Best and worst final seasons / episodes

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Best and worst final seasons / episodes

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diva thin muffin View member profile	3rd May 2021, 08:34 PM Post #21
BuzzJack Platinum Member Pronouns: he/him Joined: 20 January 2011 Posts: 5,907 User: 12,837	QUOTE(Rooney @ May 3 2021, 07:43 PM) Dany going mad, Bran sitting on the Throne and Arya killing the Night King all make sense. No, they could have made sense but they 100% didn't make sense. Dany going mad was absolutely random. There was absolutely nothing in her character arc that suggested she'd ever be ready to murder innocent people as they were surrendering because of .. bells? The reasoning wasn't there so to the viewer this didn't make any sense at all. Of course they could have bridged the gap, quite easily probably, but they didn't. There was absolutely nothing in the 7 seasons we'd gotten to know her that suggested she'd ever do such a thing and especially at that moment. She didn't even go and make sure she'd kill Cersei who was the MAIN reason why she was there lmao. Bran becoming king didn't make sense. He'd explicitly said in a previous episode he wouldn't want to be king and being the three-eyed raven and all it didn't make sense for him to say that and then become king anyway because he would have seen it coming from miles away. The scene where Tyrion - literally a prisoner at this point - suggests he becomes king because he's got the BEST story is also absolutely nonsensical. Sansa's demand for independence also didn't make sense much like most of her storyline in the last two seasons, including but not limited to her absolutely random hatred and quite stupidly open mistrust of Dany after spending 7 seasons showing us that Sansa is smart and sneaky and willing to pretend she's loyal almost to a fault in order to gain her oppressor's trust. There were so many characters who acted incredibly out of character in seasons 7-8. There were so many scenes that didn't make sense and felt random. I was turned off season 8 way before the finale after the Battle of Winterfell. The bad guy they'd been hyping up for eight goddamn seasons finally arrived, multiple main characters got into scenarios they absolutely should not have survived but plot armour saved them, and then this baddie is killed by Arya - not using any of the techniques she'd spent many seasons mastering as "no one" - but by running up to him screaming (somehow not being stopped by ANY of NK's henchmen who were literally everywhere) and then just randomly killing him. The actual death of the NK would have been so cool if it made any sense but it didn't so it was just infuriating. It's an universally hated season by so much of the fandom because it wasn't in sync with the rest of the show at all. Characters made stupid, out of character decisions. Bad guys became cartoonishly evil for no good reason and had super aim when it suited them. Varys, the master of WHISPERERS, just openly talked about treason to anyone who would lend an ear. Tyrion and Varys, both of whom had promised to follow Dany into death numerous times, flipped on her because - some guy who had absolutely NO interest in being king and pledged absolute loyalty to Dany - happened to also have royal blood and also be a man. I can't even properly express how much this season sucked and how much I hated it but I can promise you it had nothing to do with the outcome and everything to do with the way they got there.


Long Dong Silver View member profile	3rd May 2021, 09:17 PM Post #22
Buffy/Charmed Joined: 18 April 2013 Posts: 44,105 User: 18,639	Oh, also, Jon Snow got told in season 2 - back when GRR Martin was in charge - that HE would defeat the Night King. Fast forward ro Dumb and Dumber taking complete control, and they decide that it will be Arya just TWO YEARS before it ends. They just wanted to subvert expectations. Nothing makes sense in the last two seasons, absolutely nothing.


Long Dong Silver View member profile	3rd May 2021, 09:50 PM Post #23
Buffy/Charmed Joined: 18 April 2013 Posts: 44,105 User: 18,639	QUOTE(diva thin muffin @ May 3 2021, 09:34 PM) No, they could have made sense but they 100% didn't make sense. Dany going mad was absolutely random. There was absolutely nothing in her character arc that suggested she'd ever be ready to murder innocent people as they were surrendering because of .. bells? The reasoning wasn't there so to the viewer this didn't make any sense at all. Of course they could have bridged the gap, quite easily probably, but they didn't. There was absolutely nothing in the 7 seasons we'd gotten to know her that suggested she'd ever do such a thing and especially at that moment. She didn't even go and make sure she'd kill Cersei who was the MAIN reason why she was there lmao. Bran becoming king didn't make sense. He'd explicitly said in a previous episode he wouldn't want to be king and being the three-eyed raven and all it didn't make sense for him to say that and then become king anyway because he would have seen it coming from miles away. The scene where Tyrion - literally a prisoner at this point - suggests he becomes king because he's got the BEST story is also absolutely nonsensical. Sansa's demand for independence also didn't make sense much like most of her storyline in the last two seasons, including but not limited to her absolutely random hatred and quite stupidly open mistrust of Dany after spending 7 seasons showing us that Sansa is smart and sneaky and willing to pretend she's loyal almost to a fault in order to gain her oppressor's trust. There were so many characters who acted incredibly out of character in seasons 7-8. There were so many scenes that didn't make sense and felt random. I was turned off season 8 way before the finale after the Battle of Winterfell. The bad guy they'd been hyping up for eight goddamn seasons finally arrived, multiple main characters got into scenarios they absolutely should not have survived but plot armour saved them, and then this baddie is killed by Arya - not using any of the techniques she'd spent many seasons mastering as "no one" - but by running up to him screaming (somehow not being stopped by ANY of NK's henchmen who were literally everywhere) and then just randomly killing him. The actual death of the NK would have been so cool if it made any sense but it didn't so it was just infuriating. It's an universally hated season by so much of the fandom because it wasn't in sync with the rest of the show at all. Characters made stupid, out of character decisions. Bad guys became cartoonishly evil for no good reason and had super aim when it suited them. Varys, the master of WHISPERERS, just openly talked about treason to anyone who would lend an ear. Tyrion and Varys, both of whom had promised to follow Dany into death numerous times, flipped on her because - some guy who had absolutely NO interest in being king and pledged absolute loyalty to Dany - happened to also have royal blood and also be a man. I can't even properly express how much this season sucked and how much I hated it but I can promise you it had nothing to do with the outcome and everything to do with the way they got there. Don't forget that Arya's technique was lifted from Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter :') . Apparently to beat the NK, you didn't need a history with him, training with the Faceless Men, or shape-shifting magic. All you needed yo do was watcg Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter. They then changed the prophecy of the eyes, clearly referring to Cersei - probably using Jaime's face, fulfilling thr Valanquar prophecy twice over - so that it referred to the Night King :') . Sansa asks for independence, and thry ask for a King's Moot - you know, like they do on the Iron Islands. Everyone laughs, including the delegation from THE IRON ISLANDS, and the Iron Islands, nor Dorne for that matter, do not dwquest independence. Bronn, who had so much plot armour he shouldn't have been able to move, who could walk through enemy territory and their home castle with a crossbow lol, is then made master treasurer. This would cause civil war. There would be no Seven Kingdoms left just with that decisuon alone. Oh, more nonsense. The entire plot with Highgarden falling to a weak war-weary Lannister force in a ... few days? with an attack on their capital? is LAUGHABLE. They were the biggest, strongest land force in Westeros. Sigh. I agree about how disgustingly anti-feminist the ending was, too. Absolute shite.


Qween View member profile	4th May 2021, 08:25 AM Post #24
Schlagerdrottningen Joined: 23 August 2010 Posts: 31,877 User: 11,709	Not to wade in after the fact, but Diva's assessment of Game of Thrones is spot on. If it ended at the end of S6 it would have been an incredible run - Winds of Winter being the best episode of TV ever created (in my not so humble opinion). Anyway, in terms of other shows with good/bad endings: GOOD: Battlestar Galactica - I know it's divisive and gets a lot of flack, but I think it was fitting for the story they were trying to tell (ie. about humanity, hope, learning from our past to build a better shared future etc) and had a satisfying ending for pretty much every character. GOOD: Marvel's Agents of S.H.I.E.L.D. - They actually had 2 series finales effectively (S5 and S7) and both worked well, but the actual ending hit all the right character notes and was a good send off to everyone bar Deke. GOOD: Arrested Development - That they managed to craft an enjoyable, fitting and satisfying conclusion AT ALL was great, that they did it with only a few episodes notice as the show was cancelled was even more satisfying. S3 is by no means great but the final episode played to individual strengths, bookended the show and, in typical AD fashion, saved one last twist for Michael. (and then they came along with S4 and 5 and ruined all that with a story that didn't need to be told and with a woeful ending, see below). Other shows with satisfying endings: The Good Place, The Closer, Dark, Babylon 5, Star Trek: DS9, Star Trek: Voyager, Fringe, 12 Monkeys, Sanctuary, Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, Downtown Abbey, How To Get Away With Murder, Schitt's Creek BAD: Star Trek: Enterprise - As has been mentioned above this was the victim of being cancelled so the producers had to try and cobble together SOMETHING. What they cobbled together was the worst of all worlds: dismissing and basically forgetting all about the cast/stories of the show we watched in lieu of a HOLODECK EPISODE (to wrap up 18 years of ''TNG'' Trek). Terrible on almost every front. BAD: 13 Reasons Why - the entirety of S4 did not need to exist. It served no purpose at all. I guess an argument could be made that it should have been a limited series, but S2 was good and S3 felt like it had a story to tell. S4 was essentially deus ex machina. BAD: Desperate Housewives - As has been mentioned by others, it's very difficult to close off a long running show with years of character development etc. That they KNEW going in this was the final season and still spent 22.75 episodes telling a rubbish story and only had a cursory recap at the end felt like a really poor decision. I actually gave up midway through S8 originally and only came back for the final 10 episodes last year and it was not worth it. Other shows with terrible endings (that weren't cancelled): Arrested Development (S5), The Good Wife, House of Cards


One_For_Sorrow View member profile	4th May 2021, 08:57 AM Post #25
--- Joined: 29 July 2012 Posts: 12,947 User: 17,418	The final series of How I Met Your Mother was pretty bad, incredibly disappointing.


One_For_Sorrow View member profile	4th May 2021, 08:58 AM Post #26
--- Joined: 29 July 2012 Posts: 12,947 User: 17,418	I thought Parks & Pec’s final season episode was great. This post has been edited by Warwick Avenue: 4th May 2021, 10:03 AM


Bjork View member profile	4th May 2021, 09:06 AM Post #27
BuzzJack Legend Joined: 13 November 2015 Posts: 33,291 User: 22,665	The worst one is easily Dexter. I loved the show but the ending made me hate the series so much I haven't even rewatched an episode ever again. Kinda similar experience with Lost. It's not that the ending was bad, it's the explanation of the whole thing in the last 2 seasons that was underwhelming.


Dexton View member profile	4th May 2021, 02:47 PM Post #28
rip in peace Dickston Joined: 29 January 2017 Posts: 9,563 User: 25,045	Diva is 10000% right about GoT. The last two seasons genuinely ruined the show for me and I seriously don’t think I’d be able to rewatch it knowing how downhill it goes. Sure, a few tv shows have bad endings, but personally none have been so terrible that it’s put me off rewatching. Even Dexter which arguably up there with the worst tv show endings of all time I could happily watch again as the majority of the show is brilliant and you can stop after season 4-6 if you wanted and it’d be fine. GoT’s whole deal is about the war for the throne and “Winter is coming” yada yada yada the ending makes a lot of what happened through the first seasons completely irrelevant. QUOTE(Qween @ May 4 2021, 04:25 PM) GOOD: Arrested Development - That they managed to craft an enjoyable, fitting and satisfying conclusion AT ALL was great, that they did it with only a few episodes notice as the show was cancelled was even more satisfying. S3 is by no means great but the final episode played to individual strengths, bookended the show and, in typical AD fashion, saved one last twist for Michael. (and then they came along with S4 and 5 and ruined all that with a story that didn't need to be told and with a woeful ending, see below). Other shows with satisfying endings: The Good Place, The Closer, Dark, Babylon 5, Star Trek: DS9, Star Trek: Voyager, Fringe, 12 Monkeys, Sanctuary, Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, Downtown Abbey, How To Get Away With Murder, Schitt's Creek Exactly spot on about AD. The first three seasons have an extremely strong, cohesive narrative and solid jokes from start to finish. Season 4 was 10x better when was re-released with episodes mixed around instead of character-focused episodes, but it still wasn’t anywhere near the first three seasons. And S5 wasn’t great either. I loved seeing the characters back together but that’s about it


Eduardo View member profile	4th May 2021, 06:12 PM Post #29
BuzzJack Climber Joined: 7 April 2008 Posts: 177 User: 5,804	Surprised no one has mentioned the finale of Six Feet Under yet. Perfection. Another favorite of mine is The Comeback's season 2 ending. Hope they pick this show up again eventually.


Long Dong Silver View member profile	4th May 2021, 06:17 PM Post #30
Buffy/Charmed Joined: 18 April 2013 Posts: 44,105 User: 18,639	On the opposite end to the trash that is GoT, we have The Good Place. It actually started off really ropey and poor, but it ended on a high. Oh, Friends had a great ending, too, and final season, except for the Joey-Rachel and learning French that wasn't French nonsense. I liked Will and Grace's original ending, even if most didn't. It was pretty realistic about friendship. I really liked the final season of Desperate Housewives, too, after some rough ones before it. It was the one that felt most similar to the first season.


diva thin muffin View member profile	4th May 2021, 07:15 PM Post #31
BuzzJack Platinum Member Pronouns: he/him Joined: 20 January 2011 Posts: 5,907 User: 12,837	QUOTE(Eduardo @ May 4 2021, 06:12 PM) Surprised no one has mentioned the finale of Six Feet Under yet. Perfection. Ohh I forgot to mention that, genuinely one of the best finales ever. It didn't hurt that the final scene with Sia's "Breathe Me" is a rollercoaster ride of emotions with what is easily one of her best songs ever and it all just fits so perfectly. I remember being in awe over it at the time and it still holds up so well.


Esmerelda View member profile	4th May 2021, 08:27 PM Post #32
BuzzJack Enthusiast Joined: 21 March 2006 Posts: 570 User: 294	Best: Breaking Bad, The Sopranos, Bates Motel, Veep, The Americans, Arrow. Disappointing but not terrible: Lost, Dexter Bad: House of Cards- this show had been circling the drain for a while and there were obviously extenuating circumstances in the final season, but that ending was just nonsensical on all levels. Horrible: Game of Thrones. I didn't expect a happy ending, but I did expect an ending that was at least vaguely narratively satisfying and that made sense. Dany's sudden turn from someone who consistently acted ruthlessly towards those that harmed innocents to someone who slaughtered an entire city of innocents for no reason didn't work for me. Nor did King Bran- a boring non-character who was gifted a poorly explained, unused power he did NOTHING to earn and then gifted the throne he also did NOTHING to earn -literally the least satisfying ending to a story I could come up with me. Also, for a show that always got it's female characters so right, it left a bit of bad taste in the mouth that the show ended with all the "mad overly emotional women" being removed from power and replaced with King Bran and his council of bros in charge. I guess Sansa got to rule the North- the 4 people still alive there anyway. Sadly it is the only ending to the story we are ever going to get as Martin is clearly never going to finish it


Steve201 View member profile	4th May 2021, 10:38 PM Post #33
Shakin Stevens Joined: 29 December 2007 Posts: 46,157 User: 5,138	QUOTE(Eduardo @ May 4 2021, 07:12 PM) Surprised no one has mentioned the finale of Six Feet Under yet. Perfection. Another favorite of mine is The Comeback's season 2 ending. Hope they pick this show up again eventually. Absolutely, one of the most underrated shows ever, people tend to love the big budget GOTs or Sopranos while it was about real people and situations. And the soundtrack to the finale - perfection!


Steve201 View member profile	4th May 2021, 10:42 PM Post #34
Shakin Stevens Joined: 29 December 2007 Posts: 46,157 User: 5,138	QUOTE(Art Vandelay @ May 3 2021, 05:50 PM) Buffy the Vampire Slayer and The X-Files (original run) both had lame finales/final seasons. The last series of Friends was abysmal but it did have a decent last episode I suppose. I would disagree with the X-Files, series 6 and 7 were poor but when Doggett came in series 8/9 were decent again.


J00prstar View member profile	4th May 2021, 11:07 PM Post #35
there's nothing straight about plump Elvis Pronouns: they/any Joined: 21 January 2016 Posts: 13,145 User: 22,895	Both of Buffy's final episodes were great (S5 and S7), at least thematically. I'm torn on how I feel about the Battlestar Galactica ending. I don't hate it but it also didn't make sense for (final ep spoilers) them to spend several years trying to find a place to rebuild their society and then deciding to throw away all their technology, medicines etc. and become essentially cave people once they found a planet that they could establish a new society on.


Seinfeld View member profile	7th May 2021, 09:30 PM Post #36
Is anyone here a marine biologist? Joined: 23 January 2010 Posts: 2,504 User: 10,505	QUOTE(steve201 @ May 4 2021, 11:42 PM) I would disagree with the X-Files, series 6 and 7 were poor but when Doggett came in series 8/9 were decent again. I haven’t watched for a while but the last series was terrible from memory. Doggett was very annoying too The Seinfeld finale was lacklustre tbh. I was fine with the outcome, but it just felt rushed and wasn’t that funny bar Jackie Chiles and Newman.


Seinfeld View member profile	9th May 2021, 03:00 PM Post #37
Is anyone here a marine biologist? Joined: 23 January 2010 Posts: 2,504 User: 10,505	QUOTE The 20 most hated TV finales of all time, from Line of Duty to Seinfeld Louis Chilton picks 20 of the most reviled series finales in TV history A pitch-perfect series finale can often seal a show’s place in the pantheon of TV greatness. From classics like MAS*H and Cheers to recent examples such as Mad Men and The Deuce, a great series finale is a sure-fire way of ensuring that a show’s reputation will endure. But what happens when TV creators get it wrong? Either by playing it too safe or taking too much of a risk, many otherwise beloved programmes have seen their shine dulled by the stigma of a finale misfire. Some are universally despised, while others are simply divisive, works of arguable genius that nonetheless alienated large portions of their fanbase. The most recent series to make the list is the hit BBC One drama Line of Duty, which concluded its sixth season on 2 May, 2021. It is currently unknown whether Line of Duty will return for another run of episodes. If this was indeed the series finale, it will go down as a divisive one; many fans bemoaned the long-awaited reveal of “H” as “disappointing”, and claimed the episode as a whole was “boring”. Here is a selection of the 20 most hated series finales of all time… https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertai...y-b1841724.html That top 6 seems fairly accurate tbh, Game of Thrones at #1 and Seinfeld at #2 are obvious choices of course. Surprisingly, nobody mentioned Roseanne!


Rooney View member profile	9th May 2021, 04:07 PM Post #38
WINTER IS COMING Joined: 7 March 2006 Posts: 45,604 User: 88	QUOTE(Michael Costanza @ May 9 2021, 04:00 PM) https://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertai...y-b1841724.html That top 6 seems fairly accurate tbh, Game of Thrones at #1 and Seinfeld at #2 are obvious choices of course. Surprisingly, nobody mentioned Roseanne! The list just proves how hard it is to end a successful TV show - LOST, How I Met Your Mother, Senfield, Game of Thrones, The Sopranos, Gossip Girl all in the top 10. Also some of the biggest popular cultural phenomenons we've ever seen.


Long Dong Silver View member profile	9th May 2021, 04:27 PM Post #39
Buffy/Charmed Joined: 18 April 2013 Posts: 44,105 User: 18,639	I'm not sure why people focus on the ending - except where it RUINS THE ENTIRE SHOW, ala Game of Thrones. The end episodes are NEVER going to be glorious, as they have so many theads to tieand arcs to conclude, plus there is pressure as the audience will be expecting a LOT.


shadow2009 View member profile	9th May 2021, 06:29 PM Post #40
BuzzJack Platinum Member Joined: 24 November 2009 Posts: 9,235 User: 10,059	Speaking as someone who was obsessed with Season 1 and 2 of Prison Break I couldn't even understand the f***ing plot by the time it got to Season 4. I know they brought out a Season 5 but I haven't watched it yet so it doesn't count (although I heard it sucks anyway ). I know there's more to the story than the actual prison breakout and being on the run but it got way too political and complex as it went on and I felt kinda stupid that I couldn't keep up with it.