好英语网《继承之战》完结：为什么电视剧大结局如此重要
The ending of “Succession” is upon us. So how to end this bitter masterpiece?
《继承之战》(Succession)的结局即将到来。那么这部苦痛的杰作将如何终结？
Do they shoot forward in time, stealing a page from the legendary finale of “Six Feet Under”? Maybe offer a glimpse of the future with that handsome sociopath and potential president they have put in power? Or just cut to black before someone assassinates Kendall? (I’m someone who actually liked the ending of “The Sopranos.”)
他们会不会将时间快进，从《六英尺下》(Six Feet Under)的传奇结局中窃取灵感？也许让我们看看他们推上去的那个英俊而反社会的、可能成为总统的人带领下的未来？或者在有人暗杀肯德尔之前直接把画面切黑？（我属于真的喜欢《黑道家族》(The Sopranos)结局的那种人。）
Possible but not probable. None of those options feel quite right.
也许吧，但不太可能。这些选项都感觉不太对。
That’s the thing about a good ending: It has to be both ineffable and organic. And unfortunately, a wrong-footed ending can virtually ruin an otherwise brilliant piece of art. The greatness of the astonishing “Game of Thrones” was severely undercut by too many missteps in its final episodes. Jaime goes back to Cersei and a house falls on them? The sublime and beloved Daenerys goes bonkers and burns down King’s Landing? Bran gets the throne? What we want from an ending is a grand “amen,” such as we got from “Breaking Bad.” But “Game of Thrones” was more of a “huh?”
这就是一个好结局的困境：它必须难以言喻，同时非常自然。而且不幸的是，一个糟糕的结局几乎可以毁掉一件原本辉煌的艺术品。《权力的游戏》(Game of Thrones)令人叹为观止，但最后几集有太多失误，严重削弱了它的光彩。詹姆回到瑟曦身边，然后房子塌了，把两个人压死了？受人敬仰和爱戴的丹妮莉丝发了疯，烧毁了君临城？布兰得到王位？我们想要一个像《绝命毒师》(Breaking Bad)那样的结局，一声庄严的“阿门”。但是《权力的游戏》更像是一个“啊？”
I’ve thought about endings a lot because I have to write them. While I usually have a vague idea of an ending when I start writing a play, I don’t want everything set in stone. If you don’t map the story out too ruthlessly, it will reveal itself to you in the writing — and there is often a secret subject, something both surprising and inevitable that your mind was holding on to, that ultimately presents itself. Something perfect, like an angel crashing through the ceiling. Or “I have always depended on the kindness of strangers.” Or the fact that there really is a cabal of devil worshipers living in the Dakota on the Upper West Side. Those are great endings.
我经常思考结局，因为我写的东西总得有个结局。当我开始写剧本时，虽然通常对结局有一个模糊的想法，但我不希望一切都板上钉钉。如果你给故事的发展路线留有余地，那么在写作中，结局就会自己呈现出来——而且通常，你的头脑一直保留着一个出人意料又无可避免的秘密议题，它最终会自己出现。某种完美的东西，就像冲破天花板的天使。或者“我一直都依赖于陌生人的善良”。或者确实有一帮魔鬼的崇拜者生活在曼哈顿上西区的达科他公寓。这些都是伟大的结局。
The ending should grow out of everything that came before, but also be different from everything that came before. A great ending can be about transformation, in which our central character escapes, or finds true love, or discovers a profound truth and achieves inner wisdom (as in “Mad Men,” except the profound truth was about Coca-Cola). Or it can be about justice, which rains down on those who deserve it and ruins those who don’t. (See every superhero movie.) Or its opposite, the idea that justice has abandoned everyone. (See “The Godfather.”) A good ending can involve a soft, mournful loss of hope. (See Chekhov.) It can celebrate the restored and renewed order that a marriage can provide to a disordered world. (See Shakespeare.) Or it can resolve with the notion that marriage is actually not going to solve anything. (Again, see Shakespeare.)
结局应该从之前的一切中产生，但又不同于之前的一切。一个伟大的结局也许是关于转变的，在这个过程中，我们的核心人物逃脱了，或者找到了真爱，或者发现了一个深刻的真理并获得了内在的智慧（就像在《广告狂人》(Mad Men)中，不过这个深刻的真理是关于可口可乐的）。或者它可能是关于正义的，正义降临在那些应得的人身上，并毁掉那些不配得的人。（参见所有超级英雄电影。）或者相反，正义已经抛弃了所有人。（见《教父》。）一个好的结局可能包含一种柔和、悲伤的希望破灭。（见契诃夫。）它可以庆祝一场婚姻的结合能够让混乱的世界得到恢复并重新获得秩序。（见莎士比亚。）或者它可以与婚姻其实解决不了任何问题的观念达成和解。（还是莎士比亚。）
At its best, a sublimely written ending will raise everything that came before into the realm of timeless wisdom: “So we beat on, boats against the current, borne back ceaselessly into the past,” as the narrator of “The Great Gatsby” concludes.
在最好的情况下，一个优美的结局会将之前发生的一切提升到永恒智慧的境界：“于是我们继续奋力向前，逆水行舟，被不断地向后推，被推入过去，”正如《了不起的盖茨比》(The Great Gatsby)的旁白总结的那样。
Television offers different challenges — and not just because the viewers will sit and stew for a week (or more) obsessing about how it all might end. Television is built differently from other kinds of drama, so naturally it ends differently, too.
电视构成了不同的挑战——不仅仅是因为观众会坐下来煲一个星期（或更长时间）的剧来思考这一切可能会如何结束。电视的制作方式与其他类型的戏剧不同，所以结局自然也不同。
You start with a pilot episode, which may or may not make it to air, and then you inchworm yourself through a first season. At that point the ending is so far off it’s hard to take the idea of it seriously. After all, if no one watches, you’ll just be canceled anyway. So you’re not trying to imagine the ending — you’re trying to avoid it.
你从一集试播集开始——它可能上了电视，也可能永远没上——然后一点一点看完第一季。到这时，结局还很遥远，很难认真去想结局的事情。毕竟，如果没有观众，这个剧反正都会被取消。所以你不是在试图想象结局——你是在试图回避结局。
That’s why truly great endings are especially hard to come by in television. TV shows are not about the ending; they’re about the middle. They’re about how long you can keep that show on the air. When you have a hit, generally no one is in a big hurry to get to the ending, which is why phrases like “jump the shark” have entered the lexicon. The middle is where television thrives.
这就是为什么在电视上，真正伟大的结局特别难得。电视剧不是为了结局存在的；是为了中间的过程。它们在乎的是你能让这个剧播出多久。当你大获成功时，通常没有人会急着制作结局，这就是为什么像“jump the shark”（意指一个本来很好的作品开始逐渐质量下降。——译注）这样的短语进入了人们的词汇。电视的成功来自中间的过程。
For me, the ending of Season 2 of “Succession,” when Kendall betrayed his father, Logan, to the world and threatened to bring the whole house of cards down on everyone’s head, was perhaps the series’s most spectacular moment. That whisper of a smile from Logan as he watched the catastrophe was mysterious, glorious and human. Did he secretly want Kendall to grab the reins? Perhaps so. It was undeniably great television. Then Logan went ahead and destroyed Kendall all over again in Season 3. And the show went back to the starting gate. There’s a kind of circularity in TV that’s inherent in the form. This is why so many shows end in what can only be called “the group hug.” “Mary Tyler Moore” did it; “The Office” did it; “Seinfeld” did an incarcerated version of it.
在《继承之战》第2季的结尾，肯德尔在全世界面前背叛了他的父亲洛根，并威胁推翻整个岌岌可危的系统，让每个人都遭殃，对我来说这可能是该剧最闪亮的时刻。当洛根目睹这场灾难时，他那淡淡的微笑既神秘又散发着光彩和人性。他是不是暗中想让肯德尔接管大权？也许是这样。不可否认，这是很棒的一季。然后洛根在第3季再次击败了肯德尔。这部剧又回到了起跑线。电视剧这种形式有一种天然的循环性。这就是为什么这么多节目以只能称为“集体拥抱”的方式结束。《玛丽·泰勒·摩尔》(Mary Tyler Moore)是这样；《办公室》(The Office)是这样；《宋飞传》(Seinfeld)的监狱结局是这样。
I suspect that we are not getting a group hug out of “Succession.”
我怀疑我们不会从《继承之战》中得到集体拥抱。
As endings go, “Succession” is a special case, and not just because the creator Jesse Armstrong chose not only how to end the show, but also when. (He’s said it has “been kind of present” in his mind from the very beginning.) With “Succession,” the ending has always been built right into the title.
就结局来说，《继承之战》是一个特例，不仅仅是因为创作者杰西·阿姆斯特朗不仅选择了如何剧终，还选择了何时剧终。（他说从一开始它就“一直存在”在他的脑海中。）对于《继承之战》，结局一直都直接含在剧名里。
My bold prediction? I can tell you what won’t happen: Logan won’t come back to life. The children won’t sell the company to someone who shows up suddenly from China with a better offer. It won’t turn on a deus ex machina that shows up because nobody knew how to land the damn plane so they just brought in something from nowhere and that’s the end.
我有什么大胆预测吗？我可以告诉你什么样的结局不会发生：洛根不会复活。孩子们不会把公司卖给突然出现并提供更好报价的中国人。也不会有天外救星，不会仅仅因为没人知道怎么降落那架该死的飞机就莫名其貌加入一些东西然后结束。
As for what will happen, I feel confident in promising this: The ending of “Succession” will fulfill the story and not betray the spirit of what has come before. Its creators have proved over four seasons that they’re better than that.
至于会发生什么，我有信心承诺：《继承之战》的结局将完成这个故事，而不会背叛前情的精神。它的创作者已经在这四季的剧集中证明他们有这个实力。
That’s why I’ll be tuning in. I can’t wait to see how it ends.
这就是我要收看的原因。我迫不及待地想知道它的结局。