Friday Five – Favorite TV Series Finales

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Welcome to the Friday Five! Each week we help you get to know our writers with the help of a top 5 list! This weeks category is: Favorite TV Series Finales

This is a rough spring, a lot of fantastic shows are ending, well two are anyway. How I Met Your Mother and Psych both just wrapped up their final seasons. While not everyone may have loved the outcomes, there’s no denying getting to the end of a series is an exciting and emotional time. You spend years with these characters, and you grow attached, and it’s your final chance to see where they’ll go. So this week, we’re going to be talking about all the finale’s we’ve loved over the years, so let’s get started!

Chris

1. Psych – This is how you end a show, they kept things normal, there was a case to be solved like every week. The best part was all the emotion going on behind that though, it was simultaneously one of the funniest and saddest episodes the series ever had. I loved Psych from the beginning and I was nervous it wouldn’t end well, but boy did they pull it off. It didn’t happen long enough ago for me to get into details, but it was probably the most satisfying ending of a series I’ve ever seen.
2. Lost – So many people hated this ending, and I just don’t understand why. Nothing about this was bad, we got to see how everyone left either survived to leave the island or died. Everything this series built towards over 6 seasons worked out here. Sure we didn’t get all the answers, but we got plenty of them. And the final explanation of the strange flash sideways was amazing, and while I kinda saw that coming, at the same time it wasn’t exactly what I expected it to be. And in the end the characters, new and old, all got to have their happy endings one way or another.
3. 24 – I guess since they’re reviving this series, this may not be the best choice, but the original ending of season 8 really finished off the series how you’d expect. From the ending of season 1, you knew there would be no happy ending for Jack Bauer. He saved the world one more time, then had to fade into the shadows a fugitive from the country he pretty much gave his life to save. He lost his family, his friends, and probably his humanity along the way. This wasn’t even close to a happy ending, and that’s good, because this show didn’t need one.
4. Trigun – Trigun was an amazing show, starting out like just a goofy action comedy, but soon drastically changing to something far more. It still kept a lot of the the humor, but added a layer of drama and developed a set of characters and backstory that few shows ever do. Then the finale hits, and we continue to learn so much about what made Vash who he was, and his final confrontation with his brother Knives. Apparently the source manga continues on after this, but I think the TV series really ended it right.
5. How I Met Your Mother – I’m sure plenty of people will argue with this one, probably more than would argue Lost at this point. But I really enjoyed the ending for what it was, the show kept the promise it made 9 seasons ago, we saw Ted meet the Mother. You could really ask for nothing more, but we got more. We got to see how everyone’s lives played out, sure they weren’t always great, but in the end everyone was happy with their lives, and that’s really all any of us can hope for.

Shannon

1. Psych
2. Friends
3. Futurama (the last time)
4. Spaced
5. Cowboy Bebop

Eric

Endings are tricky. Be it in movies or TV, no matter what happens people will be unhappy. Don’t explain enough and the complaint is that there wasn’t enough closure. Close all the loose ends and people feel that it went too far. Regardless, shows have to end and every creator has their own reasons for doing what they did. As long as everything makes sense to me, and it all seems logical, I generally have no qualms with the ending.

1. Lost – It’s no secret that I LOVE Lost. However, it ran against Heroes I believe, so that ended up winning for me. I marathoned the entire series in the last 2 months leading up to the finale. I was 2 weeks behind, and I heard every complaint under the sun. I also heard the big reveal spoiler from just about everyone who hated the ending in the 2 weeks leading up to my viewing. I was pretty upset about that, but I couldn’t have been more satisfied when I realized that everyone was wrong. It’s been over 5 years so its safe to drop the bomb now. . . just to clear it up, here’s the big reveal: THEY WEREN’T ALL DEAD THE WHOLE DAMN TIME! Boom, mind blown right? At this point, if you still think they were dead the whole time, and you hate the show for that then you don’t deserve an explanation. In short, you’re stupid. Go watch Jersey Shore or some other mindless bullshit.
2. Breaking Bad – Wow. Just wow. I kept hearing how great this show was for a few years, but I never really payed attention to it. Malcolm in the Middle’s dad selling drugs or something? What ev. Well, I finally gave it a shot. Decided to watch it all in the two weeks leading up to the finale. Ended up about 2 weeks behind again, but holy crap was it fantastic! While I like the “alternate ending” that showed Hal waking up in bed with Lois(his wife from Malcolm in the Middle) after having a nightmare about the entire series, I feel that this is no better ending than the one on TV. It tied everything up nicely, while leaving just enough open for speculation. It was perfect.
3. The Office – While the final season wasn’t all that great, I still enjoyed it. It had it’s charm and it shifted focus to include more of the supporting case in primary roles, which was nice. The Finale wasn’t as emotional as Michael Scott’s last episode, it was still excellent. It closed everything up nicely and got the gang back together one last time. I thoroughly enjoyed it.
4. How I Met Your Mother – This is one of the primary reasons we’re here. 2 of our favorite shows closed out in the last 2 weeks and we needed a reason to complain or praise the endings. This one in particular has been a hot button on the internet, so here it goes: I liked the finale. Everything felt natural for the characters. Did it move fast? Sure. Did it suck to negate a marriage in the first 15 minutes that the last 3 seasons spent building up? Yeah. But that’s life. Was the big reveal, and the following twist, over shadowed by the ending scene? No, absolutely not. I understand the complaints people have, I just don’t agree with them. The creators threw 15 years worth of story into less than 45 minutes of running time. It was a lot to take in, and difficult to connect with emotionally if you had a hard time keeping up with the changes in time. It wasn’t perfect as it aired, but I feel that it hit all the right beats and settled all of the characters well.
5. Psych – And the other show that ended this season. . . This one was rough. 8 seasons in, and all I can think is that I just want more. It’s sad to see it go, but here’s the verdict: I loved the finale! Psych hit all the right emotional beats. We saw Shawn grow up in ways we never thought capable. It was excellent, but. . . (see next week)

Eric is not a boss. You can Email Eric or follow Eric on Twitter @EricSweeten or Facebook

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