Series finales and a lack of closure
I just finished a show, and it, like a lot of shows that I've watched recently, ended rather abruptly. As soon as "the point of the show" concluded, so did the show itself. I don't know if this is a more recent trend or just something I've noticed recently, but I find nine times out of ten I really dislike it. It feels like they just don't give the viewers a chance to sit with the ending and this universe they've come to love. No time to sit and enjoy the view from the peak, no last drink with the friends you made along the way, no five years later "where are they now?". Just a kind of ambiguous ending that can be taken either way and a feeling of "there's gotta be one more episode right?"
Do people actually enjoy this? I feel like they must because how often I see it in movies and TV, but at the same time, I sorta just feel like it's a cheap way to add some depth to the ending without actually pinning yourself down to actually ending the show/movie. If people wanted it to end with A they can read into the ending that A happened, if they wanted B, same case.
I think one of the greatest show endings of all time was Six Feet Under (SPOILERS!), for precisely that reason; it provided perfect closure by giving us a glimpse at everyone's future. It was such an amazing way to end such a deeply emotional show where you got to know and love so many fantastic characters over the seasons. And like the show, the ending was incredibly bittersweet, but also utterly and completely emotionally satisfying.
p.s. The Good Place final episode was also amazing for a similar reason.
I think the good place had one of the best series finales of all time for exactly this reason. It was cathartic to see everyone made it out OK and all was well
That's what happens when a show has a plan from the start and ends where it needs to instead of constantly getting renewed and the cast turn into caricatures of themselves.
Legion also ticks all these boxes, and has a satisfying conclusion.
I couldn't agree more. But just to add to that, Parks & Rec seemed to borrow heavily from the series finale of Six Feet Under when they did their own final season and it felt like the perfect sendoff.
I think the best finale of all time is Star Trek: The Next Generation 's "All Good Things", and it gets away with this in a neat way.
The finale is a two parter, and the plot revolves around Picard somehow jumping in time between his past (the first day he commands the ship), the present (the current episode of the season), and an alternate reality future. He has to stop some time mumbo jumbo in all three timelines to save the day or whatever, but that's not important. What's important about the finale to me is that it shows how the story in the show could progress, and all the different character arcs and what happens to them -- Worf is commanding a ship in the Klingon Empire, Data is professor at Cambridge, Crusher is piloting a medical ship, etc.
But that's not really the future, its a vision of what could be. Canonically its an alternate future, and different canon Star Trek content came out after that invalidates a lot of the stuff in it, but that doesn't matter. The final scene of the second episode, after all the space time bad stuff plot is resolved, is present day Picard stopping in on his senior crew members, in the present day, and having a nice game of poker with them, and the show ends on a nice shot of the deck being dealt.
The show ends with that card game, and all these friends -- in the workplace sitcom that TNG is -- coming together and enjoying a moment together, that's it, but the show shows you how everyone's lives could turn out, what could happen to them, a vision of the future, that although may not have happened, could happen, or could play out differently. We're given a vision of how these characters and their lives could diverge after the show, which ways they could go on their own adventures, past the show we watched, but with them reuniting and still showing off that bond they formed in the show. It's not declaring what could happen to them, but its giving the audience a taste, but not too much of one, just enough to be satisfied, while really ending the show on a familiar note, knowing the plot will go on, without us seeing it, but knowing they'll be alright.
For the opposite, look to Korean dramas. Frequently the last episode occurs basically after the end of the main conclusion, and you'll end up getting absolute closure on every single possible subplot, often years into the future, delving deep into into the lives of minor characters.
Speaking as a long-time fan, you're equally as likely to get the polar opposite ending: a rushed and/or open-ended conclusion often garnished with a last minute dramatic twist (or break-up, in the case of romances) to up viewership stats.
I love them, but Kdramas are notorious for their inconsistencies, especially with network dramas that are often re-written as they're airing due to viewership/advertising feedback.
I find closure episodes to kind of limit the world of the show. This can work in a lot of genres. Fantasy or sci-fi shows for example, are usually about “the most important thing that’s ever happened” in their stories’ worlds, so a closure “look at how far we’ve come” episode can work. But in a drama like, say, Succession or The Sopranos, I prefer something a bit more ambiguous and open. Anything else just feels a little too artificial and neat, for shows trying to avoid being exactly that.
So SPOILERS for Succession, But that was actually the show that made me post this. It felt like it just ended and I didn't know were Shiv and Tom together, is Greg the egg gonna be OK, has Roman finally found some peace, Kendall sucks so I don't really care but how's he doing... I just had all these questions and it just felt like the show went "alright and that's it, cya-bye"
I think in the case of Succession it's the perfect conclusion precisely because none of that means anything to the characters themselves because of the pit they've trapped themselves in. The central conceit of show, the succession itself, was so all consuming and every character built their entire existence around it to the point that end of the series, all of them are just existing in one huge vacuum, unsure that anything means anything anymore.
I personally can't think of an ambiguous conclusion I dislike, but I can think of plenty of definitive ones I abhor (Game of Thrones, How I Met Your Mother, Dexter, Star Trek Enterprise, Battlestar Galactica, the list goes on).
I almost always hate closure episodes, a short thing at the end is great but any more than that I typically dislike.
I'll contrast two finales for shows that have a lot of commonalities, to draw a contrast between how they both hit me - Buffy the Vampire Slayer and Angel. As a gross oversimplification (and obviously, with spoilers), both finales center around the final battles of their eponymous heroes. Buffy ended with the battle finished, the town destroyed, but Buffy looking expectantly off into the rising sun. Angel ended with the surviving protagonists facing a tide of monsters, screen going black after the main character declares "Let's go to work." I remember the first ending, though scant on future detail, being so uplifting - the fight could continue, but great victory providing an excellent end note. The latter felt like an empty copout, like the writers didn't know how they wanted it to end. Others have discussed the TV industry system that can lead to such cliffhangers, but it still felt like such a massive disservice to the show, particularly with the character arcs that had been laid out.
Angel was a much darker show than Buffy, so it makes sense that it had a darker ending.
And I t’s not that Angel’s writers didn’t know how to end the show - they were planning on having another season or two to work out all the plot threads they had laid out.
Joss Whedon asked for an early renewal commitment for Angel and the network said no, so they cancelled the show mid-season. That’s why it ends so abruptly, with only a three or four episode arc to try and wrap everything up. They had to pivot last minute to do even that much.
Thank you for the additional context!
I actually enjoyed the Sopranos ending. Tony was going to get whacked or he’d end up testifying because Carmine was too. I think they added the perfect amount of build up and using don’t stop believing as the background song for it.
I’m also rewatching and on season 6.
I'm with you. I abhor shows without a satisfying ending. With so many shows around, I've decided it's best to wait until the show ends to ask around if it wraps things up nicely, and only then watch it. Goes on forever? Meh. Interested only if seasons (or even individual episodes) are self-contained. Ends hastily? Nope. Fails to wrap up plotlines? Horrible. So many shows suffer from this, especially low budget, niche and/or single season ones.
Maybe there was more planned, but the studio just shuts it down, making the finale feel like a haphazard amputation. It's like reading the Lord of the Rings, but halfway through there's "rocks fall, everyone dies, the end."
But there are shows that had no conclusion in mind from the start, like LOST or Sherlock (2010). For me, the constant escalation is not worth it. I require a destination. The funniest thing is, Sherlock ran on constant escalation, but fooled people into thinking there was a destination. There was basically a cult oriented around finding/ demanding/ making the final episode.
I feel like Westworld S1, 2 both end in a way that could satisfyingly conclude the series, for instance. Hell, I think S3 and 4 were unnecessary and actually devalue S2 ending.
On the other hand, I cannot overstate how happy I am Gravity Falls ended. I feel like dragging it any further would lead to a rapid decline. It's perfect as it is.
In older broadcast series, they often didn't know if they'd get a new season or not. They'd hit the summer and then get canceled without even getting a series finale (some new show would get their old schedule).
That situation has been making a bit of a comeback recently on streaming (largely thanks to Netflix), and 9 times out of 10 the series decides to end the season on a cliffhanger.
I think it often comes down to writers having planned for more or less episodes.
Let's take Lost as an example. It was a fantastic show, but it's hard to keep people interested for 8 years to one series. There's a lot of life in that time, and things can change, so no matter the quality, viewers will fade away and the studios decide to scrap it early. Writers have to adapt and rewrite the ending because their original ending was planned for way later.
Also when a series gets expanded due to success, it becomes even worse, because it went a completely different direction than intended.
But to be fair, I believe writers dot have an end in mind at all for the longest time and suddenly have to come up with one.
I know what you mean. I think this can be a really difficult needle to thread for the creators and showrunners, though. I've definitely experienced the disappointment you described, but I've also had a few shows I thought were wrapped up well, only to say, "Oh... there's another episode?"
Aside from the pressure of looming cancellation, I'm sure many shows suffer from an unexpectedly truncated season (cough GoT cough), or run into budget issues. They probably want to prioritize telling the meat of the story as well as they can. Saving money, time, and everything else to convert the last episode into an epilogue might not seem worth it, especially if you have to squish other elements earlier in the season to make up for it.
I imagine studio interference is no small part of this, too. A creator might have a clear vision from start to finish, but be unable to execute it for myriad reasons, especially if they're not a big name. And you can always end up with a surprise monkey wrench, such as a falling out between co-creators, an actor quitting, or the writers' strike (which I support, but I'm still salty about Battlestar Galactica).
I always wanted an additional episode from Star Trek: Voyager, but it helps that Star Trek has a robust expanded universe. For other shows, I just use my headcannon. The police have not yet pulled me over.
It does make shows that do this well stand out even more, but it still breaks your heart when the show you love just ends up... not quite right.