Best season finales
- Thread starter Lindley
- Start date
I'm only allowing myself one from each show. Shows that do finales well generally do finales well year after year.
Jericho - "Patriots & Tyrants"
MillenniuM - "The Fourth Horseman/The Time Is Now"
Carnivale - "New Canaan, CA"
Deadwood - "Boy-The-Earth-Talks-To"
Justice League Unlimited - "Alive"
Battlestar Galactica - "Lay Down Your Burdens"
Farscape - "Dog With Two Bones"
Lost - "Live Together, Die Alone"
The 4400 - "Fifty-Fifty"
Eureka - "Once in a Lifetime"
The Sopranos - "I Dream of Jeannie Cusamano"
Oz - "A Game of Checkers"
The Prisoner - "Fall Out"
Six Feet Under - "The Last Time"
Supernatural - "All Hell Breaks Loose"
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine - "Broken Link"
Jericho - "Patriots & Tyrants"
MillenniuM - "The Fourth Horseman/The Time Is Now"
Carnivale - "New Canaan, CA"
Deadwood - "Boy-The-Earth-Talks-To"
Justice League Unlimited - "Alive"
Battlestar Galactica - "Lay Down Your Burdens"
Farscape - "Dog With Two Bones"
Lost - "Live Together, Die Alone"
The 4400 - "Fifty-Fifty"
Eureka - "Once in a Lifetime"
The Sopranos - "I Dream of Jeannie Cusamano"
Oz - "A Game of Checkers"
The Prisoner - "Fall Out"
Six Feet Under - "The Last Time"
Supernatural - "All Hell Breaks Loose"
Star Trek: Deep Space Nine - "Broken Link"
As mentioned by others, Deadwood, Dexter and LOST all have at least 2 *fantastic* season finales.
^I think it really depends on the quality of the writing and the pacing of the show. If every episode feels like a cliff-hanger, it can be hard to separate one from the other when you think back on it.
A good season finale will make you really eager for more. LOST does this really well; itbuilds with question after question, until the finales (especially season 4) that give a few important answers but then opens up even more questions. There has to be an emotional investment on the part of the audience for it to really pay off. It's like the writers are setting out trail of breadcrumbs that we eagerly follow along, until we reach the destination of the finale. So, good writing all season long will naturally build to an exciting and satisfying conclusion.
A good season finale will make you really eager for more. LOST does this really well; itbuilds with question after question, until the finales (especially season 4) that give a few important answers but then opens up even more questions. There has to be an emotional investment on the part of the audience for it to really pay off. It's like the writers are setting out trail of breadcrumbs that we eagerly follow along, until we reach the destination of the finale. So, good writing all season long will naturally build to an exciting and satisfying conclusion.
I would say that's a fair statement to make, because there's generally a lot more at stake for both the characters and the plot if the story has been moving towards something. The exception would be something like BOBW where they pulled out all the stops for one amazing episode, but as per the TNG norm within a few episodes at the beginning of the 4th season, the incident didn't have a huge lasting impact beyond a mention here and there (and First Contact, of course.)
I'd like to add BSG "Revelations" to my list if that counts, since it'll be more than half a year until the conclusion. Both of Dexter's finales have been really well done too, with the nod probably going to S1's "Born Free" for sheer acting strength alone.
I'd like to add BSG "Revelations" to my list if that counts, since it'll be more than half a year until the conclusion. Both of Dexter's finales have been really well done too, with the nod probably going to S1's "Born Free" for sheer acting strength alone.
Ah right. Seconded!
Supernatural--"Devil's Trap" (season one) A possessed father tormenting his two sons, bleeding one out. Chilling.
Supernatural--"No Rest For the Wicked" (season three) Who'd have thought they'd actually do it to Dean? SPN fans, you know what I mean.
Shocking and brutal.
Supernatural--"No Rest For the Wicked" (season three) Who'd have thought they'd actually do it to Dean? SPN fans, you know what I mean.
Shocking and brutal.
I'm partial to the Seinfeld episode where Susan dies. Just so...wrong, the reactions of everybody, George calling Marisa Tomei for a date the day of the funeral...hilarioulsly twisted...
Presume you mean "Not Fade Away"
For one winner I would also say Buffy's "Becoming". It is my favourite episode of anything ever, so I guess I have to say it
Mash season/series finale.
Blasphemy! That honour goes to "Where No Fan Has Gone Before".
Anyway, I'm seconding this, Dexter's "Born Free", and throwing another into the ring:
"My Coffee With Niles", the season one finale for Frasier. The episode gives a pretty good analysis of the characters as they stand at the end of the season, poses the question of personal happiness... and has a very funny running joke about the ideal cup of coffee.
Buffy's season five finale "The Gift" is perhaps the best season finale I've ever seen. Not only did it totally get me on an emotional level, but the groundwork for it had been laid back in season three. Really as far back as season one if you think about it in broad terms. A seriously fantastic, gut-wrenching episode. I don't know that any television show has ever quite gotten to me on that level before or since.
"The Becoming" and "Graduation Day" were also great Buffy finales that really wove everything their respective seasons had been dealing with together really well. That show was just so well-written. I also liked the season six finale, and the end of the series one, "Chosen," too. OK, I'll stop about Buffy.
I was really impressed with "House's Head"/"Wilson's Heart," this season's 2-part House finale. The season itself was uneven, but the finale was great, and really drew on House and Wilson's relationship over the course of the show.
BSG's season one finale, "Kobol's Last Gleaming" and the season 3 one were excellent. I still haven't seen the season two finale
so I can't comment on it.
Lost's season three finale changed the game for the show in a really daring and exciting way. I really loved that.
Friends had some great finales, like the one where Monica and Chandler got married.
CSI: NY's third season finale "Snow Day" was like a mini-action movie--I loved it. I also really enjoyed CSI's finale "For Gedda" from this season--shocking and heartbreaking. The season five finale--the one Tarantino directed--"Grave Danger" was also excellent.
Who could forget "The Best of Both Worlds"? Talk about a finale.
I'm sure there are ones I'm forgetting and if so, I'll return to post those, too. But these are the ones that stick out.
Now I'm really curious. Spoiler box?
"The Becoming" and "Graduation Day" were also great Buffy finales that really wove everything their respective seasons had been dealing with together really well. That show was just so well-written. I also liked the season six finale, and the end of the series one, "Chosen," too. OK, I'll stop about Buffy.
I was really impressed with "House's Head"/"Wilson's Heart," this season's 2-part House finale. The season itself was uneven, but the finale was great, and really drew on House and Wilson's relationship over the course of the show.
BSG's season one finale, "Kobol's Last Gleaming" and the season 3 one were excellent. I still haven't seen the season two finale
so I can't comment on it.Lost's season three finale changed the game for the show in a really daring and exciting way. I really loved that.
Friends had some great finales, like the one where Monica and Chandler got married.
CSI: NY's third season finale "Snow Day" was like a mini-action movie--I loved it. I also really enjoyed CSI's finale "For Gedda" from this season--shocking and heartbreaking. The season five finale--the one Tarantino directed--"Grave Danger" was also excellent.
Who could forget "The Best of Both Worlds"? Talk about a finale.
I'm sure there are ones I'm forgetting and if so, I'll return to post those, too. But these are the ones that stick out.
Supernatural--"No Rest For the Wicked" (season three) Who'd have thought they'd actually do it to Dean? SPN fans, you know what I mean.
Now I'm really curious. Spoiler box?
Now I'm really curious. Spoiler box?
I'll go you one better. Here you go.
No Rest for the wicked--end scene
It's not pretty.
I'd rank a few episodes above that one, but they're all Futurama anyway. "Roswell That Ends Well," "Where No Fan Has Gone Before" (which I think was a season finale and should count?), "The Why of Fry," and "The Farnsworth Parabox."
Then again, there must be some worthy episodes from The Simpsons and South Park.
Only if you view the seasons as they were aired. By production seasons (as how the show is on DVD), it's in the middle of season 4.
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