For the past few years, TV season finales have been lame. Mostly because they seem to be either “shock” endings that come out of nowhere (like the shooting of a minor character at the end of The Closer) or they just seem to be there (like the hand holding stare of Scrubs). I understand that the WGA strike might have had something to do with it, but none of last year’s finales have made me want to come back for the next season for any reason other than habit.
This season has been a great one for finales. Lost had a great finale that had me cursing at the TV set because I wanted more and I wanted it right now. Grey’s Anatomy had a great finale because it took what seemed to be an ordinary episode and ramped it up to 11 in the last few minutes. Southland is easily one of the best shows on TV right now, but to me the last episode pushed it into the same realm as The Wire or The Shield, two of my all time favorites. Dollhouse was close to being removed from my DVR subscriptions, but the last six episodes redeemed the show and even though I accidentally spoiled the last two (by looking on Wikipedia for what I thought was a piece of an unrelated Joss Whedon infomation) I still dug this show and was glad when it was renewed.
Due to DVR technology (one of the greatest TV watching inventions since the remote control), I still have several more season finales to watch, including Life on Mars (series finale), Friday Night Lights, Private Practice, House, Supernatural, Prison Break (series finale), The Mentalist and Criminal Minds, so I may come back with another post on this subject. Maybe not, but for right now, I am happy with the way a lot of shows have ended and I am definitely looking forward to the start of their new seasons.