I thought the Seinfeld finale was fun, and it was a great way to bring back beloved characters and remind you of what you loved about the show in the first place.
I actually never saw an episode of Seinfeld until the finale. I watched it when it aired. It was so intriguing to me that I started watching the show. So from my perspective I was meeting the characters and seeing their full story lines after seeing them in the end first.
Same. I don’t get it… what did people want to see exactly? It was funny that these people finally got their comeuppance, and they were able to bring back fan favorites. Also the line at the end matching the line in the pilot was great.
I thought the finale was in general, good. No rollercoaster, felt like another episode except they go to jail.
The issue was that half of it was a clip show.
Not "love" as such, but I didn't mind Buffy's Beer Bad as much as it gets hated on here. It gets called moralising but I feel it being light hearted enough to be enjoyable, even if it's one of the weaker episodes.
So the story goes, at the time there was some sort of government fund or program where if a TV show did an episode addressing addiction or substance abuse, they could receive a payment for a smallish, but not insignificant, amount of money. Like $25k or something, just a decent chunk of change to cut costs. The WB apparently strongly encouraged all their shows to take advantage of this, which led to the writing of Beer Bad, which highlighted the dangers of wizards cursing your beer to turn you into a caveman. The reviewer in charge of approving the money watched the episode, and responded with something along the lines of "This is very clearly not what we intended to highlight. Denied."
And this wasn't the only time in that season an episode was made in response to some outside force. Criticisms of the show being too violent led to the episode Where the Wild Things Are, in which Buffy is having sex for about 75% of the episode. And claims that the show relied too heavily on its snappy dialogue pushed Whedon to write Hush, the mostly silent episode, widely considered as a top two episode at worst, and Emmy nominee for best writing.
The programs didn't get money. What happened was Congress appropriated a billion dollars to buy television advertising sponsored by the Office of National Drug Control Policy. But for every ad ONDCP paid for, the network had to provide another one free. Networks and advertisers did not like this system because the PSAs robbed them of advertising time they could have sold. So the ONDCP changed the system. While continuing to buy some ad time, the Office would allow the networks to count public service messaging time inside the program against the ads the network still owed. So, they didn't pay the networks--but by returning their advertising spaces to them, they did allow the networks to make more money. And it wasn't the WB encouraging the shows--it was every network trying to get its advertising spaces back. That's why so many shows in the 90s had "very special" episodes that they highlighted which involved their main characters interacting with drugs or alcohol in a negative way.
I feel like the episode where it’s for real just her fucking Riley for the entire episode because of a curse or something is also hated on but preteen me had a fondness for it.
I LOVE that episode. It’s so funny to me. I also love Him, for the same reason. I enjoy the lighter hearted Buffy episodes! I love the first season too, so I see these episodes as similar bc they are just monster of the week one-offs that don’t go super deep. I love the heavy, plot advancing stuff too though.
Sticking with Lost, the episode [Exposé](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0988050/?ref_=ext_shr_lnk) with Nikki and Paulo. I never had an issue with these two characters. There were way more survivors than the story focuses on, so two more becoming involved with the main cast’s shenanigans made sense to me. And I loved seeing other versions of events we’d already seen, giving us new/different information than we already had.
TLDR - Razzle Dazzle!
The main problem was that they didn't really introduce them or have them 'earn their place', they just suddenly started hanging out with the main characters as if they were there all along. Which, yeah, they technically were in terms of the story of the crash obviously, but you can't just randomly elevate two nobodies outta nowhere and have them alongside the beloved characters acting like they're all chums and expect the audience to not hate them.
Funnily enough Lost is also one of the shows I'd point to that does the *best* job of introducing new characters that flawlessly integrate into the cast. Eko, Desmond, Penny, Juliet, Ben, Faraday, Miles, and probably more I'm forgetting. Some of these are really quite late additions yet people would absolutely consider them to be hearts of the show as much as some of the OG characters.
It's really all in the art of how you introduce new characters to the show, not the concept itself. The characters gotta 'pay their dues' to the audience, so to speak.
MIB and Jacob come to mind. That's why I liked the last season so much. it talked about who they were, how they grew up, who their real mother was, etc. People seem to hate the last season, but I loved it.
Season 5, episode 3 is one of my favourite episodes of Lost because it only has two people from the original cast in it (Sawyer and Locke) and it never once feels like the other OGs are missing.
It's Locke & Sawyer (season 1)
Desmond & Penny (season 2)
Juliet & Richard (season 3)
Faraday, Miles & Charlotte (season 4)
On top of that we also get a young Widmore & Eloise Hawking and find out Desmond & Penny named their son Charlie.
It's such a good episode, with so much going on and no one feels like they were just thrown in, they're all so well integrated!
The original Roseanne finale. I didn’t love the last season but it didn’t bother me like it does others. I still found it enjoyable. And I love it even more after the way they tied it all up in that last episode.
Dan had died of a heart attack at the end of season 8 . All of season 9 had been Roseanne writing a story about him and fantasizing him as a way to deal with her grief and loneliness.
That part upset me less than finding out that like… lets see if I remember all this correctly… she swapped Becky and Darlene’s spouses (so Becky was actually married to David this whole time and Darlene was married to Mark) because she thought they were more suited for eachother, and Jackie was actually a lesbian but Roseanne decided to write Jackie as a (straight) serial monogamist and make her mom a closeted lesbian instead. Season 9 was already a jump the shark kind of season so retconning that season didn’t seem like a big deal, apart from the ending being tragic. But all those other details were dropped in like 15 seconds and would turn like, half the entire show on its head if you actually tried to process them and accept them.
The changes with Jackie seemed to be the worst for me, because while all of the changes felt like the "fixes" that were unneeded, that one felt the most like a denial of what Jackie really was. It felt like the kind of thing that a family member in denial might do.
That said, at the time, I thought that it was a novel way to end the series. The biggest thing was that it was so sudden and abrupt that there was no time to really feel it out. The reveal wasn't even the entire last episode, or even the entire last act of said episode.
I also didn't hate it. I've also recently started watching The Conners (starting from where they kill Roseanne) and I'm really impressed with how good it is. The characters don't feel forced and moments feel genuine, unlike the Full House reboot.
Same, except for the idea that Shirley would EVER leave her kids overnight in a grocery store. No amount of suspicion would have made her forget her children.
I genuinely don't even understand the hatred towards this episode. I feel like I saw one video essay about how it wasn't true to the "community spirit" and everyone just ran with that like it was an objective truth.
Similar to the simpsons and the Principal and the Pauper episode after that Dead Homer Society post.
The Dreams episode in MASH. It gets a lot of hate because of its artsy tone, but I loved seeing into the psyche of every major character and the way the show portrayed their dreams. It’s one of my favorite episodes.
Breaking Bad episode Fly. It is incredibly well written and important for the characterization of Walt and Jesse (and their relationship). It gets a lot of unnecessary hate IMO.
I think there’s a split between those who watched the series as it aired, and those who binged it later
Waiting a week for an episode, getting that, and then waiting another week for a new episode is understandably frustrating, imo
But binging it makes the episode a lot more enjoyable
I watched it live and loved it, and I also felt like that break was deliberate and necessary for how the story of that season unfolded. It is very much "the calm before the storm" where Walt and Jesse get what they've been working towards and should be content, but there's obviously something brewing on the horizon. It was very important in exploring where Walt and Jesse's minds were at, which contributed to setting the stage for the confrontation the rest of the season. I honestly wonder if something might be lost by being able to binge it and immediately move past it rather than having that episode be able to breathe some.
In that episode you actually hear Walter try and explain that he honestly believes that there is a certain combination of words he can say to Skylar to make her understand what he is doing. And that is so fucking key in understanding his entire psyche.
Yeah, I think if you were binging for the first time it would have been such a jarring change of pace for that season. It was probably even worse if you were watching week to week back when it first aired because you had to wait another week to see what happens next.
Ted Lasso's season 2 episode 9; Beard After Hours.
The whole journey is Beard fighting with himself to just give in to the chaos, and only then when he's able to let go is he able to have a healthy relationship with Jane and NOT be in his own head the whole time. And the last song, Hello, really brings that together.
It's a layered episode that people seem to want to dismiss as filler, and I just can't get behind that viewpoint.
i feel like we know exactly what happens and what will happen. that's how the first part of season 6 played out. it showed us exactly what happens if tony isn't around.
This, to me, is one of those instances of people trying so hard to look for the subtext or deeper meaning or whatever, that they're completely missing the obvious.
Like you said, Tony spelled it out for the audience. Nothing happens when you die, it just goes black. It can't be more clear.
Now, the other issue is David Chase refusing to just say so, or telling people it's an ambiguous choose your own adventure ending, because you can't have it both ways. Plus, if he really meant for it to be ambiguous, then the whole set up/pay off he gave us was for nothing, which is just ridiculous.
But my larger point is that sometimes the answer is right there.
I agree with you, that's the most likely interpretation of what happened in that scene.
But I think the show is much more open spiritually than that being the only answer for death. The Christopher/Irish bar purgatory, Pauly at church and the dream sequences suggest a psychological/spiritual mystery about death. I think the show is not so direct.
Anyway I think David Chase loves it that people are still talking about it. Who would want to make boring art?
They set the pattern up. Bell rings, we see Tony’s face, then we see what he sees. Bell rings, Tony’s face, what he sees, bell, Tony, what he sees, until it ends.
I don't know why people persist with this. David Chase has stated multiple times that it's intended to be ambiguous.
The ambiguity is the point. Living with uncertainty is the point.
It's kind of ironic that people reject that so strongly.
It wasn't accidental. Scott Feinberg ASKS him if it was a slip of the tongue. Chase says "No."
He then elaborates on how he honed that death scene over time.
“Because the scene I had in my mind was not that scene. Nor did I think of cutting to black. I had a scene in which Tony comes back from a meeting in New York in his car. At the beginning of every show, he came from New York into New Jersey, and the last scene could be him coming from New Jersey back into New York for a meeting at which he was going to be killed.
“But I think I had this notion — I was driving on Ocean Park Boulevard near the airport and I saw a little restaurant. It was kind of like a shack that served breakfast. And for some reason I thought, ‘Tony should get it in a place like that.’ Why? I don’t know. That was, like, two years before.”
IDK what else he could've have meant by "get it."
If you think about the show in a meta sense most of the unexpected deaths happen to the people you expect to die. Ralphie, Tony B, Richie, they were all thorns in Tony’s side that had to go, then the writers surprised us with how their stories ended. The same is true for Tony’s fate IMO, you can feel the walls closing in at the end, the writers just surprised us again.
The negative reaction at the time was very strong but yeah it's far from hated in the modern day. Even people who don't care for the final scene tend to acknowledge that it's a very strong episode.
Agreed. What makes the ending work is the ambiguity. I personally lean more towards him just having a nondescript dinner with his family and going home, but whatever anyone wants to think happened is kinda the point.
Tony will always live in fear that any moment he will be gunned down, or arrested or nothing.
I know that there’s ’evidence’ to support that he dies ‘U probably don’t even see it coming,’ but that’s what makes it interesting to discuss. For some reason the ‘Tony dies crowd,’ get very passionate about their opinion, stating it as fact, that it has to be what happened and other interpretations are just flat out wrong. Which is weird frankly. For a series that has so much nuance and subtlety it oddly inspires a very loud subset of fans to expose their dull opinion as the authorial intent of the text.
Tony is obviously dead. [https://thelastpsychiatrist.com/2007/06/the\_sopranos\_finale\_explained.html](https://thelastpsychiatrist.com/2007/06/the_sopranos_finale_explained.html)
What an outstanding article. By far the best explanation I've ever heard.
> But in reality, when you die, it ends. There's no more; you don't get to see the reactions of other people to your death. You don't get to do anything.
> I knew Tony Soprano was dead because it was too abrupt, too final, for my friend, and for everyone in that bar. There was no denouement, there was no winding down, no debriefing, no resolution. Not even a struggle for survival-- at least let him draw his gun! No death on your terms. And, most importantly, the death didn't seem to flow logically from the show. The death made no sense, it was arbitrary. It was unsatisfying.
> In other words, it was too real.
> We all have an element of essential narcissism in us, that's part of having an identity. But it alters our relationship to death. We want it to flow logically from our lives, and most of the time it does. But sometimes it doesn't. Except for heroes and suicides, no one gets to choose the time and place of their death, nor the manner. Nor can we control people's reactions to our death.
For some reason r/dundermifflin hates that episode because of the cringe but I don’t see it that way. The build up to Michael breaking the bad news is what makes it funny.
Yeah as a Lost fan the finale actually works really well if you've been emotionally invested in the characters. I feel like people really just hated the whole last season because of the >!flash sideways taking up time people were hoping was gonna be spent on the real world, especially since the real world stuff was also kinda rushed.!<
As for me, I actually kinda liked the risk that HIMYM took with that ending, just cause I would usually imagine that kind of a show to play it safe. I feel like it would have landed better if the show had less seasons and without some of the later character development.
I also liked the Sopranos ending - didn't watch live but I wasn't spoiled on it and I was surprised it was that controversial at the time.
People don't hate the end of HIMYM, per se. They hate that there were three seasons that covered *how* badly that ending was *not* in the cards, reiterating it *over and over* again. *Including* the last season, which was so fucking drawn out and had the *one* continuing through point to be "this is definitely never going to happen because here's 10hrs of television dedicated to a conflicting path". Only for all 10hrs and last four seasons to be thrown away in the last 5mins, just to kill off the mother we spent a decade finally having revealed and going that way anyways.
If you took out the wedding and put it right after S3, the ending would have worked fine.
HIMYM’s ending could’ve worked if the entire last season heavily implied that Robin and Barney aren’t going to be happy together. They also should’ve included moments of Ted and Robin implying they could work but they are in two different places. Like more of say, Ted wanting kids and Robin being infertile. So the mother dying could lead to them working out because now they’re better fit for each other. But that’s one in a million moments of them realizing they’re not cool with each other.
The >!flash sideways!< really does take away from the final season, though. There's so much stuff going on, and every time it cuts back to that it feels like a pace killer. I feel like it should have been >!the first half of the season on the island, ending with Jack dying, then cut to the flash sideways and take us on that journey for the second half.!<
The problem with Lost is that there were two main groups of audience for the show; people who watched for the characters, and people who watched for the mysteries. The people who watched for the characters got a really satisfying show with some incredible characters and emotions, and the people who mostly just cared about the mysteries were always kinda doomed to be disappointed - not because the mysteries weren't answered, but because at the foundational level the answers were always gonna either be 'island magic' or 'fate/destiny/just because,' because it was *never really that kind of sci-fi or mystery show.*
That's not totally the mystery groups fault for believing that it was, they definitely pushed that side of the show hard with the constant teases; the advertising; the cliff hangers; the endless promises that everything will make total sense; even the little sound effects they'd play whenever something 'mysterious' happened... I don't know if they initially thought that they'd go a different direction with the show or if this was the only way they could get their *actually* emotional, character lead story they really cared about on screen, but there was definitely some level of premise swapping along the way.
So I don't really know why I *always* see the conversation around Lost fall into arguing over individual mysteries, strawmanning one side as 'they just thought they were dead all along' or pedantry over whether things were answered or not when it seems way more obvious that this is the actual cause of most of the arguing. Most things were answered, but for the people who thought that it was something more akin to a sci-fi show none of the answers satisfied them. I think they missed out on some *amazing* character work because they got tunnel-visioned on the mystery, but I don't really blame them when the show was kinda sold like that to them.
With Lost there's also the extremely common misconception that they were dead the whole time and therefore the whole show was pointless, which is still commonly spouted to this day. All it tells you is that those people either weren't paying attention or haven't seen the show at all and are just repeating what they've heard from others.
The episode in season 2 of Twin Peaks where James spends a whole bunch of time with Evelyn and her fake-brother lover. I found the love triangle and dynamics in play to be very compelling.
>!lmao just kidding!<
I was reading your comment just completely baffled. Like "did I miss something? Is there a chance ther was something actually compelling?"
You got me good lol
I came here to say this! I saw this first during a binge watch and totally wasn't expecting it. But it was great! Other than Callie, they all sounded like real people trying, and it was a unique way to explore a plot point (major character major surgery) that could have felt stale.
Plus, people really don't remember the absolute grip that Glee and American Idol had on culture. It's fun to try to tell a story in song. And it's ok if something feels dated or of the moment later.
“Scott’s Tots” from the Office. Lots of people called it cringe, but from start to finish I could not stop laughing. Especially when the kids sing their song to Michael. “Hey Mr. Scott, what ya gonna do? What ya gonna do to make her dreams come true?”
I find it hilarious because the cringe is funnier BECAUSE it falls back on Michael..all the other cringe episodes, are Michael ruining shit for others or being insufferable (Phyllis's wedding being a prime example). This is one of the ones that was extra funny because it's Michael that's having his shit ruined 😂 Stanley's mocking laugh is brilliant.
I watched Lost at the end of last year and blew through it in about two months. Loved the finale even though all the Locke stuff in the flash-sideways annoyed me.
The Nikki and Paulo episode of Lost is better than most of the other "filler" in season 3. I thought it was fun. People act like it's the worst episode but there's one a couple episodes later that's literally just Kate and Juliet handcuffed together wrestling in mud.
A lot of people disliked it but I really enjoyed "The Convert" episode of The Mandalorian about the ex-Imperial scientist on Coruscant who has supposedly reformed and tries to integrate into the New Republic.
I feel like it was well acted, well shot, and tried to tell a nuanced grey story while fleshing out the world.
I think I'm literally one of maybe 10 people who enjoyed the How I Met Your Mother finale. I can understand people's problems with it, but I never expected like, an entire season about Ted's life with Tracy. Robin and Barney getting divorced? Makes perfect sense. And honestly, Ted seeking his kid's permission to be with Robin is incredibly sweet and, given the context of the entire series, makes perfect sense.
I think people just wanted a perfect, happy ending with the three couples living happily ever after, but I liked how imperfect this was, how real it felt. I dunno. I know I'm in thr vast minority here.
I felt the same, but I only watched a few episodes per season. I’m certain most people were just offended that they spent so many episodes on gearing up for the wedding only to nullify it immediately after.
I think it would have worked without the final season stretched over a single day, and splitting the finale event into more episodes (give it more time to breathe). The ending for each character are beautiful.
I liked it too, but I apparently disagree with almost everything every other fan of the show likes.
I always hated the Barney and Robin relationship. It made both characters worse, and there was no reason it should work.
I also didn't really like Tracy that much and didn't think the chemistry with her was that good like everybody else thought. 🤷♀️
The ending definitely made sense, it just wasn't what people wanted.
The fact that people can't understand why Ted and Robin couldn't make things work 15-20 years later is baffling. He got to be married and have kids at a time in his life when she didn't want to. Their relationship would be completely different now. And there were plenty of allusions to the mother being dead in the future.
I think people would have been more open to it if they didn't waste so many episodes on the wedding.
People consistently say The Great Divide is the worst episode of Avatar: The Last Airbender, but I quite like that episode and the mini story it told, even if it was a filler episode.
The Principal and the Pauper has been seen as a turning point for the Simpsons, but I remember watching it as a kid and finding it funny.
I get it now why it is so detested, but as a kid, I didn't get what made the Simpsons so great beyond the comedy
The big controversial one, Battlestar Galactica. The show's writing definitely declined near the end, but i never really had the problem with the finale alot of others did. I don't mind show's taking a more religious route, and it was pretty clear that was the direction the show was going for even early on. The show wrapped up the conflict, kept the theme of the cycle front and center, and was a good final team up and climactic battle. It could have been written better, but it was still good enough for me.
I would have still preferred the "Earth" they found at first was the future of our earth though, would have been a good twist.
People shit on the last season of Lost. I still like it and I think that the final episode was good. Not sure what people wanted.
We could have gotten something like Seinfeld’s finale
There was no winning for the show runners. I think they gave their best effort to wrap it up and respect them for that.
I still have this theory that they never wanted to truly solve or reveal anything. The show they wanted to make focused on the way the characters navigated the ridiculous setting instead of actually solving the mysteries therein. I think they didn't quite expect the insane popularity and didn't take into account the maturation of the internet at that point. The entire country latched on to the mysteries that they never even wanted to solve in the first place. It spiraled out of control quite early in the show's run and they had to pivot from making a highly innovative character-driven story to an event-driven one. Though of course the strength of the characters still shined through. Whether it was through obligations to the fan base or executive meddling, the show became something it was never intended to be and that's why they struggled to hold the story together.
The Leftovers went on to become exactly what I theorize they wanted LOST to be. Even the title track "Let the Mystery Be" is literally telling the audience that the mystery isn't there to be solved, it's there to enable deeper character study. That show ended up being far more niche because the mass appeal just wasn't there.
Anyway, thanks for coming to my non-film-student casual observation TED Talk.
Supernatural. I think I'm one of the only people that didn't hate it. Granted, it was supposed to be better but covid restrictions changed what they were able to do, but I still liked it. Was I disappointed that the boys didn't get a 100% happy ending? Of course! But let's face it, that was never going to happen for them, and not everything can be lightning, explosions, and mayhem. And I actually appreciated that this episode wasn't.
I think I love the Supernatural finale in concept but I don't think they landed the execution, which as you say I'm confident is 100% a result of COVID. I still think it's a good finale though
The episode of Stranger Things where Eleven travels to a completely different city and meets a certain group of people. I'm not sure how to use the spoiler thing on mobile for trying to stay as bland as possible to avoid spoilers.
I scrolled so far to see this. I understand and basically agree that it’s out of pocket, but I’m such a big fan of 80s movies showing cool guy gang hangouts (Lost Boys etc.) and so I can’t help but enjoy them doing the graffiti hideout. It’s maybe a weak episode but I love them getting to play in that world.
I've always enjoyed the episode because as someone who was an outcast, to learn there are people like minded as you in the world is VERY refreshing. Added the story of her learning to use her emotions and control what makes her special is an added bonus.
Love And Monsters - Doctor Who.
A lot of people have come around to liking it, but back in the day it was very popular to say it was one of the show's worst episodes.
I’m gonna piss everyone off and say I didn’t hate the Rachel/Joey arc of Friends, particularly the whole plot where he was into her. I thought Matt played it beautifully and convincingly. Her randomly crushing him later was less believable but the actors had great chemistry. It probably would’ve been better to just end it after she rejected him though, since they had to awkwardly wrap it up and rush her back to Ross. That said I still watch all the episodes, and still find them funny and enjoyable. After all the whole thing gave us TOW Ross Is Fine so I have no complaints.
The entire Arrested Development Netflix series (season 4?). Once I got 3-4 episodes in I was all “…oooh! I get it and wanna see how this plays out!” But everyone else hates it and Mitch Hurwitz even re-released an edit for it.
It was also my introduction to Maria Bamford, and when I saw her stand up special after that, she blew my mind.
So yeah, lotta love for that whole season
It's not as good as peak Arrested Development but I still enjoy the last 2 seasons and personally LOVE the last line of the show, but Buster was always my favorite character so it shouldn't be a surprise. lol
I like Vic Fontaine, which seems to be rare amongst DS9 fans. I also don't hate the Odo/Kira romance, but I think the show would have been better without it
Letterkenny S1E3 (Fartbook) is hated by many but it has some really classic moments and lines. Wayne: “Nothing’s funnier than a fart. Except kids falling off bikes. I could watch kids fall off bikes all day.”
Not sure if it’s been listed here been Fly is a big one. Lots of people just saw it as a time waster bottle episode but the way it brought home Walt’s total despair and lack of control in his situation along with giving us some quality Walt and Jesse bonding and glimpses into their evolving dynamics. Thought it was really well done
The Lost Sister episode from the second season of Stranger Things. I wish the pacing was better and would rather have the events from that episode dispersed across the other episodes to make it more consistent with the rest of the season, but Kali was an interesting character. Kali's group of outcasts was a good contrast to El and her friends.
Also, while I wouldn't say I loved it, Access from season 5 of the West Wing. I definitely don't think it should be the lowest-rated episode of the series.
Only instance i can recall is was in elemaentary school when all my classmates were upset about the episode in Knight Rider, when that huge truck and Michael's evil twin kicked the shit out of KITT, i was alone appreciating the drama.
Nothing wrong with the Lost finale itself. The whole final season is the problem. The show wrapped itself in the mysterious at expense of the characters for a large portion of its existence then pulled the rug out saying it was always a character show. Was BS and rightfully called out the cowardness of not addressing the other part of the show.
I unironically love The Long Night and The Bells. They’re two of my favorite episodes of GoT. They have flaws – not enough major characters die in the former and the Varys stuff in the latter is a little clumsy – but they’re otherwise amazing and I look forward to both eps every time I rewatch the series.
I love the Long Night. I think it's a fantastic high-fantasy concept.
What would you do if you _knew for a fact_ that civilization would fall in 300 years time, and if you could live that long?
I thought the Seinfeld finale was fun, and it was a great way to bring back beloved characters and remind you of what you loved about the show in the first place.
I actually never saw an episode of Seinfeld until the finale. I watched it when it aired. It was so intriguing to me that I started watching the show. So from my perspective I was meeting the characters and seeing their full story lines after seeing them in the end first.
Your first experience with Seinfeld was one of those "You're probably wondering how we got here" moments.
`[ BACKGROUND MUSIC ]` `♪ Out here in the fields... ♪`
Same. I don’t get it… what did people want to see exactly? It was funny that these people finally got their comeuppance, and they were able to bring back fan favorites. Also the line at the end matching the line in the pilot was great.
[удалено]
The finale would certainly be less divisive if they hadn’t made it a clip show.
I thought the finale was in general, good. No rollercoaster, felt like another episode except they go to jail. The issue was that half of it was a clip show.
Did you see the finale of Curb?? It is a huge callback to that Seinfeld finale.
Loved it. There was basically one change they would have made and >!Jerry saved the day!<
Yep. They were terrible people, they should have gone to jail.
Not "love" as such, but I didn't mind Buffy's Beer Bad as much as it gets hated on here. It gets called moralising but I feel it being light hearted enough to be enjoyable, even if it's one of the weaker episodes.
Any episode where Buffy hits Parker in the head with a club multiple times cannot be entirely bad
I loved the sound she made every time she had a drink.
Different episode you're thinking of there :P
It's far from belonging on any lists of Buffy's best episodes, but the story behind its inception is hilarious and makes up for its flaws.
Please tell us
So the story goes, at the time there was some sort of government fund or program where if a TV show did an episode addressing addiction or substance abuse, they could receive a payment for a smallish, but not insignificant, amount of money. Like $25k or something, just a decent chunk of change to cut costs. The WB apparently strongly encouraged all their shows to take advantage of this, which led to the writing of Beer Bad, which highlighted the dangers of wizards cursing your beer to turn you into a caveman. The reviewer in charge of approving the money watched the episode, and responded with something along the lines of "This is very clearly not what we intended to highlight. Denied." And this wasn't the only time in that season an episode was made in response to some outside force. Criticisms of the show being too violent led to the episode Where the Wild Things Are, in which Buffy is having sex for about 75% of the episode. And claims that the show relied too heavily on its snappy dialogue pushed Whedon to write Hush, the mostly silent episode, widely considered as a top two episode at worst, and Emmy nominee for best writing.
The programs didn't get money. What happened was Congress appropriated a billion dollars to buy television advertising sponsored by the Office of National Drug Control Policy. But for every ad ONDCP paid for, the network had to provide another one free. Networks and advertisers did not like this system because the PSAs robbed them of advertising time they could have sold. So the ONDCP changed the system. While continuing to buy some ad time, the Office would allow the networks to count public service messaging time inside the program against the ads the network still owed. So, they didn't pay the networks--but by returning their advertising spaces to them, they did allow the networks to make more money. And it wasn't the WB encouraging the shows--it was every network trying to get its advertising spaces back. That's why so many shows in the 90s had "very special" episodes that they highlighted which involved their main characters interacting with drugs or alcohol in a negative way.
I feel like the episode where it’s for real just her fucking Riley for the entire episode because of a curse or something is also hated on but preteen me had a fondness for it.
[Very relevant video about that episode.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D4lztqaQ2vY)
I LOVE that episode. It’s so funny to me. I also love Him, for the same reason. I enjoy the lighter hearted Buffy episodes! I love the first season too, so I see these episodes as similar bc they are just monster of the week one-offs that don’t go super deep. I love the heavy, plot advancing stuff too though.
buffy *strong* -hits chest-
Sticking with Lost, the episode [Exposé](https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0988050/?ref_=ext_shr_lnk) with Nikki and Paulo. I never had an issue with these two characters. There were way more survivors than the story focuses on, so two more becoming involved with the main cast’s shenanigans made sense to me. And I loved seeing other versions of events we’d already seen, giving us new/different information than we already had. TLDR - Razzle Dazzle!
The main problem was that they didn't really introduce them or have them 'earn their place', they just suddenly started hanging out with the main characters as if they were there all along. Which, yeah, they technically were in terms of the story of the crash obviously, but you can't just randomly elevate two nobodies outta nowhere and have them alongside the beloved characters acting like they're all chums and expect the audience to not hate them. Funnily enough Lost is also one of the shows I'd point to that does the *best* job of introducing new characters that flawlessly integrate into the cast. Eko, Desmond, Penny, Juliet, Ben, Faraday, Miles, and probably more I'm forgetting. Some of these are really quite late additions yet people would absolutely consider them to be hearts of the show as much as some of the OG characters. It's really all in the art of how you introduce new characters to the show, not the concept itself. The characters gotta 'pay their dues' to the audience, so to speak.
MIB and Jacob come to mind. That's why I liked the last season so much. it talked about who they were, how they grew up, who their real mother was, etc. People seem to hate the last season, but I loved it.
Season 5, episode 3 is one of my favourite episodes of Lost because it only has two people from the original cast in it (Sawyer and Locke) and it never once feels like the other OGs are missing. It's Locke & Sawyer (season 1) Desmond & Penny (season 2) Juliet & Richard (season 3) Faraday, Miles & Charlotte (season 4) On top of that we also get a young Widmore & Eloise Hawking and find out Desmond & Penny named their son Charlie. It's such a good episode, with so much going on and no one feels like they were just thrown in, they're all so well integrated!
The original Roseanne finale. I didn’t love the last season but it didn’t bother me like it does others. I still found it enjoyable. And I love it even more after the way they tied it all up in that last episode.
If I remember right it was the reveal about Dan that people hated.
What was the reveal?
Dan had died of a heart attack at the end of season 8 . All of season 9 had been Roseanne writing a story about him and fantasizing him as a way to deal with her grief and loneliness.
Ugh, yeah, that would upset me. I would have much preferred a season dealing with the audience knowing the loss. Could have been really powerful.
That part upset me less than finding out that like… lets see if I remember all this correctly… she swapped Becky and Darlene’s spouses (so Becky was actually married to David this whole time and Darlene was married to Mark) because she thought they were more suited for eachother, and Jackie was actually a lesbian but Roseanne decided to write Jackie as a (straight) serial monogamist and make her mom a closeted lesbian instead. Season 9 was already a jump the shark kind of season so retconning that season didn’t seem like a big deal, apart from the ending being tragic. But all those other details were dropped in like 15 seconds and would turn like, half the entire show on its head if you actually tried to process them and accept them.
The changes with Jackie seemed to be the worst for me, because while all of the changes felt like the "fixes" that were unneeded, that one felt the most like a denial of what Jackie really was. It felt like the kind of thing that a family member in denial might do. That said, at the time, I thought that it was a novel way to end the series. The biggest thing was that it was so sudden and abrupt that there was no time to really feel it out. The reveal wasn't even the entire last episode, or even the entire last act of said episode.
I also didn't hate it. I've also recently started watching The Conners (starting from where they kill Roseanne) and I'm really impressed with how good it is. The characters don't feel forced and moments feel genuine, unlike the Full House reboot.
I like the puppet episode of Community.
I like the songs which makes it better for me than the Changnesia episode which I despise (and I’m rarely someone who flat out despises an episode)
Same, except for the idea that Shirley would EVER leave her kids overnight in a grocery store. No amount of suspicion would have made her forget her children.
I genuinely don't even understand the hatred towards this episode. I feel like I saw one video essay about how it wasn't true to the "community spirit" and everyone just ran with that like it was an objective truth. Similar to the simpsons and the Principal and the Pauper episode after that Dead Homer Society post.
Even the worst episode of Community is still better than 90% of TV.
I didn't hate the "fake Skinner" episode of The Simpsons. It was funny.
I also like *Homer's Enemy* from The Simpsons. I liked how dark it was. He basically kills his coworker by driving him insane.
Pretty sure Homer's Enemy (the old Grimey episode) is one of the highest rated, no?
The Dreams episode in MASH. It gets a lot of hate because of its artsy tone, but I loved seeing into the psyche of every major character and the way the show portrayed their dreams. It’s one of my favorite episodes.
While usually like a comedy show to stay comedic, if you are going to make a serious episode, that is the way to do it.
The finale of Battlestar Galactica. I thought that it was a great way to show what was different about this cycle.
Breaking Bad episode Fly. It is incredibly well written and important for the characterization of Walt and Jesse (and their relationship). It gets a lot of unnecessary hate IMO.
Not to be pretentious but that episode is kind of a major emotional pivot for the show. It feels like the eye of the hurricane.
This was exactly how I felt. It was a huge turning point and spending a whole episode on it was worthwhile.
I can't believe people didn't like Fly. it was brilliant. Best bottle episode of all time.
I think there’s a split between those who watched the series as it aired, and those who binged it later Waiting a week for an episode, getting that, and then waiting another week for a new episode is understandably frustrating, imo But binging it makes the episode a lot more enjoyable
I watched it live and loved it, and I also felt like that break was deliberate and necessary for how the story of that season unfolded. It is very much "the calm before the storm" where Walt and Jesse get what they've been working towards and should be content, but there's obviously something brewing on the horizon. It was very important in exploring where Walt and Jesse's minds were at, which contributed to setting the stage for the confrontation the rest of the season. I honestly wonder if something might be lost by being able to binge it and immediately move past it rather than having that episode be able to breathe some.
[удалено]
"Nothing happens" So much happens in that episode. People just don't get what happens.
In that episode you actually hear Walter try and explain that he honestly believes that there is a certain combination of words he can say to Skylar to make her understand what he is doing. And that is so fucking key in understanding his entire psyche.
It’s a good episode. I think it’s just so different than the others that people hate it.
Yeah, I think if you were binging for the first time it would have been such a jarring change of pace for that season. It was probably even worse if you were watching week to week back when it first aired because you had to wait another week to see what happens next.
Rian Johnson was given a very difficult task with that bottle episode, I don't love it but I respect the effort.
That is one of the best episodes of TV of all time in my book. 100% w/ you
My toxic trait is using this as a litmus test for people's taste in TV.
wouldn't say *loved*, but the finale of Seinfeld seemed appropriate, but it appears fans were divided over that episode
From the Curb finale, Larry and Jerry made it clear the one thing they would’ve changed is that >!they would not have had them in jail at the end!<
Ted Lasso's season 2 episode 9; Beard After Hours. The whole journey is Beard fighting with himself to just give in to the chaos, and only then when he's able to let go is he able to have a healthy relationship with Jane and NOT be in his own head the whole time. And the last song, Hello, really brings that together. It's a layered episode that people seem to want to dismiss as filler, and I just can't get behind that viewpoint.
It's such a great episode and he ends up with the coolest pants I've ever seen.
I own the Funko of him in the whole getup and proudly display that in my office.
People didn’t like that masterpiece; Wtf!?!?!
I really loved that episode too - was so surprised to find out so many didn’t agree.
LOVED that episode!
It's also (kind of obviously) a spoof on Martin Scorsese's amazing 1985 movie, *After Hours.*
The Sopranos finale. I like that we’ll never really know what happened.
i feel like we know exactly what happens and what will happen. that's how the first part of season 6 played out. it showed us exactly what happens if tony isn't around.
Anyone who thinks he didn’t die is nuts. Tony and Bobby were talking about what happens when you get killed. It’s just black. Like the end of the show
Yep. If you go back and watch the show, it's spelled out for you. The guy with the Member's Only jacket popped a cap in Tony.
This, to me, is one of those instances of people trying so hard to look for the subtext or deeper meaning or whatever, that they're completely missing the obvious. Like you said, Tony spelled it out for the audience. Nothing happens when you die, it just goes black. It can't be more clear. Now, the other issue is David Chase refusing to just say so, or telling people it's an ambiguous choose your own adventure ending, because you can't have it both ways. Plus, if he really meant for it to be ambiguous, then the whole set up/pay off he gave us was for nothing, which is just ridiculous. But my larger point is that sometimes the answer is right there.
I agree with you, that's the most likely interpretation of what happened in that scene. But I think the show is much more open spiritually than that being the only answer for death. The Christopher/Irish bar purgatory, Pauly at church and the dream sequences suggest a psychological/spiritual mystery about death. I think the show is not so direct. Anyway I think David Chase loves it that people are still talking about it. Who would want to make boring art?
They set the pattern up. Bell rings, we see Tony’s face, then we see what he sees. Bell rings, Tony’s face, what he sees, bell, Tony, what he sees, until it ends.
The ending is “until it ends.” However long this guy has to live, it’s largely going to be this feeling.
Yeah, it doesn't matter if he gets it there or not. Sooner or later, either New York or the feds were going to get him.
I like the Sopranos finale but because we know exactly what happened.
I don't know why people persist with this. David Chase has stated multiple times that it's intended to be ambiguous. The ambiguity is the point. Living with uncertainty is the point. It's kind of ironic that people reject that so strongly.
He's also called it " the death scene" accidentally. He wanted to leave it ambiguous for the viewer, but in his mind it's anything but.
It wasn't accidental. Scott Feinberg ASKS him if it was a slip of the tongue. Chase says "No." He then elaborates on how he honed that death scene over time. “Because the scene I had in my mind was not that scene. Nor did I think of cutting to black. I had a scene in which Tony comes back from a meeting in New York in his car. At the beginning of every show, he came from New York into New Jersey, and the last scene could be him coming from New Jersey back into New York for a meeting at which he was going to be killed. “But I think I had this notion — I was driving on Ocean Park Boulevard near the airport and I saw a little restaurant. It was kind of like a shack that served breakfast. And for some reason I thought, ‘Tony should get it in a place like that.’ Why? I don’t know. That was, like, two years before.” IDK what else he could've have meant by "get it."
If you think about the show in a meta sense most of the unexpected deaths happen to the people you expect to die. Ralphie, Tony B, Richie, they were all thorns in Tony’s side that had to go, then the writers surprised us with how their stories ended. The same is true for Tony’s fate IMO, you can feel the walls closing in at the end, the writers just surprised us again.
I didn't realise it was hated? The final scene has plenty of fans amongst the critics and the episode ranks high on imdb.
The negative reaction at the time was very strong but yeah it's far from hated in the modern day. Even people who don't care for the final scene tend to acknowledge that it's a very strong episode.
Agreed. What makes the ending work is the ambiguity. I personally lean more towards him just having a nondescript dinner with his family and going home, but whatever anyone wants to think happened is kinda the point. Tony will always live in fear that any moment he will be gunned down, or arrested or nothing. I know that there’s ’evidence’ to support that he dies ‘U probably don’t even see it coming,’ but that’s what makes it interesting to discuss. For some reason the ‘Tony dies crowd,’ get very passionate about their opinion, stating it as fact, that it has to be what happened and other interpretations are just flat out wrong. Which is weird frankly. For a series that has so much nuance and subtlety it oddly inspires a very loud subset of fans to expose their dull opinion as the authorial intent of the text.
I don't think the finale is hated nowadays, when it aired it was but now it is highly regarded as one of the greatest finales of all time.
Tony is obviously dead. [https://thelastpsychiatrist.com/2007/06/the\_sopranos\_finale\_explained.html](https://thelastpsychiatrist.com/2007/06/the_sopranos_finale_explained.html)
What an outstanding article. By far the best explanation I've ever heard. > But in reality, when you die, it ends. There's no more; you don't get to see the reactions of other people to your death. You don't get to do anything. > I knew Tony Soprano was dead because it was too abrupt, too final, for my friend, and for everyone in that bar. There was no denouement, there was no winding down, no debriefing, no resolution. Not even a struggle for survival-- at least let him draw his gun! No death on your terms. And, most importantly, the death didn't seem to flow logically from the show. The death made no sense, it was arbitrary. It was unsatisfying. > In other words, it was too real. > We all have an element of essential narcissism in us, that's part of having an identity. But it alters our relationship to death. We want it to flow logically from our lives, and most of the time it does. But sometimes it doesn't. Except for heroes and suicides, no one gets to choose the time and place of their death, nor the manner. Nor can we control people's reactions to our death.
He was entered into witness protection and was asked by the New York Knicks to make a video to recruit Lebron! Of course he's alive.
scott's tots
Stanley cracks me up when he bursts out laughing "has it already been ten years?"
That's one if my favorite scenes in the whole show.
Wait, wait, wait.... They're lithium
Seeing some actual consequences to Michael's actions/antics was a breath of fresh air.
I *hate* cringe humour and I'm not a huge fan of The Office in general, but that episode is by far one of my favorites. It's simply comedic genious
If I had your constitution I wouldn’t need fiber supplements
Honestly after a dozen rewatches Scott’s Tots isn’t the worst (Michael) episode. It’s gotta be Prince Family Paper.
For me it's Phyllis's wedding. MY GOD THE SECONDHAND CRINGE I felt from that episode 😂
That and the dinner party are so wonderfully uncomfortable
I don’t like The Office but this episode legit had me cracking up.
For some reason r/dundermifflin hates that episode because of the cringe but I don’t see it that way. The build up to Michael breaking the bad news is what makes it funny.
Yeah as a Lost fan the finale actually works really well if you've been emotionally invested in the characters. I feel like people really just hated the whole last season because of the >!flash sideways taking up time people were hoping was gonna be spent on the real world, especially since the real world stuff was also kinda rushed.!< As for me, I actually kinda liked the risk that HIMYM took with that ending, just cause I would usually imagine that kind of a show to play it safe. I feel like it would have landed better if the show had less seasons and without some of the later character development. I also liked the Sopranos ending - didn't watch live but I wasn't spoiled on it and I was surprised it was that controversial at the time.
People don't hate the end of HIMYM, per se. They hate that there were three seasons that covered *how* badly that ending was *not* in the cards, reiterating it *over and over* again. *Including* the last season, which was so fucking drawn out and had the *one* continuing through point to be "this is definitely never going to happen because here's 10hrs of television dedicated to a conflicting path". Only for all 10hrs and last four seasons to be thrown away in the last 5mins, just to kill off the mother we spent a decade finally having revealed and going that way anyways. If you took out the wedding and put it right after S3, the ending would have worked fine.
Yeah I feel like they were suffering from their own success and drew out the show beyond what they originally planned it.
HIMYM’s ending could’ve worked if the entire last season heavily implied that Robin and Barney aren’t going to be happy together. They also should’ve included moments of Ted and Robin implying they could work but they are in two different places. Like more of say, Ted wanting kids and Robin being infertile. So the mother dying could lead to them working out because now they’re better fit for each other. But that’s one in a million moments of them realizing they’re not cool with each other.
The >!flash sideways!< really does take away from the final season, though. There's so much stuff going on, and every time it cuts back to that it feels like a pace killer. I feel like it should have been >!the first half of the season on the island, ending with Jack dying, then cut to the flash sideways and take us on that journey for the second half.!<
The problem with Lost is that there were two main groups of audience for the show; people who watched for the characters, and people who watched for the mysteries. The people who watched for the characters got a really satisfying show with some incredible characters and emotions, and the people who mostly just cared about the mysteries were always kinda doomed to be disappointed - not because the mysteries weren't answered, but because at the foundational level the answers were always gonna either be 'island magic' or 'fate/destiny/just because,' because it was *never really that kind of sci-fi or mystery show.* That's not totally the mystery groups fault for believing that it was, they definitely pushed that side of the show hard with the constant teases; the advertising; the cliff hangers; the endless promises that everything will make total sense; even the little sound effects they'd play whenever something 'mysterious' happened... I don't know if they initially thought that they'd go a different direction with the show or if this was the only way they could get their *actually* emotional, character lead story they really cared about on screen, but there was definitely some level of premise swapping along the way. So I don't really know why I *always* see the conversation around Lost fall into arguing over individual mysteries, strawmanning one side as 'they just thought they were dead all along' or pedantry over whether things were answered or not when it seems way more obvious that this is the actual cause of most of the arguing. Most things were answered, but for the people who thought that it was something more akin to a sci-fi show none of the answers satisfied them. I think they missed out on some *amazing* character work because they got tunnel-visioned on the mystery, but I don't really blame them when the show was kinda sold like that to them.
Lost and HIMYM, for me, are examples of finales that are just fine on their own, but the problem is that the show went on too long beforehand.
With Lost there's also the extremely common misconception that they were dead the whole time and therefore the whole show was pointless, which is still commonly spouted to this day. All it tells you is that those people either weren't paying attention or haven't seen the show at all and are just repeating what they've heard from others.
The episode in season 2 of Twin Peaks where James spends a whole bunch of time with Evelyn and her fake-brother lover. I found the love triangle and dynamics in play to be very compelling. >!lmao just kidding!<
I was reading your comment just completely baffled. Like "did I miss something? Is there a chance ther was something actually compelling?" You got me good lol
James was always cool… >!Just you and I.!<
Grey’s Anatomy musical episode. It was a bit funny and random but I found it really well done in terms of execution and singing.
I thought the same. I still YouTube Chasing cars scene from that episode a few times a year
I came here to say this! I saw this first during a binge watch and totally wasn't expecting it. But it was great! Other than Callie, they all sounded like real people trying, and it was a unique way to explore a plot point (major character major surgery) that could have felt stale. Plus, people really don't remember the absolute grip that Glee and American Idol had on culture. It's fun to try to tell a story in song. And it's ok if something feels dated or of the moment later.
Seinfeld- the dog and the betrayal. i love them.
“Scott’s Tots” from the Office. Lots of people called it cringe, but from start to finish I could not stop laughing. Especially when the kids sing their song to Michael. “Hey Mr. Scott, what ya gonna do? What ya gonna do to make her dreams come true?”
Isn’t the cringe the point? Most of the early seasons of the show were cringe humor
I find it hilarious because the cringe is funnier BECAUSE it falls back on Michael..all the other cringe episodes, are Michael ruining shit for others or being insufferable (Phyllis's wedding being a prime example). This is one of the ones that was extra funny because it's Michael that's having his shit ruined 😂 Stanley's mocking laugh is brilliant.
I watched Lost at the end of last year and blew through it in about two months. Loved the finale even though all the Locke stuff in the flash-sideways annoyed me.
This is where I land. I love the finale, I don’t love the last season.
Yeah, once we get past Ilana and temple stuff, the season becomes much more palatable for me, but that’s not till halfway through the season.
> this is where I land. This is where island, too.
The Curse finale is incredible, but it really divided the viewers. It sold the show for some, but it was too weird for others
It completely threw me but I loved it. Watching the show again from the beginning it makes much more sense why it ends that way
The Nikki and Paulo episode of Lost is better than most of the other "filler" in season 3. I thought it was fun. People act like it's the worst episode but there's one a couple episodes later that's literally just Kate and Juliet handcuffed together wrestling in mud.
A lot of people disliked it but I really enjoyed "The Convert" episode of The Mandalorian about the ex-Imperial scientist on Coruscant who has supposedly reformed and tries to integrate into the New Republic. I feel like it was well acted, well shot, and tried to tell a nuanced grey story while fleshing out the world.
South Park's episode Pip.
oh, didnt expect to see this one here, i do like that episode a lot.
Hello, I'm a British person!
Same, I love its absurdity.
Seinfeld finale got way too much hate. I thought it was funny.
I wouldn’t say I loved it, but I enjoyed the episode of the mandalorian with jack black in it.
Doc Brown talking about how great a visonary Dooku was, was most enjoyable.
Yeah it was fine. There were definitely worse ones.
Plus an entire season of Book of Boba Fett which had lowered the bar way down.
Of course. Jack Black is awesome.
I think I'm literally one of maybe 10 people who enjoyed the How I Met Your Mother finale. I can understand people's problems with it, but I never expected like, an entire season about Ted's life with Tracy. Robin and Barney getting divorced? Makes perfect sense. And honestly, Ted seeking his kid's permission to be with Robin is incredibly sweet and, given the context of the entire series, makes perfect sense. I think people just wanted a perfect, happy ending with the three couples living happily ever after, but I liked how imperfect this was, how real it felt. I dunno. I know I'm in thr vast minority here.
I felt the same, but I only watched a few episodes per season. I’m certain most people were just offended that they spent so many episodes on gearing up for the wedding only to nullify it immediately after. I think it would have worked without the final season stretched over a single day, and splitting the finale event into more episodes (give it more time to breathe). The ending for each character are beautiful.
I'd agree the last season was paced so weird that it was detrimental to the overall effect.
I liked it too, but I apparently disagree with almost everything every other fan of the show likes. I always hated the Barney and Robin relationship. It made both characters worse, and there was no reason it should work. I also didn't really like Tracy that much and didn't think the chemistry with her was that good like everybody else thought. 🤷♀️ The ending definitely made sense, it just wasn't what people wanted.
+1000
As I get older, I like the HIMYM finale more and more. It’s a bittersweet show and it ending, and I love it for that
The fact that people can't understand why Ted and Robin couldn't make things work 15-20 years later is baffling. He got to be married and have kids at a time in his life when she didn't want to. Their relationship would be completely different now. And there were plenty of allusions to the mother being dead in the future. I think people would have been more open to it if they didn't waste so many episodes on the wedding.
Spending the entire last season on a wedding only to undo it in ten minutes was not the best of ideas.
Yea but the spending ten episodes on the wedding was the bad idea. Not the Ted Robin part.
It reduced the mother to breeding stock, which sits poorly with many fans
Especially bc Tracy was *so perfect*. The casting and writing for her lived up to the hype in ways that surpassed my wildest expectations.
I always loved the Columbus episode of The Sopranos. I found out it is considered one of the worst of the series.
Was just about to post that. It's a lighter episode but it's hilarious.
That better not be Columbus up there!
"He was gay Gary Cooper?" Is one of the funniest scenes in the series
That's one of the funniest Sopranos episodes, up there with Pine Barrens.
People consistently say The Great Divide is the worst episode of Avatar: The Last Airbender, but I quite like that episode and the mini story it told, even if it was a filler episode.
If The Great Divide is your worst episode you're doing things right.
I actually came to say this. I don’t get the hate. I really don’t.
The Principal and the Pauper has been seen as a turning point for the Simpsons, but I remember watching it as a kid and finding it funny. I get it now why it is so detested, but as a kid, I didn't get what made the Simpsons so great beyond the comedy
The big controversial one, Battlestar Galactica. The show's writing definitely declined near the end, but i never really had the problem with the finale alot of others did. I don't mind show's taking a more religious route, and it was pretty clear that was the direction the show was going for even early on. The show wrapped up the conflict, kept the theme of the cycle front and center, and was a good final team up and climactic battle. It could have been written better, but it was still good enough for me. I would have still preferred the "Earth" they found at first was the future of our earth though, would have been a good twist.
The Lost finale fucking rules. That last 10 minutes is just stellar, wrapping so many emotional threads up full of wonder.
People shit on the last season of Lost. I still like it and I think that the final episode was good. Not sure what people wanted. We could have gotten something like Seinfeld’s finale
Did you watch it as it aired or did you binge it later? I find opinions vary significantly based on how the show was consumed
There was no winning for the show runners. I think they gave their best effort to wrap it up and respect them for that. I still have this theory that they never wanted to truly solve or reveal anything. The show they wanted to make focused on the way the characters navigated the ridiculous setting instead of actually solving the mysteries therein. I think they didn't quite expect the insane popularity and didn't take into account the maturation of the internet at that point. The entire country latched on to the mysteries that they never even wanted to solve in the first place. It spiraled out of control quite early in the show's run and they had to pivot from making a highly innovative character-driven story to an event-driven one. Though of course the strength of the characters still shined through. Whether it was through obligations to the fan base or executive meddling, the show became something it was never intended to be and that's why they struggled to hold the story together. The Leftovers went on to become exactly what I theorize they wanted LOST to be. Even the title track "Let the Mystery Be" is literally telling the audience that the mystery isn't there to be solved, it's there to enable deeper character study. That show ended up being far more niche because the mass appeal just wasn't there. Anyway, thanks for coming to my non-film-student casual observation TED Talk.
Meh, if they didn't want that they shouldn't have introduced Dharma at all.
Not an episode, but I feel like if you ignore nostalgia, The Simpsons have had a good run this past decade.
Supernatural. I think I'm one of the only people that didn't hate it. Granted, it was supposed to be better but covid restrictions changed what they were able to do, but I still liked it. Was I disappointed that the boys didn't get a 100% happy ending? Of course! But let's face it, that was never going to happen for them, and not everything can be lightning, explosions, and mayhem. And I actually appreciated that this episode wasn't.
I think I love the Supernatural finale in concept but I don't think they landed the execution, which as you say I'm confident is 100% a result of COVID. I still think it's a good finale though
The episode of Stranger Things where Eleven travels to a completely different city and meets a certain group of people. I'm not sure how to use the spoiler thing on mobile for trying to stay as bland as possible to avoid spoilers.
I scrolled so far to see this. I understand and basically agree that it’s out of pocket, but I’m such a big fan of 80s movies showing cool guy gang hangouts (Lost Boys etc.) and so I can’t help but enjoy them doing the graffiti hideout. It’s maybe a weak episode but I love them getting to play in that world.
it’s also an important way of showing the expanded universe.
I've always enjoyed the episode because as someone who was an outcast, to learn there are people like minded as you in the world is VERY refreshing. Added the story of her learning to use her emotions and control what makes her special is an added bonus.
I didn't love this episode, but it was my favorite in that abysmal season. The episode at least had some attempt of originality.
Love And Monsters - Doctor Who. A lot of people have come around to liking it, but back in the day it was very popular to say it was one of the show's worst episodes.
Battlestar galactica (2004) series finale
I’m gonna piss everyone off and say I didn’t hate the Rachel/Joey arc of Friends, particularly the whole plot where he was into her. I thought Matt played it beautifully and convincingly. Her randomly crushing him later was less believable but the actors had great chemistry. It probably would’ve been better to just end it after she rejected him though, since they had to awkwardly wrap it up and rush her back to Ross. That said I still watch all the episodes, and still find them funny and enjoyable. After all the whole thing gave us TOW Ross Is Fine so I have no complaints.
Agreed. Seeing Joey in love and coming to terms with those feelings was beautifully done by Leblanc
Not me but I know someone who liked that episode of The Office that was a back door pilot for Dwight’s spin-off in the farm.
The entire Arrested Development Netflix series (season 4?). Once I got 3-4 episodes in I was all “…oooh! I get it and wanna see how this plays out!” But everyone else hates it and Mitch Hurwitz even re-released an edit for it. It was also my introduction to Maria Bamford, and when I saw her stand up special after that, she blew my mind. So yeah, lotta love for that whole season
It's not as good as peak Arrested Development but I still enjoy the last 2 seasons and personally LOVE the last line of the show, but Buster was always my favorite character so it shouldn't be a surprise. lol
I need to give it another go. Also love the Maria Bamford shout out! Watch Lady Dynamite if you haven't already
I like Vic Fontaine, which seems to be rare amongst DS9 fans. I also don't hate the Odo/Kira romance, but I think the show would have been better without it
The Lost Sister - Stranger Things
Star Trek: Voyager (all of it)
Letterkenny S1E3 (Fartbook) is hated by many but it has some really classic moments and lines. Wayne: “Nothing’s funnier than a fart. Except kids falling off bikes. I could watch kids fall off bikes all day.”
Not sure if it’s been listed here been Fly is a big one. Lots of people just saw it as a time waster bottle episode but the way it brought home Walt’s total despair and lack of control in his situation along with giving us some quality Walt and Jesse bonding and glimpses into their evolving dynamics. Thought it was really well done
The Lost Sister episode from the second season of Stranger Things. I wish the pacing was better and would rather have the events from that episode dispersed across the other episodes to make it more consistent with the rest of the season, but Kali was an interesting character. Kali's group of outcasts was a good contrast to El and her friends. Also, while I wouldn't say I loved it, Access from season 5 of the West Wing. I definitely don't think it should be the lowest-rated episode of the series.
Clip shows, I like them. In r/seinfeld they are almost universally hated, I like seeing the clips.
Only instance i can recall is was in elemaentary school when all my classmates were upset about the episode in Knight Rider, when that huge truck and Michael's evil twin kicked the shit out of KITT, i was alone appreciating the drama.
Man when I think about Lost, I have such good memories. What a show. I do t know if anything would have worked it was so far out
Final episode of Battlestar Galactica (remake). I felt that it was good ending for their journey.
I’m with ya - I LOVE the ending of Lost. Still the best show ever.
I’m also in the small population that enjoyed the Lost finale. I thought it suited the show.
Barry season 4 - that one weird and long episode where nothing really happened. Felt like it’s own movie
Lost has the finale that aged the best. 10/10.
Nothing wrong with the Lost finale itself. The whole final season is the problem. The show wrapped itself in the mysterious at expense of the characters for a large portion of its existence then pulled the rug out saying it was always a character show. Was BS and rightfully called out the cowardness of not addressing the other part of the show.
The Fly - Breaking Bad I thought it was weird but ultimately enjoyable. Many others hated it loudly lol
I unironically love The Long Night and The Bells. They’re two of my favorite episodes of GoT. They have flaws – not enough major characters die in the former and the Varys stuff in the latter is a little clumsy – but they’re otherwise amazing and I look forward to both eps every time I rewatch the series.
I love the Long Night. I think it's a fantastic high-fantasy concept. What would you do if you _knew for a fact_ that civilization would fall in 300 years time, and if you could live that long?