked, though.

In case anyone doesn't remember or didn't see it the first time, I should mention that the episode we're talking about actually isn't the last episode in the watch order that was favored by streaming services. Basically, ABC skipped 6 or 8 episodes to get to the finale, which were readded after the finale for streaming. However, you'll know the episode we're talking about even if you just watch in streaming order, because it's just clearly the last episode and the "next" episodes just carry on like it didn't happen, because they were intended to air before it.