They had a choice; end the show on a hasty summary or end it on an unresolved cliffhanger. I’m honestly impressed that they shoved the entire last planned season into one episode. It felt cheap, I wanted to see Smith become the monster at a better pace that showed us all the details of his fall, but I don’t envy the showrumners’ position.

Unlike Enterprise, where they halfway invalidated the entire series by making it Riker’s off-hours book report.