What I find really rare in fiction is a perfect ending — something that absolutely sticks the landing. Man, I thought I had that for Sidequest, but a lot of people didn’t like that ending (I think they just didn’t get it).
I think the best example of a perfect ending is from what may be my all-time favorite movie: The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly. The fate for each of the three title characters fits exactly. No notes from the beginning of the three-way standoff to when the credits roll.
So what else do you think had a perfect ending — either book, movie, or TV show (I don’t care about Broadway plays)? Tell me in the comments!
The movie version of The Princess Bride has the perfect ending. A lot of O. Henry's stories end with what have been called "twist" endings, but really are subversions of the reader's expectations. And if you can consistently do that in just a few pages and make it work and be memorable, you're doing it right. Similarly, "The Open Window" by Saki has a fantastic ending.
Books I think had perfect endings are Of Human Bondage, The Night Manager (TV version, good, but not perfect}, and a book probably nobody else knows, Pirates of Pensacola by Keith Thomson.
I can't believe I didn't immediately think of The Sting, which - in addition to being one of my favorite movies - has one of the best endings in cinematic history.
The Shield and Justified are probably the two most perfect endings in television history. I'd give a slight edge to The Shield, but it's pretty darned close.
The ending of the third Artemis Fowl book (which at the time was supposed to be the end of the series) was basically perfect - but then he wrote some more books afterwards so whatever.
I think this depends on the genre - a mystery story by necessity needs to have a good ending to work, but a drama can be good overall even with a bad ending.
So something like Murder on the Orient Express or that sort of thing, those have good endings.
More seriously, I was pretty happy with how the Wheel of Time books wrapped up, especially considering how Sanderson had to dig his way out of a slog to finish it.
Shawshank Redemption. The ending basically begins at the point that Andy tells Red "Get busy living or get busy dying." It goes on for another 1/2 hour+, but it's all ending and it's perfect. The final scene was something pushed by the studio and rejected by the writer/director Frank Darabont. But after he shot it, he knew it was right. Great stuff.
I think Rowling and the Harry Potter series did a great job of sticking the landing, considering how many books, storylines and just moving parts there were to the novels.
For years now, I have been using "Seven Items in Jason Reynolds’ Jacket Pocket, Two Days After His Suicide, As Found by his Eight-Year-Old Brother, Grady" by Robert Swartwood as an example of a perfectly executed ending to a flash fiction story. It can be read for free here: https://pankmagazine.com/piece/robert-swartwood-2/
Toy Story 3. Absolutely perfect ending. I’m not crying, you’re crying.
The movie version of The Princess Bride has the perfect ending. A lot of O. Henry's stories end with what have been called "twist" endings, but really are subversions of the reader's expectations. And if you can consistently do that in just a few pages and make it work and be memorable, you're doing it right. Similarly, "The Open Window" by Saki has a fantastic ending.
Books I think had perfect endings are Of Human Bondage, The Night Manager (TV version, good, but not perfect}, and a book probably nobody else knows, Pirates of Pensacola by Keith Thomson.
I can't believe I didn't immediately think of The Sting, which - in addition to being one of my favorite movies - has one of the best endings in cinematic history.
As far as movies go, There Will Be Blood and Perfume have pretty much perfect endings.
The Shield and Justified are probably the two most perfect endings in television history. I'd give a slight edge to The Shield, but it's pretty darned close.
The ending of the third Artemis Fowl book (which at the time was supposed to be the end of the series) was basically perfect - but then he wrote some more books afterwards so whatever.
I think this depends on the genre - a mystery story by necessity needs to have a good ending to work, but a drama can be good overall even with a bad ending.
So something like Murder on the Orient Express or that sort of thing, those have good endings.
I think my top 4 favorite endings are from the Return of the King movie
More seriously, I was pretty happy with how the Wheel of Time books wrapped up, especially considering how Sanderson had to dig his way out of a slog to finish it.
Shawshank Redemption. The ending basically begins at the point that Andy tells Red "Get busy living or get busy dying." It goes on for another 1/2 hour+, but it's all ending and it's perfect. The final scene was something pushed by the studio and rejected by the writer/director Frank Darabont. But after he shot it, he knew it was right. Great stuff.
For a 10+ year-project, I think the Infinity Saga with Avengers: Endgame came pretty close.
Of course then they had to not end it and ruin it.
I think Rowling and the Harry Potter series did a great job of sticking the landing, considering how many books, storylines and just moving parts there were to the novels.
For years now, I have been using "Seven Items in Jason Reynolds’ Jacket Pocket, Two Days After His Suicide, As Found by his Eight-Year-Old Brother, Grady" by Robert Swartwood as an example of a perfectly executed ending to a flash fiction story. It can be read for free here: https://pankmagazine.com/piece/robert-swartwood-2/