TV - Best endings
- nuBSG: IMHO a powerful, insightful and daring finale that draws on various threads and ideas set up throughout the show. It’s a reminder of how everything began, in many ways, and a showcase of how much the characters have changed due to everything that has happened. It pays close attention to its characters yet doesn’t fail to thrill in its action scenes, just like I felt the series always did. At its core, I feel it is a story about a life worth living and hope. The ending, thus, is bittersweet and beautiful and has me longing to go back and re-watch everything. “Daybreak” has its flaws but I only have minor complaints, to be honest.
- DS9: A powerful two hours that brings closure to most of the storylines set up throughout the show, if not all. The endings for each of the characters are fitting and often bittersweet (Sisko, for example, or Odo) or downright devastating (Garak). The final scene, as the camera pans away from the station, as well as the montage sequence are moving and powerful IMHO. My biggest complaint is probably that the actual encounter between Sisko and Dukat is absolutely underwhelming given all the setup we got. I do like where both of them (as well as Winn) end up. I just don’t like how they get there, basically. It’s also a great shame that Jadzia is not in the flashbacks, but there you are. It’s also a shame that so many shots were re-used during the battle scenes. But I can live with that. So no, WYLB is by no means perfect. But I think it’s a fitting and very powerful ending to DS9.
- B5: A very quiet, contemplative piece that really draws upon all the character work done throughout the show. It’s both nice and saddening to see the characters again, at this later point in time. I think it rings very true as B5’s ending (or maybe it’s more of an epilogue, I don’t know) and is just a beautiful episode, I think.
TV - Worst endings
- VOY: Let me preface this by saying that my expectations when it came to VOY were pretty much non-existent by the time the final season and the finale came around. Still, “Endgame” managed to shock me and made me happy that I was no longer invested in the show. To me, it was simply a giant ‘we don’t care anymore’ on the part of the creative staff. Personally, I think all the action and the business with the Borg, time travel, Admiral Janeway, etc. should (if featured at all) have been cut down to an absolute minimum. After seven years away, in my eyes, the real meat of the story was in the crew’s return. And that we basically saw nothing of. The show ended when it should have started, I think.
- ENT: Again, I was not invested in this show when I saw the ending. And, again, I was still amazed by what the creative staff had come up with. This would have been fine as a mid-season episode, I think. But as a finale it seems almost insulting, to be honest. This was an episode of TNG featuring ENT characters, and not even the real ones, just Holodeck replicas. Terrible IMHO.
Movies - Best endings
- Blade Runner (Final Cut): I can’t really say much about this other than I feel it’s a pitch perfect ending for one of my all-time favorites. Batty’s final scenes with the beautiful “…like tears in rain…” line are particularly memorable. But Deckard finding the paper unicorn and him and Rachael heading off into an uncertain future is also very powerful I think.
- 2001: A mesmerizing, at times confusing but always powerful and engaging way to end such an amazing movie, I think. Again, I don’t really have much to say other than that I think it’s a wonderful ending.
- Unbreakable: This is such a quiet movie, really. Slowly building its story, letting it unfold naturally and really drawing you in to the lives of both the main characters. It’s both surprising and fitting, then, the way it ends. David and Elijah truly are on opposite ends of the same spectrum. And, basically, it’s been evident throughout the movie. But I think part of the appeal is that you don’t want things to end badly. ‘Mr. Glass’ has struggled so much in his life. You don’t want him to ‘fall’ yet again. But it’s clear that he has to, in the final analysis. There can be no other ending, really.
- Terminator 3: I enjoy the movie as a whole. But I think it truly is most powerful in its uncompromising ending. This is where it – if only briefly – manages to really connect with its predecessors, I think.
- Planet of the Apes: The ending is surprising, shocking and spot-on, I think. Not really much else I can say about this one, I think.
- A Scanner Darkly: One of my favorite movies of late, it ends on such a gut-wrenching and bittersweet note, I think it’s fantastic. Seeing Bob, almost completely destroyed by Substance D, wandering the almost endless plantations, unaware of his own plight and that of mankind as a whole is just immensely powerful, I think. Add to that some of PKD’s most beautiful words: “I saw death rising from the earth, from the ground itself, in one blue field. A present for my friends... at Thanksgiving.”
Movies - Worst endings:
- A.I.: This is always a tricky one for me. I adore the soundtrack. And my favorite piece, “Stored Memories and Monica’s Theme”, is from the final scenes of the movie. Yet in terms of the movie itself I’m still baffled by how Spielberg was able to NOT end the film where IMHO it should have. This is truly a modern fairytale. And what better place could there have been than with David eternally begging the Blue Fairy to turn him into a real boy at the bottom of the ocean? Everything after that, to me, felt forced and absolutely unnecessary.
- Sunshine: Technically, it’s not just the ending. But I think I just have to list this one here. This has been discussed in great detail here on the board so I won’t comment on it much. Suffice it to say it felt to me like a beautiful, quiet and introspective science fiction movie turned into ‘Event Horizon’ after about two thirds, effectively destroying everything that had come before.
- Terminator 4: My problems with T4’s ending probably have a lot to do with the film itself. The movie never once shows us why Connor is so incredibly special. It’s simply stated by himself and others but there is nothing to undermine this notion. I don’t want to go into spoiler territory. So suffice it to say I have problems with the ending mainly because of this particular issue.
I’m sure there’s more. But that’s all I can think of right now. And I hope everyone enjoyed a Christmas without bad endings
.
I read that Stephen King actually wished he'd thought of it himself! That's certainly some kind of endorsement.
