26 Great TV Season Finales

Welcome to the Alt-verse, Season 1

Up to this point, Fringe had been doling out tidbits about an alternative universe that seemed to be conspiring against ours. But it wasn’t until the end of the hour, as the camera pulled back from the building Olivia occupied to reveal that the Twin Towers were still standing, that we realized she had ”crossed over.” How the hell did she do that?! —Ken Tucker

Jim Kisses Pam, Season 2

The Jan/Michael/Carol love triangle! Kevin’s Police cover band, Scrantonicity! Oh, who are we kidding? This one was all about The Kiss. When Pam rebuffed Jim’s profession of love in the parking lot, we sighed; when he followed her into the office and kissed her anyway, we squealed; when she said she was still marrying Roy, we cried. Even the best melodramas haven’t toyed so effectively with our emotions. —Jennifer Armstrong

Ch-ch-ch-changes, Season 3

We’d gotten so comfy in the offices of Sterling Cooper that the finale decision to form a breakaway agency, Sterling Cooper Draper Pryce, felt downright revolutionary. Combine it with Don and Betty separating, and it was clear that the future of every main character was suddenly unclear. —KT

The Moldavian Massacre, Season 5

For a series that specialized in season-ending cliff-hangers (remember Krystle and Alexis in the burning cabin, or Blake left for dead atop a mountain?), Dynasty‘s season 5 capper was an over-the-top extravaganza. Amanda Carrington’s wedding to Prince Michael of Moldavia rivaled the nuptials of Princesses Diana and Grace (but maybe not so much Princess Kate’s) — until rebel forces opened fire in the final moments of the fairy-tale ceremony. All summer long, it was ”Who will live? Who will die?” as fans speculated on the outcome. Alas, Dynasty returned in the fall and the only ones dead were some minor characters we can’t even remember. Just like that, the show jumped the shark. But for one glorious summer, Moldavia rocked! —Ari Karpel

Picard gets Borgified, Season 3

Certain things are not supposed to happen to lead characters on a TV show. President Bartlet isn’t supposed to renounce democracy and become a Communist. Buffy isn’t supposed to become a vampire — no matter how often she beds them. And the Captain of the Enterprise isn’t supposed to be turned into that which he most despises: a member of the all-assimilating Borg Collective. But that’s precisely what happened — the Borg attacked the Federation, decided they needed a spokesman who sounded like a veteran of the Royal Shakespeare Company, and, in the closing moments of the third season, transformed Jean-Luc Picard into Locutus of Borg. —Marc Bernardin

Larry Opens His Restaurant, Season 3

Larry’s restaurant finally opens! But his last-minute replacement chef has Tourette’s and — naturally — busts out with some prime expletives from the open kitchen at the height of the very first dinner. Hoping to salvage the night and save his chef from embarrassment, Larry cries out some choice obscenities (which can’t be repeated here) of his own. This sparks a parade of dirty declarations from the dinner guests, such as Michael York, playing himself, whose initially tentative list ends with ”Bugger! And balls!” Soon enough, the whole place is filled with screaming, laughing, well-dressed cursers. —AK

Who is Cartman’s Daddy?, Season 1

Ever wonder who sired chubby, potty-mouthed Cartman? So did he. This season 1 ender followed his quest to nab the man that ”put his who-who dilly” in Mrs. Cartman’s ”cha-cha” and impregnated her at South Park’s Annual Drunken Barn Dance years earlier. The suspects? Well…Chef, Chief Running Waters, Jimbo, Officer Barbrady, Mr. Garrison, Jesus, the Denver Broncos, and Kyle’s dad, among others. And even the show-ending DNA test barely narrowed down that field. Then those cheeky South Park guys left us with the twisted cliff-hanger, ”Who is Eric Cartman’s father?” and held back the answer (hint: It’s not even near who you think) until the second episode of season 2. You bastards! —Aubry D’Arminio

Poor Mrs. Bauer, Season 1

Jack Bauer doesn’t play by the rules. But no one could have predicted that 24‘s creators would go rogue and break a widely assumed rule of television drama: Major characters are supposed to be immortal. Someone must have missed that memo, and the result was a first-season finale shocker that robbed our hero of a stereotypical stroll into the sunset, and instead left him cradling the lifeless body of his wife. Teri Bauer took a bullet in the stomach, courtesy of Jack’s old flame, and killing her off took some serious guts. Unlike other series, when 24‘s writers warn that no character is safe, they mean it. —Gretchen Hansen

The Hatch Stands Alone, Season 1

Can you remember a time before Immunity Idols, Tribal Councils, Reward Challenges, or Getting Voted Off of the island? Survivor has become so intertwined in the fabric of American pop culture that it’s hard to remember the first time we saw all of these elements coalesce in that first season of Survivor, when the nudity-prone Richard Hatch schemed, manipulated, and dominated the rest of his tribemates in Borneo. Despite Susan’s crazy snake-vs.-rat Tribal Council tirade, ”evil” was triumphant, and Survivor was established as a reality-TV force to be reckoned with. —MB

Two Years Gone, Season 2

J.J. Abrams gets props for his jaw-dropping cliff-hangers on Lost, but he perfected the art of the season-ending mind blitz on the less popular (but equally as compelling) Alias. In the final act of season 2, spy girl Syd’s world gets rocked: Her best bud Will might be dead, her best girl Francie is actually an evil clone, and there’s the small matter of two missing years. Not to mention a smokin’ hot Vaughn sporting a mysterious wedding band. You’ll be hit so hard with the Alias title card it’ll give you whiplash. —GH

The Heart Can’t Go On, Season 2

Thought a lot of people were gossiping the day after your prom? Try 19 million people. That’s how many fans showed up for Seattle Grace’s second season finale/two-hour, prom-night bonanza spectacular — a heart stopper, and I mean literally. Denny got a new heart, gave it (metaphorically) to Izzie, and then promptly flatlined, leaving the doe-eyed intern not only dateless and devastated, but possibly jobless. Meanwhile, Mer and Der put a whole new spin on the term ”examination room,” in one of the raciest sex scenes to sneak past network censors to date. Who would Meredith choose: McDreamy or McVet? Better question: What would become of Mer’s McMissing underwear? —GH

Flashing Forward, Season 3

One of TV’s greatest head-fakes ever, this game-changing episode, on which the entire series pivots, revealed that what we thought were flashbacks of Jack falling apart back at home were actually flash-forwards. Amid such wrenching emotional moments as Hurley’s microbus charge and Charlie’s prophesized sacrifice of his life to save his friends, we learned at last that at least some of the castaways would be rescued, but that there was still plenty more mystery, heartbreak, and awe in store for them all. —Gary Susman

The Assassination Attempt, Season 1

So you’re Aaron Sorkin, and you’ve just utilized your immense walking-and-talking skills to bring viewers a White House drama filled with immediately relatable characters leading complex, interwoven lives. How do you almost physically force your audience to come back for season 2? Toss out a finale in which white supremacists open fire on the entire Bartlet administration as they’re walking out of a town hall meeting, and end the hour with a voice yelling, ”Who’s been hit? Who’s been hit?” —Whitney Pastorek

Is Mulder Really Dead?, Season 4

The X-Files is one of those rare series that boasts several memorable season finales. But it was the emotional cliff-hanger during the height of the show’s popularity in the fourth season that sent fans reeling — trying, much like the revered duo of special agents, to separate the truth from the lies. Was Fox Mulder’s quest a hoax from the get-go, and what would become of his unfailingly loyal, cancer-stricken partner? Was Mulder really dead, and if not, was Scully privy to his faked-suicide scheme? Fans wanted to believe that the truth was out there, but that didn’t make the wait for answers over the summer hiatus any less painful. —GH

Who Will She Choose?, Season 1

The cliff-hanger to the first season of Felicity finds our over-analytical heroine choosing between loves. The camera pans away and the music queues up over the dialogue, so you can’t hear her as she hops in a cab and says where to go. Is it to the airport to meet sweet Noel for a vacation, or a road trip to her hometown with mysterious Ben? We won’t find out until sophomore year. —Loren Lankford

Crichton Goes Crazy, Season 2

John Crichton probably thought that it couldn’t get any worse than being stranded at the ass-end of the universe with no way of getting home. By the end of season 2, John finds out exactly how wrong he was. His nemesis has control of his brain, he was just forced to kill the woman he loves, and by the end of the episode, he’s stuck strapped to an operating table, the top of his skull missing, and forced to watch as his nemesis walks off with the key to the destruction of the universe. It was a bad day for John, but fans got one of the best episodes of the series — a cliff-hanger that broke hearts but kept us coming back for more. —Dafna Pleban

Who Shot J.R.?, Season 3

The most famous TV cliff-hanger of all time, this episode saw J.R. Ewing make several betrayed relatives and rivals angry enough to shoot him, but which one finally pulled the trigger? The show instantly vaulted from cult hit to worldwide sensation as viewers everywhere waited impatiently through the summer to learn who shot J.R. The season 4 episode that finally revealed his assailant (it was sister-in-law Kristin!) was one of the most watched events in TV history. —GS

Under the Cylon Boot, Season 2

What happens when you get what you want? After surviving the annihilation of their homeworlds, the ragtag fleet of Colonials find a planet that will support human life — and that’s shielded from prying Cylon eyes. So they settle there and eke out a hard-scrabble frontier existence for almost a year before the Cylons show up, catch the fleet with their proverbial pants down. As the Cylons came marching down the main drag of New Caprica, like the Nazis strolling down the Champs-Elysees, something became painfully obvious: What’s a war story without an occupation? —MB

The Pilot, Season 4

Seinfeld‘s most brilliant and self-reflective season climaxes with the filming of the NBC pilot for Jerry and George’s show about nothing. The two-part episode features return visits from many of the season’s memorable guest players (including Jane Leeves and Teri Hatcher), who all think the Jerry show is great. Still, everything goes spectacularly wrong, from Kramer’s encounter with his TV double to the reappearance of Crazy Joe Davola to NBC executive Russell Dalyrimple’s fatal crush on Elaine. —GS

Who Shot Mr. Burns?, Season 6

In classic Simpsons style, this episode sends up season-ending cliff-hangers (especially the classic ”Who Shot J.R.?” story arc) when an unknown shooter plugs Mr. Burns. Suspects include the entire town of Springfield. After all, the ancient robber baron had plotted to steal oil from beneath the elementary school, wreck Bart’s treehouse, raze the retirement home, close local businesses, and block out the sun. In a typically absurd wrap-up, we would learn at the beginning of Season 7 that the shooter was baby Maggie. D’oh! —GS

Carmela Leaves Tony, Season 4

Temporary victories (Junior’s mistrial, Christopher’s return from rehab, Tony’s purchase of a beach house for his family) begin to turn to ash as Carmela finally tires of having Tony’s infidelities rubbed in her face. After one of the most dramatic, bitter, volcanic marital arguments in TV history, Carmela throws Tony out of the house. This super-sized episode marked a turning point in the series, indicating bleaker days ahead for the whole Soprano clan. —GS

Buffy Bites the Big One, Season 5

”You’re just a girl!” exclaims a kid who Buffy saves from a vamp at the top of the fifth season’s finale…but we know better. As evil god Glory and creepy Doc Joel Grey use the Key — a.k.a. Dawn, Buffy’s sister — to open a portal that will destroy the universe, the only way to stop yet another apocalypse is for our blond heroine to jump in herself, dying on behalf of all mankind. The show turned irreversibly dark after this episode, but the epitaph on Buffy’s tombstone sums up all seven years of its greatness: ”She saved the world. A lot.” —WP

Big Moves and Miranda Spawns, Season 4

Carrie finds out Big’s moving to Napa and was planning to slip out of town unannounced. Oh, and Miranda’s having her baby — in the middle of Carrie’s goodbye date with Big. Nearly every scene’s iconic: Carrie and Big dancing to a skipping ”Moon River” record. Big commanding the carriage to get Carrie to the hospital. Miranda’s water breaking on Carrie’s exquisite sandals. Friends, shoes, boys, and a baby — what more could a Sex addict ask for? —JA

Ross Comes Clean About Rachel, Season 4

When Ross said he’d wed thee, Rachel, instead of soon-to-be wife, British bore, Emily in ”The One with Ross’s Wedding, Part Two,” all the pro-Rachel-and-Ross Friends fanatics freaked out. Sure this was what we had all been waiting for in the on-and-off-again relationship between the high school bittersweethearts, but at the end of the fourth season?! Too soon! We needed six more seasons of slamming doors and coffee-shop kisses — and a deliciously agonizing wait until ”The One After Ross Says Rachel.” —Lisa Raphael

Bros versus Foes, Season 2

No matter how many mistakes bickering exes Wil and Tara made, they still remained neck-and-neck with friends Chris and Alex for the whole last leg. (Standout moment: Wil getting out of a cab and running up a random hill, trying to fool his opponents into following him. They caught on and jumped back into their car, leaving Wil flustered in the bushes.) It ended with the closest AR finish ever, with the buddies overtaking the exes in a climactic foot-race, and good triumphing over really, really annoying. —Josh Wolk

Goodbye, Diane, Season 2

After Sam forbade Diane to pose for arrogant painter Phillip Semenko (guest star Christopher Lloyd), she went behind his back and did it anyway, spurring a brutal, nose-pulling argument. All season long these spats had led to comical makeups, but this tense brawl ended with a stubborn Sam kicking her out of his bar — and then gasping at the beauty of her painting. —JW