I love this show. It is my favourite in the Star Trek world except the original series. Too bad the writers went the "we don't want to fall into the sappy, captain gives a heroic speech, ticket tape parade trite ending" that most shows would naturally do. They went the Sopranos ending route and tried to change it up and not form to convention. yes, you can be bold and take that route but you also have to pay the piper if that route fails. I doubt David Chase can go anywhere even years later without a fan coming up and saying, "WTF guy! I felt stiffed!" When you have a 2 or 3 hour film you can play that card BUT when you have the finale show after a 7 year run that is ALSO part of a huge fan based universe for the past 40+ years, you have to pay off some debts buddy. Like it or not it is emotionally satisfying having those moments and when you cheat your audience by not showing them at all because you don't as filmmakers want to present the same old same old, then you can't complain when you are dragged out on the carpet for it. Your job is to present it in in a non-sappy way by use of writing, acting and directing skills to satisfy an audience, not to re-invent the wheel.