Examples of shows where the final season was the best

[DevilEyes]

I guess this is supposed to be a thread about science fiction shows, but someone mentioned "Arrested Development", so I think it should be okay for me to mention the U.K. version of "The Office". When I first heard it ended after only two seasons despite being the hottest show in the U.K., I thought that sounded crazy, but looking at the state of shows like the American version and "The Simpsons", I keep feeling more and more respect for the decision of Ricky Gervais & Stephen Merchant to end the show in a way that would let it go out on top.

I don't see much difference between the two seasons, but from what I recall season two is just as good as season one, if not better sometimes, and the ending to the second Christmas special (which I guess can be considered the series finale?) is one of the best endings to a TV series I've ever seen.

Well, I decided I wasn't going to count 2-season shows... if I did, I could name quite a few whose 2nd season was better than the first. This Life comes to mind - good first season, awesome second season, and one of the best series finales ever. It's another example of British shows ending at the height of popularity, instead of dragging the show endlessly as long as its ratings are relatively good. (But then they spoiled it all by making a bad "10 years later" special...let's just pretend it never happened.)

I have to disagree on Battlestar Galactica and Lost - BSG's last season was its weakest. And while there is a lot I enjoyed about the last season of Lost, I still have to say it was its weakest. I loved the flashsideways and I enjoyed the finale, but the whole Island storyline with Jacob and MIB was lame.

The last season of The Sopranos was good, but not its best by a long margin, that would be either season 1 or season 3.

 

[lennier1]

...
BSG's last season was its weakest.
...

BSG's quality dropped long before that. Pretty much when it turned into a crappy soap opera with the occasional space scene thrown in to at least somewhat warrant the science fiction label.

 

[Christopher]

*Sigh* I get so tired of the assumption that something has to be in space to be science fiction. SF is any fiction that explores the human or societal consequences of a conjectural scientific or technological advance. Science fiction can just as validly be driven by characters and relationships as by ships and rayguns, if those characters and relationships have speculative elements underlying them.

 

[lennier1]

It doesn't have to be in space or feature aliens. But during that time it wasn't much more than a third-rate soap opera.

Hell, one of the best science fiction movies in the last years is "The Man From Earth" and it doesn't need much more than a log cabin in the middle of nowhere and a bunch of talented actors!

 

[Goji]

I enjoy seasons 6 and 7 of Deep Space Nine about the same, and both are excellent, but I'd rate season 5 slightly higher so I wouldn't say it qualifies.

The 4400 definitely had a very strong final season that is probably its best, though the second season was excellent as well and it might be hard to choose between them.

Battlestar Galactica's final season was a definite improvement over the two that preceded it, but a notch or two below the first season. Although, the first half of the final season, released on DVD as "4.0" and aired a year before the second half, is much stronger than the second half and taken on its own might qualify as the best of the series.

It only lasted two seasons, but Pushing Daisies was at its peak in its final year as well.

 

[Kegg]

There was a lot of focus on characterisation in Battlestar Galactica... basically from the very beginning of the series.

The issue for me isn't whether or not Battlestar Galactica is adhering to genre conventions, just whether or not it's adherng to its own established conventions, and more importantly whether or not it's still good television.

As such, episodes and scenes and plots that are mostly if not entirely around a character with no sci-fi elements... are fine to me in principle.

In practice? Battlestar Galactica had a number of problems, a few of which came to a head in season three, and most of which I opined in my rambling, poorly written thread a year ago. The short version is the Big Issues for me wasn't that the series was a soap opera but that it had issues with making the overall Cylon narrative coherent or the myth arc interesting... stuff that falls under the 'science fiction' aspect of the show.

On the other hand, simply going for standalone storytelling around characters as they did for a bulk of season three had major problems on account of the episodes sucking. There were a fair number of meandering episodes in the middle of season three that encapsulated the strengths and weakness of the show.

If we're counting second seasons... I'd have the same diffident shrug about Rome and Carnivale as I did about Deadwood and Sopranos. Yes, the final seasons of those shows were good, very much so, but not in a sense I considered them a marked improvement over the previous year.

 

[DarKush]

Tougher question than it looks. Like most I would say Enterprise. The Shield is also a good one, though I thought the show maintained a high level of quality throughout.

In terms of maintaining quality and bringing everything full circle, I would throw in Rome, The Tudors, The Game, Deep Space Nine, 24 (possibly), Justice League/Unlimited, Batman Beyond (possibly), and Smallville (so far, shaping up to be a great final run).

 

[Lonemagpie]

I'm thinking I might lean towards nuBSG, but all its seasons were great... Enterprise I'm tied between 3 and 4.

If we count "final season" as meaning "last season to date" then Sarah Jane Adventures counts for the moment, though we know there's another season next year...

 

[Pemmer Harge]

I can't think of any. Enterprise Season 4 was its most consistent year, but I don't think it can compete with Season 3 for highlights or characterisation. I found BSG Season 4 a lot more entertaining than Season 3, but it was all over the place in terms of story with various plot threads that fizzled out and after Revelations it lost a lot of momentum. Not as good as Seasons 1 and 2 in my opinion, though I can see why some people might like it best.

DS9 Season 7 is like BSG Season 4 for me - entertaining, but is it as well-conceived as Season 5? Not in my opinion.

 

[Robert Maxwell]

With BSG, I don't think the fourth season was the weakest, nor the strongest. It was an improvement over season 3, though. I would put season 4 up there with season 1 and the opening arc of season 2. But for most people I imagine their opinion of season 4 hinges on the finale, and that was such a polarizing episode I'm not surprised a lot of folks say it was the worst season.

 

[Warp Coil]

I agree that ENT's fourth season was its strongest. The change in format to story arcs, the ties to TOS, and an overall improvement in writing really brought the show up to a high level of quality and consistency (finally!) that it did not have before. It's a shame that it was its last.

I absolutely love BSG's fourth season. Is it its best? Perhaps. I find season two to be particularly strong, as well, but I really love the way season four unfolded.

DS9 seventh year may be its best, due to the final chapter arc. I also actually liked Ezri Dax (yeah, I may be in the minority on that one) and I enjoyed the way she was introduced onto the canvas. Seasons 5 and 6 had good material, too, but I find the last season to be more consistent (again, possibly due to the final chapter).

I have to disagree about Angel's final season. While it ultimately improved over time and had some of its finest episodes ("You're Welcome", "A Hole in the World"), I found that the season started off on the wrong foot. The first several episodes were stand-alones and weren't terribly strong. The absence of Cordelia was a big blow (I mean, just watch "You're Welcome" and it's amazing to realize how much she contributed to the series). I actually really prefer the super-serialized soap opera of season 4.

When Lost's final season was airing, I found it to be frustrating. In retrospect, having seen the end of the show and then re-watched the season, I think it holds up quite nicely. But is it the best? I think seasons 4-5 might be a bit stronger.

 

[startrekwatcher]

BSG's fourth season wasn't that great--the drawn out Baltar cult storyline that didn't add up to a whole lot, the Ellen/Tighe/Six love triangle drama, the unsatusfying wrap up to the show's mythology, the obvious stalling where the very same plot points were in a holding pattern for several episodes, the Cylons were ultimately revealed as one of the weakest and blandest adversaries in sff, lots of uninteresting politics most of it centering on Apollo, aimless storytelling with no sense of purpose, the odd thread abruptly dropped centering on arming Baltar's cult. This was about the point where the melodrama was really wearing thin with all the over-the-top angst especially with Starbuck. Lots of "character" scenes meant to be thoughtful or moving but demonstrated that just because you have two actors in a scene with only dialog and no action doesn't make it compelling.

Lost's final season wasn't that great either. You can pretty much let a weak final season slide in a mostly episodic series i.e. TNG but LOST was constructed as one massive narrative spanning six seasons so its final year would be critically important in how the show would be viewed--and I have to say it failed miserably in providing answers to the tons of mysteries it introduced and when it did provide answers they were weak i.e. the whispers or the coming war. And the flashsideways seem even more of a waste of time given that they were set up as red herrings as to what they really were and therefore don't hold up on their own--as well as being a way to bring back old faces fir pointless cameos. S4 was its best year with S5 a close second--lots of excitement, interesting plot developments and shocking revelations with a sense of narrative urgency and purpose.

 

[lennier1]

BSG's fourth season wasn't that great--the drawn out Baltar cult storyline that didn't add up to a whole lot, the Ellen/Tighe/Six love triangle drama, the unsatusfying wrap up to the show's mythology, the obvious stalling where the very same plot points were in a holding pattern for several episodes, the Cylons were ultimately revealed as one of the weakest and blandest adversaries in sff, lots of uninteresting politics most of it centering on Apollo, aimless storytelling with no sense of purpose, the odd thread abruptly dropped centering on arming Baltar's cult. This was about the point where the melodrama was really wearing thin with all the over-the-top angst especially with Starbuck.

That's one of the major problems the later part of the show had. It often felt as if the writers were simply winging it from one week to the next.

 

[the G-man]

Maybe the Shield

 

[theenglish]

Enterprise's fourth season was the strongest for Trekkies and FANBOYS. People who didn't really care about the mythos or history of Trek were lost and frustrated, at least from my experience. People who watched only Enterprise and not earlier series started calling me up asking me to explain episodes to them.

 

[JediKnightButler]

Out of all of the shows I've actually watched to the end (which is a fairly small number, frankly), I guess I'd have to say, surprisingly Angel S5, particularly the last few episodes (from "You're Welcome onward and, of course the Fred/Illyria two-parter). In fact reading the recent Angel episode-by-episode rewatch/review of the series here on Trek BBS just reinforced how solid of a season it really ended up being. I would've liked more of a resolution but then again I'm not sure exactly how you'd satisfactorily end a series about an immortal vampire except by outright killing him/her and I couldn't see THAT happening. We're basically left with him and the surviving team members continuing the fight- which ties in beautifully with the overall theme of the series.

B5 would be a close second because, although I didn't care for much of the first half of S5 (with the exception of "Kingdom of the Blind"), everything from "Meditations on the Abyss right up to the end was powerful and brilliant. I wish I knew why the rest of the season couldn't have been like that but they had been dancing around the Telepath issue for most of the series, so I guess they felt that they had to do something to set up the "Telepath War" that was alluded to at the end of S4 but it could've been done so much better IMHO. My personal opinion, however, is that Season 4 is really the true "final season" of the series and would've been better wrapped up then and there but then again we'd have missed the excellent Centauri War and Londo's becoming Emperor in S5, so......................

If and when I get around to going back and finishing some other shows like DS9 (I've seen most of the first 5 seasons and the "Final Chapter" but ended up missing large chunks of Seasons 6 & 7), my opinion may change. I also have yet to completely finish all 85 episodes of Robotech as well, though I've seen all of Macross but I have only seen a couple episodes of Southern Cross and most but not all of New Generation, so I don't have a basis for comparison.....yet.

*sigh* Too little time, too many shows!

 

[DonIago]

Lost's final season wasn't that great either. You can pretty much let a weak final season slide in a mostly episodic series i.e. TNG but LOST was constructed as one massive narrative spanning six seasons so its final year would be critically important in how the show would be viewed--and I have to say it failed miserably in providing answers to the tons of mysteries it introduced and when it did provide answers they were weak i.e. the whispers or the coming war. And the flashsideways seem even more of a waste of time given that they were set up as red herrings as to what they really were and therefore don't hold up on their own--as well as being a way to bring back old faces fir pointless cameos. S4 was its best year with S5 a close second--lots of excitement, interesting plot developments and shocking revelations with a sense of narrative urgency and purpose.

Deja vu...

If you were expecting Lost to answer all of the questions/mysteries by the end, then yes, you're going to be disappointed by default. That's all there is to it. To me, that's an unrealistic expectation to begin with.
FWIW, I thought the resolution of the whispers made sense. As for the "war", I never put much weight on that one to begin with. It's mentioned, what, twice?

How about we analyze it instead from the perspective of what it did with the -characters-? Because from that standpoint I think the series had a rather satisfying final season.

Yes, the flashsideways are a bit of a misdirection, but I have to admit I'm looking forward to rewatching the show and seeing them knowing what they actually represent.

What you call "pointless cameos" I call "chances to revisit 'beloved' characters". It's not as though (in most cases) they served absolutely no purpose, and it's disingenuous to characterize them as such.

As for which season was the best...until I've rewatched the show in its entirety I don't feel I'm in a position to judge, but so far seasons 2 and 6 have the most individual episodes that I've rewatched parts of.

 

[startrekwatcher]

If you were expecting Lost to answer all of the questions/mysteries by the end, then yes, you're going to be disappointed by default.

Silly me thinking that a show would address all their questions/mysteries they raised and made a big deal about for six years--what was I thinking. And shame on me for believing the writers from the beginning when they repeatedly stated in interviews going all the way back to season one that they learned from the mistakes of shows like The X-Files and Twin Peaks when it came to handling mythologies and that their series wouldn't be like those other programs.

FWIW, I thought the resolution of the whispers made sense.

Sure it made sense but I thought they could have been a bit more creative.

As for the "war", I never put much weight on that one to begin with. It's mentioned, what, twice?

You don't introduce the idea of some ominous coming war and turn it into an unsatisfying, underwhelming thing. Compare this to the chilling ending of TNG's "Q Who?" hinting at something big and bad or DS9's "The Jem'Hadar" where "The Best of Both Worlds" and the Dominion War lived up to those expectations and even exceeded them.

How about we analyze it instead from the perspective of what it did with the -characters-? Because from that standpoint I think the series had a rather satisfying final season.

Satisfying? I'm sorry but Sun, Jin, Sayid, Claire, Kate, Sawyer, Richard etc didn't have satisfying payoff in their character arcs. A lot of them in the final season were plot devices and the writers seemed to struggle with what to do with a great many. The only character arc that worked was Jack's and to a lesser extent Ben's.

What you call "pointless cameos" I call "chances to revisit 'beloved' characters".

I'd hardly call Charlotte, Minkowski, Mikhail, Keamey etc "beloved" characters--most had very little screentime.

 

[MHT1138]

I would have to agree with Angel "Smile time" "A Hole in the World" Illyria, Spike and Angel Great season!

 

[Vasquez Rocks]

How about Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles? The first season may have been a little tighter storywise, but I really enjoyed the characters more during that second season.