THE LIVING END
As shows wrap, some heroes survive and some don’t
Another dark TV show — Showtime’s “Nurse Jackie” — reaches the end of the road Sunday, so we once again face the blunt question.
Will our flawed but endearing antihero live through it?
We’ve been to this juncture often over the last decade, thanks to a parade of intense, compelling TV shows whose characters are shadowed by darkness.
From Tony Soprano to Walter White, Don Draper and Gregory House, we’ve watched these characters wrestle demons and feared that in the end there was no way they could win. The series finale, then, becomes the ultimate cliffhanger.
The happy news is that these characters survive more often than you might expect.
In “Nurse Jackie” (9 p.m.), Edie Falco's Jackie Peyton has blown up pretty much everything in her life.
Because of the addiction she can’t shake, she's pushed her husband, her kids, her family, her co-workers and most of her friends to the point where many of them have just walked away.
Now the hospital in which she works is on the brink of closing, which could take away the one thing she does well: nursing.
We like her. But as Falco has said repeatedly, this isn’t a comedy. This is about addiction.
She has no clear path to a soft landing.
Still, there seemed to be little hope for Don Draper on “Mad Men,” either, until there was.
In any case, here are 13 recent shows that entered the final episode with the fate of the lead characters in the balance.
We’ve put them in order from the softest landing to the hardest, and rated those endings on a scale from 1 to 10. A grade of “1” is the softest possible landing and “10” is the hardest.
1. “Revenge” (ABC). After four seasons of bloodshed and death, Amanda Clarke lives happily ever after. Landing grade: 1.
2. “Mad
Men” (AMC). Don Draper becomes an ad immortal, Peggy Olsen finds love. Too bad about Betty. Landing grade: 2.
3: “Justified” (FX). We figured Raylan Givens would live, but even Boyd Crowder made it, albeit in the pokey. Landing grade: 2.
4. “Deadwood” (HBO). Maybe the biggest shocker: In a town where respect for human life meant feeding their carcasses to Wu’s pigs, almost everyone lived. Landing grade: 2.
5. “Dexter” (Showtime). The serial killer transitioned to a gig as a lumberjack. Ah, that restorative aroma of a possible sequel. Sister Deb, however, didn’t make it. Landing grade: 3.
6. “The Shield” (FX). Vic Mackey’s pal Shane killed himself and his family. Vic’s wife took the kids into witness protection. Vic’s back on the job. Landing grade: 5.
7. “Damages” (FX, DirecTV). Ellen didn’t really die in that alley, which is good, and Patty lived, too. Patty just ended up sad, which is what she deserved. Landing grade: 5.
8. “The Sopranos” (HBO). A whole lotta people got mowed down, but as for Tony himself, apparently we’re not supposed to know. Landing grade: Incomplete.
9. “House” (Fox). House faked his death, that devil, which he says sets him free. Except he drove Cuddy away, his only friend really is dying and he can never be a doctor again. Landing grade: 6.
10. “American Crime” (ABC). We never even found out for sure who committed the crime, but Russ, Carter and Aubry all ended up dead. Landing grade: 7.
11. “Breaking Bad” (AMC). Walter White’s death was a given, but the ending wasn’t a total crash because Skyler and Jesse — Jesse! — made it out alive. Landing grade: 8.
12. “Boardwalk Empire” (HBO). Nucky died as the show lived, in a burst of gunfire. Eli and Margaret survived. Landing grade: 8.
13. “Sons of Anarchy” (FX). More characters survived than we might have expected, but when Jax killed Gemma and then himself, that became the takeaway. Landing grade: 9.