Creating a strong season finale is a balancing act. The writers need to mix resolution of the season’s plotlines with a sense of new potential for the coming season. They need to simultaneously send us away satisfied and invite us back for more. As “Lost” airs its fourth season finale at 8 p.m. Thursday, here are five other now classic season finales.
THE NAME GAME
‘Friends,’ fourth-season finale, May 7, 1998
TITLE: “THE ONE WITH ROSS’ WEDDING”
This season finale, filmed in London, had a great zing, when Ross delivers the Freudian slip heard round the world, saying “Rachel” instead of “Emily” during his wedding vows. The episode, featuring a guest appearance by Hugh Laurie long before “House,” also marked the beginning of the Monica and Chandler affair.
ICONIC CLIFFHANGER
‘Dallas,’ third-season finale, March 21, 1980
TITLE: “A HOUSE DIVIDED”
No list of season finales would be complete without the “Who Shot J.R.?” episode, which was the cliffhanger of all cliffhangers. Every Friday, daytime soaps ended with a little mystery, to be picked up on Monday. But this mystery left the country dangling and guessing gleefully across an entire summer. Who did shoot J.R. (right)? It was Kristin Shepard, J.R.’s sister-in-law and mistress.
FIRST FLASH-FORWARD
‘Lost,’ third-season finale, May 23, 2007
TITLE: “THROUGH THE LOOKING GLASS”
This two-hour episode blew our minds while it blew open the entire series. It was, as the producers had promised, a game-changer. Suddenly, we learned that some of the crash victims will indeed get off the island, although not happily so. In an instant, everything we’d seen take place so far on the island became a flashback. But that didn’t spoil any of the show’s tension. The “Lost” timeline expanded to include the future and a whole new set of questions. And since that season finale, the show has been running at a dramatic peak.
BURIED ALIVE
‘CSI,’ fifth-season finale, May 19, 2005
TITLE: “GRAVE DANGER, VOLUME 1 AND VOLUME 2”
Quentin Tarantino directed this tense two-hour episode in which Nick Stokes (below) is kidnapped and buried alive. And the kidnapper kills himself without divulging Nick’s location. And the crew can watch video of Nick dying in the coffin. And the coffin is rigged to explode. Tarantino expertly milked the situation for horror and wit.
YEARS GO BY
‘Alias,’ second-season finale, May 4, 2003
TITLE: “THE TELLING”
In this home run of a finale, we saw Sydney (Jennifer Garner, right) discover the truth about fake Francie and engage Francie in a smackdown of epic proportions. And then we saw Sydney wake up in Hong Kong, only to discover that two years have passed and everyone — including a now-married Vaughn — thought she was dead. Show creator J.J. Abrams later showed his affection for this kind of time leaping with ever more fervor on “Lost.”
