Blogger: Janet Kobobel Grant
Over the last several months a number of long-running TV series have broadcast their finale, and a couple are about to broadcast their grand ending. Because the majority of them didn’t end well, this seems like a good opportunity to ask, What can you learn about ending your book–or series–well?
Let’s take a look at some popular series to examine their final episodes.
Downton Abbey
Based on what I’ve read on Facebook about Downton Abbey’s concluding episode, most fans thought it ended well. But I wonder if viewers weren’t more relieved that no beloved character was killed off rather than actually satisfied with the ending. Downton had been known to break many a heart when lead characters met with death; so viewers had good reason to be nervous. (e.g., Matthew Crawley *sniff*–I still haven’t recovered from that betrayal.)
For me, I found the conclusion a yawner, laced with a few sweet moments. The cadence of the ending became clear early on–the viewers would be paraded past a line up of characters and learn what the future held for each. I was reminded of a general moving down a line of soldiers, pinning a medal on each one. Such an obvious structure had my eyes drooping shut. To me, the most fetching scene was when Daisy revealed her stylish haircut.
Ending well? Not in my book.
Possible solution? Start to close the series earlier than the last episode, allowing characters to drift off the show or move into their new roles in the household. The producers knew before the season even began that they were going to shut down the show; why wait until the last couple of hours to bring closure to each and every character? Give us the luxury of soaking in where each character is headed.
Lesson: If you write a series, enter into the plotting process for your last book realizing that tying bows on each plot point in the last chapter isn’t satisfying or even all that interesting to the reader. Allow some characters’ to exit stage left before the very end. If you’re writing a single title, you’re unlikely to have as much to wrap up, but give us a sense that the story is starting to wind down before the last few pages.
The Good Wife
For those of you who haven’t watched this fictitious series, The Good Wife recounted how Alicia Florrick, wife of the governor of Illinois, stood by her man when he was indicted for corrupt and illegal behavior. For the next six years, viewers watched Alicia move from being a “manikin,” who behaved in ways that others expected, to discovering who she really was. She went on to join a law firm and to gain confidence in her ability to think fast and creatively while dealing with office politics, her husband’s political machinations, or dramatic court moments, all the while maintaining ethical stands when faced with a choice. Alicia had well-defined behavioral boundaries, and all the other characters knew it.
But in the last year of the series, Alicia questioned why she kept on being so good when that behavior didn’t seem to serve her well. So she started to lie and connive, but all the while seemed to be sleepwalking, like she was just as lost as she had been in the first episode.
In the final episode, Alicia decides, whenever faced with a choice, to take the me-first road. As it turned out, that didn’t serve her well either.
The first time Alicia lied, I felt betrayed by the writers. Why did they take a basic characteristic of the lead character and make her behave in a way she never would have through five previous years? Alicia had plenty of character flaws to draw from; a new one didn’t need to be created. It seemed as if the producers had decided to dismantle the person everyone who watched the show admired.
Ending well? Not only not ending well but also ending with a confusing scene the viewer would be hard-pressed to know what to do with.
Possible solution (and the lesson): Let the character remain true to who she is. There were plenty of flaws and complex relationships to explore. Don’t stretch the viewer’s (or reader’s) credulity by causing the character to veer off a path that seemed inherent in how that person had responded to circumstances; it makes the character much less likeable. And readers hate being betrayed that way.
Wallander
This BBC production starred Kenneth Branagh, one of the finest actors today. Kurt Wallander is a Swedish detective in this gloomy mystery series based on books written by a Sweden novelist. The setting generally is bleak and dark, with lots of wintery scenes. Not much snow, just brown, windy landscapes. Once you envision that, you understand the tenor of the show.
Wallander is an unhappy man, whom Branagh describes as “an existenialist who is questioning what life is about and why he does what he does every day, and for whom acts of violence never become normal. There is a level of empathy with the victims of crime that is almost impossible to contain, and one of the prices he pays for that sort of empathy is a personal life that is a kind of wasteland.” The fourth season concludes May 22, and I’m writing this post before I have the chance to view it. But I certainly see where the series is going with the character.
Wallander has always been a fascinating character to watch, but not one I’ve felt a particular empathy for. He has a strong dark side, making him a person one watches from a distance.
Nonetheless, this final season has been difficult watch–although it’s also fascinating, akin to watching a train about to run off the tracks. Wallander is showing strong signs of having Alzheimer’s. His inability to stay focused on tracking down a murderer, paying attention to investigative detail, and forgetting clues until someone reminds him, are just plain sad. Viewers are spending the season watching the decline of an astute character.
Ending well? Not.
Lesson: It’s hard to choose which is worse, having a character die suddenly and traumatically or watching one slip away. While Downton Abbey did away with characters with aplomb, Wallander is doing so agonizingly. Neither is likely to leave the viewer (or reader) satisfied. Every time I watch the next episode on Wallander, I recall how Inspector Morris ended abruptly when Morris died of a heart attack while investigating a murder. Somehow that was okay, albeit unexpected. When it comes to doing away with a major character, it seems almost a kindness to let them slip away while on the job, but not killed by a murderous rogue or a violent car accident right after a joyous moment (my thoughts are drifting back to Matthew Crawley in Downton). “Let the reader down gently” might be the best advise. Unless, of course, you’re writing a gritty story. In terms of the bleak tone of Wallander, this might be the “right” way to close it out, but it certainly isn’t satisfying for the viewer.
Mr. Selfridge
Another BBC production, Mr. Selfridge follows the rise and fall of Mr. Harry Gordon Selfridge, an American who opened an eponymous department store in London. With flair, imagination and sometimes sense of creating a circus atmosphere with store events, the character is fun although sometimes frustrating in his life choices. But he is consistently up for taking a risk despite all the naysayers who remind him of what he could lose if his latest harebrained scheme goes awry.
Based on a real-life person, it’s fascinating to watch how the real Selfridge revamped our shopping experience even today in significant ways. He brought such innovations as having perfume and cosmetics at the store’s entry point to sweep the shopper away from the horse-dung odors of the street and into the fragrances of a grand shopping experience; he used elevators to transport shoppers from floor to floor (the series starts in the 1910s); he offered goods on sale for Christmas (and invented the phrase “only ____ shopping days left before Christmas”); he allowed customers to handle the goods rather than having the items kept behind counters with the salesperson showcasing what he or she thought the customer would want, etc.
After the first episode of Mr. Selfridge, I looked up online about the real Harry Selfridge and learned that, while he was incredibly innovative and successful, eventually he became a pauper who lost it all when he took up with twin showgirls, the Dolly sisters, and financed their love of exquisite jewelry and their exorbitant gambling habits–along with his own.
So, when we reached this season four, which will be the final season, I entered into it with reluctance. I like Harry, despite his infatuations with women and his devil-may-care approach to life. I wasn’t sure I was ready to see Jeremy Piven, who stars as Selfridge, standing across the street from his magnificent store, wearing a worn-out top-hat and looking longingly at what he had created and lost.
But I have hope that the show will deviate from real-life for its finale, broadcast on May 22. From what I can divine from my online snooping, Selfridge falls in love with a woman who once was his nemesis, an extremely wealthy but unhappy woman, Lady Mae Loxley. Despite her shrewd manipulations of others, I’ve always admired Lady Mae’s quick wit and wry observances of others’ quirks–and weaknesses. As the show has progressed she’s turned into a much nicer person after life taken her through considerable sadness and betrayals.
I’m hopeful (could it be!?) that Mr. Selfridge will have a satisfying ending. What would make it so? If Harry allowed himself to admit he loves Mae and lets the Dolly sisters drift on to take advantage of some other rich man who loves risk more than anything else in life. I want to see Mr. Selfridge find redemption from the demons that have haunted him from the beginning of his life. Not to find perfection, but to find a person, at last, he can allow himself to just be Harry with.
Lesson: Let the viewer or (reader) enjoy a believable but redemptive closing with a flawed character who manages to make a good choice because of the insight he or she has gained through all of the plot’s hills and valleys.
What TV show or film’s ending worked for you? Why?
What TV show or film didn’t end well for you? What would have made the conclusion more satisfying?
How can you apply those insights to your WIP?
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Jennifer Zarifeh Major
The ending to LOST was ridiculous. In one of the favourite phrases of the Facebook masses, “I can’t even.”
The ending to MASH was perfect. Each character displayed growth and accepted the changes thrust upon them. But it was Hawkeye’s psychological and emotional trauma that touched me the most. Also, Winchester’s rich boy persona finally grasped some humanity. Each character didn’t just ride off into the sunset, they were given a job to do and a new path.
I can’t stand endings in which the viewer or reader is left to wonder, or the character does something so weird and out of the ordinary that the viewer wonders at the amount of time wasted. It’s like the writers have taken us down a path, earning our attention, and then they dump us to the curb.
I liked the ending of Downton, mostly because Edith is now higher on the Ladyship scale that Mary.
For me, a good, satisfying ending leaves a reader looking for the next chapter. Flipping the book over and trying to separate the pages because there HAS TO BE more!!
That is the kind of ending I aim for.
Janet Grant
I appreciate the way you describe the writers causing a character to do something weird. Never having been a scriptwriter, I don’t claim to understand the dynamics of that role, but it seems some aspects of the character should be untouchable to writers because those values are so core to who the character is. Or at least, over numerous episodes, depict how the character’s values are being disassembled so viewers/readers can buy into it.
Lara Hosselton
Janet, going back in time a “few” years, I thought the series MASH ended well, even though I never considered myself a huge fan. Seinfeld on the hand was a bit of a let down. The worst series ending ever was Lost. I actually quit watching in the second season because I felt the writers were flying by the seat of their pants from show to show. Early in the last season I warned my husband to prepare himself… the finale would prove everyone had actually died in the plane crash. IMHO I feel the writers wasted the viewers investment of time spent watching this series.
*Speaking of ridiculous deaths, do you remember when Bobby Ewing stepped out of the shower and Pam realized she’d only dreamed (for an entire season) that he’d died? Ack!
*It’s certain that not everyone will applaud the ending to a TV series or book, but I’m striving to accomplish this goal by keeping readers in love with my characters and sitting on the edge of their seat until the very end.
Janet Grant
You and Jennifer should compare notes since you both mentioned MASH as having an amazing finale and Lost as being ridiculous.
I hadn’t remember that Dallas committed an entire season to a dream. I bet the writers just came up with that at the end of the season rather than planning it that way all along. Talk about not respecting the viewer…
Michael Emmanuel
I don’t watch much TV shows or movies. But I do enjoy stories that leaves me feeling like ‘well, everything got covered.’
Books where the ‘bad guy’ pays for his deeds, the ‘good guy’ learns from the events, and the contending prize is awarded to the ‘deserving’ owner, good or bad.
Janet Grant
Many a great story has been told with those tenets, Michael. It is affirming to our beliefs of how things “are supposed to be.”
Shirlee Abbott
Hmm, I hope my story ends with a flawed me remembered for my good choices and redeemed character.
*Maybe someone will say, “I wish she’d written more books.”
Janet Grant
Shirlee, wouldn’t it be grand to be remembered in such a way–especially the longing for you to have written more.
James Scott Bell
I kept warning my writer friends who were into LOST that they’d be sorry. You can’t just end each episode with some inexplicable cliffhanger and expect they’ll all be explicable at the end. I got raspberries in return … but then the “ending” came, and the raspberries magically morphed into a pie.
BREAKING BAD, though it was a bit of a stretch plot wise, ended in just the right fashion, **SPOILER, SO DONT’ READ ON IF YOU PLAN TO WATCH** with obvious Christ symbolism that gave a note of redemptive hope after that long descent into darkness.
And after seven seasons of disfunction, alcoholism, abuse, adultery and deceit, MAD MEN ended **SPOILERS AHEAD** with a wrapped-up-in-a-nice-little-package style for each of the main characters. For some reason I didn’t mind that. The big question was Don Draper. Could he be redeemed? For six seasons the answer was a big, fat no. But they started to drop some hints that maybe there was a way to get to him. So when it finally happens in a therapy session at a California New Age retreat, I actually could buy it. And there was a brilliant tie-in to one of the most famous commercials of all time. A more cynical ending would have had Don walking back into the offices of McCann Erickson, sharply dressed, and ogling a receptionist as he gets ready to give them the Coke ad.
Jackie Layton
I wish I’d listened to you about Lost. So many people at work watched it, and convinced me to start. It is amazing how many of the actors have gone on to land nice acting jobs, but I hated the ending.
Jared
With LOST I was really into the early seasons, but I also saw the disappointment coming and stopped watching. I had really enjoyed The X-FILES, but shows that are built entirely off of mystery and intrigue really have a hard time when it comes time to supply the answers. I could see that happening with LOST, so I gave up on it before I became too invested.
*With BREAKING BAD I thought the ending was good in one sense and disappointing in another. Walter was a fascinating protagonist, but as the show went on it he became less of a “flawed hero” and more of a straight up villain. For all of the wicked things he did along the way, I thought it would have been fitting (if disappointing for some) to have his story end all alone, ruined and forgotten up in the cabin in the woods. Instead they gave him a hero’s finish, allowing him to ride back into town and set everything the way he wanted before going out on his own terms. It was perhaps satisfying for some viewers, but as one who had come to actively root against him, I was disappointed that the show allowed him to go out in a blaze of glory.
Janet Grant
As I’m reading the comments, I’m so thankful I never watched Lost. I can see I didn’t lose out.
I periodically watched Breaking Bad and thought the conclusion was redemptive in about the only way that show could display redemption.
I had given up on Mad Men about a season before it ended because it was utterly depressing to watch. I did view the finale and thought the Coke ad conclusion was clever. That might have been the most rewarding episode of the entire series.
Jeanne Takenaka
Such an interesting post, Janet. I don’t watch much television, but I used to. 🙂 For me, I love the way the movie Leap Year ended. You can see how the heroine changed through the story (and to a lesser degree, the hero), and you’re left hanging for a “wee” bit, not sure if the ending will be happy or not. I was very satisfied with how the movie ended.
*For an ending I HATED (and this is my own personal opinion), I hearken back to The Brethren, by John Grisham. I will admit, the ending of the book is plausible. Maybe it’s my justice-desiring temperament, but for the three main characters to be able to get away wtih their crime and live the rich life with no real character change . . . I was really disappointed in the story. There were a number of valid issues Grisham brings up in this story, I just couldn’t stomach the ending.
Carol Ashby
I loved “Leap Year” and its ending. A practical FYI: if you drive slowly into a herd of cattle, they will always get out of your way without being hit. No need to risk your shoes. Anyone see a life lesson in that?
Jeanne Takenaka
Laughing out loud, Carol. 🙂 Good for this city girl to know. Especially since I’m in the habit of wearing shoes worth hundreds of dollars while walking across Ireland. 😉
Carol Ashby
You’re that rich? Well, next time you go, want to take me along to clear the path of cows and take care of Louis?
Jennifer Zarifeh Major
Och, Mrs. O’Brady-Callaghan!! A FINE film!!!!
(Personal note, Jeanne and I watched LEAP YEAR together and I CANNOT see that title without being filled with very, very happy memories.)
Janet Grant
Jeanne, for the record, I too tend to hate stories in which the characters get away with a crime.
I felt that way about the film The Player, but it had so many layered levels of meaning that I forgave it. And no other ending would have suited this satirical look at Hollywood.
Andrew Budek-Schmeisser
Interesting post, Janet, though for me there is an eerie personal resonance.
* It brought to mind the story of Bert Stiles, who, as a bomber pilot in England during WW2, wrote “Serenade To The Big Bird”, the memoir in which he caught his life and heart, preserving for us the immediacy of a young man risking death for a reason he had to learn to fully understand.
* After finishing his tour on B-17s, Stiles volunteered to return to the skies over Germany as a fighter pilot, and was killed in November, 1944. he was twenty-three years old.
* Looking from the outside of his life, there is an emotional satisfaction in the story…a true coming-of-age narrative of which he left a record, and what we see as a clean death –
“The shall not grow old
as we who are left grow old.
Age will not weary them,
nor the years condemn;
and at the going down of sun,
and in the morning,
we will remember them.”
* Stiles’ personal story had all of the loose ends that anyone dying young would leave, but that’s not the point. He left a legacy of character, and departed the stage at a point whereby that character could remain untarnished by time. He missed the era of postwar prosperity and The Man in the Gray Flannel Suit; he missed Dr. Spock and Watts and the rise of self-actualization, and one can’t help but think that these would only have left this beloved young man saddened and worse, bitter.
* He left with a brightness that we should take to heart in our own work. It’s the brightness expressed by Tennyson at the end of “The Idylls of the King”, in which Bedivere (“first made and latest left of all the knights”) climbs high to see the barque carrying the mortally-wounded Arthur to Avalon disappear over the horizon in a flash of light, and in the distance –
“Like the last echo born of a great cry,
Sounds, as if some fair city were but one voice
Around a king returning from his wars.”
* When our heroes and their stories, fictional and real, pass from us, we should allow them the privacy of their own griefs, fears, and failings, and catch instead the last splendourous reflection of their armour, and banners caught high on the breeze.
Janet Grant
Beautifully expressed, Andrew. Thank you for reminding us of endings that hearten our souls rather than deplete them.
Carol Ashby
Love your last sentence, Andrew.
Chris
Although I live just down the road from where Downton Abbey was filmed, I never watched it. So I cannot comment on the ending.
More my thing was Babylon 5. I think that ended well, each character clearly had their further lives and adventures. I still felt sad at the end, but that was because I never wanted to leave them to their stories. They felt like friends I wanted to remain in touch with.
Another show I liked map The Mentalist. apart from finding out who Red John actually was and being disappointed, their story ended well as they got it together and could leave all the murder and mayhem behind for a “happy ever after” ending
Lost? also never watched it
I recently finished reading the Hunger
games trilogy, but felt the last few pages where Katniss life was fast forwarded about 10 years was unsatisfactory. It felt more like a “gotta finish this somehow, wrap-up” and left me feeling that it didn’t really fit and was it really worth going through all that she did
I had better stop now 🙂
Janet Grant
Chris, I think you touch on an important point: A writer should strive to make the characters so real that they feel like friends, and as is true for our friends, we experience sadness when we know our time with them is over.
I agree that one of the worst types of endings is when the writer rushes us through the last pages. I always wonder if the author ran out of time and, to make his/her deadline, rushes through the ending rather than going back through the novel to create better pacing. It’s very frustrating for the reader to have invested so much time in a book only to have it conclude with a fake-y sort of convenient ending.
Carol Ashby
Perhaps some don’t end well because they haven’t planned for the ending from the beginning. One that seemed well planned was “Monk,” where a homicide detective, reduced to catatonia and then extreme neurosis by the brutal murder of his wife, recovers over 8 seasons through the kindness of his colleagues and the agape love of his friends. Because others cared, he ends up normal again, and justice is served.
* Not a bad model for how real life should work. We should find satisfaction and never give up when helping others through their troubles. God never gives up on us.
*When I write, I’ve outlined and often written the final scene before even 10% of the novel is complete. In our life as well as our writing, it’s best to plan for the ending from the beginning. When we ask God to be the coauthor, we can trust the ending won’t disappoint. Although the climax might be painful, the final scene will be glorious.
Janet Grant
Carol, I tried to watch Monk because so many people were a fan of it, but I never understood what the show was about. If I had had your perspective, I might have enjoyed it more. (Maybe I never saw the first episode but just jumped into the middle, which would explain why the way it unfolded was lost on me.)
Your way of writing the ending early on seems like a good idea: that way you know where you’re going, and the reader should sense that the writer has controlled the story, not the other way around.
Tari Faris
I know I’m in the minority here, but I loved LOST. I love the use of flashbacks. I love the use of flashforwards. I love the use of flash-sideways. If you really take the time to understand each character and what they wanted and needed in life, in the end the island gave that to them. It’s hard to say I loved the ending because I love happy endings and calling that a happy ending would be a big stretch. But after all the turmoil in the season and questions in the series I was able to walk away 99% satisfied.
Jennifer Zarifeh Major
But Jin drowned!!!
Tari Faris
I’ll admit – Jin and Son’s death is my 1% NOT HAPPY – the rest I could go with,
Janet Grant
Not having watched Lost, I can’t comment. But your ability to see beyond the surface of the storyline offers us another view.
Bill Giovannetti
The Good Wife… hated it. As you said, untrue to her character. Basically a morose finish.
Downton Abbey… loved it. But I’m just a sentimental marshmallow. Glad they all lived happily ever after. Like you, I’m glad nobody got killed. They even found redemption for Thomas.
Bones… they had a sweet finale, and then brought the series back for another year. Not happy with the direction it’s going.
Star Trek Voyager… (don’t judge me) Best finale ever.
Lessons for me: keep the promise made to the reader. Care about your characters more than your readers do. You created a life; now respect it.
Jennifer Zarifeh Major
This is a judgement free zone, Bill, because…
Voyager’s ending was perfect!!
I was glad that Seven ended up with Chakotay. Janeway and Chakotay just didn’t work. BFF’s? Yes. Anything else?Nope.
Janet Grant
Bill, I did like that Downton Abbey closed the loop on all the key characters. I just wish Fellowes had given us more time (and therefore more depth and layers) to say goodbye to each of our beloved characters. Saving goodbyes for the final show, when we cared about so many of the characters, forced the closure into too tight of a space and therefore the bow on the package was way too pretty.
Sarah Thomas
NCIS had a sort of ending this season with Michael Weatherly as Tony DiNozzo leaving the show. I wasn’t happy to see him go, but LOVED how he went. What’s the ONLY thing that could pry such a dedicated agent away from the job he loves? Needing to be present and safe so he can raise the daughter he didn’t know existed. I was sad about Ziva, but SO HAPPY for Tony as he found a deeper meaning for his life. Just perfect and incredibly satisfying in my opinion.
Jackie Layton
I was sad about Ziva, too. I agree though it was a classy way to see him leave.
Janet Grant
There’s something noble about that sort of ending–and a positive statement of what is of greatest value. You gotta love those sorts of conclusions, even though they’re laced with sadness. Of course, that sadness keeps the ending from being saccharine.
Kristen Joy Wilks
You’re going to laugh at me, but the ending of the animated feature “Bolt” makes me cry every time. A dog actor who doesn’t realize that he does not indeed have super powers, Bolt must find his Penny in the real world and come to terms with the fact that he is not a hero after all. He finds his girl, the beautiful dramatic music cues and he runs toward her only to see her open her arms for another dog, only to realize that she is just acting and doesn’t love him after all. He leaves, heartbroken. But a fire starts and Penny is trapped in the flames. Realizing that he is only a dog, Bolt plunges into the building and saves Penny’s life. Yes, she loves him. She was acting, pretending to love the other dog and in the end, Bold realizes that he may not have powers, but he is a very ordinary kind of hero, which is the very best kind after all. So so satisfying, I weep every single time. A simple story, told with humor and drama and a bit of real life even though it is a cartoon.
Janet Grant
I haven’t seen Bolt, but your description make me want to. I guess what I love in an ending is an affirmation of values, a character being brave in the face of adversity and finding redemption as a result–not because he is flawless but because he has lived as best he can despite his flaws.
Jerusha Agen
Great insights and lessons here, Janet. Endings are SO important to me. They make or break the story for me. I find the modern take on endings to be frustrating as so many of the new shows seem to think a “good” ending has to be “artistically” depressing. Thanks for this discussion!
Janet Grant
Jerusha, or the endings are cynical. I don’t think most readers make their way through a book to find a depressing or cynical ending. I certainly don’t. I don’t want a saccharine closing; so I guess I’d have to say I’m happy with a bittersweet conclusion. Because that’s what life generally hands us.
Lori Benton
One of our favorite shows was LEVERAGE. I didn’t want it to end after five seasons, but it ended well. A chapter ends, but a new one begins, and you can imagine them going on. But no spoilers. Go watch it.
Janet Grant
Lori, I haven’t heard of Leverage. What is (was) it about?
Lori Benton
Here’s Wiki’s lowdown: “Leverage follows a five-person team: a thief, a grifter, a hacker, and a retrieval specialist, led by former insurance investigator Nathan Ford, who use their skills to fight corporate and governmental injustices inflicted on ordinary citizens.” It’s lighthearted most of the time, funny, and fun. With deep emotional undercurrents. Great character/relationship development over the long term.
Janet Grant
Sounds great! I’ll check it out. Thanks for mentioning it, Lori.
Cathy Elliott
Janet, I’m rather late reading this, but found it fascinating. Both your take on endings and the discussion following. Though I never watched LOST or some of the others mentioned, I did watch DOWNTON and found the ending satisfying. And disappointing.
Satisfying because there was no killing off people (like Matthew – though I KNEW that would happen as soon as he got into the car) and each character had a happy-ish ending. Disappointing, because it was so predictable. My daughter & I emailed back & forth a bit during the finale, “Okay, Mr. Barrow hates his job and Mr. Carson is ill. What do you bet Barrow is asked back?” Etc. We were right on all counts.
If we can predict the ending, is the writing up to par? I think not.
I’ve also watched the dark but gripping Wallander and missed the finale last night because I didn’t like where it was going. It had seemed Kurt found some peace this season. A close relationship with his daughter and granddaughter. A lady to love. But then, here comes Alzheimers and he is losing himself. I feel like I would lose something in that ending, too. Which is why I didn’t watch. Why couldn’t the viewer be left with a comforting image of Kurt moving on to better things? A better life? Something lovely for us to imagine?
Apparently, I like a happy ending. It will be difficult for me, but I’ll watch the finale online. I cannot toss Kurt’s story aside now, when he is in the worst trouble of his life!
In the case of INSPECTOR MORSE, I watched the episodes with devotion and hope that he might find the love he lacked. Morse was a compelling character with a brilliant investigative mind. For me, his unexpected passing was bittersweet. With Lewis at his bedside, he was not alone. His death meant an end to his pain. Maybe it was enough for both of us.
Plus, I was able to make the quick transition to LEWIS. Thank you, PBS.
And now, ENDEAVOR gives one an view of Morse’s beginnings. Very hooked. And delighted a new season will begin soon. Though LEWIS will end. Sniff…sniff.
I’ll get my tissues ready.
Kathy Cassel
Well, since you asked, (and I know I’m late answering this, but it’s been a crazy month): Star Trek Voyager. I wanted them to get home from the Delta Quadrant using their knowledge or cunning or by thinking outside of the box. A worm hole. A deal with Q. Anything. I thought it was cheating to have a Janeway who was from a different reality come back and save the present day Janeway and crew.
Janet Grant
Kathy, yeah, cheat-y types of endings are major disappointments. You’d think that, when a scriptwriter plunges into the writing that he or she would have an ending in mind. Especially to a suspenseful story.