Last week I waxed poetic about my favorite TV series finales. Today let’s examine the other side of the coin — what I feel are the three WORST series finales that I’ve ever seen!
One quick note, before we begin: St. Elsewhere is renowned for having one of the most ludicrous series finales ever, in which it was revealed that the entire show was just the dream of an autistic child. However, since that wasn’t a show that I ever watched, it’s finale isn’t on my list.
So what is?
The West Wing — “Tomorrow” — I thought the show would be lost after the departure of Aaron Sorkin at the end of season 4, and the limp season 5 didn’t do much to discourage me of that notion. Season 6 started off just as badly, but about halfway through that season the show completely reinvented itself. Suddenly the story focused on the race for the White House, following a variety of characters, new and old, through their involvement in the primaries and, ultimately, in the Presidential election. Not only did this change bring a lot of new energy and intensity to the show, by moving the show outside the confines of the White House and into new territory, it made it easier for viewers to stop comparing the new episodes to the Sorkin classics. I got really into the show again, and was very excited for the finale to wrap things up in grand style. Sadly, what we got was a tepid, boring hour in which nothing really happened. The much-heralded return of Sam Seaborn (Rob Lowe) turned out to be barely more than a cameo. Many long-running characters and storylines were ignored entirely (Toby doesn’t appear at all?? No resolution to the long-simmering Charlie-Zoey romance?) or handled in an entirely trivial, superficial manner (Gee, President Bartlett sees Charlie as his son? That was obvious ever since the first season!). Most disappointingly, the first episode of season seven had opened with an intriguing “three years later” flash-forward. It had seemed clear to me that the questions raised in that scene would be addressed in a book-end scene at the end of the finale. And yet, nothing! Why include that scene at all in the season premiere if they weren’t going to go anywhere with it? What a let-down.
The X-Files — “The Truth” — Although the show definitely should have ended after the seventh season, when David Duchovny (who played series lead Fox Mulder) left, I’m not one of those fans who thought the final two seasons to be entirely without merit. There were still a lot of great spooky adventures to be had, and I thought that… [continued]