>> Speaker 1: A series finale is ultimately an opus on
how to deal with the end, the end of relationships, of stories, of lives.
And there's nothing quite as cathartic as a good ending.
With that in mind these are the most epic TV series endings of all time.
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>> Speaker 2: Good cop and the bad cop left for
the day, I'm a different kind of cop.
>> Speaker 1: First up, at number seven, The Shield.
As endings approach, often times what we want most is a sense of closure.
A satisfying conclusion that wraps up all the loose ends.
There's hardly a finale with a sense of closure like that of The Shield.
After six years of full throttle insanity, the show finally kept a promise it
made in the very first episode when Vic Mackey fired that fatal shot.
In a show that's often traded in unconventional punishment,
it's hard to say whether Mackey got what was coming to him.
But there's certainly a sense of justice to his fate, and
as always, a lot of collateral damage left in his wake.
But what of the last moments?
Gun in his hand and smirk on his face.
Is Vic done for good?
Is a man like that ever really done?
The Shield left us with that one nagging question that often comes when
one chapter ends, what now?
>> Speaker 3: What do you say, wanna go round again?
>> Speaker 4: I do. >> Speaker 1: At number six, Futurama.
When faced with hard goodbyes, don't we all sometimes wanna turn back the clock,
or freeze time?
Capture the final moments in a jar and save them forever.
Futurama's creators thought so too, as Fry and
Leela live out their entire lives together, in the span of a frozen moment.
Only to accept an opportunity to turn back time, and do it all again.
Although not as fierce in, Futurama's 2013 finale is certainly the more fitting for
the 14 years series that manage to spend a total range from ridiculous to profound
often finding deeply touching in between.
But at the end of the day and the end of an episode the credits must still roll.
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>> Speaker 5: Do it.
>> Speaker 1: Where would we be if we didn't mention number five, Breaking Bad.
Some endings come as we've ultimately known they must.
The grand karmic real making a final inescapable turn.
Such was the way in the Breaking Bad universe as the last
episodes counted down to the closing moments.
But in the wake of Walt's five season ascension to power,
were left many bodies, and broken people.
The final act of a grand Shakespearian tragedy.
It's hard to imagine any other ending for the series,
which speaks to the brilliance of the entire run,
led to its very end by the machinations of a mastermind of his craft.
But eventually, we all must face the music.
>> Speaker 6: You probably don't even hear when it happens, right?
>> Speaker 1: At number four, The Sopranos.
Any finale that still starts arguments and
ends friendships seven years later belongs on this list.
For good or for bad,
The Sopranos finale all boils down to the cut heard around the world.
Capping off one of the best sagas to ever hit the small screen the final moments of
Tony Soprano's modern mafia epic had us all clutching our armchairs in suspense.
Will he be murdered?
Will he be arrested?
Will Meadow ever park that damn car?
And then, whether it's the end of a life or
just a long ordeal, in the Sopranos world, in the end there is only black.
>> Speaker 7: Would you take me to Philadelphia, would you please?
>> Speaker 1: Counting down to number three, Friday Night Lights.
The championship game, the home team is behind and there's three seconds to go.
The clock counts down, the final pass,
it's exactly what you'd expect in the finale of a show about football.
But if you've seen the series finale of Friday Night Lights,
seeing that hail mary pass, you know that's not what the finale's about at all.
Because it's not a show about football, really.
It's a show about a husband and wife, about parents, coaches, role models,
and the examples they set.
And when all is said and done, when the game has been won or lost,
when the light go off, that's how Friday Night Lights end,
on a perfectly intimate note about the choices we make for the ones we love.
Together walking off into the future.
>> Speaker 8: Let's go.
>> Speaker 1: At number two, The Wire.
Some shows wrap their endings up neatly in a bow.
Others say goodbye and release their characters into the unknown.
The Wire's goodbye is to a city.
A way of life that's simultaneously ends as it's carried forward.
Even some of its characters found closure in all its different forms,
others carry the torch forward for them.
Vast heart breaking and yet deeply satisfying,
The Wire's final montage truly captures the constant struggle of birth, death,
and rebirth that is the great tragedy and hope of Baltimore.
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>> Speaker 9: I have no idea how to do this, tell me.
>> Speaker 10: You just say goodbye.
>> Speaker 1: And finally, number one, Six Feet Under.
Over the course of any exceptional TV show, we get to know the character.
Develop feelings for them.
Root for their successes and feel for their failures.
We form relationships with them that are all too real.
But eventually we all must face goodbye.
And as with any loss, this goodbye hurts.
But there's hardly a better send-off than Six Feet Under and how fitting for
a show so concerned with life's endings.
But the heart wrenching finale is as concerned with life in beginnings
as it is with death in endings.
Culminating in a beautiful montage that is about as close as possible
to television perfection.
>> [MUSIC]
>> Speaker 1: What do you think?
Was there an incredible finally we left out?
Did you find one of these endings to be totally lackluster?
Let us know in the comments below and
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