Should we bother with series finales?
Is the whole idea of a TV show ending just a new lie invented for capitalism?
There was the oft-discussed possibility that this throw-it-at-the-wall medium was growing into your euphemism for artistic maturity.
Credit: AMC; Helen Sloan/HBO; SHOWTIME
But musicians take farewell tours that arent farewell tours.
And the easiest way to make a product look important is to offer it FOR A LIMITED TIME ONLY!
Is that all the modern series finale is?
Finality as a brand extension?
The first series finale that ever really disappointed me came earlier, 2002, withThe X-Files.
But if you havent gotten toThe Wireyet, well, its time.)
I know, I know.
And not every show is successful enough to even bother back-pocketing a return strategy.
Endings are planned or unplanned, unhappy or happy, hamstrung by limitations or enriched by same.
And any writing about series finales with any knowledgeable clarity can only tackle a small sample size.
No popular show sinceLosthas been even half as weird asLost.
Serialized science-fiction/fantasy got bigger budgets this decade, and corresponding shrunken ambitions.
Wow, what cool special effects!
was never a compliment you had to grasp for watchingLost.
LostandGame of Throneshad one thing in common, a general ambience moreso than a specific story point.
The shining sparkle of noble heroism is an illusion, or even a delusion.
Dont trust the handsome warrior or the beautiful princess.
Root for the cripples, the bastards, and broken things.
Look in the shadows for the real power.
Dragons are real, but you really have to worry about the bankers.
Around the midpoints ofGame of ThronesandLost, there was no one obvious hero.
And then, in the end, both shows became a bit more obvious.
Matthew Foxs Jack Shephard and Kit Haringtons Jon Snow reallywerethe saviors of their world, it turned out.
I wonder if that, more than anything, explains the extreme reactions to both finales.
Tricky problem, teaching viewers to be smarter than your own cliches.
Worth wondering, I think, if weve been looking at TV endings all wrong.
One interesting thing aboutGame of Throneson this point.
Its very nearly the fantasy equivalent of the life goes ever on endings that rounded outThe WireandFriday Night Lights.
One heroin addict got clean right as one endearing teenager started injecting.
Those all felt like landings the show was trying to stick.
You could see the wheels turning: What feelsappropriatefor these characters?
Contrasted with: Daenerys Targaryen (Emilia Clarke), who broke her own wheel, at least.
Dany only appeared in two proper scenes of the finale.
She almost seemed to be two different characters therein.
George R. R. Martin still has to finish the original story of Daenerys Targaryen.
Thronesfelt fascinatingly unstable in its treatment of Daenerys.
The show almost couldve ended with her death, with Drogon carrying her into the clouds.
To be clear, I dont think showrunners David Benioff and D.B.
Not too much vanity, by comparison, in the last episode ofThe Sopranos.
Are people still complaining about the end of the HBO mob drama?
Maybe no answer can ever satisfy.
And maybe the peculiar magic of television lies in the lingering uncertainty.
One of the most wonderful finales nobody watched arrived in 2015 on a streaming platform that died soon after.
And yet the end ofCommunitylives on as a glorious counterargument against the whole idea of a proper TV ending.
Why not start a new show where some of the same characters hang out in a bar?
I know, I know, I know: Lingering uncertainty, yeesh, were feeling fancy today.
Compare the original series finales ofArrested DevelopmentandFuturamato their latter-day extended farewell.
And then, uncanceled into eternal fandom, they limped into fan service and repetition.
You cant offer a roadmap here.
Some of the most disappointing series finales are the ones that work the hardest to offer catharsis.
And there are great series finales that go small, focusing their energies on a few specific characters.
You could say thatThronestried to split the difference.
The second half expanded outwards, encompassing the new Prince of Dorne and new political realities across the continent.
The show ended in 1991 with a hanging horror that begged new installments.
And then the economics of modern pop culture allowed for a 2017 return.
It wasnt for everyone, not the wayGame of Throneswas in its golden years.
Even the very last line of properly spoken dialogue is a question: What year is it?
Werent we promised an ending?
Absolutely, and heres my final thought.
