Well it’s that time of the year when all of our favourite shows wind up their respective seasons (or in the case of Lost, it’s the end of the series). Judging by the amount of content on my PVR waiting to be viewed, there’s an abundance of shows wrapping up around this time that I’m actually interested in. Believe me, I’m pretty surprised that I actually care about how Desperate Housewives finishes off its season. I don’’t know how that happened. Or maybe I do. I’ll admit it. Growing up, the only series that I ever got excited about its final episode of a season was Dallas.
Yes, Dallas.
I really can’t explain it. Ok, that’s not true either. I probably have to blame my mother, who was a huge fan of the saga of the Ewings. I vividly remember us visiting family in Toronto and staying in a hotel, but rushing back to the room to see the memorable sixth season finale when Bobby Ewing died in a car accident. What a moving season finale, one matched only by the seventh season ending which brought Bobby back from the dead. You know, the famous shower scene.
Pam’s bad dream brought Bobby back from the dead and sent a once powerful prime time soap on its downward spiral.
There have been other season finales that are memorable in my mind. Buffy The Vampire Slayer caped off its fifth season and its final one on the WB before switching to UPN with one of the show’s greatest moments. When, if ever, has the title character of a television show been killed off at the end of an episode? Pure brilliance, full of emotion and heartache.
Buffy would carry on for two more seasons full of highs and lows, but it would never scale the heights that it did during its fantastic fifth season.
On another bit of a downer, if you enjoyed the rebooted Battlestar Galactica that ruled much of the 2000’s, the cliffhanger ending that split Season 4 in half was surely one of the series most defining moments, since it delivered on the promise the show had made the from the very beginning; that it’s beleaguered survivors would finally find the mythical planet of Earth. Of course, it’s not exactly what they hoped it would be.
Sure it was a mid-season finale for BSG, but as far as I’m concerned a wait of more than 6 months makes this a finale, and a memorable one at that.
Another favourite finale of mine shouldn’t come as much of a surprise for regular readers. It’s the episode that ended Twin Peaks second and final season. Knowing that the show wasn’t going to be renewed following its ratings challenged sophomore year, I remember being extremely eager to see how the show would finish. Of course, I never could have guessed what I’d receive. At the time I was thoroughly dismayed that David Lynch was ending the series with a total cliffhanger, over the years I’ve come to appreciate the infinite possibilities that the final scene of Twin Peaks leaves you with.
Those are just a few of my favourites. And who knows. Maybe by the end of this week I’ll add the season finale of V or the series finale of Lost to my list as well.
Maybe even that episode of Desperate Housewives I have waiting on my PVR. You never know, right?
M*A*S*H* — didn't really get it at the time but that was a powerful show with a powerful ending.