#I’m not sufficiently well-travelled to do this justice ALAS

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It’s that time again.  That time for TV shows to bow out for a few months, go into hibernation, and then feverishly work to convince to return to their worlds for more.

Having watched a number of shows hit their finales in recent months, here is my subjective and biased ranking:

Agents of SHIELD

The 100

Z Nation

The Good Place

Arrow

Legion

Supergirl

The Flash

Supernatural

The Legends of Tomorrow

The Vampire Diaries

Superstore

Last Man on Earth

The Walking Dead

Suits

Star Wars: Rebels

Channel Zero

This isn’t a ranking from Good to Bad, but rather in order of ‘I liked it a lot!’ to ‘I could have liked it more’ to ‘It was a finale’.  I don’t think I watched any shows in recent days that I really thought were awful finales, but some were definitely better than others. 

SHIELD was fantastic this season and I can’t even really think of a true ‘lull’ in the action.  First Ghost Rider, then LMDs, then the Framework (’Hydra’) stuff.  Excellent way of divvying up a 23-24 episode season and keeping it fresh and exciting.  Other shows would do well to learn from this example.

The 100 was terrific.  That show keeps blowing me away.  The stories are interesting, the acting and sets and effects are really great, and it’s full of great moments!  The last two seasons have been up and down, but man, those ‘ups’ are really up! 

Z Nation is an oddball to see on here but this show is so ridiculously fun that I have to mention it.  Every episode has some insane ridiculous stupid zombie moment where insane ridiculously stupid things happen to zombies, and then a bad guy says something dumb and then probably dies an episode later and then more stupid ridiculously fun zombie action happens.  So many fun and enjoyable moments of over the top action and effects. 

Odd to see a comedy like this so high?  The Good Place snuck up on me for being a very well written comedy with clever and laugh out loud moments, good acting and special effects, and a very very good finale.  If you haven’t given it a shot, I really really think you should, it’s so surprisingly entertaining.

Arrow did a great job of concluding the present storyline in a BIG way, and also the flashback storyline.  Very interested to see what will happen next season, as the finale left the writers with basically a blank slate regarding ... well ... everything.

Legion.  Wow.  I mean, Noah Hawley is just in a world of his own with directing.  Fargo was instantly a classic (especially season 1) and Legion just proves it wasn’t a fluke.  I loved seeing Dan Stevens break out of his Downton Abbey role in a big way, and obviously Aubrey Plaza was a treat (like always).  The visuals, the music, everything.  And obvs I loved seeing Jemaine Clement.  Because I love seeing him in basically everything.

Supergirl did a great job of being the finale everyone kind of expected and hoped for at the same time.  Big effects, big fights, conclusions to stories, teases for the next season, all of it.  It had more ambition in it than some movies, and did a great job with maximizing the TV budget it had.  And honestly, it’s crazy that this is a TV show.  A decade ago, many of these episodes would have been a movie, for their budget and characters.  And Melissa Benoist is just a treat.

Flash ... well, I love the Flash, but this season wasn’t great, and last wasn’t either.  This was better, but still up and down, very uneven.  The finale was fine, but it had a few things that could have made it much better.  And naturally Barry did a Barry thing in the finale, and despite it actually making sense this time around, it still feels like a pointless cliffhanger.  One of those: Is the main character really dead?  Well, all signs point to Maybe!  (Unless the show got renewed and isn’t Game of Thrones).

Supernatural was pretty solid considering it is in season 10,000.  Sad that Mark Sheppard (Crowley) said he’s not coming back for next year, but maybe it’s a cop out like Ian Somerhalder (Damien) on Vampire Diaries, where it’s really just to ‘sell’ a finale.  I really have enjoyed the last 4 seasons quite a lot and have every intention of tuning in again and again to watch the boys raise havoc and save people (and hunt things) as long as the CW will renew it.

Legends added dinosaurs in the finale, in a city, doing dinosaur things.  This covers a lot of ‘meh’ parts in the finale, though it was pretty solid overall.  I mean, when a season is about getting the Spear of Destiny and then needing to use the Blood of Christ that is buried in a battlefield (that you retrieve during a battle) so that 3 baddies don’t destroy all the things ... well, it’s an insane premise that was well delivered, just not incredibly well.  More Captain Cold is always a good thing though!

Vampire Diaries finally ended, and it ended in (some) ways that people expected, and others that were still (somewhat) surprising.  It smartly left teases to storylines unexplored that will likely payoff in The Originals, and allow us to continue visiting some characters again, but it didn’t feel like a cheap finale for a show that over and over surprised me with how fun and insane it was. 

Both Superstore and Last Man on Earth had finales that reset the status quo and will get me back.  Partly because they’re both terrific in different ways, and partly because both could use a bit of a shakeup in ‘the formula’.  They were fine finales but not ‘OH MY GOSH HAVE YOU SEEN’ finales. 

A simple summary of The Walking Dead finale: from literally the first 2 minutes I could have told you how at least part of it would end.  But some parts were still very entertaining, while other were ... predictably dumb.  This was a very up and down season with a lot of flaws that hopefully will be corrected and some story problems that seemed so simple to resolve.

Suits teased a change that seemed like it took an eternity to get here, despite being eminently enjoyable to watch it come to fruition, still took a thousand years to happen.  It was renewed, so it will be neat to see how it changes things going forward.  And, considering the upcoming spinoff, I wonder if Suits is coming to a close?

Rebels ... next season is your last.  I have mixed feelings about this.  Where was Ahsoka this last season?  I guess that was the answer to season 2′s finale... but come on.  That better not be the answer.  I’m excited for some of the teases for next season, hopeful Thrawn keeps being menacing, and intrigued about how they end it.  And mostly I’m interested to see when Disney will announce the next animated show, hopefully set in another interesting era where we can see big names do big stuff (ala Clone Wars).  Still hopeful that Ezra goes darkside.  We’ll see.

Channel Zero surprised me with how incredibly slow burning the entire show was, taking its sweet old time to add in the scares and the dread.  I enjoyed every episode and thought the finale ended it sufficiently, but it wasn’t as good as the prior episodes.  Here’s hoping that season 2 ends up with a similar slow burn feel.

And the following are ones that have aired but I haven’t yet watched:

Brooklyn Nine-Nine

Modern Family

Jane the Virgin

Bobs Burgers

Elementary

Samurai Jack

12 Monkeys

The Expanse

Into the Badlands

Yeah, I’ll get there.  I watch a few of these with my wife, so it’s a ‘when we get to it’ kind of thing (Brooklyn Nine-Nine, Modern Family, Jane the Virgin, Bobs Burgers), and a few (Samurai Jack, 12 Monkeys) I haven’t watched any of this season.  And Elementary, while I really really enjoy it, I am at least 2-3 seasons out.  The Expanse is the sci-fi show everyone should be watching but not enough are and I think it’s going to end up cancelled before it really hits its stride (and as far as I understand, it got terrifically better in season 2 after a very strong season 1).  Into the Badlands is the show (frankly) that Iron Fist wishes it was and I really need to watch season 2, but its one of those shows you have to watch without doing other things (which tends to be what I do).

And there’s ones that are a still a ways out:

The Originals

The Leftovers

Better Call Saul

Doctor Who

Steven Universe

Adventure Time

Gotham

Fargo

American Gods

Prison Break

Twin Peaks

So much excellent TV in this!  The Originals has been good, The Leftovers is on its way out (and seems to be maintaining its quality and momentum), and what I say that hasn’t been said about Better Call Saul?  Doctor Who has been completely amazing this season, easily the best Capaldi season, and up there with the best ‘Nu Who’ seasons, in my opinion (and many others’).  Steven Universe is so much fun and I know Adventure Time is on the way out ... sad sad sad.  Can’t wait to share that with my son when he’s older.  Gotham is insane and campy and stupid and I’ll absolutely tune in in the fall.  Fargo has been good this season after a kind of ‘meh’ season 2.  American Gods is a great adaptation of the book, and a great show really in every respect.  Blown away by the quality!  And I haven’t actually started Prison Break but I fully expect to enjoy it (and be sad since apparently it isn’t getting renewed again).  Um and Twin Peaks is a show that I don’t understand but am watching season 2 so I can watch season 3. 

And ones that are about to start:

Dark Matter

Killjoys

Fear the Walking Dead

Rick and Morty

Orphan Black

Preacher

Dark Matter isn’t amazing but it’s serviceable, while Killjoys is so so so much fun.  Fear is still figuring itself out but season 2 was much better than season 1 (where they totally abandoned their premise about 2 episodes in).  Rick and frickin’ Morty.  When are we getting more, Dan Harmon??!??!  And lastly, Orphan Black, I can’t believe it’s almost time to say goodbye.  Tatiana Maslany better get some killer roles after this because she is a stellar actress and this show is so good, I hope the finale does it justice.  And Preacher is just insane in the best way.

That’s all for my TV thoughts for now.  I didn’t include Netflix-type binge shows but I watched a lot of those too (Iron Fist, 3%, The OA, Between, Travelers, Santa Clarita Diet, The Crown).  Or shows I might want to watch but haven’t yet (Riverdale, Underground).  And I probably forgot other shows too.  And I probably watch too much TV, but if it’s any consolation or explanation, it heavily influences and inspires my writing.  (And most of it I watch while video gaming anyway).

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