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Entertainment

First and Final Frames: TV's New Golden Age

From 'The Sopranos' and 'Twin Peaks,' to 'Mad Men' and 'Breaking Bad,' here's how the internet's favorite shows began and ended.
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This article contains spoilers.

Hugely successful creator-driven television shows like The Sopranos, Breaking Bad, Game of Thrones, and Mad Men have made the last two decades a new Golden Age of television. Hours have been spent discussing the minutiae of character development and world building, but video essayist Celia Gómez, dissects most of these Golden Age series in a matter of minutes using the "first and final frames" format we first saw used by Jacob T. Swinney.

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Some frames are clearly linked, such as the close-ups of Don Draper's head in Mad Men, the mirror shots of Twin Peaks, and the opening and closing eyes of Lost. If you haven't seen the series listed below, it might be best to skip this one. But if you're ok with a few spoilers, the poetry that showrunners like Vince Gilligan, Matthew Weiner, and J.J. Abrams demonstrate in their first and final frames is worth soaking in.

See more of Celia Gómez's work on her Vimeo page.

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