Finales – Gone but never forgotten.
By Mumbua Nzula Nzyoka
There is a certain finality to a series finale. Like a final wave before a flood of nostalgia takes over. Nostalgia is a wistful longing for the past. It is the reason we keep books we’ve already read just to read them again. The same reason we keep the DVDs of old shows so that we can re-watch them sometime later, when we need a reminder of how great they were or in some cases to remember the lessons they taught us. When you have watched a show you love for more than 5, 6, 7 or even 8 years, it is bound to leave a mark. However, just like the beginning, a show’s ending is very important. It is what the viewers are left with after everything is said and done. If the show ends vaguely, then it stains the show’s entire run, “Lost” is one example of a show that did not give a satisfactory conclusion to its fans. But if the end is beautifully done, then they will forget the little mistakes that littered the show’s entire run. They leave a mark.
Here are five shows that have left a mark for us.
1. Mad Men
When I think of 60’s drama or just hear the word the sixties, I immediately think of “Mad Men” and Don Draper. It will forever be the standard 60’s show that I judge all other 60’s shows. It was great while it lasted and when the curtains came down after seven seasons, I was grateful for the time I had spent in the advertising offices at Sterling Cooper then Sterling Cooper Pryce. At least, it was a happy ending, sort of.
- Newsroom
I have always loved Aaron Sorkin dramas. They are always well-written, fast paced and great. Aaron never apologizes for making his characters smart, and I love the characters he creates because of it. The HBO drama “Newsroom” was no different. The pilot began with an explosive opening that is currently called ‘The most honest three and half minutes of television, ever!’ on Youtube. “Newsroom” gave us three seasons of watching a show do the news how we want the news done in real life. When *Spoiler* Charlie died in the end, it seemed like a fitting end for a man who had set out to create a News show he wanted to watch. The show would go on without him, as he had always wanted it to be. The final scene with Will and Charlie’s grandson is just great.
- Sons of Anarchy
In retrospect, the story of Jackson ‘Jax’ Teller was always going to end the way it did. What is it they say, “there is no rest for the wicked.” When the show first premiered, we followed Jax as he struggled with his father’s vision of making the club legitimate and Clay’s vision of getting into guns. In the first few seasons, Jax was just a good guy – well, as good as you can be when you’re in a gang – stuck in a bad world. Eventually, as ‘the life’ tore him down, he became just as bad as the man he was trying so hard not to be. His words at the end “a good father and a good outlaw can’t settle inside the same man” summarize Jax’s whole struggle from the beginning.
- Six Feet Under
It was always a morbid show. I mean what else can a show about death be? When the show came to an end, I guess most of its fans expected it to end in death. It did but not in the way everyone thought it would. The end of this show was more about life than it was about death. As Claire was driving away, the show gave us a montage of everyone’s life and death as Sia sung in the background. It was a bittersweet moment. Watch the Final Scene here.
Let us know on our Facebook page what finales you remember.
