You were expecting this finale to be explosive. But, man, everything you said was exactly correct. GLEN WELDON, BYLINE: Aisha, this was my first pick. So that's my pick - "The Americans." And after rewatching this episode again, I am so excited to go back and rewatch it all from the beginning because, oh, my goodness, one of the greatest shows. So when you can put it in your probably top five of that show itself, to me, that's what makes it such a great series finale. It's not just a great ending, but it's also probably one of the best episodes of the entire series. It's, like, maybe a little more on the nose than "The Americans" usually is. HARRIS: And it's just like - it is so dramatic. And as soon as Elizabeth notices it, at that same exact moment, you hear Bono go, (vocalizing). She's supposed to be going with them to leave the U.S. There's a moment where we have "With Or Without You" playing by U2, and Paige gets off the train. And Elizabeth lets off this like, gasp-slash-guffaw that just - there's just so much inside that little noise that she makes and shows how, unlike Philip, she has always been sort of the more detached and cool personality who was able to separate her morals from what her job was, which is to kill a lot of people in service of the KGB. And it ends with, like, this, planting of a seed that Stan's wife, Renee, might be one of them.Īnd there's just all these other moments, like whether it's Philip saying, we need to leave Henry, our other son, behind because he knows nothing about any of this, and he has a chance to live a normal life. And the way that tension is played is just so absolutely perfect - like, one of the greatest scenes of all time. And then the rest of the scene is Philip and Elizabeth kind of alternating between BS'ing Stan and not being truthful about what they were doing. And after six seasons, you know that he feels that way. HARRIS: First of all, you can just hear the way he says, you made my life a joke. For all these years, my life was the joke, not yours. MATTHEW RHYS: (As Philip Jennings) You were my only friend in my whole life. NOAH EMMERICH: (As Stan Beeman) You made my life a joke. And this scene is just heartbreaking, and I want to just play a little brief moment here where Stan just kind of breaks down. They become really good friends, but Stan has finally figured it out, and he confronts them at gunpoint. And there is an 11-minute sequence where they are confronted by Stan Beeman, who was an FBI agent who lived right next door to them. ![]() And this was a show that always took its time. What I love about the finale is that it has everything that we've loved about the rest of the series. ![]() You know, they have that - on the surface - perfect, idyllic suburban life in the '80s, but they are, of course, undercover spies. Matthew Rhys and Keri Russell play Philip and Elizabeth Jennings. So here are the co-hosts, Stephen Thompson, Linda Holmes and Aisha Harris sharing their favorite finales.ĪISHA HARRIS, BYLINE: So I came down to a couple picks, and I finally landed upon a show that I've only watched from beginning to end once but has stuck with me even a few years later and is something I will definitely go back and rewatch at some point, which is "The Americans," the very slow-burn FX series about a couple of KGB agents who are living undercover in Virginia. So what are the best ever TV finales? And what makes a finale great anyways? Well, these are the kinds of questions the crew at NPR's Pop Culture Happy Hour podcast like to tackle. But sometimes a show will get it just right. ![]() You have to wrap up the story, leave the characters somewhere satisfying, give the fans what they want, you know, up to a point. And, you know, ending a TV series is not easy. Maisel" and "Succession" are all wrapping up this month. The TV shows "Barry," "The Marvelous Mrs.
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