Breaking Bad ended yesterday and you couldn’t escape the deluge of hyperbole and excitement. Also the sadness. I haven’t finished the show yet (I’m just about to start season 4) but I could sense that everyone was either in mourning or celebrating the end of something pretty rare and spectacular.
So consider this your space to talk about Breaking Bad, about what you’ve just witnessed, but feel free to expand that talk to other shows. How does Breaking Bad’s ending compare to the endings of other shows: The Sopranos, Lost… Dexter [stifles laughter].
We really are in a golden age of television, but is Breaking Bad the high point?
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43 responses to “Off Topic: Breaking Bad And The Best TV Endings”
Oddly enough, a lot of shows simply don’t get amazing endings.
M*A*S*H is probably the classic example of a show getting a great ending but after that, there just aren’t many other options.
Futurama just wrapped up and I think this was their best final episode but they did get three tries at it.
I stopped watching Boardwalk Empire at the end of season two because I thought that was the perfect ending to the show. Now I’ve picked it back up and am near the end of season three but I’m somewhat regretting it.
I’m really struggling to think of great shows that ended well.
EDIT: Avatar: The Last Airbender! The four part Sozin’s Comet finale was pretty amazing, some of the best animated television you’ll ever see.
And yes, Breaking Bad is probably one of the best shows I’ve watched, ever. From start to finish it was amazing and the finish felt completely satisfying and complete. For a long time, I didn’t want Walt to win but I’m still happy with how things turned out because it fit in perfectly with the tone of the show.
Last night, I finally convinced my girlfriend to start watching the show. Perfect excuse to start all over again.
Need to do the same with my fiancee. Might need to manipulate her Heisenberg style to do so….
I was honestly surprised when, mid third season, my wife suddenly became interested in the show just from me having it on the TV at the time.. it’s become one of her favourite shows of all time, second only to Burn Notice.. another show I was surprised that she liked as she is usually turned off by action and crime stuff..
Finally watched that on the weekend, late to the party, i know.
But i fully concur with this statement… it is by far one of the best and most satisfying endings, left me with a good feeling.
BEST ENDING OF ALL TIME.. 6 feet under.
+100
I enjoyed the Breaking Bad final episode.
I’d say Six Feet Under has the most perfect ending for any TV show I’ve seen.
Also, I know there’s another season for The Killing after two, but the season two finale was mind blowingly good. If it ended there I would’ve felt more than satisfied.
Similarly, I feel Supernatural ended well with the season five finale. It wrapped up nicely and was the creator’s wish to end it after five seasons. I couldn’t get back into it after that, it just doesn’t feel like the same show and it definitely has lost the spark seasons one and two had.
Buffy the Vampire Slayer as well! The Gift would’ve been an amazing ending and season six and seven definitely weakened the franchise. (For me, atleast.)
Supernatural only has five seasons! Well to me it does 🙂
Agreed (six feet under). I always bring this one up when people say no shows finish well. I found myself struggling to get enthused about watching some of seasons 3 and 4, but the finale made it all worthwhile.
I loved it the entire run. One of the most flawless shows I’ve seen. Felt like a visit to a therapist every week for me, hit close to home. XD
Maybe our problem was watching all 5 seasons in the space of about 3 months instead of taking it a week at a time…
Yep, Six Feet Under is the TV show I always compare every ending/wrap up to. Nothing out there, in my opinion, has come close to the finale. A perfect blend of music, emotion, everything. Absolutely fitting, and perfectly true to the spirit of the show. Makes me wanna watch it all over again, for the 10th time.
I also really enjoyed the way the BSG remake ended. I know a lot of it was made up on the fly, but that show, to me at least, was perfect from the first episode to the last.
Oh yeah, BSG! I loved that ending! I think we’re the only two! XD
Me too. Though there aren’t may of us.
Whilst we’re at it, can we mention the dismal ending to Dexter in contrast.
X-Files
Weeds
The UK Office
30 Rock
The Inbetweeners
They all had appropriate endings
The Seinfeld ending was really appropriate all though i wasn’t happy with it at the time, i now accept that was the best ending possible
I really liked the finale to Burn Notice, I felt like it was deserved.
Since it only ended 3 weeks ago I will contain my actual thoughts in spoiler tags.
It was good to see Michael finally get back to a normal life, even if he had to fake his & Fiona’s death, but that was probably for the best. I never wanted to see Michael end up dead, he tried for so long to do the right thing to see his situation turn out the truth behind what happened to him, it just would’ve been a massive kick in the nuts to see him, Sam, Fiona or Jesse die. Sure Madeline sacrificed herself to keep her only son left alive, but I think that was crucial. I think we would’ve seen them all die otherwise, which would’ve been a horrible end to one hell of a journey.The IT Crowd went out on a good note as well I think, I feel like we finally got that closure we have wanted since about mid way through season 3.
Even though it’s still in the making, i’m hoping Pure Pwnage ties up the web series properly. Though it’s a bit disconcerning that we haven’t heard anything about this final movie =(
Yup that ending was quite satisfying for us as well.
Futurama’s original ending ‘The Devil’s Hands Are Idle Playthings’ was pretty much perfect. Also “Your music’s bad and you should feel bad!” lol
The Wire had some great season finales. Each season was like a great novel.
And the Breaking Bad finale yesterday was incredibly satisfying 🙂
I loved that BB actually ended properly. No silly twists or “is he/isn’t he” style ending. It was extremely satisfying.
Also… Poor Dexter haha
Sopranos. Great ending.
The most superb ending ever written was 6 feet under.
The Shield.
I barely saw any of the Shield, but I did manage to catch the finale and it still hit like a tonne of bricks. That was not a particularly happy ending.
Yeah. Something that leaves you thinking… victory is hell?
We’re only up to episode 11 of BB.. so in a few more days we’ll get to the end.
X-Files had a reasonably satisfying ending to the series.. it, by its nature, of course left more questions unanswered but it was still a good ending to the series.
Gotta agree with those saying Six Feet Under and The Sopranos.
And even though it had a LOT of critics, I actually thought Lost ended quite well. I recently finished re-watching the whole series, and still thought the ending held up.
As for anime, I thought Evangelion had a great ending (the movies, not the original episodes) and I also liked the way Cowboy Bebop wrapped up.
And for the record, I though Breaking Bad ended perfectly too. What a show.
Recent: Futurama, Luther, 30 Rock
Old: Twin Peaks, The Wire (only good episode)
Not really in the spirit of the topic, but considering the circumstances, I think the best ending for a television series would have to be Firefly’s “Serenity”.
Even though the cancellation was a huge kick in the nards after the series was shafted by the screening schedule, the movie which resolved most of the series plotlines was a fantastic conclusion.
EDIT: Also, the OVA ending of the Rurouni Kenshin anime was ideal.
Star Trek: TNG. All Good Things is, and always will be, amazing.
Oh yeah, that was amazing!
“The sky’s the limit…”
There is a special place in my heart for the final episode of Cheers! For Seinfeld – the final episode was clever, but kind of awful (there was a nice moment at the end where the last conversation between Jerry and George was identical to the first conversation they had in the pilot, but) the episode before (The Puerto Rican Day Parade) was brilliant and accurately captured what the show was like especially in it’s early seasons.
seinfeld had one of the best endings imo.
The first two seasons of Community. Paintballin’!
Breaking Bad ending was really good. It wrapped everything up.
I liked Futurama’s ending too (the latest one). But some endings have been really disappointing… Buffy, Angel, Dexter, Magic City, The Killing… all great shows but all endings felt either undercooked or didnt wrap everything up. I suppose its hard with cancellations…
End of Evangelion. 2 hours of straight up, hardcore brain melting.
The British (well, the original) version of The Office has the best ending I’ve ever seen. Breaking Bad’s was excellent, no doubt about it. But the first time I watched Dawn walk towards Tim at the end of the Christmas party I bawled like a child.
I don’t think an ending could possibly top that moment for me – but having said that, I’ve never seen Six Feet Under so perhaps I should delve in…
The finale Breaking Bad sucked major donkey balls. All that lead up to… Nothing in particular.
Best series ending? E Street. Almost everyone died.
Hm, all this talk and I might have to start getting into Breaking Bad.
I LOVED the Seinfeld ending, yes it was sad, but wow, what a send-off. Think about it, over all the years all the people they have hurt, upset, and generally done the wrongy to, ended up with all of them coming to testify against them (after the laywer they pissed off went out of his way to find them all).
Dexter was horrid. (Can the Breaking Bad writers please pickup Dexter and do a proper Dexter season finale, with the entire Miami Metro finding out, and seeing the aftermath of Season 8?)