Do you remember how frustrating it used to be to watch Ross and Rachel go back and forth for years on Friends?
We all knew they were meant to be together, and we knew they'd end up together, but for 10 seasons that show refused to give in.
One season she loved him, but he was with someone. The next season they finally got together, only to have it end with the infamous "WE WERE ON A BREAK" line Ross made classic throughout the series.
They had a baby together, lived together, even got married for a couple weeks! But for 10 seasons, the writers did what great writers do:
Pull us in, raise our hopes, get us emotionally invested, and then stomp on our hearts in the most frustrating, tantalizing of ways.
Rinse. Wash. Repeat.
It was a vicious cycle that had us on the edge of our seats for 10 years. It made for great television, but only because of how it ended.
Had Ross and Rachel not gotten together for good in the season finale, after 10 years of build up and tear down, then the entire show would have been a catastrophic failure.
It would have gone down as one of the worst endings to a series of all-time. I mean, think about it, folks.
For how beloved Friends was, and still is, could you imagine how different it would be had the writers tanked the finale?
You can have great build up. Seasons 1-9 can be really entertaining, but if you screw up the ending, everybody forgets how good the beginning was.
Vince Gilligan, the creator of one of the most brilliant, critically acclaimed shows of all-time (Breaking Bad, of course), faced this same conundrum earlier this year. For five seasons, he gave us the most entertaining, heart stopping 60 minutes of the week every Sunday night.
He gave us 61 hours of some of, if not the best, TV ever to grace our screens.
But if hour 62 failed?
So would Vince Gilligan. So would Breaking Bad.
You can have a great TV series (Dexter), but if you put up a stinker at the end (if you saw the finale, then there's no need to elaborate), then, fair or not, it wasn't a great series after all.
It's sort of like Lost, or The Sopranos. They were really good.
But what's separating them from being Breaking Bad great?
The finales. The endings. The conclusions.
Their final moments defined what they were, and how they were remembered.
Tomorrow afternoon, the Miami Dolphins season finale will be airing live from South Florida. The build up has been spectacular. The stakes could not be higher. The pressure has never been greater.
And when those 60 minutes are through, then, and only then, will we be able to truly judge this wildly entertaining season.
If Ryan Tannehill and Joe Philbin give us a great finale, then you have Breaking Bad.
If they give us a repeat of last week, then you have Dexter.
Fair or not, the Miami Dolphins will be judged on their final 60 minutes. Everything before that, good or bad, will be disregarded.
That gripping episode in Pittsburgh? Forgotten.
The dramatic conclusion to episode 14 against New England? Irrelevant.
The strong, 3-0, opening act? An afterthought.
If the Miami Dolphins cannot produce tomorrow, at home, against an inferior team, with everything on the line, then this simply wasn't a very good show.
Sure, it had its moments (OT win against Cincinnati). Some of the characters were good (the progress of Ryan Tannehill). But if the finale doesn't deliver, then the season as a whole will be remembered as a failure.
You can't put all this money into the production (over $200 million), give us some really great episodes (three straight wins in December), and then completely tank the ending, and expect viewers to come back next season.
This team has the chance to be Breaking Bad. In-fact, I'm confident that IF they take care of business tomorrow afternoon, they'll be in the playoffs by tomorrow night.
It's all there for the taking.
But they also have the chance to be Dexter. Or Lost. Or The Sopranos. Some really good shows, that gave us some really memorable moments, only to be remembered for what they weren't.
The build up has been great. The first 16 episodes have been nothing short of thrilling.
Now it's time for the final act.
And it promises to define the 2013 Miami Dolphins.
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