Page 1 of 5 123 ... LastLast
Results 1 to 20 of 88

Thread: Great endings!

  1. #1
    Join Date
    Jan 2010
    Location
    Outside Philly

    Great endings!

    Quote Originally Posted by El_Diablo View Post
    Breaking Bad is an obvious counter-example. The Sopranos, The Wire and Mad Men also had strong/consistent final seasons.
    Agree with all these, with possible exception of The Wire. Its final season was the subject of pretty significant debate, IIRC. Exploring a fifth city institution (the media) was consistent with the show's purpose. It's been a while but I recall falling on the side that the core story was clunkier and more contrived than the other seasons (particularly 1, 3, and 4) and that McNulty's actions were a bridge too far for my read of his character. I'm assuming that the story at the heart of Season 5 is based on real incidents that David Simon observed similar to the rest of the series. My two cents.

    Great endings could probably become it's own thread...

  2. #2
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Multi-season shows only, or movies too?

  3. #3
    Join Date
    Jan 2010
    Location
    Outside Philly
    Quote Originally Posted by fuse View Post
    Multi-season shows only, or movies too?
    A lot of the broader discussion on good endings has been driven by the comparative satisfaction of Avengers/MCU fans (high satisfaction) versus GoT fans (low satisfaction...so far). So, I'd say multi-seasons shows and movies ---

    I'll reiterate my original comments regarding The Wire. Certain elements of Season 5 really threw me off but I will say the final montage to close the series was perfect!

  4. #4
    Great Endings - Battlestar Galactica (the reboot). All the threads going back to the very first movie come together for one heck of a ride. I've watched the last few episodes a lot more than I have the rest of the series.

    Bad Endings - Heroes. Ugh! What could have been the MCU for TV turned awful because the writers didn't know how to kill a bad villian.

  5. #5
    Quote Originally Posted by PackMan97 View Post
    Great Endings - Battlestar Galactica (the reboot). All the threads going back to the very first movie come together for one heck of a ride. I've watched the last few episodes a lot more than I have the rest of the series.

    Bad Endings - Heroes. Ugh! What could have been the MCU for TV turned awful because the writers didn't know how to kill a bad villian.
    I honestly could not get past the first few episodes of the second season of Heroes. The first season was near perfect television. Then it went sideways.

    As I recall, it was also a victim of thr writers' strike. Can anyone confirm?

  6. #6
    It's a divisive topic, but: I really like the last episode of Seinfeld.

  7. #7
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    Hot'Lanta... home of the Falcons!
    Quote Originally Posted by Mtn.Devil.91.92.01.10.15 View Post
    I honestly could not get past the first few episodes of the second season of Heroes. The first season was near perfect television. Then it went sideways.

    As I recall, it was also a victim of thr writers' strike. Can anyone confirm?
    It takes a lot for the wife and me to give up on a show. It typically takes 2 or 3 seasons of suck for us to abandon something. We adored season 1 of Heroes. We were done with it by the end of season 2.

    And, yes, it was affected by the writer's strike as it ended up only making about half of the planned episodes in season 2.
    Why are you wasting time here when you could be wasting it by listening to the latest episode of the DBR Podcast?

  8. #8
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    Washington DC
    Is this the thread to talk about Austin Rivers?

    My all time favorite is Six Feet Under - perfectly ended the series in a manner that was consistent with the show, wrapped up everyone's story, and was incredibly powerful.

    Also loved the Wire, and agree on BSG (though was not a fan of the ghost Kara Thrace thing).


    Hall of Shame for me is:
    - Lost. Probably not much debate here. Lost was an amazing show in Seasons 1 and 2, and then went all downhill from there. We were always told that the show runners had the ending all mapped out but in reality they just meant the final shot and totally muddled their way there.

    - Sopranos. The cut to black actually is a good metaphor for the finale overall - it wasn't so much of an ending as much as the show just stopped. Didn't really wrap up any character arcs, just seemed like David Chase didn't want to tell the story anymore.

    - West Wing. Loved this show, but the last few seasons make GOT season 8 (where this started) look like GOT season 1.

    - Seinfeld. There was so much pressure to end this show in some amazing fashion that they tried to make a joke out if it, but it didn't work.

  9. #9
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    Hot'Lanta... home of the Falcons!
    M*A*S*H* is about as good an ending as you can do with the war ending and everyone moving on to a life after Korea. And if you find a better final shot for a show than this one, be sure to let me know.

    Why are you wasting time here when you could be wasting it by listening to the latest episode of the DBR Podcast?

  10. #10
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    Boston, MA
    Fun thread.

    JE is correct, there will NEVER be an ending as good as MASH. Ever. The closed the book on fantastic endings not just with that final shot (and the scramble before for Hawkeye to find B.J., but for the story itself. It was 2 hours and was maybe the best 2 hours of MASH ever.

    But there have been a ton of swings and misses for finales.

    Seinfeld was pretty bad.
    Sopranos was pretty frustrating (though some liked the fade to black)
    Lost was pretty bad.
    Cheers was pretty bad.


    I'm not sanguine on GOTs, but hopeful.

    By the way, two other endings that I thought were great were Breaking Bad, and of course this one (which would be #1 except for the MASH ending)

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GmiFeNrggvE

  11. #11
    Join Date
    Apr 2008
    Location
    California
    Quote Originally Posted by mkirsh View Post
    - Sopranos. The cut to black actually is a good metaphor for the finale overall - it wasn't so much of an ending as much as the show just stopped. Didn't really wrap up any character arcs, just seemed like David Chase didn't want to tell the story anymore.
    Strongly disagree. I thought the assassination of Tony Soprano was very well done.

  12. #12
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    Rougemont Nebulae
    Quote Originally Posted by JasonEvans View Post
    M*A*S*H* is about as good an ending as you can do with the war ending and everyone moving on to a life after Korea. And if you find a better final shot for a show than this one, be sure to let me know.

    As a MASH superfan the final episode left me ambivalent. After years of sustained excellence my expectations for the final were likely unrealistic. Through its first 8 or so seasons, MASH effectively balanced its anti-war message with perfectly scripted comedy that accentuated the versatility of the ensemble and enjoyed broad appeal as a result. Some of the funniest performances were turned in by guest stars in cameos--Edward Winter, Alan Arbus, Pat Morita. But over the last few years the preachiness angle began to dominate in the eyes of some critics. As a superfan I didn't mind in the least but I felt that Hawkeye's plotline in the final was indulgent and contrived. Winchester's was incredibly indulgent as well but poignantly delivered by Stiers and saved the show IMO. The other storylines were mostly forgettable.
    Last edited by CameronBlue; 05-09-2019 at 10:28 AM.

  13. #13
    The movie, Serenity, that ended Firefly did a great job IMHO.
    Justified had a solid ending.
    Longmire had a good ending.
    Last edited by bjornolf; 05-09-2019 at 11:03 AM.

  14. #14
    We take it for granted now, but Darth Vader's redemption in the original trilogy was a great way to end the story, even if most people don't consider the overall movie to be as strong as the first two. As most of us agree, Avengers is right up there too.

    My controversial pick equivalent to Nick's Seinfeld pick is that the How I Met Your Mother finale has grown on me over time.

    House of Cards is BY FAR the worst to me... obviously, they were dealt a bad hand with the Kevin Spacey stuff, but even correcting for that, the story in the last season was awful.

  15. #15
    Join Date
    Dec 2009
    Location
    North of Durham
    Mrs. Crazy and I were huge fans of How I Met Your Mother. Given the nature of the show, a lot was riding on the finale, and it was going to have a hard time living up to expectations. We, like many others, kept track of all of the plot twists to make sure the story was consistent and leading up to an accurate ending. Overall, it was quite the let down, particularly since they had the first woman he married die young, which was too morbid.

    I was also a huge Seinfeld fan and was generally underwhelmed by the finale. It made me feel bad about myself for laughing at all of their jokes and in some ways identifying with different aspects of the characters.

  16. #16
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    Hot'Lanta... home of the Falcons!
    Quote Originally Posted by bjornolf View Post
    The movie, Serenity, that ended Firefly did a great job IMHO.
    I never watched Firefly (pick your jaw up off the floor) so I came in to Serenity completely cold with no previous knowledge of the characters. I still think Serenity is one of the best sci-fi movies of the past 20 years.
    Why are you wasting time here when you could be wasting it by listening to the latest episode of the DBR Podcast?

  17. #17
    Quote Originally Posted by El_Diablo View Post
    Strongly disagree. I thought the assassination of Tony Soprano was very well done.
    I liked the Sopranos ending, personally.

  18. #18
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Location
    Boston, MA
    Quote Originally Posted by JasonEvans View Post
    I never watched Firefly (pick your jaw up off the floor) so I came in to Serenity completely cold with no previous knowledge of the characters. I still think Serenity is one of the best sci-fi movies of the past 20 years.
    Same here. Had never seen a single Firefly episode...and thoroughly enjoyed the movie. Definitely one of the best sci fi movies of last 20 years (up there with Edge of Tomorrow and Ex Machina).

    Sopranos was frustrating for me because they wimped out. Does the ending mean that Tony was killed, or not? Some argue both ways. To do an ending where it's up to the viewer to decide what happens (life or death), to me, is a cop out. Show him die. Show him live. But don't do both.

    I kind of like How I Met Your Mother's finale. Also greatly enjoyed that entire run. After Season 3, I thought it was in trouble, and then the last two seasons were consistently outstanding. My kids have now watched them all and really liked them.

    And yes, Season 1 of Heroes was great television. Season 2 was dreadful.

    Buffy also had an OK finale (that show needs a reboot!). And I actually really liked the ending to Star Trek Next Generation. Mainly because it brought back Q.

  19. #19
    Join Date
    Jan 2010
    Location
    Outside Philly
    Quote Originally Posted by El_Diablo View Post
    Strongly disagree. I thought the assassination of Tony Soprano was very well done.
    I was pretty satisfied with the ending. I'm sure some posters have read this famous blogger's shot-by-shot analysis of the final scene in support of the 'Tony got offed' argument. It has references to Chase comments and earlier scenes/quotes from the show. Very thorough and well-argued. If you haven't - and have 30 minutes - it's worth a read. Chase hasn't validated everything in it but he has offered general praise.

    The only character arc that I wanted to see more of was Carmela's. And it could only have happened after Tony's murder --- she was so consumed by the implications of her marriage to a gangster on her family, faith, and soul. The logical consequence of her choice to stay over-and-over again would be to see her have to put together her family after Tony's death. Edie Falco is also just a spectacular actress and her work during this show, particularly the argument that leads to her separation from Tony and its aftermath, is some of my favorite acting of all time.

  20. #20
    Join Date
    Feb 2007
    Quote Originally Posted by JasonEvans View Post
    I never watched Firefly (pick your jaw up off the floor) so I came in to Serenity completely cold with no previous knowledge of the characters. I still think Serenity is one of the best sci-fi movies of the past 20 years.
    I was wondering if Firefly/Serenity would come up.

    I agree Serenity was a great way to end “what could have been” with Firefly.

    In the same vein, I loved Dark Matter and wish it had not been cut short.

Similar Threads

  1. Great Duke Connection to Great NBA & USWNT story
    By BD80 in forum Elizabeth King Forum
    Replies: 1
    Last Post: 09-04-2016, 03:11 PM
  2. What a great day!
    By Olympic Fan in forum Elizabeth King Forum
    Replies: 0
    Last Post: 03-23-2015, 06:34 PM
  3. All-time best movie endings
    By JasonEvans in forum Off Topic
    Replies: 133
    Last Post: 07-18-2011, 05:09 PM
  4. How Great Was It
    By AsiaMinor in forum Elizabeth King Forum
    Replies: 30
    Last Post: 02-26-2011, 05:30 PM
  5. A Great Big Thank You
    By Bostondevil in forum Off Topic
    Replies: 0
    Last Post: 05-03-2008, 03:34 PM

Posting Permissions

  • You may not post new threads
  • You may not post replies
  • You may not post attachments
  • You may not edit your posts
  •