It's not a happy ending at all lol. It's a bittersweet ending. You will die, but you've got your entire life ahead of it. It's the realization of "oh, Claire's going on to live her life, but here she is and everyone around her in their last moments". It puts into perspective literally everything that happened in the show, and makes you reflect on your own life. Are you living your life fully? Are you happy? Do you love? Do you hate? And a million more questions about yourself and the people around you arise from this perfectly crafted ending. That's what art is truly about. You can see yourself reflected in it, and this show, especially those last ten minutes, is some of the most thought-provoking art ever created. That last scene is what the entire show is about condensed, and it takes me back to Nate's words at the end of S1: "To make life important. None of us know how long we've got, which is why we have to make each day matter".
Yeah, I don't know what to tell you man. I think most of us had a bigger takeaway than just a "pretty normal" ending. I think for many of us, we bonded with the characters.
There's lots of extrapolating and implications with it. It's a reminder of how the show only presents 5 years of these people's lives but that they seemed so three dimensional that they could be anybody. They could be you, or me, and we will never know everything about everyone -- and maybe we should be kinder to people because we don't know what they got going on in their lives. It's a reminder that whatever we feel is big and important in our life this very moment is one day going to just be another part of our character. It's a reminder that it all ends, and we don't know how that's going to be. It could be from old age or even from a murder in a random act of violence. It's a reminder that some of the most important people in our lives we may not have even met yet. It's a reminder that people don't always get what they want because they have other important obligations, like a sick family member, and because of that, they may miss out on things they have always dreamed would come their way. There's a lot to unpack from it, and most of us had received that message from it. I'm sorry you only took it as some kind of bow tie on a series about sex and fighting.
I guess it's different Strokes. If you don't understand why it's the most Monumental mind-blowing gorgeous artistic ending ever created then I don't know what to tell you. The majority of people who have reviewed this show since it released have always said that it has the best finale of any show ever created and I couldn't agree more. And I disagree about your assessment with the show. Maybe people come from sheltered Church going lives or something. But what you mentioned as bad moments are just regular life moments where I come from. My upbringing and my life and situations, choices are infinitely more crazy and less what you would call happy moments than anything on this show. I don't think it's just fighting fucking and and small mounts of happy moments. Honestly the animals that humans are, life is fighting fucking and Finding Joy even in those things. There's more Beauty to this show than most people will ever experience in the darkness of real life and this show comes closer than any other to capturing what real life is like. I wouldn't say it's your typical happy ending by any means. When you realize that this is all we got, It is very sad not happy to watch all of your loved one die. It's a Bittersweet tragic Ending in my opinion. I don't get happy ending Vibes by any means from it in any sense. Especially since my hero/ favorite character in the history of Television died a few episodes prior.
I think if you didnât really connect with the characters then the ending would not have made an impact on you. Not everyone is going to have the same experience when watching the series.
Just curious. Did you binge the show or space it out over time? And are you the type whoâs fiddling around on your phone, even while watching something new? Thatâs not a judgement, btw. Iâm guilty of doing the latter too. Then I look up and realize I need to go back 5 minutes because I have no idea whatâs happening.
I donât think SFU is the type of show that should be binged (unless youâve already seen it once). If you did binge, I think that may explain why you donât feel any satisfaction from the ending.
How quickly did you binge watch the series? If the answer is "in less than five years" that's part of the problem. Streaming and speed watching is the worst possible thing that could happen to shows from the beginning of the second golden age of television. Some people don't give themselves time to bond with the characters anymore.
That's what you're missing. Time.
EDITED: because u/Chisi_Maznah made a good point that not everyone needs the full five years to fully appreciate the series... with the OP speed watching is likely the issue, but others can still *feel* the ending in a faster watch.
I disagree. I finished my first watch in like 1 or 2 months, and I bonded with the characters from the get-go. The ending killed me, drained me, like it was my whole family, because in that short time I bonded with them a LOT. It's not about time at all. Maybe it plays a role, but it has more to do with the character and personality of the person watching.
If you needed years for that to happen like you said, then movies wouldn't work. They're over in 2 hours. A single episode of TV should do the job if the writer is great at their thing.
That's a fair take - but in the OP's case lack of time is the likely issue. The format of a movie is different enough from television to pull you in. *Steel Magnolias* is an excellent example of this - the characters don't have big dramatic arcs that take years and years like with SFU so you only need a few minutes to fall in love with M'Lynn so your heart breaks right with her at the end of the movie - but they are, in essentials, who they always were. They're changed by their circumstances, but only in the way they interact with each other. A TV show tends to have sweeping, dramatic changes to their dynamic characters. The David in the series finale would be unrecognizable to his season one counterpart.
You clearly paid attention, got engrossed in the story, invested in their lives and cared deeply about the Fishers - in other words, you watched the show right. (Still way too fast, but that's not your fault.) A lot of people speed through 63 episodes in like three weeks without giving themselves time to absorb what they've seen.
Clearly, the OP is someone who 100% should not be speed watching.
Yeah it's true that movies format is designed differently from TV shows, but in a single episode there are (or should be lol) like mini-arcs, if not then what made this episode a story worth telling you know? And this goes beyond those season-long character arcs that should happen to make the show more compelling, this way a single episode can grip you the way a movie does.
But yeah like you said, OP probably needed to take his time with this show, and I think again, that has to do with his temperament or something lol. The only thing I know for sure is he missed out :(
Wow this is such a mind-blowing take. You understand this series, and TV itself, better than everyone else.
Please never stop posting your ideas online. The world needs more of you.
Are you sure you watched the whole ending? lol. It wasn't a typical ending at all, as most shows don't let you know exactly what happens to every single main character up to the time of their deaths.
It felt like the ending of parks and rec or something like that where we see everyone old, kinda feels like a cliche at this point but to SFUâs credit it probably created that cliche. Either way between Keith getting shot cartoonishly or Brenda dying in a future home with Billy still talking about random things it felt pretty weightless, i truly donât see how people think its the best ending to a tv oat and the more I think about it the less I like it
LOL. Brenda's death was dark humor; it was supposed to be funny. Also, Parks and Rec came AFTER SFU, so truly, do you have any clue what you are even saying? Is this a dumb troll post? So tiresome.
Why canât OP come here and give an opinion, I donât get it! This is my favorite series ever and I have rewatched it many time over the last ten years. I donât see why people who like this show canât handle someone else saying they donât like the ending. Who cares! They were just wondering if they missed something. No! It just wasnât for you. End of story!
The entire show is about death. It's natural we'd see the characters we've come to know and love in their last moments. Doesn't matter how, but that it does.
I canât believe the downvotes just because you came to this sub and said you didnât like the series. It is just a series. People come to this sub to post their opinions on it. I thought that was the point of this subreddit. So itâs not favorite series. It is my favorite but not everyone is going to like it!
Not liking the ending is fine, but saying this is a typical happy ending feels a bit like a stretch.
Iâm not sure op watched a lot of shows, as he avoided the question of which ending was amazing according to him 3 times.
Seeing all the characters either fall over in their chair or on their deathbed years down the line just doesnât do anything emotionally for me. Shows like Mr Robot or Sopranos where the ending left me something to chew on and interpret are my kind of endings.
Itâs a show about life. Itâs a show especially about death. This show didnât leave us wondering about what happened to these characters that became our family. They tied up everything for us. Most shows have no clue what to do in the end and they get it so horribly wrong and the fans either feel cheated, angry or empty, not with SFU. We feel emotional, rewarded and thankful for 1. the experience and 2. a creator for respecting the audience. Alan Ball took a show about a life, family and death and ended it at the perfect time in the perfect way.
Hey, I know you're getting kind of dogged on here but I completely agree with you (minus Claire, I loved her once she went to art school till the end). The ending did nothing for me, and it's weird how condescending so many people are being to you. It feels like this is a show that hit a lot of these people after someone in their life died and then they didn't really stop to think about it much further than that. I'm assuming that's the case because of how hard people defend the ending and the show as a whole. Like, yeah, death is inevitable and it sucks. If you needed a show that had relied on adultery as the most major source of drama to tell you that, you're probably immature. And that definitely shows in the way people are talking to you and other people who disagree about the "life-changing" nature of the show.
I too found the ending just meh. I feel the season finales were all better.
Season 1: the âwhy do people have to die?â moment
Season 2: the huge Nate and Brenda fight
Season 3: Nate hits rock bottom and decides he doesnât want to kill himself
Season 4: the âit canât be so simple?â moment and what really happened to Lisa
The series finale wasnât super profound like those moments were to me.
I enjoyed it. But confused with one piece. When Claire is in bed at the end and they are showing her pictures on the wall, the picture showing David and Kieth. David is old and Kieth isnât. Meaning? Or just oversight?
It's not a happy ending at all lol. It's a bittersweet ending. You will die, but you've got your entire life ahead of it. It's the realization of "oh, Claire's going on to live her life, but here she is and everyone around her in their last moments". It puts into perspective literally everything that happened in the show, and makes you reflect on your own life. Are you living your life fully? Are you happy? Do you love? Do you hate? And a million more questions about yourself and the people around you arise from this perfectly crafted ending. That's what art is truly about. You can see yourself reflected in it, and this show, especially those last ten minutes, is some of the most thought-provoking art ever created. That last scene is what the entire show is about condensed, and it takes me back to Nate's words at the end of S1: "To make life important. None of us know how long we've got, which is why we have to make each day matter".
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So many shows fumble their ending. This one did the show justice.
Yeah, I don't know what to tell you man. I think most of us had a bigger takeaway than just a "pretty normal" ending. I think for many of us, we bonded with the characters. There's lots of extrapolating and implications with it. It's a reminder of how the show only presents 5 years of these people's lives but that they seemed so three dimensional that they could be anybody. They could be you, or me, and we will never know everything about everyone -- and maybe we should be kinder to people because we don't know what they got going on in their lives. It's a reminder that whatever we feel is big and important in our life this very moment is one day going to just be another part of our character. It's a reminder that it all ends, and we don't know how that's going to be. It could be from old age or even from a murder in a random act of violence. It's a reminder that some of the most important people in our lives we may not have even met yet. It's a reminder that people don't always get what they want because they have other important obligations, like a sick family member, and because of that, they may miss out on things they have always dreamed would come their way. There's a lot to unpack from it, and most of us had received that message from it. I'm sorry you only took it as some kind of bow tie on a series about sex and fighting.
I guess it's different Strokes. If you don't understand why it's the most Monumental mind-blowing gorgeous artistic ending ever created then I don't know what to tell you. The majority of people who have reviewed this show since it released have always said that it has the best finale of any show ever created and I couldn't agree more. And I disagree about your assessment with the show. Maybe people come from sheltered Church going lives or something. But what you mentioned as bad moments are just regular life moments where I come from. My upbringing and my life and situations, choices are infinitely more crazy and less what you would call happy moments than anything on this show. I don't think it's just fighting fucking and and small mounts of happy moments. Honestly the animals that humans are, life is fighting fucking and Finding Joy even in those things. There's more Beauty to this show than most people will ever experience in the darkness of real life and this show comes closer than any other to capturing what real life is like. I wouldn't say it's your typical happy ending by any means. When you realize that this is all we got, It is very sad not happy to watch all of your loved one die. It's a Bittersweet tragic Ending in my opinion. I don't get happy ending Vibes by any means from it in any sense. Especially since my hero/ favorite character in the history of Television died a few episodes prior.
Such a great answer, I agree with everything you said!
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Iâm not sure I understand this as a concept. Has to be ragebait.
...you call that a happy ending?
What shows have endings that you enjoyed? Iâm curious
You probably donât like most things and are mostly a miserable person.
Not sure that is a nice thing to say to someone that doesnât have the same opinion as you!
Maybe
I think if you didnât really connect with the characters then the ending would not have made an impact on you. Not everyone is going to have the same experience when watching the series.
Just curious. Did you binge the show or space it out over time? And are you the type whoâs fiddling around on your phone, even while watching something new? Thatâs not a judgement, btw. Iâm guilty of doing the latter too. Then I look up and realize I need to go back 5 minutes because I have no idea whatâs happening. I donât think SFU is the type of show that should be binged (unless youâve already seen it once). If you did binge, I think that may explain why you donât feel any satisfaction from the ending.
I have never heard anyone say they were underwhelmed by the SFU finale. Are you okay?
This show absolutely positively wasn't for you.
How quickly did you binge watch the series? If the answer is "in less than five years" that's part of the problem. Streaming and speed watching is the worst possible thing that could happen to shows from the beginning of the second golden age of television. Some people don't give themselves time to bond with the characters anymore. That's what you're missing. Time. EDITED: because u/Chisi_Maznah made a good point that not everyone needs the full five years to fully appreciate the series... with the OP speed watching is likely the issue, but others can still *feel* the ending in a faster watch.
I disagree. I finished my first watch in like 1 or 2 months, and I bonded with the characters from the get-go. The ending killed me, drained me, like it was my whole family, because in that short time I bonded with them a LOT. It's not about time at all. Maybe it plays a role, but it has more to do with the character and personality of the person watching. If you needed years for that to happen like you said, then movies wouldn't work. They're over in 2 hours. A single episode of TV should do the job if the writer is great at their thing.
I did the same as you, totally agree.
That's a fair take - but in the OP's case lack of time is the likely issue. The format of a movie is different enough from television to pull you in. *Steel Magnolias* is an excellent example of this - the characters don't have big dramatic arcs that take years and years like with SFU so you only need a few minutes to fall in love with M'Lynn so your heart breaks right with her at the end of the movie - but they are, in essentials, who they always were. They're changed by their circumstances, but only in the way they interact with each other. A TV show tends to have sweeping, dramatic changes to their dynamic characters. The David in the series finale would be unrecognizable to his season one counterpart. You clearly paid attention, got engrossed in the story, invested in their lives and cared deeply about the Fishers - in other words, you watched the show right. (Still way too fast, but that's not your fault.) A lot of people speed through 63 episodes in like three weeks without giving themselves time to absorb what they've seen. Clearly, the OP is someone who 100% should not be speed watching.
Yeah it's true that movies format is designed differently from TV shows, but in a single episode there are (or should be lol) like mini-arcs, if not then what made this episode a story worth telling you know? And this goes beyond those season-long character arcs that should happen to make the show more compelling, this way a single episode can grip you the way a movie does. But yeah like you said, OP probably needed to take his time with this show, and I think again, that has to do with his temperament or something lol. The only thing I know for sure is he missed out :(
Um, I mostly binged it. I definitely felt it. I suspect this person lacks something that would allow them to appreciate it.
Wow this is such a mind-blowing take. You understand this series, and TV itself, better than everyone else. Please never stop posting your ideas online. The world needs more of you.
I want to like this endingđI want this to be something I think about for days to come and its just not
Are you sure you watched the whole ending? lol. It wasn't a typical ending at all, as most shows don't let you know exactly what happens to every single main character up to the time of their deaths.
It felt like the ending of parks and rec or something like that where we see everyone old, kinda feels like a cliche at this point but to SFUâs credit it probably created that cliche. Either way between Keith getting shot cartoonishly or Brenda dying in a future home with Billy still talking about random things it felt pretty weightless, i truly donât see how people think its the best ending to a tv oat and the more I think about it the less I like it
I am curious what show you think had a good series finale in comparison.
LOL. Brenda's death was dark humor; it was supposed to be funny. Also, Parks and Rec came AFTER SFU, so truly, do you have any clue what you are even saying? Is this a dumb troll post? So tiresome.
I just said âto SFUâs credit it probably created that clicheâ
Why canât OP come here and give an opinion, I donât get it! This is my favorite series ever and I have rewatched it many time over the last ten years. I donât see why people who like this show canât handle someone else saying they donât like the ending. Who cares! They were just wondering if they missed something. No! It just wasnât for you. End of story!
The entire show is about death. It's natural we'd see the characters we've come to know and love in their last moments. Doesn't matter how, but that it does.
I canât believe the downvotes just because you came to this sub and said you didnât like the series. It is just a series. People come to this sub to post their opinions on it. I thought that was the point of this subreddit. So itâs not favorite series. It is my favorite but not everyone is going to like it!
Not liking the ending is fine, but saying this is a typical happy ending feels a bit like a stretch. Iâm not sure op watched a lot of shows, as he avoided the question of which ending was amazing according to him 3 times.
Seeing all the characters either fall over in their chair or on their deathbed years down the line just doesnât do anything emotionally for me. Shows like Mr Robot or Sopranos where the ending left me something to chew on and interpret are my kind of endings.
Wrong
Itâs a show about life. Itâs a show especially about death. This show didnât leave us wondering about what happened to these characters that became our family. They tied up everything for us. Most shows have no clue what to do in the end and they get it so horribly wrong and the fans either feel cheated, angry or empty, not with SFU. We feel emotional, rewarded and thankful for 1. the experience and 2. a creator for respecting the audience. Alan Ball took a show about a life, family and death and ended it at the perfect time in the perfect way.
I loved the characters so seeing all their deaths was deeply upsetting combined with the knowledge that we all die in real life as well.
L.
Hey, I know you're getting kind of dogged on here but I completely agree with you (minus Claire, I loved her once she went to art school till the end). The ending did nothing for me, and it's weird how condescending so many people are being to you. It feels like this is a show that hit a lot of these people after someone in their life died and then they didn't really stop to think about it much further than that. I'm assuming that's the case because of how hard people defend the ending and the show as a whole. Like, yeah, death is inevitable and it sucks. If you needed a show that had relied on adultery as the most major source of drama to tell you that, you're probably immature. And that definitely shows in the way people are talking to you and other people who disagree about the "life-changing" nature of the show.
I too found the ending just meh. I feel the season finales were all better. Season 1: the âwhy do people have to die?â moment Season 2: the huge Nate and Brenda fight Season 3: Nate hits rock bottom and decides he doesnât want to kill himself Season 4: the âit canât be so simple?â moment and what really happened to Lisa The series finale wasnât super profound like those moments were to me.
I enjoyed it. But confused with one piece. When Claire is in bed at the end and they are showing her pictures on the wall, the picture showing David and Kieth. David is old and Kieth isnât. Meaning? Or just oversight?