7 TV Shows With Near-Perfect Endings
Some of them do it just right...
As you may have heard, Game of Thrones is drawing to a close, with its final episode less than a week away. And while fans are anxiously debating and theorising as to who will survive and reign supreme on the Iron Throne, one thing that should spring to mind more is will it have a satisfying ending?
For a series that has prided itself on unpredictability and bending the narrative rules of television for so long, it might be difficult to imagine what the perfect ending to the series will be. Showrunners have described the ending as "bittersweet" and the cast have shared hints of melancholy for the final episode, but from an audience perspective, will it be what we want?
Given the recent response to episode 5 "The Bells", we've got to assume the ending won't be as fitting as we'd like.
So many shows have tripped up at the last hurdle (looking at you Lost) while others have had widely discussed and debated finales (like The Sopranos and Breaking Bad) but there are some with impressively orchestrated endings that should get more attention even if they ended years ago.
With that in mind, here are seven TV series you should definitely re-watch just for their satisfying and near-perfect endings, and for a bit of fun, two shows that could have ended perfectly had someone slapped the writer's fingertips away from the keyboard just a bit sooner.
*SPOILER WARNING IS IN EFFECT*
9. Dishonourable Mention #2: Scrubs
While many people in the medical industry have praised Scrubs for its oddly realistic approach to how hospital staff interact with one another and their patients, the show had always been known for its surreal cutaways and fantasies playing out in the head of lead character J.D.
In season eight, J.D. decides to move away from Sacred Heart hospital to be closer to his son, and with him, say goodbye to all the characters he'd be leaving behind. In the final episode, an encounter with a patient's son makes J.D. question his own future and what choices he can make and control.
In the final scene, a montage set to Peter Gabriel - The Book of Love, J.D. imagines a heart-warming future filled with family, friends and happiness. It was a delightfully moving finale that encapsulated the series entirely, until...
The show came back almost a year later with half the cast returning and a new generation of doctors to lead. Received poorly due to its sticky writing and unlikeable new cast, the whole ninth season felt like you had just seen your favourite band in concert, they'd finished their encore and left the stage, only to immediately return with a new frontman who sounds nothing like the previous one, and they're about to play some new experimental hits. While some fans don't consider the ninth season to actually be part of the canon, we can't help but shake this awful extension to a fun a rewatchable series.