Post by damngumby on May 8, 2022 16:40:27 GMT
Great TV series. Interesting characters. Engaging plot lines. Smart writing … only to blow it at the end.
It all started with X-Files, I think. Not so much a crappy series finale but an unsatisfying end to a compelling series-long plot line about aliens on Earth. I’m inclined to give the X-Files a pass, though. They were pretty much pioneers on uncharted ground, making it up as they went.
The first series that really screwed their audience with a crappy finale was Lost. We have it all figured out in advance, they said. It’ll blow your mind, they promised. Fuckers strung us along for years before revealing the answer to all our questions - You’ve been watching a bunch of dead people for a freakin’ decade, suckers! A resolution that many people had thought of at the beginning of the series but dismissed it as something just too simplistically stupid to seriously consider.
Battlestar Galactica was another one. I loved that series. Science fiction done right! … and I don’t remember the ending (I have little interested in looking it up for this post), which says it all. Talk about going out with a whimper.
The Soprano’s. I understand what they were going for, but it was still a huge WTF. They should have resisted the impulse to try to be clever.
Breaking Bad. Just kidding. That was actually a pretty good ending. Good enough so that when the follow-up movie, El Camino, came along, I was eager to watch it. (and it didn’t disappoint, either)
Game of Thrones. At least that series had an excuse … of sorts. The writers ran out of original source material and had to finish it on their own … thus revealing that they were actually a bunch of talentless hacks. Doesn’t make it hurt any less, though. What a god damn waste.
Now, Ozark. Watched the last episode last night. As the credits rolled my wife turned to me and said, are you fucking kidding me? She doesn’t swear. Usually. The thing that sucks about this series is they had a great first half of the final season, with a OMG cliff hanger. From what I have read, it sounds like the writers jettisoned a satisfying conclusion at the eleventh hour in favor of sending a message about the intractable evils of capitalism. Hey assholes, it’s not stunning and brave to kill off a popular character, simply for the shock value. … and fade to black, gun shot is practically a TV trope. It was pretty awesome the first time I saw it, 40 years ago on Magnum PI. Today, it’s basically a joke. WTF were you thinking?
Better Call Saul. They better not fuck this one up!
It all started with X-Files, I think. Not so much a crappy series finale but an unsatisfying end to a compelling series-long plot line about aliens on Earth. I’m inclined to give the X-Files a pass, though. They were pretty much pioneers on uncharted ground, making it up as they went.
The first series that really screwed their audience with a crappy finale was Lost. We have it all figured out in advance, they said. It’ll blow your mind, they promised. Fuckers strung us along for years before revealing the answer to all our questions - You’ve been watching a bunch of dead people for a freakin’ decade, suckers! A resolution that many people had thought of at the beginning of the series but dismissed it as something just too simplistically stupid to seriously consider.
Battlestar Galactica was another one. I loved that series. Science fiction done right! … and I don’t remember the ending (I have little interested in looking it up for this post), which says it all. Talk about going out with a whimper.
The Soprano’s. I understand what they were going for, but it was still a huge WTF. They should have resisted the impulse to try to be clever.
Breaking Bad. Just kidding. That was actually a pretty good ending. Good enough so that when the follow-up movie, El Camino, came along, I was eager to watch it. (and it didn’t disappoint, either)
Game of Thrones. At least that series had an excuse … of sorts. The writers ran out of original source material and had to finish it on their own … thus revealing that they were actually a bunch of talentless hacks. Doesn’t make it hurt any less, though. What a god damn waste.
Now, Ozark. Watched the last episode last night. As the credits rolled my wife turned to me and said, are you fucking kidding me? She doesn’t swear. Usually. The thing that sucks about this series is they had a great first half of the final season, with a OMG cliff hanger. From what I have read, it sounds like the writers jettisoned a satisfying conclusion at the eleventh hour in favor of sending a message about the intractable evils of capitalism. Hey assholes, it’s not stunning and brave to kill off a popular character, simply for the shock value. … and fade to black, gun shot is practically a TV trope. It was pretty awesome the first time I saw it, 40 years ago on Magnum PI. Today, it’s basically a joke. WTF were you thinking?
Better Call Saul. They better not fuck this one up!
