Or was it all just a new beginning?
You die, or you get a great promotion.
Thats the message pop culture sent in 2019, as beloved franchises climaxed into self-sacrifice and authority.
Gene Page/AMC; ©Marvel Studios 2019; Michael Yarish/CBS
HBOsGame of Throneskilled two queens and crowned two Starks.
Three people onVeepwere elected president, and they share presidential status with one long-running survivor fromThe Walking Dead.
The comic that launched a TV megafranchise ended with a flash-forward full of grand political destinies.
Future America, it turns out, builds a giant statue monument to sainted brain-smasher Rick Grimes.
And that Lincoln-worthy memorial looks shoddy compared with how the Marvel Cinematic Universe mournedRobert Downey Jr.s Iron Man.
The fandom for Hollywood franchises has gone religious, so the narratives themselves embrace a messianic mode.
Luke Skywalker is dead…and theres Mark Hamill talking in theRise of Skywalkertrailer.
This strange year ended a strange decade.
Is that why so many ongoing stories were concluding on a weekly basis?
Maybe its just a numbers game: more shows, more finales.
Robot,Gotham,Catastrophe,Jane the Virgin,The Deuce, andThe OA.
The latters cancellation reiterated Netflixs destroyer-of-worlds status, though you cant blame the streamer.
Meanwhile, Netflix wrapped its superhero spin-off showcase withJessica Jonesseason 3.
Mainstream entertainment was only excessive (Worlds saved no, galaxies!
), and I worry history will remember 2019 for its strident hyperbole.
Or maybe these endings were a collective Viking funeral, making way for new storytellers.
Phoebe Waller-Bridgeforefronts 2019s newish class, and the multiple Emmy winner says she probably wont do another season ofFleabag.
Respectfully: I dont believe her.
I dont believe him, either.
Its become weirdly conventional for people to assume the world will end in their lifetime.
Dont believe that, either.
