*Spoiler warning for everything mentioned below*
How I Met Your Mother bowed out recently with what has got to be one of the most unspectacular season finales of all time.
After spending nine years with Ted telling his kids the story of how he met their Mother, it seemed like a huge kick in the teeth for fans to find out that, in an episode that fleeted over decades, the mother had in fact died.
And not only that, but after a whole season centering on Barney and Robin’s wedding, they got divorced three years later, paving the way for future Ted to go and win her back. An ending that I don’t think I’ve seen any fan – especially after we were made to finally fall in love with the mother – say they wanted.
It was such a strange and rushed way to end the show, and the backlash has been so venomous that a petition has even been launched to get the ending officially rewritten and refilmed.
In honour (ish) of this, we take a look at some of the best and worst TV finales.
Best: Friends.
HIMYM really should have taken a leaf out of Friends book to see how a much loved sitcom about a group of pals should actually end. The ending managed to tread just the right balance between sad and happy; it’s sad that they leave the apartment and their lives together, but it’s happy that they’re all at such defined, positive points in their lives (well apart from Joey, but I choose to blank the memory of that particular spin off from the vaults of my memory). And, unlike Ted and Robin, fans actively wanted Ross and Rachel to finally get back together properly, so it finished on a real high, even if everyone did tear up at the end.
Worst: Scrubs.
This is something of a trickier one, because despite the fact that it dropped rapidly in quality from season two on wards, the ‘ending’ of hospital sitcom Scrubs was actually really lovely. Instead of going for a traditional closure type ending, JD ended his last day at Sacred Heart Hospital with one of his fantasies. Only rather than the zany (and comedically hit and miss) ones he had throughout the series, this was a sweet and touching one showing his hopes for the future involving all the series’ main characters. This would’ve been a fine way to end the once great comedy. Sadly, Scrubs just kept on refusing to disappear, and instead plodded on with another painfully funny season – and lets not even speak of Interns – dragging back some characters for brief appearances, when we’d have been happier saying goodbye to them in the original final.
Best: The Office.
The Christmas Special and final ever episode of the iconic BBC sitcom is one of the most surprising endings, because while everyone prepared for something hilarious, viewers weren’t so ready for the emotional punch it would pack. Ricky Gervais has said that he’s surprised viewers weren’t expecting a happy ending, but it’s easy to why when the show often seems so realistic and cynical. Seeing the brilliant David Brent meet a woman who actually seems to like him is a nice touch, but it’s the scene where Dawn and Tim finally – finally! – get together that makes this one of the most perfect endings of all time. Everyone wanted it, and when Dawn left her horrible boyfriend and walked into the office Christmas party and kissed Tim to a Yazoo song, I cried like a child.
Worst: Dexter.
Recently voted the ‘lamest’ finale of all time, the Dexter finale ended with not a bang but rather a fizzle; he’s never punished nor too remorseful, and ends simply with self imposed exile. The main problem with this particular finale is that people expected so much more. He says on his voice over: ‘For so long, all I wanted was to be like other people, to feel what they felt,’but now that I do, I just want it to stop.’ I think during the last season fans certainly agreed with the latter part of that statement.
Best: Gilmore Girls.
The Gilmore Girls finale received mixed reactions among fans, but I think it’s one of the best. It was a brave move to have Rory break up with long term boyfriend Logan so close to the end, but I quite liked that she chose her career over love. And most fans were thrilled to see Luke and Lorelai (sort of) get back together at the end, though a lot wanted more resolution to what was actually happening with them. The best aspect, though, is that romantic elements aside, it focused mainly on the Mother-Daughter relationship that’s been at the heart of the show since the beginning. Rory leaving Stars Hollow to pursue her journalism career and having to say goodbye to her Mother managed to be really sad and happy at the same time.
Worst: Heroes.
Anything after the excellent first series of Heroes is a bit of a mess. In the end, it was one of those shows that didn’t have a season finale as such, but was cancelled before it had chance to make a new series. Regardless, the ending of the massively unengaging carnival based season four is all we have in a way of conclusion. And ending with Claire outing the Heroes to the world is such an awful idea because it’s been explored a million times already through the other seasons. It was announced recently that there may be a new series of Heroes on the horizon; hopefully they’ll have had time to come up with more ideas by then.
Best: Breaking Bad.
The only major criticism people seem to have with Breaking Bad’s finale is that everything was wrapped up too neatly. Personally, though, I thought it was concluded perfectly, without a single loose end left untied (well, apart from maybe Huell’s fate, but that wasn’t an important factor). The final ten minutes or so are completely faultless, ending with Walt ultimately taking a bullet for former partner and protege Jesse. Despite his criminal antics, I don’t think there was a Breaking Bad fan out there who wanted Jesse caught, dead or left as tortured prisoner to Todd’s gang’s meth ring, so having Walt grant him his freedom was a beautiful way to show that their friendship really did matter. And it granted Walt just enough humanity back that his almost inevitable death was still rendered a little sad, despite how much of a villain he became.
Worst: Lost.
Oh, Lost, where did it all go wrong? When it first began, the show was groundbreaking and became one of the most addictive series of all time. There were so many mysteries and secrets on the island that people couldn’t wait to get answered. Sadly, it rapidly became clear that the brains behind it had no idea what to do to provide the answers. So rather than something that explained everything to the audience, we got a weird darkness-on-the-island episode starring Allison Janney, followed by an ending that involved everyone meeting up in heaven. Yes, that is actually what happened. Baffling, and so disappointing.