How is there too much deus ex machina? You threw out that label and never mentioned a single plot point to substantiate your claim.

I believe there's very little deus ex machina. The main point is that Voldemort delved too greedily into dark magic, weakening himself very much, while Lily's love magic was pure and protected her son against Voldemort's evil magic. This is why Harry can see into his mind and why he manages amazing feats like Gringotts or escape at Godric's Hollow, because Voldemort's hubris handed Harry the tools. It's all explained in the chapter "King's Cross", re-read that chapter and you'll gain fresh clarity.

JKR does introduce new concepts and history unknown previously to Harry, but name a book she doesn't do that. She'd be raked over the coals if she didn't offer anything new in one of her longest of the seven books. She needed the Deathly Hallows as a new mystery, a new suspense that creates tension throughout the book, pulling you onwards and competing for the horcruxes. It also highlights Harry's temptation to attain that which Dumbledore sought, but ultimately Harry chose the wiser path than Albus.

The other new concept was wand lore, which was not very fleshed out before DH. I don't love that wand lore dictated the final duel so heavily, why does Harry have to win based on overpowering a 3rd wizard, the wand truly knows that? Why not just have Harry's courageous, love-inspired magic overcome Voldemorts? It's kind of a letdown that Harry beats Voldy because he took 3 wands from Draco's hand...

Other than these two concepts, I don't see anything new and cheap like a deus ex machina. That term would literally mean that Harry is defeated by Voldemort in the end (he never was), only to be saved by a God at the last minute (he never was). Harry won on his and his allies' courage, and Voldemort lost due to his own hubris and his own determination to focus on wands and to tell all his servants not to kill Harry.

I'd say a big thing is how old you are when reading HP. I loved all the books and loved the ending. Over time I started reading Asimov and Vinge and became repulsed by the quality of the whole HP story. One lucky boy doing dumb things and getting away with it, all happening in a world where magic is done in the worst balance between mystic and explained. If I recall correctly, they tried to make the most sense of the Snape's magic spells. Compare the nonsense to the way a young man of 16 years imagined magic in Eragon where I really liked how he tried to keep as much consistency with energy cost and implications. Harry Potter really is just mostly for kids

Couldn’t agree more. I wish I hadn’t read it. HBP was the peak. In DH they just run around the woods for a while. I was extremely disappointed with DH.

My biggest frustration with Harry Potter is that Harry never has to actually make tough decisions. All moral dilemmas are resolved by a deus ex. He never even has to murder the villain, just deflects his spell back at him. My eyes rolled straight to the back of my head.

The books deliver a fantastical, childish view of morality where the world will always save you from having to make difficult decisions.

I mean, it's a book about magic... what do you expect?

I agree. (Edit: to add to this, I've always thought that the third-last episode of Futurama, 'Murder on the Planet Express', was a return to form and reminiscent of the heyday of the show).

On the subject of tv shows, ‘Peep Show’, the British sitcom, also had a very strong final season and final episode.

Yes, they tried to end the show a couple of times but the last-last episode is lovely.

Or four

2007 was thirteen years ago, Gordon. Have the Men in Black stolen time from you again?

Someone who was a teenager when it came out could easily be in their thirties now. So could someone who started in on the series when they were a kid, and kept up with it as they grew.

I have learnt many lessons from Harry Potter and consider them real. The beautiful scene of Death and the Three Brothers [1][2] has so much to teach us.

[1]https://harrypotter.fandom.com/wiki/Death_(The_Tale_of_the_T...

[2]https://harrypotter.fandom.com/wiki/The_Tale_of_the_Three_Br...

Well. I was 10-12 when Harry Potter was released and it’s been 20 or so years...

It's really incredible just how well Endgame stuck the landing, but the whole MCU is impressive. Even the worst films of the MCU are still totally watchable, just forgettable. And comic movies are really easy to get wrong, that same decade of MCU movies overlapped with both Andrew Garfield Spiderman movies, and a smattering of forgettable or outright bad DC comics movies.

That Rise of Skywalker and the final season of Game of Thrones came out in the same year helps to contrast how much most things don't stick the landing.

I really liked Infinity War and have re-watched it a couple of times.

I watched End Game in the theatre and have not seen it again since. I really didn't enjoy the whole "goofy time travel" aspect, and re-visiting all the prior movies/events.

It really was incredible, especially after watching Game of Thrones and seeing how that ending turned out. Episode 8 of season 4 was briefly at the top of IMDb, and it was an amazing revelatory episode.

First half of the final season was great, but the writing in the last half felt rushed and at times cheap. It ended up being predictable, where the rest of the show was the complete opposite. They had the ability to write better, first half of that season and prior seasons proved this, but came off as if they were trying to wrap it up too quickly and finalize the loose ends :/

I'm with ya. While season 5 had some phenomenal individual scenes (like "tread lightly"), it didn't land with me as a whole in the way the earlier seasons did. The finale of season 4 is to me, with the haunting "I won" line, is the ultimate ending in my mind.

100% The first four seasons were great, with a ton of character development. The last season was incredibly rushed, and felt like they went from $0 to $millions overnight, and then introduced (annoying) characters and fell into quick traps. It was super frustrating to me.

True, silicon valley had a great finale but kinda rushed.

Ugh. I loved the premise of that show and the first two-ish seasons. There were a few more decent seasons in there, but I don't remember which ones. The final season was embarrassing, though.

well i gave up on homeland during the meandering middle seasons, i'll have to pick it back up now.