10 Greatest TV Series Finales Of All Time
9. The Shield
Strike Team commander Vic Mackey made for an especially unpleasant cop during The Shield's celebrated 6 year run. Going all the way back to the start, the finale lingers on a murder Mackey and trusty sidekick, Shane Vendrell commit in the pilot.
The consequences of their actions prove especially dark for Vendrell (played masterfully by cult favourite Walton Goggins) who kills not only himself but his family too. It's a sickening scene, among the grimmest moments in TV history and one that sticks with the viewer long after the end credits. Unpleasant as it is, it fits perfectly within the character's arc and reminds us this show never pulled any punches.
For Vic, the writers cooked up an appropriately miserable (but far more subtle in its darkness) endpoint. Cutting a deal with the feds, Vic winds up analysing crime reports behind a desk for the rest of his life. Decked out in an ill-fitting suit, actor Michael Chiklis looks utterly crestfallen. No family, no friends and no excitement, the formerly wild Mackey has been defeated by an angry world that caught up to him. There's a hint of sinister ambiguity in the closing scene. We wonder if Mackey will break the rules one last time. We'll never know for sure though, leaving us pondering this gritty, harsh ending for years to come.