A Man in Full has one of the year's most ridiculous TV endings so far

Still, few manage to craft something quite as ridiculous as A Man in Full, the six-part Netflix show starring Jeff Daniels and a raft of other A-listers which has just been released on the platform.

Now, there's no denying that I was not a fan of A Man in Full in general, so the show's climax didn't come as a disappointment - merely an oddity, a culmination of baffling choices throughout the run which led up to a final showdown which appears to have been going for a combination of satire and poignancy, yet managed to miss both spectacularly.

Somehow, A Man in Full has been accruing comparisons with Succession, which feel inaccurate from all angles, but the finale is one moment where the disparity in quality between the two shows is particularly stark.

In A Man in Full's final episode, lawyer Roger White managed to persuade Judge Taylor to let Conrad go following his prison experience, by making the police officer who accused him of assault take the stand.

Meanwhile, Charlie agreed with Mayor Wes that he would reveal allegations of sexual assault against his rival candidate Norman Bagovitch, made uncertainly and unwillingly by Joyce, during a during a speech at his Alma Mater. He backed out of the deal at the last moment, infuriating Wes, but his endorsement still saw Wes enjoy a bump in the polls.

So far, so dull.

However, it's in the rivalry between Raymond and Charlie that things gets... unexpected. Having been told to forget about pursuing Charlie by the higher-ups at the bank, Raymond sets up a new LLC, Big Red Dog. Having seduced Martha, he plans to move her stake, along with that of her and Charlie's son Wally's stake in Charlie's prized Concourse, into the LLC.

It all culminates in the final sequence, a showdown between Charlie and Raymond which has been long coming, but likely not in the way you'd expect - or, perhaps it is given how on-the-nose everything has been thus far.

As Martha and Raymond finally consummate their relationship, Charlie bursts in on them, confronting Raymond about his plans.

As Martha exits to call the police, Raymond fully denudes in front of Charlie, showing him his viagra-enhanced erection, and bragging about sleeping with Martha.

Charlie throttles him against the wall, but as he does so suffers a sudden heart attack. Both men fall to floor, seemingly having died at exactly the same moment; Charlie suited in his finery, Raymond naked and erect.

A few closing shots follow, but that's essentially it. The show ends as the two central characters and rivals bow out together, in utterly absurd fashion.

There are a few contrasts which can be made here. The Succession comparison is somewhat helpful, simply because where that show played into its risible characters' natures with absurd moment - "I'm the eldest boy!" - it stuck to its tone and played things in a manner which, while surprising, made sense with everything we'd seen before.

It wasn't subtle, per se, but it felt natural and cohesive, and wasn't playing anything for shock factor.

A Man in Full does the opposite. Few of the characters' journeys felt truly wrapped up at this point, but the show was coming to a close anyway and it needed a big bang (sorry) to finish things off. It's an ending which, with greater set-up and a more cohesive tone, could have been poetic, but instead feels completely out of the blue.

The other comparison which is perhaps more apt is, of course, with the ending of Tom Wolfe's novel on which the series is based, which takes a completely different path.

In the novel, Conrad escapes from prison rather than being freed by legal means, and while in hiding ends up becoming friends with Charlie. Having learned stoicism while in prison, he convinces Charlie to become a stoic too, with the mogul leaving behind his empire, contented with his newfound understanding of his place in the world.

How that ending would have worked on screen is unknowable, but something more akin to it might have helped to tie the show's various plot strands together, and would have avoided the laughable double-death scene.

Whatever the case, there's no denying that the ending of A Man in Full is one of the most memorable elements in the show's run - in fact, it's one of the most memorable TV endings this year.

It's utterly ridiculous and something to behold - just don't be surprised if its leaves you questioning what exactly the point of it all really was.

A Man in Full is available to stream on Netflix now. Sign up for Netflix from £4.99 a month. Netflix is also available on Sky Glass and Virgin Media Stream.

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