The Shield..
...man...season 5 was amazing...season 6...ehhhhhh....only because nothing really happened. It was all tying up loose knots from the season before and setting the table for the final season. They brought in Run Lola Run, but she got Penelope Cruz disease. The threats to Vic all felt hollow, cuz you knew, nothing's gonna happen til next season, so it was just one big prologue to the ending.
I remember 24 had this little miniseries before it's last season, setting up the bad guy and the scenario real quick, because they couldn't do all that with their 1 ep = 1 hour format. That's what season 6 of The Shield should've been.
But that was all fine and worth it...because of season 7.
Brilliant. I've seen more than my fair share of what I think's good or entertaining TV and out of all that, I think Six Feet Under had the most perfect, fitting, touching, clever and series-defining finale episode I've ever seen from a show...with the Angel series finale being a close second.
This is the best final season of a show I've seen so far. And I don't mean the overall story. I don't mean the last 5 minutes of every episode is on point, or it's action packed with big twists at every turn...I mean the most well orchestrated series of episodes I could imagine. Every one of them thematically sound. Every one of them marrying a case with something from the past so damn organically. not one 'decent' episode...every one of em pissing excellence. This is so well thought out, I don't get it. This is what the last season of The Wire should've been. Every episode bringing back something from the past that at one point, defined the series and giving it a swan song without being melodramatic...without sapping the momentum of the show...without skipping a beat in any of the threads they they were already dealing with. This amazing juggling act with an emotional, more than a logical, gutpunch every way you turn. This is what Lost thought it was doing with only their series finale episode.
I just know that this isn't even crack, it's something else. It makes you not want to rush to start the next episode once you finish one. I want to stop and let what I just saw soak in. It makes me want to watch the every episode all over again and follow the strands Sutter's weaved back to the beginning and how with such little brushstrokes they've molded so many different parts of the story into this poetic...and even literary allegory to the heart of whatever past situation, character or crime that's sprung back up to scratch at Vic and his misfits. They let these poetic, clever moments get internalized by the big, incredibly well done story they planned on telling regardless. And beyond that, they managed to take the same care and nuanced approach to all the backup supporting characters too. They don't leave anyone who's been important to the show hanging in the least bit.
This is it. This is closer to what Angel did in it's final season than Six Feet Under. Six Feet had one amazing idea and note to end the show on...this had 3 seasons perfectly thought out and was willing to have a down season just to set up the greatest last set I've seen.
The finale wasn't just the best series finale I've seen, but it managed to be the best episode of the series too (at least this or the one before). Breaking Bad has had a couple moments every season, stronger, smarter and truer than any of The Shield's, but that's a testament to the style, acting, writing and direction of BB. The Shield has Cops' style with 24/Luther's intensity and The Wire's worldbuilding (on a smaller scale). So it has things purposefully working against it to make it more realistic, but they don't film in the cinematic style like BB, it's all handheld. They can't craft scenes and performances like BB's while they try to make it as natural as possible.
That said...Breaking Bad has never had a season as completely, episode for episode, been as great as the final season of The Shield. I agree with Nos...this is a 1A/1B situation. This show is so completely elevated by the best orchestrated last episodes I've seen. So tightly plotted and the last 2 episodes will kill you.
That's all there is to it. Perfect, ruthless and heartbreaking, every minute in the end.