Even for the most successful shows,TVendingscan be incredibly difficult to pull off. In fact, the more popular and acclaimed a series is, the more likely its finale is to divide fans and critics. It’s impossible to please everyone when wrapping up a story spanning several years and dozens of episodes, and trying to do so typically backfires.
GreatTV series finales can make us cryin the best way possible, by pushing all the right emotional buttons and giving the characters we love a proper goodbye. When done badly, though, farewell episodes can upset us for the wrong reasons, by delivering aTV ending it takes us years to get over.
Meanwhile, some of the most brilliant TV show endings simply had to happen the way they did. Such conclusions might not always be crowdpleasers, or the storylines we expected to see closing out our favorite series. Yet, with hindsight, it’s obvious that these finales were in the best interests of their shows.
Some of thebest TV series finales of all timeare necessarily the easiest to watch or the happiest endings. They’re just how things had to end, to stay true to characters and fictional worlds which were years in the making. There’s ultimately nothing better in a TV ending than a payoff which feels both authentic and well-earned.
8Frasier
The Flight To Chicago
It’s fair to say that having a favorable opinion ofFrasier’s 2004 finale episode is a minority opinion among the show’s fanbase. The general feeling is that the show failed to reward its title character with a satisfying conclusion to his story, while giving Niles everything he could possibly want.
To make matters worse,Frasier’s reboot has doubled down on the unsatisfying endingmany fans believe that Frasier Crane received two decades ago. In both cases, however, Frasier’s final bow feels real and true to his character.
It’s perfectly fitting that he left Seattle in 2004, closing the chapter of his life that the sitcom originally covered. We didn’t see what happened next, because neat-and-tidy resolutions don’t work for comedy shows with this amount of depth to them.
7Seinfeld
Jerry, George, Elaine & Kramer Get Their Comeuppance
Frasier is far from the only ‘90s sitcom to have rubbed fans up the wrong way with its last episode.Seinfeld’s finale is hatedby many of the show’s most ardent fans, even though it’s a stroke of pure genius.
Having spent most of the decade complaining that Jerry, George, Elaine and Kramer are self-centered, not particularly likable, and even downright mean, audiences and critics were taken aback when these characters finally got their comeuppance. The specific circumstances of their arrest for failing to assist someone in need are certainly contrived, but this outcome was exactly what had to happen.
The whole point ofSeinfeldis that its protagonists aren’t especially nice people, a characteristic that forms the basis of the sitcom’s comic observations. So, they all got precisely what they deserved, and bringing back an array of standout supporting characters to testify against them in court was a better sendoff than we could possibly have imagined.
6The Leftovers
Nora Comes Back & Kevin Finds Her
Theending ofThe Leftoversis one of the most breathtakingly beautiful episodes of television ever created. The fact that we don’t get the conclusion we’re led to expect at the start of the finale episode only elevates it to even greater heights.
As preceding episodes suggested, it seems that Carrie Coon’s Nora Durst is set to discover the truth about the Departure, an event that’s remained a mystery since the beginning of the series, by crossing over into another realm of existence. Instead, at the crucial moment, the episode switches to a time jump that keeps in suspense until its final minutes.
We never get to see the other side ourselves, only hearing about it from Nora, as she shares her story to Kevin once the two of them reunite. This elegantly understated but profoundly imaginative final scene is the perfect way to endThe Leftovers, which is ultimately about the people left in this world, not those who have departed.
5Fleabag
It Doesn’t Work Out With The Hot Priest
Fleabagwas always meant to end with unanswered questions, as Phoebe Waller-Bridge’s original stage version of the story bears out. But the title character not ending up with Andrew Scott’s Hot Priest was too much for some fans to bear.
Nevertheless, as the two characters part ways, and Fleabag gives us one final look before shaking her head, indicating she wants to be left alone from this point on, we realize the real meaning of the show’s 12 episodes. Itisa love story, and itdoeshave a happy ending, but it’s not the one we thought it was.
Fleabagis fundamentally about learning to love yourself, without needing validation or gratification from outside. The central antihero’s addiction to sex, embarrassing behavior in public, and fourth-wall breaks turn out to be symptoms of a need to be loved. Once she feels genuine compassion towards herself, she no longer needs anyone else – not even Andrew Scott.
4Veronica Mars
Logan Is Killed In An Explosion
Season 4 ofVeronica Marsis surely among the bestTV show revivals of all time. It raises the bar for a series that had already earned its fair share of acclaim during its original three-season run. Still, this revival season managed to provoke the ire of many viewers when it killed off Veronica’s happy ending in its final moments.
What’s more, this explosive finale meant murdering one of the mystery drama’s most beloved characters in the process. It left quite a few Logan Echolls superfans very unhappy.
Yet, it’s important to remember thatVeronica Marsisn’t a straightforward comedy series, even if it does have comedic elements to it. The show is a murky teen drama which begins with the death of its title character’s best friend, and models itself on the dark tropes of classic noir movies.
It doesn’t get more film noir than ending on a tragic note with the unexpected death of the main character’s love interest, during a moment of hubris. Logan’s death has done more than anything else to strengthen the credentials ofVeronica Marsas a genuine work of neo-noir television.
3Sex Education
Otis Doesn’t End Up With Maeve Or Ruby
With the love of Otis Milburn’s young life, Maeve Wiley, departing for the U.S. inSex Education’s penultimate episode, the scene is set for Otis to end up with his other major love interest during the show’s later seasons, Ruby Matthews. But the series finale does much better than letting Otis have his cake and eat it.
Sex Educationendswith Ruby telling Otis that she no longer needs him as a friend, which is only fair, given how he’s treated her overall. Instead, we see Otis walking off into the night arm-in-arm with the person whose love is ultimately most important to him at this stage of his life – his best friend, Eric.
Maeve gets to pursue her passion for writing professionally, having worked so hard for the scholarship she’s received. Ruby has gone from school bully to being an example to others in how to handle bullying, and Otis and Eric are back together as inseparable friends for life. This ending doesn’t take the easy option, but it’s spot on all-round.
2Dinosaurs
Climate Change Leads To The Dinosaur Extinction
Dinosaurshas arguably the most devastating ending in sitcom history, but from a scientific perspective, it’s an ending that had to come one way or another. Maybe we didn’t expect the show’s characters to be entirely wiped out by the antics of B.P. Richfield, but this conclusion still mirrors what happened to most dinosaurs in reality.
Richfield’s decision to blow up volcanoes is analogous to the seismic impact of an asteroid crashing into the Earth’s surface 66 million years ago. This event led to a dramatic and fundamental shift in the climate of the planet, wiping out most dinosaurs within a relatively short span of time.
This climate change didn’t usher in an ice age, asDinosaurssuggests. But it did spell the end for creatures like those depicted in the show, within just a few decades in certain cases. As heavy as this ending feels for a sitcom, they had to go somehow.
When it comes to shocking TV endings, nothing can outdo Netflix’s seminal crime dramaOzark. Many viewers were horrified that fan-favorite Ruth Langmore is gunned down in cold blood during the closing moments of the series finale, with the Byrde family facilitating her demise.
If that’s not bad enough, just as the Byrdes are about to face justice at long last, thanks to the work of PI Mel Sattem, their teenage son steps in to commit the family’s first actual murder. Yet, these final scenes are actually theperfect ending forOzark, and Laura Linney’s final line in the show explains why.
As Mel tells the Byrdes they aren’t getting away with their crimes because “the world doesn’t work like that,” Linney’s Wendy Byrde responds by asking, “Since when?” before the camera pans to Jonah holding a shotgun.
The cynical pessimism of this conclusion to the series perfectly encapsulates what it’s all about. The Byrdes aren’t the good guys, and that’s exactly why they have to win. Theshow couldn’t have ended any other way.
