2014-2015 television series finales

Two of my favorite shows qualify as perfect endings: The Sopranos and The Shield. Each featured an epic antihero, Tony Soprano and Vic Mackey, respectively. Fans of The Sopranos became enamored of the violent spectacle Tony Soprano’s Mafia lifestyle, so creator David Chase offered his existential response by ending with a black screen, in medias res, because that’s how real people’s lives end. Tony doesn’t see it coming, so neither do we. Vic Mackey, the crooked cop, had many dark adventures, but in the end, he lost everything and was relegated to a boring desk job. These guys didn’t deserve the fanfare of redemption, or the glory of a dramatic death or public takedown. This is the way the world ends, not with a bang but a whimper.

I love the vérité of these endings, but lately, we no longer get such bleak but realistic closure. This may be a minority opinion, but I think Vince Gilligan botched the finale of Breaking Bad with a classic fan service ending. Walter White should have died alone in his cabin, a broken man. His ostensible raison d’etre, to provide for his family, should have proven a lie because in the end, his hubris made him lose the fortune he supposedly earned for them. That would have been fitting. Instead, he goes out in a blaze of glory, saving Jesse and his money. “Bad fans,” who’d been rooting for Walt as a hero, felt vindicated. I felt cheated.

I am worried, though, because recent trends for antiheroes are the opposite of what the protagonist deserves.

Some shows run well past their expiration dates, when they could have retired with dignity much sooner. Dexter is a prime example. If the show had ended with the Trinity Killer in season 4, it could have been one of the greats. Instead, it chugged along four more seasons, each more full of plot holes than the last. Dexter was always a show that strained the viewer’s willing suspension of disbelief, but the final season snapped it right in half. Dexter’s nefarious activities remained secret, denying the viewers any catharsis. One could buy it if Dexter was as clever as, say, Hannibal Lecter, but he isn’t, so it feels contrived. In the finale, Dexter’s a lumberjack who’s allowing his son to be raised by another serial killer. Why did I bother?

True Detective is without a doubt one of the best new series to hit the small screen in recent memory, but it pulled its final punch. The resolution of the serial killer mystery was rather prosaic, leaving some annoying plot holes. That wasn’t the central focus of the story, though. It was all about the bromance between the detectives, Rust and Marty. In order to give them heart-warming closure, the character of Rust had to be compromised. An unflinching atheist and clear-eyed pragmatist, Rust finally saw the light — literally. In his near-death experience, he encountered the souls of his dead father and daughter, and softened. Redemption arcs often come off as corny and saccharine, and this one veered uncomfortably close. I came to terms with this ending as the price I had to pay for the Rust/Marty love to go on, but still, it bugged me that Rust’s atheism couldn’t remain intact.

Three possible fates

So the antihero ends in one of three ways: nihilistic realism (Tony Soprano when done well, Dexter Morgan when done badly), a blaze of glory (Walt White), or by changing his ways (Rust Cohle). I’m sure that Sons of Anarchy will fall into one of the last two categories. The show is too in love with excusing Jax Teller’s bad behavior, and having fans cheer for it. Will he repudiate his monstrous mother, quit the gang, and go off to be the family man his dead wife always wanted him to be? Or will he die tragically, realizing too late how he wasted his life trusting the wrong people, in an epic shootout? If I had to bet, I’d say that Kurt Sutter can’t resist the overblown, soap operatic ending. After all, the show is Hamlet on Harleys, and we know what the body count for that one was.

The most poignant farewell of this TV season for me is to AMC’s Mad Men. Considering showrunner Matt Weiner also worked on The Sopranos, there will likely be no pat, unambiguous answers about what happens to Don Draper. In fact, I’ll be disappointed if we get them. Don appears to be on a redemption arc this season, and I am wary of the way such a ending would ignore or soften all the hard edges that epitomize Don. But the message of the show has been all along that people don’t really change. You can change your name, job, and family, but still, deep down, you are who you are. I don’t expect to see Don live happily ever after, nor to plummet, literally or figuratively, from the roof of a skyscraper. The best endings always fall somewhere in between.

For Paula Berman's review of True Detective, click here.

For her overview of TV antiheroes, click here.