Stuff That Ended RIGHT?

[Tanis]

Watching the last episode of X-Men:TAS and I realized...
Wow, this ended WELL.
Like, it ended as it 'should' have.

Any other shows/movies/games/books/etc that ended on a high note?
No 'last 10 seconds' of Dexter crap.

 

[tippy2k2]

I've posted this exact same ending on multiple threads. It's easily one of the best endings to a TV Show that I have ever seen and falls in line with the show so utterly perfect that I swear they must have just written the entire show in one go and filmed it that way.

I'm just going to copy/paste it from last time because more people should see this show:

The ending of The Shield [http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0286486/?ref_=nv_sr_1]

If you haven't seen it and you have any interest (something I would STRONGLY recommend), I would not read the spoiler. The twists and turns and the will he/won't he that occurs in the last season will be soiled. It's on Amazon Instant Streaming if you already have it.

Spoiler

A lot of anti-heroes seem to never really get what they truly deserve. Hell, for the most part, they end up just getting killed or they get away; it's very rare for them to be actually and truly punished for their actions.

That was about the best endings I've ever seen. I don't think a show has EVER made me as sick to my stomach (in a good way though) as this one did. Throughout the entire run of the show, these four corrupt cops did some very bad things but always stuck together. Finally, as Shane murders one of his own to keep a secret, Vic feels the pressure from everywhere. Shane is on the run and will spill everything that they have ever done if he gets caught. Eventually, Vic gets a FBI job which has the condition of pardoning him for everything he's done as long as he confesses it. Vic tells Ronnie, the surviving member that isn't on the run, that he will have a job for both of them there.

It falls through. Vic, in order to save himself, spills everything to the Feds to give himself immunity, leaving Ronnie pissing in the wind. Ronnie is arrested but the kicker is that Shane kills himself rather than being taken. Shane bluffed it...Vic spilled everything to save himself for absolutely no reason. The FBI, disgusted with what they have, stick him in a desk. The end scene is Vic standing, looking out the high skyscraper window. Two of his best friends are dead, the third is going to prison for a long time, and everyone around him (including his former wife and kids) absolutely hate him for what he's done in the past. This is not what he wanted at all...

Abso-fucking-perfect. I was very worried about the ending since frankly, anti-hero shows usually don't end well (as in, the endings suck) but The Shield absolutely nailed it.

 

[Vegosiux]

The Usual Suspects, naturally. But you have to see it at least twice to realize the ending was perfect.

 

[WhiteFangofWhoa]

Well, X-Men Evolution for one. The final battle was against a villain they'd been slowly building towards for the entire series across 4 seasons, and it involved every single mutant character. Maybe not as heart-rending as the end of TAS, but still awesome.

After two series left hanging forever, Capcom made sure to actually tie things up nicely with the 4th and final outing of Mega Man Zero.
<------ You even finally got to kill this guy.

One can never be sure when a series of movies can be said to truly 'end', but I found the ending to the Mighty Ducks trilogy to be about as climactic as the kids' sports movie that practically invented the 'evil team' could be.

 

[NinjaDeathSlap]

Oh, this takes me back...

I think the first thread I ever made on The Escapist was something like this (though it was specifically to do with TV shows). My personal suggestion back then was Blackadder. It takes some seriously skilled writing to turn WW1 (admittedly that was only for the last season) into a laugh-a-minute comedy, but you go to a whole other level when you can then pull of such a HUGE tonal shift for the last few scenes like they did, and for it to work.

Another popular choice was Scrubs (as long as everyone was in agreement that Season 9 never happened).

 

[Drummodino]

Spoiler: Do not open if you dislike people yelling through text

[HEADING=2]TENGEN TOPPA GURREN LAGANN!!

JUST WHO THE HELL DO YOU THINK WE ARE?![/HEADING]

Yea I just finished watching that. It was the most adrenaline-pumping, heart-stopping ending I've ever seen. Holy crap it was amazing. I feel like I could run a marathon right now.

 

[bartholen_v1legacy]

Avatar: The Last Airbender and Chrono Trigger. Both happy endings (no, not that kind you pervert!) done absolutely perfectly. I'm also inclined to include My Neighbor Totoro, but since it barely has a plot in the first place, there's not much in it to end. But what ending there is makes me well up every time.

 

[lacktheknack]

Going with the good ending of Riven here. One of the best, most conclusive endings in gaming that quickly and effectively sums up and answers literally every dangling plot thread of the whole game satisfactorily.

Literally the only not-fully-answered question ("What happened to the player character?") gets an epic callback and answer in the Myst MMO a few years later.

 

[Henkie36]

-Breaking Bad
-Avatar - The Last Airbender (And Legend of Korra's Beginnings)
-GTA IV
-Friends
-The Sixth Sense
-Both How to Train Your Dragon movies (and the show as well)

Look, I could keep this up for some considerable time, but the point is, there are good endings for every bad one. My favorite from this list has to be TLA, I actually think it wasn't a deus ex machina as it made sense within the universe, and it was just an epic finale. The reference point I keep coming back to is that this ended how The Lord of the Rings wanted to end, rounding up all the stories (save for ''Where's my mother'') and doing so within an agreeable time span, not the endless amount of endings LotR has.

 

[Thaluikhain]

Oh, this takes me back...

I think the first thread I ever made on The Escapist was something like this (though it was specifically to do with TV shows). My personal suggestion back then was Blackadder. It takes some seriously skilled writing to turn WW1 (admittedly that was only for the last season) into a laugh-a-minute comedy, but you go to a whole other level when you can then pull of such a HUGE tonal shift for the last few scenes like they did, and for it to work.

Oh yeah...the tone shifts quite a few times in the last few scenes. Still going for silly laughs, while talking about the tragedy of it all.

Spoiler

That bit where Darling mentions the woman he's never going to see again right after the joke about being a Pratt...

...

End of the third season of H2O: Just add water.

Spoiler

Awful quality clip, though

The three mermaids save the world with the power of friendship.

Bella gets together with her love interest, Cleo gets together with her love interest who came back to the series just for that bit. Rikki's love interest tries to get back together with her, but she's sick of his bullshit and decides to stay single, to hell with the cliched happy ending. He sorta lurks around hoping she'll pay attention to him, but she doesn't.

(And then Bella goes up on stage and sings the theme song for the first time in the show as the credits roll)

 

[MordreadRN]

I liked how Star Trek: TNG ended. It was a sweet ending and ended things but didn't really end them.. If that makes any sense.

 

[Fox12]

The golden age arc to Berserk stands out. It's one of the most horrifying things I've ever seen, but all the character arcs came together perfectly. You never really know what's up with Griffith (in the show at least). Is he just using people for his own benefit? Or does he care more about his men then he does himself? What exactly is the relationship between the three protagonists? The ending brings it all together in a way that feels real. More than that, all the events led up to it PERFECTLY, like the pieces of a puzzle falling into place, which is good, since it falls into the theme of fate and destiny. I haven't seen that done since Greek tragedy, which is basically what Berserk is. Not a happy ending, but a perfect one. The show could have used five more minutes to wrap things up, though.

Also, Persona 3.

Spoiler

I liked that, instead of a big, dramatic death scene, the protagonist quietly passed away with Aigis watching over him. The rest of the cast can be heard running up the stairs to greet him, which means that he kept his promise to graduate with them all. Sadly he passes moments before they arrive. Then the music kicks in and the credits roll. Perfect.

 

[EHKOS]

I feel like a lot of shows that actually end on their own instead of running until they get canned have this feeling. But rarely does a show do this anymore.

I think I'll go with House. It wasn't the best ending, and they left it a bit open, but it did feel good for the moment. And I think he already mentioned if the board ever took away his license he would go practise in a third world country I currently forget the name of.

 

[PoolCleaningRobot]

This one's a little controversial but fuck it, The Last of Us. There's a lot Apocalypse and zombie fiction about mankind being the real enemy, but most cop-out at the end

Spoiler

What I mean, is that these stories go out of their way to show how evil people are, but end with hopeful endings where a good person sacrifices them self to give humanity another chance. Bonus points if its a bad guy anti-hero being the kind hearted sacrifice. In LoU, Joel decides the sacrifice isn't worth it. It could also be looked as Ellie being the only good thing worth saving in the world. Of course, there's also the other way of looking at it. Joel who's the opposite of the typical anti-hero seeing as he's quiet and polite on the outside but does "bad" things, ultimately makes the decision that fits his character by saving Ellie for himself

I'd also say the Crysis series. It's a strange trilogy of games that games that really falls apart, but the final scene of the third game felt satisfying and complete

Also, Persona 3. I liked that,

Spoiler

instead of a big, dramatic death scene, the protagonist quietly passed away with Aigis watching over him. The rest of the cast can be heard running up the stairs to greet him, which means that he kept his promise to graduate with them all. Sadly he passes moments before they arrive. Then the music kicks in and the credits roll.

Perfect.

I loved this ending. I actually know people who didn't like it cause it felt like deus ex machina, but I think it was the ending the game deserved

 

[Bestival]

I feel like a lot of shows that actually end on their own instead of running until they get canned have this feeling. But rarely does a show do this anymore.

I think I'll go with House. It wasn't the best ending, and they left it a bit open, but it did feel good for the moment. And I think he already mentioned if the board ever took away his license he would go practise in a third world country I currently forget the name of.

Aw. I was going to say House. The ending fit really well, House got a last little 'fuck you' to the man, and though I was sad to see my favorite show at the time end, it did end in a way that satisfied me.

My new answer will be the ending of Enter The Dominatrix DLC for Saints Row 4, and I'm only half kidding. You've gotta play it to get it, but holy shit that was a amazing.

Spoiler

The whole DLC is setup as a sort of mock documentary of how/why they didn't do Enter the Dominatrix for SR3, and they're ragging on Pierce the whole way through, as usual.
Then at the end when all is seemingly lost, Pierce shows up out of nowhere, bringing highly intelligent space velociraptor allies, and saves the day.
You then have to flee the simulation, and you do so by riding on the back of one of the raptors, while in the background they're singing "everybody do the dinosaur".

I was laughing so much I thought I was literally going to die.
Edit: Found the vid.

 

[hermes]

I would say any show that run his planned course, instead of being rushed at the end, because the network canceled a couple months before the final chapter, can potentially end well.

My two cents are:
- Avatar: The Last Airbender
- Teen Titans

 

[Liffguard]

I really loved the finale of Angel. Every character had a poignant and fitting final day, and it all came together perfectly in that final scene. "Let's go to work."

 

[Gorrath]

"Bonnie and Clyde" film from 1967. There was no need for for the movie to engage in a bunch of sentimentalism or narration. The pair get ambushed, gunned down and the cops stand there staring at the car and corpses for just a moment before it goes black. What more needed to be said, two brutal lives snuffed out brutally.

 

[FPLOON]

The movie Paprika comes to mind... and not just because it was a better Inception movie than Inception, mind you...
Both FullMetal Alchemist series ended just right... and the first series didn't really need that movie that no one should talk about unless they're mistaking it for the second series's movie, mind you...
The Muppet Movie ended right by coming full circle, basically...
The Gunslinger Girl manga, to me, ended quite right...
As Told by Ginger, that one show Nick forgets existed, concluded well in its own right...

Uh... Some of the others I thought of have already been mentioned... (like Persona 3 and Avatar: The Last Airbender...)