(Clockwise from bottom left): Search Party (Courtesy HBO); Kevin Can F**K Himself (Courtesy AMC); Peaky Blinders (Courtesy Netflix); Derry Girls (Courtesy Netflix); Queen Sugar (Courtesy OWN); Dead To Me (Courtesy Netflix); black-ish (Courtesy ABC); Atlanta (Courtesy FX); Grace And Frankie (Courtesy Netflix); The Expanse (Courtesy Prime Video); Better Things (Courtesy FX); Better Call Saul (Courtesy AMC); This Is Us (Courtesy NBC)Graphic: The A.V. Club
Some truly great TV shows aired their final episodes in 2022. Over the past 12 months we’ve said goodbye to cult hits like Derry Girls, massive network dramas like This Is Us, and critical darlings like Atlanta and Better Call Saul. And while audiences will feel the loss of these shows no matter what, that final episode can make or break a show’s legacy—look no further than Dexter for proof that a terrible finale can leave a lasting impact. To help cope with the sting of some of our favorite TV shows no longer gracing our screens, we’ve ranked 22 major series finales from 2022 based on how well they wrapped up the series as a whole. We didn’t include any shows that were canceled without notice, as it didn’t seem fair to compare them to series that had a planned ending. Here, then, is our look back at 2022's TV series swan songs.
22. Killing Eve
Killing Eve Season 4 Official Trailer | BBC America & AMC+
’s series finale might be the most disappointing TV experience in a long time, primarily because BBC America’s Emmy-nominated drama began with a stellar premise and performances. Sandra Oh and Jodie Comer’s volatile chemistry stood out as their characters—MI5 agent Eve Polastri and wickedly funny assassin Villanelle—got entangled with each other. However, Killing Eve’s fourth season took it downhill with unnecessarily complex, dragged-out plots (does anyone know what The Twelve actually is?). And all of it wrapped up with a rushed ending, made worse by the show succumbing to the “Bury Your Gays” trope for a poorly executed shock effect. The lead characters and the show’s audience deserved a far more thoughtful conclusion. [Saloni Gajjar]
Not every time a gay character dies is it a “bury your gays” trope. The character in question was a murdering sociopath. She absolutely deserved her fate, however poorly executed it was in the final episode.
Isn’t Killing Eve a pretty queer show already? This would be like saying that American Horror Story does bury your gays, when that’s a horror show with a mostly gay cast, at least in the last season.
I mean, fuck that show thoroughly, but not for -that- reason.
I agree, but since the trope is specifically gay characters dying immediately after finding love and happiness, it does kind of fit for Killing Eve. The issue isn’t gay characters dying, it’s that weird rug-pull that seems to happen to gay characters disproportionately.
Tons! Tara and Willow reconcile on BtVS, Tara is shot and killed in the same episode. Lexa and Clarke consummate their relationship on The 100, Lexa is shot and killed same episode. Supernatural, Castiel confesses his love for Dean, is immediately sucked into a hell dimension. Ianto and Jack on Torchwood identify as a couple for the first time, Ianto dies next episode. It’s so rare to have queer main characters that even a relatively small number of these incidents loom large, and while each of them individually are reasonable plot choices, since they bear the unfair weight of rare representations they form a pattern more quickly.I would say the answer is just more queer representation overall, so that there can be a wider diversity of endings for gay characters. But until then, it’s ok for us to complain about what we’re getting.
Yeah, I won’t defend the final season as a whole, but there is no way that they were going to get to ride off into the sunset. The only question was whether Eve would die along with Villanelle. Villanelle was a murderous psychopath/sociopath, by all rules of drama and morality she had to die or end up in jail. “Bury Your Gays” is becoming the new “Fridging” where the original meaning has devolved into “A character I liked died and I’m going to throw a buzzwordy tantrum”.
See was one of Apple TV+’s first shows and, much like the rest of that initial bunch, was met with a shrug at best from critics and audiences.For All Mankind would like to have a word.
Did anyone else have a similar Better Call Saul experience, where you weren’t just compelled by the actual content of the show but actively rooting for the filmmakers and writers to stick such an ambitious landing?By the end, it was 49% “this was a great show” and 51% “HOLY HELL, VINCE AND THOMAS AND PETER PULLED IT OFF!!!”
Actively angry to see Locke and Key here, and so high.
Let’s review what happens in the Locke and Key finale: A man runs over an indestructible demon with his car, to help the protagonists escape. They ride off on a motorcycle.The demon gets up. The man gets out of his car, walks to where the demon is, stares at him for an unbroken four seconds, and is then knocked out.The demon possessed a British soldier from the revolutionary war, so he time-traveled to this point. One episode prior, he referred to cars as horseless carriages. He walks to the man’s Subaru Outback, gets in the driver’s seat, successfully puts it in reverse, successfully backs up, successfully puts it in drive, and successfully pursues the protagonists in a vehicle that he would not have had if the man hadn’t gotten out of the car after “helping” in the first place.Two minutes later, Colonial Demon Elon Musk will crash the car into a cornfield where it will explode. Because he started shouting “turn for me” at the steering wheel.
Genuinely one of the stupidest shows I’ve ever seen, ruining the only adaptation we’re ever likely to get of one of my absolute favorite graphic novels.
Also, full stop, any fantasy story that ends with “we need to get rid of our wondrous magical abilities because they are bad and could corrupt us. Guess we should all become dentists or some shit” can fart in a phone booth.
Better Call Saul was just perfection. One of the best wrap ups ever. This Is Us was touching but I feel like it was overshadowed by the penultimate episode. And Better Off Dead was just lovely and moving. A very appropriate ending for a really fun hidden gem of a show.
The Stargirl finale was fantastic, even if it made me want to see more adventures with the fantastic roster of young heroes that it teased at the end (Sand! Dragon Queen! Starwoman!)
So nice to see the Derry Girls finale ranked so highly! It truly was the perfect finale to a perfect show. That final scene of everyone voting had me in tears.Also I forgot about Search Party. Lord that final season was bonkers in all the best ways possible.
So true. I think everybody who has seen it was surprised at how emotional it was watching, not just the central characters but also the peripheral ones, standing in the voting booth with a piece of paper that could change the direction of history. And they did a brilliant job of showing the moral trauma involved in voting to release murderers from prison. Erin and Michelle’s argument about Michelle’s brother made it all so personal, but the police officer’s anguish in the voting booth also said so much about the conflict and the Good Friday Agreement (I won’t mention the actor’s name on the off-chance somebody here is now deciding to give it a go – an all-time classic cameo).
If you have not watched Derry Girls, sweet suffering Jehovah, just go watch it. It is fantastic, multi layered and absolutely hysterically funny. Just turn on the closed captioning and laugh until you cry.
If you have not watched Derry Girls, sweet suffering Jehovah, just go watch it. It is fantastic, multi layered and absolutely hysterically funny. Just turn on the closed captioning and laugh until you cry. I have nothing to add to this, except that… I was so surprised and happy that a 3rd season was coming I bingewatched the entire show. The whole damn thing. Hell, I used a vacation day for it.
SPOILERS for Dead to MeJudy and Jen went their “separate ways” …???Jen was DYING. She rowed off into the ocean to die peacefully and spare Jen that. She didn’t just decide to sail to Zihuatanejo.
No Stranger Things? I mean, the finale was a two-episode extravaganza that gave us one of the best moments of the entire season and answered most of our burning questions too. Most of my problems with it are minimal. Jason’s death needed more focus, the final fight between 11 and 1 could have been a little more exciting, too, but overall it was good.
It is possible for an attempt a satire to fail. Some people even like the mess that creates. but let’s be real – the last season of Search Party fucking sucked. That’s coming from someone who LOVES the show as a whole.
I dunno, I liked it. I would think if you didn’t, it probably didn’t destroy the whole show like Killing Eve did. I cannot believe what a shitty, shitty ending that was.
“Better Call Saul might have started as a spin-off of Breaking Bad, but it ended with a legacy that challenged even its predecessor’s reputation and acclaim.”I wouldn’t go quite that far with my praise for it, but it was a good show on the whole, and “Saul Gone” was certainly a great finale, so we agree on that, at least.
I know everyone has a show they know should have made the list, but I’m genuinely disappointed American Horror Story: NYC didn’t make the cut. Ryan Murphy productions are notorious for sloppy endings, but here he stuck the landing. This was Kerri Strug’s 1996 Olympic vault. This season was vastly different in tone than previous seasons, which may have turned people off. But as a gay man of a certain age, I don’t doubt there was a reason Murphy’s heavy handed allegory about AIDS was handled with such care; and with little, if any, comic relief. To craft a finale that consisted of little more than men falling into their graves set to music was commercially risky, but artistically justified. If it bothered you, or you thought it was boring, AHS succeeded. And it could not have been more timely. Two years of COVID-19, and our governments’ unwillingness to respond, should have shown the world what gay men have been coping with for the last four decades. We now have Prep and HIV medication that can control viral loads, but our pandemic isn’t over. An entirely new generation has just entered the gay bar scene, and they’re the first to have no idea what it’s like to watch friends waste away in filthy hospital beds set aside in rooms nurses refused to enter. The stigma has waned, but we still don’t have a cure or a vaccine. To watch Patti LuPone and Sandra Bernhard in this season, staunch allies since long before it was fashionable, it’s impossible to separate their characters from themselves. This story wasn’t just a TV show, it was a public service announcement. AIDS isn’t over.
I hated the last season of Peaky Blinders as much as I hated Richie in The Bear and I hated the stupid reveal as much as The Deep from The Boys. It really shouldn’t have been in this list.
I doubt there will be new seasons of Undone and Russian Doll, so they could’ve been there, but that they got new seasons was a major surprise anyway.
Ruth had it coming. She just wouldn’t listen. If you’re mad the Byrds got away with it, then you missed Ozark’s point, and its biggest claim to why this wasn’t going to be another Breaking Bad.
49 Comments
First of all, nice to see “This Is Us” get a little love. The penultimate episode was a great hour of TV. And we watch a LOT of tv.Secondly, FIRST!
It’s the only finale on the list that I actually watched.
It was so weird to see that show give us a perfect final episode…and then keep going and ruin it with the real finale.
Not every time a gay character dies is it a “bury your gays” trope. The character in question was a murdering sociopath. She absolutely deserved her fate, however poorly executed it was in the final episode.
This gay man agrees wholeheartedly. We can’t see a villainous assassin die? Nonsense.
Isn’t Killing Eve a pretty queer show already? This would be like saying that American Horror Story does bury your gays, when that’s a horror show with a mostly gay cast, at least in the last season.
I mean, fuck that show thoroughly, but not for -that- reason.
I agree, but since the trope is specifically gay characters dying immediately after finding love and happiness, it does kind of fit for Killing Eve. The issue isn’t gay characters dying, it’s that weird rug-pull that seems to happen to gay characters disproportionately.
That’s interesting. Not to be that guy, but do you have any examples of this? I’m actually curious.
Tons! Tara and Willow reconcile on BtVS, Tara is shot and killed in the same episode. Lexa and Clarke consummate their relationship on The 100, Lexa is shot and killed same episode. Supernatural, Castiel confesses his love for Dean, is immediately sucked into a hell dimension. Ianto and Jack on Torchwood identify as a couple for the first time, Ianto dies next episode. It’s so rare to have queer main characters that even a relatively small number of these incidents loom large, and while each of them individually are reasonable plot choices, since they bear the unfair weight of rare representations they form a pattern more quickly.I would say the answer is just more queer representation overall, so that there can be a wider diversity of endings for gay characters. But until then, it’s ok for us to complain about what we’re getting.
Yeah, I won’t defend the final season as a whole, but there is no way that they were going to get to ride off into the sunset. The only question was whether Eve would die along with Villanelle. Villanelle was a murderous psychopath/sociopath, by all rules of drama and morality she had to die or end up in jail. “Bury Your Gays” is becoming the new “Fridging” where the original meaning has devolved into “A character I liked died and I’m going to throw a buzzwordy tantrum”.
See was one of Apple TV+’s first shows and, much like the rest of that initial bunch, was met with a shrug at best from critics and audiences.For All Mankind would like to have a word.
Also Dickinson.
Did anyone else have a similar Better Call Saul experience, where you weren’t just compelled by the actual content of the show but actively rooting for the filmmakers and writers to stick such an ambitious landing?By the end, it was 49% “this was a great show” and 51% “HOLY HELL, VINCE AND THOMAS AND PETER PULLED IT OFF!!!”
Actively angry to see Locke and Key here, and so high.
Let’s review what happens in the Locke and Key finale: A man runs over an indestructible demon with his car, to help the protagonists escape. They ride off on a motorcycle.The demon gets up. The man gets out of his car, walks to where the demon is, stares at him for an unbroken four seconds, and is then knocked out.The demon possessed a British soldier from the revolutionary war, so he time-traveled to this point. One episode prior, he referred to cars as horseless carriages. He walks to the man’s Subaru Outback, gets in the driver’s seat, successfully puts it in reverse, successfully backs up, successfully puts it in drive, and successfully pursues the protagonists in a vehicle that he would not have had if the man hadn’t gotten out of the car after “helping” in the first place.Two minutes later, Colonial Demon Elon Musk will crash the car into a cornfield where it will explode. Because he started shouting “turn for me” at the steering wheel.
Genuinely one of the stupidest shows I’ve ever seen, ruining the only adaptation we’re ever likely to get of one of my absolute favorite graphic novels.
Also, full stop, any fantasy story that ends with “we need to get rid of our wondrous magical abilities because they are bad and could corrupt us. Guess we should all become dentists or some shit” can fart in a phone booth.
Better Call Saul was just perfection. One of the best wrap ups ever. This Is Us was touching but I feel like it was overshadowed by the penultimate episode. And Better Off Dead was just lovely and moving. A very appropriate ending for a really fun hidden gem of a show.
The Stargirl finale was fantastic, even if it made me want to see more adventures with the fantastic roster of young heroes that it teased at the end (Sand! Dragon Queen! Starwoman!)
That cancellation was a bummer. It also kind of sucked that the title character was in costume maybe 5 minutes total the entire last season.
I definitely thought Stargirl was creatively still going strong when the CW killed it
Stargirl should definitely be on here.
Agreed.
So nice to see the Derry Girls finale ranked so highly! It truly was the perfect finale to a perfect show. That final scene of everyone voting had me in tears.Also I forgot about Search Party. Lord that final season was bonkers in all the best ways possible.
So true. I think everybody who has seen it was surprised at how emotional it was watching, not just the central characters but also the peripheral ones, standing in the voting booth with a piece of paper that could change the direction of history. And they did a brilliant job of showing the moral trauma involved in voting to release murderers from prison. Erin and Michelle’s argument about Michelle’s brother made it all so personal, but the police officer’s anguish in the voting booth also said so much about the conflict and the Good Friday Agreement (I won’t mention the actor’s name on the off-chance somebody here is now deciding to give it a go – an all-time classic cameo).
Here to rep The Good Fight. That show was nimble at tackling topics well ahead of the competition, particularly the idea of a new US civil war.
If you have not watched Derry Girls, sweet suffering Jehovah, just go watch it. It is fantastic, multi layered and absolutely hysterically funny. Just turn on the closed captioning and laugh until you cry.
If you have not watched Derry Girls, sweet suffering Jehovah, just go watch it. It is fantastic, multi layered and absolutely hysterically funny. Just turn on the closed captioning and laugh until you cry.
I have nothing to add to this, except that… I was so surprised and happy that a 3rd season was coming I bingewatched the entire show. The whole damn thing. Hell, I used a vacation day for it.
Worth it.
SPOILERS for Dead to MeJudy and Jen went their “separate ways” …???Jen was DYING. She rowed off into the ocean to die peacefully and spare Jen that. She didn’t just decide to sail to Zihuatanejo.
The Dead to Me finale was devastating. I did appreciate that Jen was still herself at the end, which Judy would have wanted
Yeah. It was really good. I definitely cried a lot. Loved seeing a show about a deep friendship between two very flawed women.
No Stranger Things? I mean, the finale was a two-episode extravaganza that gave us one of the best moments of the entire season and answered most of our burning questions too. Most of my problems with it are minimal. Jason’s death needed more focus, the final fight between 11 and 1 could have been a little more exciting, too, but overall it was good.
Series finales, not season. We’re getting more Stranger Things.
lmfao, that’s what I get for not reading the article and skipping through it.
bro it’s not THAT funny
Did you skip the headline as well? 😂
No, I just assumed that meant season finales, not show-ending finales.
This can be confusing terminology for us Brits who use the word “series” to mean the same thing as “season” does to an American.
It is possible for an attempt a satire to fail. Some people even like the mess that creates. but let’s be real – the last season of Search Party fucking sucked. That’s coming from someone who LOVES the show as a whole.
Same; that season was so dumb.
I dunno, I liked it. I would think if you didn’t, it probably didn’t destroy the whole show like Killing Eve did. I cannot believe what a shitty, shitty ending that was.
“Better Call Saul might have started as a spin-off of Breaking Bad, but it ended with a legacy that challenged even its predecessor’s reputation and acclaim.”I wouldn’t go quite that far with my praise for it, but it was a good show on the whole, and “Saul Gone” was certainly a great finale, so we agree on that, at least.
Just had to make sure Better Things or Better Call Saul is #1.
Better Things is one of my top ten series ever. I’m going to miss Sam, Max, Frankie, Duke, Phil and all their friends and family.
I know everyone has a show they know should have made the list, but I’m genuinely disappointed American Horror Story: NYC didn’t make the cut. Ryan Murphy productions are notorious for sloppy endings, but here he stuck the landing. This was Kerri Strug’s 1996 Olympic vault. This season was vastly different in tone than previous seasons, which may have turned people off. But as a gay man of a certain age, I don’t doubt there was a reason Murphy’s heavy handed allegory about AIDS was handled with such care; and with little, if any, comic relief. To craft a finale that consisted of little more than men falling into their graves set to music was commercially risky, but artistically justified. If it bothered you, or you thought it was boring, AHS succeeded. And it could not have been more timely. Two years of COVID-19, and our governments’ unwillingness to respond, should have shown the world what gay men have been coping with for the last four decades. We now have Prep and HIV medication that can control viral loads, but our pandemic isn’t over. An entirely new generation has just entered the gay bar scene, and they’re the first to have no idea what it’s like to watch friends waste away in filthy hospital beds set aside in rooms nurses refused to enter. The stigma has waned, but we still don’t have a cure or a vaccine. To watch Patti LuPone and Sandra Bernhard in this season, staunch allies since long before it was fashionable, it’s impossible to separate their characters from themselves. This story wasn’t just a TV show, it was a public service announcement. AIDS isn’t over.
“Drumroll sister.”“Have you lost your actual mind?”LMFAO.
This is whole piece was probably designed to highlight how great BCS’s finale was and I’m okay with that.
I hated the last season of Peaky Blinders as much as I hated Richie in The Bear and I hated the stupid reveal as much as The Deep from The Boys. It really shouldn’t have been in this list.
I doubt there will be new seasons of Undone and Russian Doll, so they could’ve been there, but that they got new seasons was a major surprise anyway.
Peak blinders was a fart at the end My God, what a show that wasn’t worth shit.
Ruth had it coming. She just wouldn’t listen. If you’re mad the Byrds got away with it, then you missed Ozark’s point, and its biggest claim to why this wasn’t going to be another Breaking Bad.