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Today is the 30th anniversary of one of the most famous endings in all of television.St.
Whats he thinking about?
To make things weirder, the characters werent the characters anymor.
At the time, this puzzling closing image inspired as many arguments as the ending ofThe Sopranos18 years later.
Was it all the dream or fantasy of an autistic child?
Was there some supernatural aspect to the series that everyone had missed throughout its six-season run?
I think some people will think its extraordinary and existential and quintessentialSt.
I think other people will find it puzzling, odd, maybe unfulfilling in some way.
Elsewherewas merely a work of fiction.
As Jake Rossen explained in an article forMental Floss, The doctors had visited the bar onCheersin oneSt.
That ending wasnt an ostentatiously meta touch that just came out of nowhere.
It was the culmination of tendencies that existed inSt.
This is one more sense in whichSt.
Elsewhere, and St. Eligius, can be thought of as a portal connecting all of television.
It was all just meat and potatoes as far as the writers were concerned.
In the 80s, series likeSt.
Some of the most fascinating shows on television build self-awareness of the show-as-show right into the scripts.
Every episode of bothUnREALandWestworldunfold on what amount to metaphors for a television series actively in production.
The showrunners and writers and producers watch the proceedings unfold, interfering and manipulating like creative people.
(What a seamless transition!
)Janecharacters even watch a telenovela to telegraph a major characters return at the end of a season.
And on top of all that, theres a philosophical or religious dimension.
If so, this is a powerless deity who can observe but not interfere.
Or maybe God is outside of both Tommy and the globe.
You could stay up all night obsessing over this, which is one reason why the ending ofSt.
Elsewherehas come to stand for the series itself, and for ideas as ancient as storytelling.
