Why Dr. Horrible is good

Recently I had a friend who upon my advise watched Dr. Horrible. As he finished it I asked him excitedly.
"Wasn't that awesome?"
"No," he said, "no it wasn't."
"Yeah it was." I said.
"Look I know that you like that type of thing. Stories where the popular guy loses-"

I interrupted him there because that's not why I like Dr. Horrible, well maybe a little bit. But there's more to it than that. It's not just a story with a sad ending. It's a story with a sad meaningful ending.

Spoiler Alert
Dr.Horrible is good because it's a super villain musical that stays true to it's premise. When I watched the first two episodes I was really afraid of how the third was going to end. The setup of the show made me want to see Dr. Horrible and Penny end up together, and see Captain Hammer get his comeuppance.

Now Penny doesn't seem like the type of girl who could be in love with a super villain no matter how benign of lovable he may be. Unless she were to change drastically she could never love our good doctor. And all of Penny's charm is linked to her good nature. If she were to change I wouldn't like her and the story would fall apart.

So that would seem to leave Dr. Horrible with the burden of changing. My mind concocted a ending with Dr. Horrible giving up a life of evil for Penny. That or Dr. Horrible becoming a good guy, Captain Hammer would then become a bad guy and they'd fight. Both of these endings feel like cop outs. They're both weak and leave a bad taste in the mouth.

But those type of ending are what I have come to expect these days. Thankfully this show had the guts to keep Dr. Horrible evil. He got to see his dreams come true and all it cost him was the one person he loved. How can you not like that. Bittersweet? Yes, but still awesome.