Hoping it's not all a dream: The curse of the series finale
After twelve episodes, some joyous, some merely so-so, Matt Smith’s inaugural season as ‘the Doctor’ reaches its conclusion this Saturday, with an episode enigmatically titled ‘The Big Bang’. Over the last three months we have seen Smith craft his own take upon the character which is easily the most alien interpretation since the renewal of the show in 2005, and heading into the finale we find him trapped, his assistant presumed dead and the TARDIS exploding into lots of little mini-Tarduses (Mini-Tardi?) All in all it’s a humdinger of a cliff-hanger, one that makes previous Who build-ups look like hill-danglers in comparison, but what should Steven Moffat and the rest of the Who-crew avoid in the finale to make sure it lives up to anticipation? I thought I would take a look at some recent series closers for a few do’s and don’ts to watch out for...
Journey’s End: Doctor Who
(Season 4)
You don’t have to go too far for the perfect example of how not to resolve a killer cliff-hanger. In the closing minutes of ‘The Stolen Earth’ we see the Doctor shot by a Dalek as he runs to Billie Piper’s wonky-toothed Rose, a brilliant moment of ‘wtf’ television that for seven days had the British media in a frenzy, guessing who David Tennant would regenerate into next. Roll around the following Saturday... and it was all dealt with very swiftly in the opening 30 seconds as the Doctor forces himself into a ‘partial regeneration’ which heals himself from the previously fatal wound. A baffling moment of quasi-bollocks that neutered much of the following episode redundant (if he can re-heal from the dead then where is the tension?) as well as dashing hopes of a glimpse of the new Doctor. In short, don’t set up an awesome cliff-hanger if you don’t have the cahones to see it through next episode.
Through the Looking Glass: Lost
(Season 3)
Now that the series has been wrapped up it can be argued that Lost’s finest hour came at the end of Season 3, known by Friends addicts as ‘the one with the flashforward’. Yes, the sleight of hand used to create Lost’s greatest twist was ingenious, (‘we have to go back!’) but it was broken up by an island story that contained a huge amount of fan-pleasing moments; Jack unleashing on Ben, Hurley and the camper van, Sayid’s leggy neck snap. Tying it all together though was the emotion that Lost did so well: the death of Charlie would have a lasting effect throughout the rest of the show, as well as referencing the show’s core theme of free will versus destiny. To be a truly satisfying series opener, you need to give the audience something that stays with them until the next series starts, and for many Losties the words ‘not Penny’s boat’ would ring with them well through into Season 4.
24: 3:00 – 4:00PM
(Season 8)
After nine years, Jack Bauer departed television screens with something of a whimper earlier this year. It may have been a show well past its sell by date, but even considering the rumoured 24 movie in production it was an unusual move to sideline their main character for much of the hour. After being shot in the first ten minutes, Jack Bauer lies around a bit, bites off someone’s ear, gets ambushed off screen and then walks off into the sunset, with only an emotional scene with series regular Chloe O’Brien to keep the hour from being a complete waste of time. 24 was always the Jack Bauer show, keeping the entertainment factor reasonably high amidst the sometimes dodgy politics and soap-opera plotlines. More of an effort should have been made to position Bauer as a central part of the final hour, and for an action series to not go out with one final action scene is frankly lame.
There’s more than one of everything: Fringe
(Season 1)
Finally, we have the ‘game-changer’, the series finale that raises a merely average series up to the status of ‘promising’. For much of its debut season Fringe managed to come across as a sort of ‘Buffy the X Files Slayer’ for the noughties generation: ok in its own way, but nothing that hadn’t been done before. Cut to the final image of the season, where main protagonist Olivia Denham finds herself trapped in an unknown building within a previously hinted at parallel universe. The camera pulls back... to reveal her on the top floor of an intact World Trade Centre, post 9/11. It’s a powerful image, made all the more brave for its position on a mainstream American network. Suddenly Fringe had its own identity, and Season Two opened with far stronger ratings and a greater sense of focus (although the quality of the series remained hit-and-miss).
Journey’s End: Doctor Who
(Season 4)
You don’t have to go too far for the perfect example of how not to resolve a killer cliff-hanger. In the closing minutes of ‘The Stolen Earth’ we see the Doctor shot by a Dalek as he runs to Billie Piper’s wonky-toothed Rose, a brilliant moment of ‘wtf’ television that for seven days had the British media in a frenzy, guessing who David Tennant would regenerate into next. Roll around the following Saturday... and it was all dealt with very swiftly in the opening 30 seconds as the Doctor forces himself into a ‘partial regeneration’ which heals himself from the previously fatal wound. A baffling moment of quasi-bollocks that neutered much of the following episode redundant (if he can re-heal from the dead then where is the tension?) as well as dashing hopes of a glimpse of the new Doctor. In short, don’t set up an awesome cliff-hanger if you don’t have the cahones to see it through next episode.
Through the Looking Glass: Lost
(Season 3)
Now that the series has been wrapped up it can be argued that Lost’s finest hour came at the end of Season 3, known by Friends addicts as ‘the one with the flashforward’. Yes, the sleight of hand used to create Lost’s greatest twist was ingenious, (‘we have to go back!’) but it was broken up by an island story that contained a huge amount of fan-pleasing moments; Jack unleashing on Ben, Hurley and the camper van, Sayid’s leggy neck snap. Tying it all together though was the emotion that Lost did so well: the death of Charlie would have a lasting effect throughout the rest of the show, as well as referencing the show’s core theme of free will versus destiny. To be a truly satisfying series opener, you need to give the audience something that stays with them until the next series starts, and for many Losties the words ‘not Penny’s boat’ would ring with them well through into Season 4.
24: 3:00 – 4:00PM
(Season 8)
After nine years, Jack Bauer departed television screens with something of a whimper earlier this year. It may have been a show well past its sell by date, but even considering the rumoured 24 movie in production it was an unusual move to sideline their main character for much of the hour. After being shot in the first ten minutes, Jack Bauer lies around a bit, bites off someone’s ear, gets ambushed off screen and then walks off into the sunset, with only an emotional scene with series regular Chloe O’Brien to keep the hour from being a complete waste of time. 24 was always the Jack Bauer show, keeping the entertainment factor reasonably high amidst the sometimes dodgy politics and soap-opera plotlines. More of an effort should have been made to position Bauer as a central part of the final hour, and for an action series to not go out with one final action scene is frankly lame.
There’s more than one of everything: Fringe
(Season 1)
Finally, we have the ‘game-changer’, the series finale that raises a merely average series up to the status of ‘promising’. For much of its debut season Fringe managed to come across as a sort of ‘Buffy the X Files Slayer’ for the noughties generation: ok in its own way, but nothing that hadn’t been done before. Cut to the final image of the season, where main protagonist Olivia Denham finds herself trapped in an unknown building within a previously hinted at parallel universe. The camera pulls back... to reveal her on the top floor of an intact World Trade Centre, post 9/11. It’s a powerful image, made all the more brave for its position on a mainstream American network. Suddenly Fringe had its own identity, and Season Two opened with far stronger ratings and a greater sense of focus (although the quality of the series remained hit-and-miss).
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