10 Crime Shows With the Best Finales (original) (raw)
Published Feb 1, 2026, 5:21 PM EST
Liam Gaughan is a film and TV writer at Collider. He has been writing film reviews and news coverage for ten years. Between relentlessly adding new titles to his watchlist and attending as many screenings as he can, Liam is always watching new movies and television shows.
In addition to reviewing, writing, and commentating on both new and old releases, Liam has interviewed talent such as Mark Wahlberg, Jesse Plemons, Sam Mendes, Billy Eichner, Dylan O'Brien, Luke Wilson, and B.J. Novak. Liam aims to get his spec scripts produced and currently writes short films and stage plays. He lives in Allentown, PA.
There are few things worse than having a disappointing season finale that undercuts the investment paid for a great series. Considering how often it is that contemporary television shows are serialized, nailing the last episode is important to ensuring that a show feels complete; if the last memories that viewers have of a show are negative, it makes them unlikely to rewatch the series from the beginning or recommend it to others.
It’s become increasingly more challenging to create a truly surprising, satisfying, and worthwhile finale during the streaming era, especially when so many great shows are cancelled before they get to achieve their fullest potential. A great finale should not only wrap up narrative and character arcs that were established in the show’s beginning, but also provide some thoughtful thematic subtext that proves that the experience of watching the entire series was worthwhile. Here are ten crime shows that nailed their season finales.
10 'Damages' (2007–2012)
"But You Don’t Do That Anymore" (Season 5, Episode 10)
Glenn Close in Damages.
Image via FX
Damagesis one of the most underrated legal showsbecause it examines the cutthroat aspects of the legal process and utilizes a unique structure. While most courtroom shows were procedurals where individual episodes would introduce new cases, Damages dedicated each of its seasons to one particularly intense lawsuit or criminal proceeding. The fifth and final season of the show was the most dramatic because it finally saw Patty (Glenn Close) and Ellen (Rose Byrne) going up against one another.
The final episode, “But You Don’t Do That Anymore,” forced both of the leads to wrestle with the consequences of their actions, ensuring that the show’s realism was on point. Although there’s always the possibility of a revival in which Ellen’s further exploits as a prosecutor of high-profile cases, Damages provided a satisfying send-off to her complex relationship with Patty.
9 'Mr. Robot' (2015–2019)
"Hello, Elliot" (Season 4, Episode 13)
Rami Malek and Chirstian Slater look at each other in Mr Robot.
Image via USA Network
Mr. Robotis one of the most unconventional and surprising thrillers because it uses storytelling techniques that were much more in line with independent cinema than they were with traditional prestige television. The show’s creator, Sam Esmail, planned the story from the very beginning and directed the last three seasons in their entirety to ensure that they remained consistent with his vision for what would happen to Elliot Alderson (Rami Malek).
The finale, “Hello, Elliot,” took a bold risk by choosing to focus more on Elliot’s personal growth and recovery from trauma, and not on the hacking storyline that had initially been the series’ premise. It was a maneuver that paid off because of how much empathy viewers had for the character, and because Malek’s performance continued to get better with each season, because of the new revelations that were made about Elliot.
8 'The Wire' (2002–2008)
"-30-" (Season 5, Episode 10)
Michael K Williams looking to the side with a serious expression in The Wire.
Image via HBO
The Wireis an achievement that is unparalleled within the history of television because creator David Simon was a former journalist and used his own experience covering the crime beat in Baltimore to inspire a series that reflected the realities of the drug trade. Each season of The Wire built in complexity to examine a new level of institutional conflict, and the fifth year of the show was a callback to Simon’s own experiences because it was about newsroom reporters.
The Wire had a great finale in “-30-” that offered an explanation as to what happened to each of the main characters, an impressive achievement considering that the series had developed one of the broadest ensemble casts within any show. While The Wire could often be a cynical and upsetting show, “-30-” at least hinted at some reasons viewers could have to remain optimistic.
7 'Barry' (2018–2023)
"wow" (Season 4, Episode 8)
Sarah Goldberg, Bill Hader and Zachary Golinger- Barry Season 4, Episode 8.
Image via HBO
Barryis one of the most unique shows of the 21st century because it constantly changed what it was. While the series began as a dark comedy about the assassin Barry (Bill Hader) and his attempts to get into acting in Los Angeles, the story grew increasingly bleak after he was forced to reckon with the consequences of inflicting violence upon others. The last season moved Barry into a truly experimental space that was reminiscent of the films of Stanley Kubrick, and had no shards of comedy at all.
The last episode, “wow,” was an unusual one, but it has proven to be more relevant in the years that passed. The message that Hader was trying to make with the show is that Hollywood has a habit of hijacking people’s trauma and spitting it out back at them to use for the sake of content.
6 'Hannibal' (2013–2015)
"The Wrath of the Lamb" (Season 3, Episode 13)
Gillian Anderson and Mads Mikkelsen in formal attire look dramatically at the camera in Hannibal.
Image via NBC
Hannibalwas a show that took viewers by surprise because it provided a very different adaptation of the novels of Thomas Harris, which had been most famously adapted by Jonathan Demme into the Best Picture-winning horror film The Silence of the Lambs. Although the show began in a place where Will Graham (Hugh Dancy) and Dr. Hannibal Lecter (Mads Mikkelsen) were ostensibly allies working together to solve high-profile crimes, Hannibal evolved into a cat-and-mouse game between two psychopaths.
Hannibal was unfortunately cancelled before it could reach its true potential, but that didn’t prevent Bryan Fuller from creating an amazing last episode with “The Wrath of the Lamb,” a thrilling conclusion that saw Graham and Lector wrestling with the fact that they had much more in common with one another than they would have ever previously been able to admit.
5 'Better Call Saul' (2015–2022)
"Saul Gone" (Season 6, Episode 13)
Rhea Seehorn and Bob Odenkirk sharing a cigarette in the Better Call Saul series finale
Image via AMC
Better Call Saulis an anomaly in Hollywood because it was a prequel series that actually had something to say and improved upon the original material by going deeper into the story. Although it may have been easy to dismiss the character of Jimmy McGill (Bob Odenkirk) as nothing but a source of darkly comedic relief, Better Call Saul imagined his fall from grace as an epic tragedy in which he forsakes all of his values and destroys everyone who came in his way.
Better Call Saul utilized a unique structure that included both flashbacks and flashforwards, and that approach paid off in the bracing finale “Saul Gone,” in which the two timelines of the show were merged to offer the final word on the monster that Jimmy had become when he decided to fully transition himself into being “Saul Goodman.”
4 'Breaking Bad' (2008–2013)
"Felina" (Season 5, Episode 16)
Bryan Cranston in an episode of Breaking Bad
Image via Lewis Jacobs / © AMC / Courtesy Everett Collection
Breaking Badis frequently cited as being the greatest and most influential television show of all time by contemporary scholars, and it's easy to see why. While it didn’t have a massive budget or any huge stars at the time that it began, showrunner Vince Gilligan had a brilliant pitch about following a fundamentally good man as he turns into a villain. The five seasons of Breaking Bad correlate with the five acts in a play by William Shakespeare, and follow the high school chemistry teacher Walter White (Bryan Cranston) as he turns into the ruthless drug kingpin “Heisenberg.”
The final episode, “Felina,” had a lot to live up to, but it both wrapped up Walter’s arc in a satisfying way and hinted at what the ambiguous future would look like for Jesse Pinkman (Aaron Paul), who was in many ways the heart of the show.
3 'The Shield' (2002–2007)
"Family Meeting" (Season 7, Episode 13)
Michael Chiklis as Vic wearing sunglasses and holding a gun beside a dusty vehicle on The Shield.
Image via FX
The Shieldis one of the most underrated drama shows of the 21st century, and has proven to be more relevant than ever before because of its unflinching depiction of institutional corruption and police brutality. Michael Chiklis delivered an all-time great performance as Vic Mackey, the unpredictable leader of a Strike Force team in the Los Angeles Police Department, who uses unconventional and brutal techniques to maintain his authority within the hostile criminal underworld.
The Shield pulled off one of the bleakest and most satisfying finales ever with “Family Meeting,” an episode that sealed Mackey to the fate that he had long been avoiding. While there was no shortage of great episodes and impressive guest stars throughout, The Shield is one of the rare crime shows in which the final episode was actually the best installment of the entire series.
2 'The Sopranos' (1999–2007)
"Made in America" (Season 6, Episode 21)
James Gandolfini smoking a cigar and looking into the camera from a pool for The Sopranos
Image via ©HBO/Courtesy Everett Collection
The Sopranoswas a show that became so popular that expectations were unmanageable for what David Chase would do to end the series. It was challenging to know what to do with a character like Tony Soprano (James Gandolfini), a psychopathic villain that the series had nonetheless turned somewhat sympathetic by examining the environment that shaped him into being the criminal mastermind that he was.
“Made in America” was initially a controversial finale, as some viewers had literally thought that their televisions were cut out because of the sharp cut to black. Over time, it’s become clear that Chase made a brilliant decision to keep audiences on the hook, and in some ways hold them accountable for ever having invested themselves emotionally into what happened to Tony and his family. It became impossible to listen to “Don’t Stop Believin’” the same way again.
1 'Twin Peaks' (1990–2017)
"Part 18" (Season 3, Episode 18)
Kyle Maclachlan as Special Agent Dale Cooper in twin Peaks
Image via ABC
Twin Peaksis a highly unusual crime series because of the unique ways in which its seasons were released. The original series delivered one of the best first seasons ever, but Twin Peaks was later sabotaged by ABC when they tried to detract from David Lynch’s vision. Lynch returned to direct the last episode of the second season, which ended with an abrupt cliffhanger, and then also made the prequel film Twin Peaks: Fire Walk With Me.
Twin Peaks was thought to be finished before Lynch revived the series with a third season for Showtime that brought back pretty much all of the original cast who were still alive. The final episode, “Part 18,” depicted a literal nightmare in which Agent Cooper’s (Kyle MacLachlan) attempts to save Laura Palmer (Sheryl Lee) created an endless cycle of trauma and pain that pierced the frames of their reality.