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Best series finale?

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Best series finale?

Old 08-16-22, 03:18 PM
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Best series finale?

It looks like its been a while since we did a "Best series finale" thread and the last one was limited to a poll. With the ending of Better Call Saul and a number of other shows, what do you feel was the best series finale? I think for me it's still Six Feet Under as no show has hit as hard at the end as this one.

So what show stands out the most for you, try and pick the BEST, not your top 5 as I feel it's easier to pick a bunch than one.
Old 08-16-22, 03:31 PM
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Re: Best series finale?

Far from the best or my favorite show, but the Six Feet Under finale really stunned me with how perfect it was and how much it affected me emotionally - - even more so since it is the episode after
Spoiler:
the death of the show's main character, who you would think should have been the focus of the show's finale.


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Old 08-16-22, 03:52 PM
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Re: Best series finale?

Originally Posted by Decker
Far from the best or my favorite show, but the Six Feet Under finale really stunned me with how perfect it was and how much it affected me emotionally - - even more so since it is the episode after
Spoiler:
the death of the show's main character, who you would think should have been the focus of the show's finale.




it’s this. It’s always this.
Old 08-16-22, 04:05 PM
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Re: Best series finale?

Six Feet Under had (undeniably) the greatest last 5 minutes of a TV series ever, but I don't remember anything about that last episode before Claire got in the car.
Old 08-16-22, 04:06 PM
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Re: Best series finale?

Originally Posted by Decker
Far from the best or my favorite show, but the Six Feet Under finale really stunned me with how perfect it was and how much it affected me emotionally - - even more so since it is the episode after
Spoiler:
the death of the show's main character, who you would think should have been the focus of the show's finale.




Agreed. This is still my answer.
Old 08-16-22, 05:07 PM
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Re: Best series finale?

The Americans

(And if you haven't seen the series, get on it! It never gets mentioned in the same breath as The Sopranos, The Wire, and Breaking Bad, but it sure should be.)
Old 08-16-22, 05:38 PM
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Re: Best series finale?

Lost.

**runs out of thread**
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Old 08-16-22, 05:59 PM
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Re: Best series finale?

Originally Posted by Shannon Nutt
The Americans

(And if you haven't seen the series, get on it! It never gets mentioned in the same breath as The Sopranos, The Wire, and Breaking Bad, but it sure should be.)
Not for me. I sort of hated it. I hate musical montages and there were like 3 in that episode. There were a couple good scenes, but I just did not connect all that much with it. I liked the show quite a bit but not as much as many here. Never saw an episode of Six Feet Under so can't comment on that one.

HATE the Sopranos episode.

I remember liking the Quantum Leap finale quite a bit.

Breaking Bads final episode was excellent.(for like 3 years I heard how great BB was but thought it was a series based on that bicycle movie Breaking Away. That was shattered like 5 seconds into the first episode)
Old 08-16-22, 07:28 PM
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Re: Best series finale?

Six Feet Under
Person of Interest
Alias
Breaking Bad
Quantum Leap
Old 08-16-22, 07:58 PM
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Re: Best series finale?

I mentioned this in the BCS thread, that while I love Breaking Bad, especially that last season. the finale isn't as good as its reputation. It gives Walt


Spoiler:
as happy an ending as he could possibly have (given his worsening lung cancer). He got to get money to his kids, apologize to Skyler, kill Lydia and Jack, free Jesse. He goes out as an action hero, killing Nazis with a remote-controlled machine gun. It was like wish fulfillment for someone who clearly didn't deserve it. It's too tidy. It's fan service.



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Old 08-16-22, 08:04 PM
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Re: Best series finale?

The Shield "Family Meeting" has to be up there.
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Old 08-16-22, 08:37 PM
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Re: Best series finale?

Obligatory Newhart.

But, yes, Six Feet Under was fantastic.

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Old 08-16-22, 09:30 PM
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Re: Best series finale?

I'll go ahead and put up TNG and DS9 up there.
Old 08-16-22, 09:37 PM
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Re: Best series finale?

Mash
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Old 08-17-22, 08:54 AM
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Re: Best series finale?

The Shield (as originally aired, some streaming versions feature unnecessary added scenes).
Old 08-17-22, 09:16 AM
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Re: Best series finale?

Six Feet Under

Spoiler:
Brenda dying while Billy is still rambling on about Claire all those years later was perfect



Old 08-17-22, 09:50 AM
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Re: Best series finale?

Yet another vote for Six Feet Under.
Old 08-17-22, 10:40 AM
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Re: Best series finale?

Originally Posted by movieguru
Mash
I'm curious, why?
I have always thought it was among the very worst finales. Overlong, melodramatic, preachy. I really liked MASH as a show and that finale was such a big deal when it aired. But I always felt that it was such a misstep the way they did it. Alan Alda having a sobbing breakdown in a mental hospital over a smothered baby on a bus? Is that what we want our final episode of this beloved comedy to focus on?
Old 08-17-22, 12:00 PM
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Re: Best series finale?

Originally Posted by Decker
I'm curious, why?
I have always thought it was among the very worst finales. Overlong, melodramatic, preachy. I really liked MASH as a show and that finale was such a big deal when it aired. But I always felt that it was such a misstep the way they did it. Alan Alda having a sobbing breakdown in a mental hospital over a smothered baby on a bus? Is that what we want our final episode of this beloved comedy to focus on?
I agree that the execution was melodramatic, but I think the intention and purpose were good.

While Hawkeye was never a stoic character, who was unfeeling in the face of the death and destruction around him, the series did present him as a strong character whose strength was humor.

America was dealing with the realization that Vietnam vets were not coming back from war and just picking their lives back up and getting on like the WWII generation has supposedly done.

The finale wanted to show that even a character as heroic as Hawkeye could be broken by the death and violence and fear he experienced, and that he could be helped, but that he would not be the same person as the Hawkeye who was drafted less than 3 years earlier.

The show was going to end with the war ending and the characters going home. The finale dramatized how the experience of war affected these characters, and so metaphorically, how America was still dealing with how the experience of the Vietnam War.

I can't for the life of me imagine what an upbeat and comedic finale to MASH would be about.
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Old 08-17-22, 12:41 PM
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Re: Best series finale?

I'm going to have to stick with The Young Ones.

The whole cast were riding in a car that went over a cliff and exploded.
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Old 08-17-22, 06:03 PM
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Re: Best series finale?

Originally Posted by Wolf359
The Shield "Family Meeting" has to be up there.
The Shield finale would get my vote. I also love the series finale of Chuck.
Old 08-18-22, 12:07 AM
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Re: Best series finale?

Would Serenity count as a finale to Firefly? if yes I would vote for that, if not I would put in a vote for MASH
Firefly because it gave enough closure to a show I never expected to have any. And MASH because even though it aired a decade before I was born, everytime i watch it it has a impact on me and its both gut wrenching and happy and few shows are able to have that effect. One day ill get around to seeing Six Feet Under seems to be a consensus that its great
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Old 08-19-22, 08:45 AM
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Re: Best series finale?

Battlestar Galactica for me.
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Old 08-19-22, 11:39 AM
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Re: Best series finale?

St. Elsewhere.
Old 08-20-22, 07:08 AM
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Re: Best series finale?

I dunno about best but considering most shows can't stick the landing here are a few "recent" ones that I thought were pretty solid.

The Good Place
Brooklyn 99
Parks and Rec
Silicon Valley

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