8 TV Show Endings That Get Worse The More You Think About Them
All that time invested for nothing.
Transcript
00:00 Investing time into a TV series is a major, major commitment, especially if you're going into a show that has several long seasons to its name,
00:07 which is why endings are so important.
00:10 I mean, who wants to watch 100 hours of action only to be let down at the last hurdle,
00:14 often by writers who've lost control of their story?
00:18 Well, nobody, but sometimes bad endings actually get worse the more you think about them,
00:24 as you slowly realize implications that passed you by in the moment.
00:28 So, with that in mind, I'm Josh from WotCulture.com, and these are 8 TV show endings that get worse the more you think about them.
00:34 Number 8 - Teen Wolf - The Wolves of War
00:37 Teen Wolf will probably never be mistaken for a great show, but it did make the most of its absurd supernatural drama to popular effect,
00:45 with each season forming an epic mystery complete with well-paced reveals, violent twists, and effective red herrings.
00:52 It was a massive shame then when the final season, and specifically the final episode, failed to capitalise on that potential.
00:59 Titled The Wolves of War, the finale finds the McCall pack heavily outnumbered as they attempt to take down Gerard Argent and his supernatural hating army,
01:08 plus the rogue creature spreading fear through town.
01:11 From a premise standpoint, it couldn't be more quintessentially Teen Wolf,
01:15 but it ruins everything by trying too hard to do something different and epic, ending on an ambiguous note that implies the pack
01:22 are now caught in the midst of a worldwide war between the supernatural and everyone else.
01:27 It's a fairly unhappy ending at its core, made all the more frustrating by various character moments being wasted.
01:34 Worst of all, after six seasons of waiting for Stiles and Lydia to end up together,
01:38 we don't even get one glimpse of them as a couple once they do, which is a total, total waste.
01:44 13 Reasons Why spent its four season run as the most controversial show on TV,
01:52 and its finale did very little to fix the horrifying drama before it.
01:56 Graduation follows Clay and his embattled classmates as they finally leave high school,
02:01 which should have finally put the group's trauma to an uplifting end.
02:04 But unable to shed its controversial image, the finale instead leans into its implausible melodrama,
02:10 killing off fan-favourite Justin, just as he beat his addiction and found peace as the adopted brother of Clay.
02:17 His death causes everyone to leave school heartbroken, wasting years of build-up to a happily ever after.
02:23 Justin's literal character assassination is both left-field and horrible,
02:27 ruining four seasons of development in a last-ditch effort to break audiences' hearts.
02:32 Worse still, his cruel demise is coupled with Jessica forgiving murdered bully and rapist Bryce for his past deeds,
02:39 and even thanking him for allowing her to grow.
02:41 Killing Justin and having Bryce go from unforgivable villain to misunderstood victim
02:46 betrays the entire spirit of 13 Reasons Why's tale of hope, accountability and growth,
02:51 and hammers home just how terrible a show it really was.
02:54 St. Elsewhere did two major things no other show achieved.
03:00 It changed the face of television forever with its twisting serialised storylines,
03:04 and it ended with such a colossal WTF thud that everything beforehand was completely overshadowed.
03:10 With a strong ensemble cast including a young Denzel Washington,
03:14 St. Elsewhere took place in a struggling Boston hospital and thrived as a gritty, tragic and realistic medical drama.
03:21 Dark and thrilling, the show could have ended its run as an all-timer,
03:24 but at the very last second went one step too far, revealing - and brace yourself for this -
03:30 that the entire series took place inside a snow globe dreamt up by a child.
03:35 It's a ridiculous twist that makes everything before incredibly problematic.
03:40 I mean, are we really supposed to accept that this child imagined so many harrowing incidents,
03:44 including episodes about addiction, AIDS, suicide and terrorism?
03:49 It's unsavoury to say the least, and makes everything that came before feel incredibly icky on rewatchers.
03:57 During its run, Castle was a surprisingly fun rom-com mixed with a bracing procedural drama,
04:02 always exciting despite its predictability.
04:04 In Castle, the basic theme was that good would triumph,
04:07 and that Castle and Beckett would eventually live happily ever after.
04:11 With the finale though, this wholesome, almost comforting edge was stripped away.
04:15 Torturing and seemingly killing Castle and Beckett in one last stand against overarching villain Loxet,
04:21 Crossfire ends with a jarring epilogue that finds the couple alive and well, eating breakfast with their kids.
04:27 So the question is, is it heaven? Is it a dream shared by the two dying lovers?
04:31 Or is it a lazy, happy ending squeezed in by the writers, unsure that they'd get another season?
04:37 The sheer ambiguity is unlike anything the show had tried before,
04:40 and the more you think about it, the more you realise that nothing could possibly make it feel right.
04:45 If they're dead, it's far too unhappy, and if they survived, it's just cheap, rushed emotional manipulation.
04:51 Put simply, Castle and Beckett deserved better.
04:56 Unlike other finales on this list, Buffy the Vampire Slayers is actually fairly awesome.
05:00 Still, The Chosen's flaws, easy to miss or overlooked as they may be,
05:04 do make it far from the flawless vision that it could've been.
05:07 For one thing, there's a massive villain problem.
05:10 The Turrican, previously portrayed as indestructible vampire killing machines,
05:14 become nothing more than mindless, easy to dispose of goons in the final fight,
05:18 wasting half a season of intense threats.
05:21 Also, the first evil, the last season's unseen big bad, can't die,
05:26 and so when reformed vampire Spike gives his life to destroy Sunnydale,
05:30 the first hasn't actually been defeated, because such a thing is impossible.
05:35 So is Buffy's victory really a victory, or is the first destined to come back and finish the job?
05:40 Also, the biggest moment of the finale, Spike's aforementioned inspirational sacrifice,
05:45 was kinda nullified by the fact that producers had already let it slip
05:49 that he'd be appearing in the next season of Angel, fully resurrected.
05:52 It makes for an awesome moment, sure, but it doesn't quite pack the punch it's aiming for,
05:56 considering it gets reversed almost instantly.
05:58 Number 3 - Friends, The Last One
06:01 In the world of sitcoms, Friends is at the pinnacle of popularity,
06:04 and its extended season 10 finale, The Last One, is often regarded as a brilliant send-off for the gang,
06:09 all of whom are given the chance to move on to the next chapter of their lives.
06:13 But it's not as sweet as it may appear.
06:16 In the closing moments of the show, Rachel famously gets off that plane,
06:19 taking her to her new life in Paris, and instead races to be with Ross.
06:24 It's played as romantic and perfect, and it's easy to get swept up in the moment,
06:27 but it's also hard to shake the fact that she's just given up the life
06:30 that the rest of the season has been building up to,
06:33 to be with a man who's never really taken her career seriously.
06:37 It's honestly kinda disheartening that Rachel seemingly gives up the next chapter of her career for Ross,
06:43 and their reunion is kinda hard to buy, especially when you really think about how poorly they always were as a couple
06:48 throughout 10 seasons of turbulent will-they-won't-they drama.
06:51 Now this might sound harsh, but watching the finale and its kinda manipulative twist
06:56 serves as a reminder of how badly written Friends' biggest romance really was.
07:01 I'm sorry, part of me does love Ross and Rachel, but, you know, re-watching it, it's kinda-
07:05 they're just not great for each other. I'm sorry.
07:07 Number 2 - Game of Thrones, The Iron Throne
07:10 Game of Thrones suffered through its final season, losing sight of its tightly plotted execution,
07:14 countless characters, and numerous conflicts,
07:16 and it dropped the ball to an almost unforgivable degree with its closing hour.
07:21 There are truly too many mistakes to list off here,
07:23 but the most egregious, from Dany's assassination, Bran becoming king, and Jon returning to the Wall,
07:29 are all brought to life in the most unwanted ways imaginable.
07:32 Wasting years of development, The Iron Throne forces fans to accept Dany's madness,
07:37 with media scenes of build-up that feel completely off-base with the rest of the series,
07:41 and fail to take into account her relationship with Jon or her previous portrayal as a just and liberating leader.
07:47 On top of that, there's also the loose ends the episode leaves hanging,
07:51 the most confusing of which is surely Dany's dragon Drogon,
07:54 flying off into the night, never to be seen or mentioned again.
07:57 I mean, are we really supposed to accept the fact that Drogon just escapes death
08:01 without being hunted down or wreaking havoc across Westeros,
08:05 or that Tyrion can create a new government whilst a prisoner of war?
08:09 So many of the twists were implemented simply to subvert expectations,
08:13 but subverting expectations also means ignoring so much of what was set up previously,
08:19 and kind of nullifies the enjoyment of watching that journey.
08:22 Honestly, criticising How I Met Your Mother's controversial farewell is kind of like beating a dead horse at this point,
08:30 but still, come on, how in the world can one finale mess up in so many different ways?
08:36 In a series of increasingly shocking reveals, Last Forever announces that the eponymous mother is dead,
08:42 and that Ted is actually telling this long story so he can get his kids' permission to ask Robin out again,
08:48 now that he's done grieving.
08:50 The last second twist almost single-handedly destroys nine seasons worth of character development and emotional investment,
08:56 from fans eagerly awaiting for Ted and Tracy to settle down and live happily ever after.
09:01 It also kind of makes Ted look like a monster, manipulating his kids to grovel for his ex yet again,
09:07 just to get their permission to run off.
09:09 There are other issues here of course, I mean spending a whole season waiting for Barney and Robin to get married
09:14 just to have them divorce at the last hurdle is a major time waster,
09:18 but nothing will ever sting more than Ted treating his true love like a footnote in her own story.
09:23 For shame, Mosby, for shame.
09:25 So that's our list, I want to know what you guys think down in the comments below.
09:28 What did you think about these TV finales, and did they get worse for you as well the more you lingered on their implications?
09:34 While you're down there as well, could you please give us a like, share, subscribe,
09:36 and head over to WhatCulture.com for more lists and news like this every single day.
09:40 Even if you don't though, I've been Josh, thanks so much for watching, and I'll see you soon.