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The art of tying up a beloved show

Finales, when done poorly like ‘Dexter,’ can almost feel like a slap in the face to longtime fans

MURTZ JAFFER

As “This Is Us” prepares for what promises to be one of the saddest series finales in television history, the pressure to deliver a final episode that matches the quality it delivers on a weekly basis is one that television’s best shows often face.

A few weeks ago, Netflix’s “Ozark” left fans split over its final resolution as virtual water cooler debates continue to argue if the right characters made it through the episode. On IMDB, fans have given their lowest rating to the series’ final episode.

When “Dexter” signed off in 2013, many fans and critics thought that the Showtime series about a vigilante serial killer could be the worst series finale of all-time.

At the time, the Atlantic described it as “one of the worst endings to a television show,” while Variety referenced the “sloppiness” of its finish. Even the actor behind the show’s title character couldn’t bring himself to watch it.

“Liked it? I don’t think I even watched it,” Michael C. Hall told the Daily Beast in 2014. “I think the show had lost a certain amount of torque. Just inherently because of how long we’d done it, because of the storytelling capital we’d spent, because our writers may have been gassed.”

That finale almost felt like a slap in the face to longtime fans offering no answers or any kind of resolution.

“I think the 2013 finale was empty,” Victor Rubio told the Star. The funeral director who lives in Miami (where the original series was based) now runs “Digging Dexter,” a fan podcast that continues to analyze the show. “It felt like a cheap way out of the storyline, which in my opinion always suffered from the main character never suffering any consequences.”

Rubio said that the lack of penitence or punishment for Dexter is to blame for the finale being so illreceived.

“You thought with a series finale he would get caught, killed, anything—and he just kind of escaped? It was a hollow feeling to end a series with no real conclusion.”

Almost a decade later, the writers got a chance to do something that other shows usually don’t get. A redo.

When Showtime announced that it was going to bring a “Dexter” reboot back last year, it was met with both optimistic pessimism. Surely the writers wouldn’t miss the mark again.

Shockingly, the already low bar was set even lower as “Dexter: New

Blood” angered fans once more. After waiting for almost 10 years to right the wrongs of the first finale, the second attempt was lost in a clunky final sequence.

“Comparing the two finales is tricky because they both had sloppy roads getting there,” Rubio said. “My gut reaction is the new finale is worse because we were promised a better ending. Instead we have more questions needing more answers.”

Bob Thompson believes that there are three types of finales, but the founding director of the Bleier Center for Television and Popular Culture admits they are all relatively subjective.

“There is the gimmick series finale and those are hard to pull off, but when you do it well, they can be among the most beloved. The satisfying finale is one that answers the questions that needed to be answered, putting the whole series into some kind of larger and more satisfying context. A third kind would just be the sentimental ending where you really do a memorial service or funeral where you just want everybody to feel some sense of closure and maybe a little good about the fact that this thing is going away.”

Thompson cited the dream sequence payoff in the last episode of “The Bob Newhart Show” as being a great example of a gimmick finale. He pointed to the “Sex and the City” conclusion in 2004 as “betraying” what much of the show was about but still being satisfying for fans as Mr. Big’s first name was revealed. He said that this ran in contrast to “Lost,” generally regarded as one of the worst finales because of its inability to provide answers to the questions it posed. Finally, he credited “Friends” writers for giving longtime fans of the series the closure that they needed in its last episode.

“Everybody kind of ends up where we were wanting them to be and where they belong.”

In the book “Complex TV,” Jason Mittell discusses the challenges that showrunners face when scripting their final episodes. That disappointment can often be a byproduct of their own success.

“Such discursive prominence of finales raises the narrative stakes of anticipation and expectation for viewers, and thus finales frequently produce disappointment and backlash when they fail to please everyone,” Mittell writes.

Does that mean all final episodes are destined to fail? That great shows can never have great endings because the final destination can never be as good as the journey it took to get there? While a valid point to consider, David Bianculli, a professor of television studies at Rowan University and the co-editor of “Television Finales: From Howdy Doody to Girls” says this can’t ever be the expectation.

“I think the higher you set the bar, the better the artist that you are. It’s up to the writer to get themselves out of the corner that they have painted themselves into. If you think of some of the most satisfying finales … ‘Six Feet Under’ and ‘Breaking Bad’ are brilliant. They make you love the series even more.”

The television expert says that the fact that there isn’t a recipe for a perfect finale is the fun part.

“I think that some of the most memorable finales of all are ones that throw out the rule books and do something unique. They just have to stay true to the series.”

It’s a point Lauren LoGrasso, the host of “Ozark AfterShow” on Afterbuzz TV, agrees with.

“The key to making a satisfying ending is staying within the world of the show, tying up unfinished business, staying true to the characters and what they’d expect and deserve all while showing up with twists that are earned.”

As for “This Is Us”? Rebecca (Mandy Moore) died in the penultimate show; it’d been teased for multiple seasons. We also know that Kleenex will need to be readily available for the finale as well.

Let’s be real though. We just really want Jack (Milo Ventimiglia) back.

THE FINAL EPISODE OF “THIS IS US” AIRS AT 9 P.M. ON TUESDAY.

CULTURE

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2022-05-21T07:00:00.0000000Z

2022-05-21T07:00:00.0000000Z

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