Grand Finale: Difference between revisions
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* ''[[Macross Frontier]]''. [[Department of Redundancy Department|Short version]]: The [[Big Bad]] dies. [[Happy Ending]]. Not as short version: {{spoiler|The frontier finds the Vajra homeworld, where the [[Final Battle]] occurs. The [[Big Bad]] is defeated, the humans make peace with the Vajra, and migrate to their planet.}}
* ''[[Kannazuki no Miko]]'' ends with {{spoiler|Orochi being destroyed permanently, meaning that Chikane and Himeko's future incarnations will not have to perform the human sacrifice ritual.}}
* ''[[Last Exile]]''
* While not as action packed as the other examples on this page, ''[[Clannad]]'s'' Grand Finale was a {{spoiler|[[Reset Button]] [[Gainax Ending]], where the Girl in the Illusionary World, who is actually Ushio, sends the Garbage Doll, who is Tomoya having undergone [[Identity Amnesia]], back in time to the day he first met her mother, Nagisa. Having done this, Tomoya, having obtained a Light Orb from Ushio, relives his senior year with both him and Nagisa knowing of their future daughter's powers. Using the Light Orbs, Nagisa is able to give birth without dying this time around, and the Okazaki family lives happily ever after.}} Also a [[Crowning Moment of Heartwarming|Crowning Finale of Heartwarming.]]
** Alternatively, {{spoiler|Ushio just sent him back to the point where Nagisa was giving birth. While the anime is vague on this subject, the original game makes it clear that Tomoya remeeting Nagisa is something he's seeing in his head.}}
* Both the manga and anime of ''[[Chrono Crusade]]'' end with a bang. The last two volumes of the manga cover a 48 hour period in which all the characters come together for an epic battle to determine the fate of the
* ''[[Princess Tutu]]'' ends with a final epic battle in which the [[Big Bad]] is vanquished and Mytho once again becomes the Prince he once was, and also resolves the main romantic tension...although not in a way you might expect. It also ends somewhat open-ended by hinting that two of the characters (who had hints of a romantic relationship but never quite resolved it) might be starting on a new story together.
* ''[[Neon Genesis Evangelion]]''. See also [[Gainax Ending]].
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* ''[[Little House on the Prairie (TV series)|Little House On the Prairie]]'' ended with a bang, '''literally'''. Walnut Grove gets purchased by a [[Jerkass]] developer, but instead of allowing the townspeople to buy the land back from him, he decides to allow everyone to stay...as his employees. In retaliation, {{spoiler|they have a meeting at the church/school and decide that they'd rather blow the town up and leave with nothing rather than allow the developer to have everything they have worked for. So all the men get dynamite and they blow up Walnut Grove}}. [[Jerkass]] returns to the town with the Army in tow and demands that everyone be arrested. The Army refuses to do so, and {{spoiler|the citizens of what used to be Walnut Grove leave singing "Onward Christian Soldiers"}}.
* The Diffys finally fix their time machine and apparently return home in the grand finale of ''[[Phil of the Future]]''.
* ''[[Nip Tuck]]'' ends with Sean and Christian making Liz a partner in the practice, effectively calling it McNamara/Troy/Cruz. Liz, who is pregnant via donated sperm from Sean, is happy but decides to leave for parts unknown when Sean decides that he wants to be a part of the baby's life, which she doesn't agree with. Christian, feeling that he is the reason Sean is not living a more fulfilling life, kicks him out of the practice and gives him a one-way ticket to Bucharest so that he can work in an orphanage doing pro-bono surgeries. Matt decides to make a life with his transsexual lover Ava. Julia moves to England and remarries, taking Annie and Conor with her. Christian is left alone to run Troy/Cruz. Their final patient is an elderly porn star who gets his heart surgery scar removed. He later dies with a smile on his face while filming a sex scene in his latest movie. The final scene is Christian, seeing {{spoiler|the ghost of Kimber}} in a bar and wishing her well, then meeting a new young starlet who's thinking about plastic
* Given that David Krumholtz has moved on to other projects, this season's finale of ''[[Numb3rs]]'' was probably the Grand Finale. Charlie and Amita get married before their move to England to teach at the University of Cambridge. Larry seems to have found what he was looking for, and plans to take over for Charlie.
* The writers of ''[[Lost]]'' knew their finale's end date three years in advance, they certainly made theirs epic. The source of all the show's mysterious happenings was revealed for the first time - and was promptly turned off, risking the island's imminent destruction. And then... was turned back on again. The lead character had a final knife-fight on crumbling cliffs in the rain with the [[Big Bad]] - a villain who'd appeared in every season and in the very first episode and who'd taken the form of another main character, the lead's philosophical rival. Several characters escaped the island once and for all, flying off in a 777 as the runway disintegrated beneath them. The season's flashes were revealed to show the characters in the afterlife, letting the final scene reunite almost every main character after death. And the final shots were an exact reversal of the show's opening shots, with the lead character returning to the show's opening spot, falling there, and closing his eyes as he died.
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* ''[[Quantum Leap]]'' ends with [[God]] Himself telling Sam that he has always been the master of his own fate and that, contrary to what he believed, Sam has done a lot of good by helping people throughout history one at a time. The lives he touched, touched others, and those, others. Realizing something of his own value, Sam gives up a chance to go back and saves his friend Al's marriage to Beth (Al's first wife and true love). The ending consists of a few text lines confirming that Al and Beth have their [[Happily Ever After]] {{spoiler|[[Tear Jerker|and Sam Beckett never returned home.]]}}
* ''[[Smallville]]'' has the [[Exactly What It Says on the Tin|fittingly titled]] "Finale". Clark finally flies for the first time and finally becomes the [[Superman|hero]] he's destined to be.
* ''[[Newhart]]'': "The Last Newhart," one of the most memorable sitcom finales among fans and critics. A Japanese tycoon purchases the entire (unnamed) Vermont town instead of the Stratford Inn, which series protagonists Dick and Joanna Loudon co-owned. After everyone goes their separate ways, the action picks up five years later, where Dick has progressively gotten more frustrated with his life as he deals with crazier loons than what populated the inn years earlier, and his wife has even gotten nuts; he's also unable to get over a golf course being built ''around'' the inn without his permission. Then, the old
* The original [[Concentration]] ended its 14-year/7 month run on NBC daytime with an apropos puzzle to its fans ("You've Been More Than Kind"). Musicians Milton Kaye and Tony Columbia strike up "Auld Lang Syne" during the closing credits.
* "[[Chuck]] [[Exactly What It Says on the Tin|Versus the Goodbye]]" wrapped up the final arc of the season with Team Bartowksi embarking on their ([[Running Gag|fourth]]) last mission to stop the latest [[Big Bad]], recover the Intersect and {{spoiler|help Sarah recover her lost memories}}, all while running on the usual [[Rule of Cool]] with a healthy dose of [[Continuity Porn]]. The episode is littered with [[Call Back|call backs]] to the pilot and the return of old characters, locations and [[Running Gag
** Once the last adventure is over, there are a lot of little character resolutions: {{spoiler|Casey leaves Burbank to find Verbanski and leaves his apartment to Morgan and Alex, who are moving in together; Jeff and Lester are offered a record contract and leave the Buy More; Ellie and Awesome get new jobs in Chicago and move there with Clara; [[Running Gag|Subway takes over the Buy More]]; and as Sarah's memories slowly return, [[Crowning Moment of Heartwarming|she start falling in love with Chuck all over again]].}}
* [[Punky Brewster]] ended its four-season run (2 on NBC, 2 in syndication) with her dog Brandon getting married to a girl golden retriever named Brenda. The final shot is a photo of the cast during the ceremony as the show's logo is superimposed on the bottom right.
* How about ''[[The Mary Tyler Moore Show]]''? Under new management, the
* ''[[Desperate Housewives]]'' had a [[Bittersweet Ending|bittersweet]] grand finale, featuring major changes in the lives of all the main characters: Mrs. McCluskey {{spoiler|saves Bree by falsely confessing to the murder she is on trial for and later dies of cancer}}. Bree {{spoiler|marries her lawyer, Trip Weston, moves to Kentucky, and becomes a politician}}. Lynette {{spoiler|accepts the CEO position that Katherine offers her in her company, moves to New York with Tom, and later becomes a grandmother of six}}. Gabrielle {{spoiler|starts her own fashion website and TV show, and moves to California with Carlos, where they buy a mansion}}. And Susan {{spoiler|moves away with Julie, MJ, and her new grandchild as the ghosts of Wisteria Lane watch her leave}}. However, {{spoiler|Mary Alice informs us that the women never again get together as a group}}.
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== Mythology and Religion ==
* Ragnarok. The world is consumed, everything burns, every living creature dies, game over, insert coin. {{spoiler|Someone does.
* The [[Book of Revelation]] is this for [[The Bible]] and could be for reality as we know it according to SOME Christians. {{spoiler|The book ends with all the evil thrown away to the lake of fire and the good people live with God with the last passage is "The grace of Lord Jesus be with God's people. Amen."}}
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* [[Mortal Kombat Armageddon]] was the Grand Finale for the original [[Mortal Kombat]] canon. It gathered literally ''every single playable character'' up to that point, and set them all in a gigantic battle intended to prevent the apocalypse. As [[Mortal Kombat 9]] shows, it ends up being a [[Downer Ending]], as everyone aside from [[Big Bad|Shao Kahn]] was killed in the battle.
* Similar to ''Halo 3'', ''[[Gears of War]] 3'' ends on a very epic note and gives a final conclusion to the game universe's central conflict. One of the most major characters dies in a [[Heroic Sacrifice]], most of the plot threads are resolved, and the [[Big Bad]] is finally killed. However, a few questions regarding the backstory and the truth behind the causes of the war are [[Left Hanging]].
* ''[[Modern Warfare]] 3'' neatly wraps up every loose plot thread from the previous Modern Warfare games. World War 3 is brought to a conclusive end, the last of the world's 3 [[Big Bad
* In a unique example, [[Fallout: New Vegas]] gives a grand finale to it's DLC. Dead Money, Honest Hearts, and Old World Blues hinted that the events were set in motion {{spoiler|due to the actions of the Sixth Courier, Ulysses. And this isn't the first time he is mentioned, in fact, he's been mentioned several times in the vanilla game.}} All of this build up leads to Lonesome Road. Not only do you get to {{spoiler|confront him}}, but the DLC itself also resolves plot holes from the main storyline of the game.
* The Sacrifice DLC for ''[[Left 4 Dead]]'' wraps up the story and struggle for survival for the survivors. The group reaches Georgia and plan to use a boat to sail to the Florida Keys for safety away from the zombies, but a drawbridge is in the way and it needs to be raised by activating three generators. Each generator that is turned on attracts a horde and then a Tank. Once the bridge is down, it can be raised high enough to let the boat through. However, the bridge stops halfway and one survivor has to jump off the bridge and restart the stalled generator to get the bridge moving again while they face against a horde plus [[It Got Worse|three Tanks!]] The survivor then winds up sacrificing their life after they fix the generator and get the other survivors to safety.
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== Web Original ==
* The 24th chapter of ''[[Broken Saints]]'' (aptly titled "Truth") features the climactic confrontation between our heroes and the [[Magnificent Bastard]] behind the [[Myth Arc]], complete with an [[Ethereal Choir]], [[Just Between You and Me]] (justified), several [[Heroic Sacrifice
* ''[[Kate Modern]]'' ended with a 12 part finale, "The Last Work", which resolved most of the show's plotlines surprisingly neatly.
** ''[[Lonelygirl15]]'' attempted something similar with "The Ascension". It fell somewhat flat due to being much shorter than the ''KateModern'' finale (or, for that matter, the ''lonelygirl15'' season one finale) and [[Left Hanging|failing to resolve any of the main plotlines]], being apparently a [[Poorly-Disguised Pilot]] for ''[[LG15: the resistance]]''.
* ''[[Red vs. Blue]]'': Revelation's final episode definitely feels like a grand finale, although a ninth season has been confirmed. In any case, it was the grand finale of the Recollections [[Story Arc|arc]], just as much as episode 100 was for the Blood Gulch Chronicles.
* The [http://www.somethingawful.com/d/webcam-ward/sonic-the-hog.php Webcam] [[Retsupurae|Ward]] ended on October
* The [[Chaos Timeline]] has a really Grand Finale: Nothing less than a [[World War Three]] {{spoiler|1=which is prevented, and the world being taken over by the Logos (hackers) and AIs.}}
* [[Walrus Guy]] ended his [[Youtube Poop]] career with "[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_OVCpD-7nI4 One More Final: I Need You(tube Poop)]".
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== Western Animation ==
* ''[[Avatar: The Last Airbender]]'' had possibly the grandest of grand finales: a four episode/two hour movie special that had been built up to for three seasons. Besides the {{spoiler|ultimate fate of Zuko's mother}}, most plot threads were tied up neatly, and it finally put a definitive end to the [[Shipping Wars]] for the primary pairings (or at least what's canon) with a [[Big Damn Kiss]] as the final shot of the series. In the Extras version, it even says, as the last Extra of the entire show, "Kataang wins!" How's THAT for grand.
* ''[[Kim Possible]]'''s "So The Drama" was a rare
* ''[[The New Adventures of Winnie the Pooh]]'' got "Winnie The Pooh & Christmas Too". By this point, Paul Winchell had retired from the role of Tigger (Until Pooh's Grand Adventure), and they got him to come back for this last episode, and a very heartwarming one it is.
* ''[[Justice League Unlimited]]'' is another exception to the rule, with a grand, two-part
** Interestingly, this was the show's '''third''' Grand Finale: The writers had believed that ''[[Justice League]]'' was to be canceled after the second season, and therefore ended it with a three-part episode involving an alien invasion, a traitor in the League's ranks, and shattering a romance that had been built up throughout the series... among other things. Then the show was renewed and re-tooled as ''Justice League Unlimited''. It was believed that it was to be canceled again in its second (or fourth depending on how you look at it) season, and thus a four-part episode was created to end things with a bang, followed by a lower-key episode that served as a coda for the entire [[DCAU]]. Of course, it was [[Post Script Season|then renewed]] for a second and final time, eventually resulting in the two-parter mentioned above.
*** In an interview, the writers remarked that they wrote every season finale with something that could work as a Grand Finale, since in the business they had little guarantee of getting another season.
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* The American animated series based on ''[[Street Fighter (animation)|Street Fighter]]'' had a definite ending. The last story arc of Cammy being brainwashed by M. Bison ended after Cammy came to her senses and freed her comrades, culminating in a final battle between Guile and Bison (Guile was made the main character of the cartoon instead of Ryu, the franchise's usual lead character). Guile finished Bison off once and for all by, bizarrely, blasting him into a computer, at which point his powers cause it to overload and the wires and insides of it seemingly begin to ''eat him alive'', before the computer then explodes. There is then the obligatory walking into the sunset of the five characters present, although there is no get-together with all the other characters or any other sense of closure. All that is known is that Bison, their eternal enemy, is definitely dead once and for all.
{{quote|The computer: [[Memetic Mutation|This is delicious!]]}}
* Surprisingly, ''[[Camp Lazlo]]'' ends with one of these. As appropriate to the tone and style of the series, it's not so much flashy as spectacularly weirder than anything that's happened
** Not to mention the fact that Scoutmaster Lumpus {{spoiler|turned out to NOT be the camp's scoutmaster}}. Samson, the [[Butt Monkey]] of the series said it best: "I think it just got to the point where things can't possibly get any weirder."
* The final episode of ''[[Animaniacs]]'' originally aired as an hour-length program titled ''The Animaniacs Super Special''. Among the segments included was a seven-minute music video titled "The Animaniacs Suite", featuring an orchestral medley of the show's theme music pieces synced to [[Clip Show|various clips from previous episode]]. However, there were some indications, especially in the credits gag, that the staff didn't expect the show to end there. ''[[Wakko's Wish|Wakkos Wish]]'' ultimately served as more of a Grand Finale, as it defies the series [[Status Quo Is God]] and actually gives most of the character's stories ''endings''.
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* ''[[The Emperor's New School|The Emperors New School]]'' had a Grand Finale that ended with Kuzco becoming Emperor and getting an actual ''date'' date with Malina.
* ''[[Ed, Edd 'n' Eddy|Ed, Edd n Eddy]]'' ends with a [[Drama Bomb Finale]] [[The Movie|movie]], where Eddy's big brother appears. It ends with the Eds actually getting a happy ending rather than getting royally screwed over like they usually do. It even breaks the fourth wall to make it clear to the viewers that this IS the end.
** In the meantime, the current finale was pretty damn
* ''[[King of the Hill]]'' averts a flashy Grand Finale, but in the last episode, {{spoiler|Hank and Bobby find a common ground (grilling beef) and [[So Proud of You|finally start bonding like father and son]]}}.
* ''[[Lilo and Stitch: The Series]]'' got a Grand Finale in the movie "Leroy and Stitch", where basically all the experiments are recovered, Gantu does a [[Heel Face Turn]] against Dr. Hamsterville, whose [[Joker Immunity]] wears off, and all the experiments in the series are listed by name in the credits.
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