Is there any way that Dan Humphrey could've possibly been Gossip Girl? How did Felicity learn how to time travel? What's going on under Judge Judy's robes? These are just a few of the questions we're still asking after watching the most confusing TV endings of all time.
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00:00Is there any way that Dan Humphrey could have possibly been Gossip Girl? How did Felicity
00:04learn how to time travel? What's going on under Judge Judy's robes?
00:08These are just a few of the questions we're still asking after watching the most confusing
00:11TV endings of all time.
00:13In some ways, WandaVision is confusing on purpose. The first Marvel Cinematic Universe
00:17show on Disney Plus centers on Wanda Maximoff, played by Elizabeth Olsen, who creates a happy
00:22sitcom fantasy for herself to inhabit in which her dead lover Vision is still alive. Wanda's
00:27madness is slowly unraveling, and it's eventually revealed that she's also trapping the townsfolk
00:31of Westview, New Jersey, in her dollhouse.
00:33The finale sees Wanda choosing to free Westview from her hex after disarming Agatha Harkness,
00:38an evil witch hungry for Wanda's powers. By doing so, she has to bid farewell to her artificially
00:43manifested children Billy and Tommy, as well as Vision.
00:46There were some big, unanswered questions at the end of WandaVision that were meant
00:49to be explored in future MCU projects. Alas, some viewers felt that the finale suffered
00:53from being too much of a familiar jumbled third act, typical of many Marvel movies.
00:57Others, however, thought that it evolved from a fascinating mystery into a setup for the
01:01next chapter of the MCU. Either way, the finale made the arguably baffling choice to strip
01:06away everything that got fans hooked on the show in the first place — originality.
01:11The ending of Game of Thrones that many fans hoped for was sadly not the one we got. The
01:15series finale, The Iron Throne, follows Daenerys Targaryen as she finally claims that titular
01:20throne after destroying King's Landing, only to then be assassinated by her lover Jon Snow.
01:25Jon is then punished by the remaining lords and ladies of Westeros with the ironic fate
01:29of ending up back at the Wall, which is right where he started. Meanwhile, Tyrion Lannister
01:33nominates Bran Stark to be the new King of Westeros.
01:36Many viewers felt that Daenerys' heel turn was unearned. As critic Joanna Robinson opined
01:40for Vanity Fair,
01:41"...we've had very little access inside the troubled mind of Daenerys Targaryen, perhaps
01:46by accident, or perhaps with the intention to shock."
01:48That led to a fiery plot twist that left many non-book-reading fans disturbed, and like
01:53their falling queen, very angry.
01:55The most confusing detail, however, happened when the character of Samwell presented a
01:59written history of the show's events that Tyrion isn't mentioned in, despite the fact
02:02that he was one of the most significant characters on the show, serving as Hand of the King or
02:07Queen to three separate monarchs.
02:17The X-Files was never the most straightforward show on TV, but the series finale took things
02:21to a whole other level of confusion. Most of the 11th and supposedly final season revolves
02:26around FBI agents Mulder and Scully searching for their long-lost son William, who is on
02:30the run from government agents. They rely on Scully's psychic link with him, which,
02:34believe it or not, is the most straightforward part of the story.
02:37The final episode, My Struggle 4, concludes with a confrontation between the cigarette-smoking
02:42man and Mulder that ends with the latter being shot. But then the real Mulder appears
02:46and kills the cigarette-smoking man, revealing that it was actually William disguised as
02:50Mulder who was just killed. Afterwards, Scully reveals to Mulder that William wasn't really
02:54their son, but instead an experiment implanted into her by the cigarette-smoking man. Then
02:59she reveals to Mulder that she really is pregnant with his child now, while William is revealed
03:03to have survived a seemingly fatal injury.
03:06But for so long, I believed."
03:10Perhaps this cliffhanger ending could have been less of a mess if the X-Files had a chance
03:13to continue the story. Instead, Gillian Anderson has confirmed that she's done with the series,
03:18barring a major creative overhaul. And even creator Chris Carter sounds unsatisfied. As
03:22he admitted to Entertainment Weekly,
03:24If this was the last episode, would I be happy? I don't know. There are so many questions
03:28that this begs now.
03:29How I Met Your Mother has set itself up for the nearly impossible task of delivering a
03:33satisfying answer to the question at the heart of its premise — just who is the
03:36mother in the title?
03:38Against all odds, though, the showrunners completely nailed it by casting Kristen Milianti
03:42as Tracy McConnell, whom fans immediately embraced as a match made in heaven for helpless
03:46romantic Ted Mosby. However, tragedy awaited Tracy as it's revealed that she has passed
03:51away in the future where Ted is narrating the events of the series to his children.
03:55The two-part series finale, Last Forever, received harsh backlash, partly due to Tracy's
04:00death, but there was much more to the dissatisfaction than that. After Ted finally finishes his story,
04:05his son and daughter give him their blessing to pursue Aunt Robin, played by Cobie Smulders,
04:09who has lived alone since her divorce from Neil Patrick Harris' Barney. Many fans felt
04:13betrayed by this last-minute forced get-together, even though it had been planned out early
04:17in the show's run. An alternate ending was featured on the final season's DVD release,
04:22which became the real one for many fans, as it ignored the mother's passing and Ted pursuing
04:26a relationship with Robin yet again.
04:28The sixth season of Community wasn't the first time that the show had ended, as it was canceled
04:32after its fifth season by NBC before being picked up by the short-lived streaming service
04:36Yahoo! Screen. But this time, the conclusion seemed much more final. The finale, Emotional
04:41Consequences of Broadcast Television, features the main characters pitching their own ideas
04:45for what another year at Greendale Community College would look like. Eventually, though,
04:49they must accept that everyone is moving on, while lead character Jeff Winger is meant
04:53to stay at Greendale and teach. It's a fittingly meta-conclusion for a show that was self-aware
04:57from beginning to end.
04:59But then, the final end tag is where things get, perhaps, a little too weird. It consists
05:03of a fake commercial for a community board game, in which the family playing the game
05:07suddenly realizes that they don't exist in the real world, but are instead just part
05:11of the show. Then, a disclaimer, voiced by series creator Dan Harmon, makes a rather
05:15existentially disturbing announcement that begins,
05:17"...lines between perception, desire, and reality may become blurred, redundant, or
05:22interchangeable. Characters may hook up with no regard for your emotional investment. Some
05:25episodes too conceptual to be funny, some too funny to be immersive, and some so immersive
05:29they still aren't funny."
05:30"...contains pieces the size of a child's esophagus."
05:33Basically, that final burst of wordiness was a perfectly apt description of how confusing
05:37Community became the longer it went on.
05:40It's no secret that Donald Glover basically tricked FX into letting him make Atlanta,
05:44one of the strangest TV shows of all time. It featured numerous bizarre standalone episodes
05:49that existed alongside the regular narrative surrounding Glover's Ern Marks, who managed
05:53his rapper cousin Alfred, a.k.a. Paperboy. As far as Atlanta episodes go, the series
05:58finale, It Was All a Dream, is a mostly ordinary affair. The plot follows two main storylines.
06:03In one, Ern, Alfred, and Ern's on-again, off-again girlfriend, Van, visit a Black-owned sushi
06:08restaurant where the dining experience turns out to be less than ideal. Meanwhile, the
06:12other main character, Darius, visits a sensory deprivation tank clinic, and has trouble distinguishing
06:17his dreams from reality. At the end of the episode, the gang reunites at Alfred's house
06:21to eat some Popeyes, while Darius watches an episode of Judge Judy. Out of context,
06:25the inclusion of Judge Judy might seem random, but earlier in the episode, Darius claims
06:30that he knows when he's in a dream by watching Judge Judy to see if she's, quote, thick.
06:34In the final scene, Darius initially seems convinced that he's still in the sensory deprivation
06:38tank, but by not revealing what he's smiling at on the TV, the show ends on a question
06:42mark. Director Hiro Murai explained to Vanity Fair,
06:45I hope it's a Rorschach test. I think people are going to take it with different levels
06:49of seriousness.
06:50The second and final season of Fleabag mainly revolves around the title character's pursuit
06:54to the priest, a.k.a. the Hot Priest, played by Andrew Scott. After finally consummating
06:59their season-long flirtation at the end of the penultimate episode, the finale finds
07:03him awkwardly sneaking kisses at the wedding of Fleabag's father and evil stepmother. Fleabag,
07:08played by series creator Phoebe Waller-Bridge, leaves the reception early and ends up alone
07:12at a bus stop, where she's soon joined by the priest. But she comes to realize they
07:15can never actually be together due to his commitment to God. Even though they both deeply
07:19love each other, the priest must go a different way, both figuratively and literally, since
07:24a bus isn't coming.
07:25Before walking away from the bus stop, Fleabag unearths the gold statue based on her late
07:29mother, stolen once again from her stepmother's house. The ambiguousness of the ending, particularly
07:34one moment when Fleabag sees a fox and points him towards the priest's direction, has sparked
07:38a lot of fan speculation. Earlier in the season, the priest claims that he's followed
07:42by foxes all the time, which some viewers believe is a metaphor for his own unidentified
07:47inner demons. One theory, however, suggests that it could symbolize hope for Fleabag and
07:51the priest, after all. Waller-Bridge offered a bit of a tease when she told The Guardian,
07:55"...there was an idea for an alternative ending, but I'll never say what it was."
07:59I think the fox is the Hound of Heaven."
08:00No, I wish that was my answer."
08:05If only Phoebe Waller-Bridge had stayed on board as showrunner of Killing Eve throughout
08:09its entire run, then maybe it would have had as strong an ending as Fleabag. But sadly,
08:13that wasn't the case, as the show instead featured a rotation of showrunners throughout
08:17its four seasons. Starring Sandra Oh as an MI5 agent who becomes obsessed with chasing
08:22down the charismatic assassin Villanelle, played by Jodie Comer, what was ostensibly
08:26a spy thriller instead quickly evolved into a tale of two star-crossed lovers. Killing
08:31Eve was always meant to end in tragedy, although the way it did so is quite puzzling. Eve and
08:36Villanelle finally kiss and express their love for each other before Villanelle slaughters
08:39members of the secret organization known as the Twelve. Right as they're about to get
08:43away, Villanelle is shot by a sniper and falls into a river as Eve mourns her death. The
08:48divisive reaction to the finale was best described in a review by CNET that argued,
08:52"...the show that began as a highly entertaining feminist piece on how effective a female assassin
08:56could be rushed toward a clunky, noticeably unplanned conclusion."
09:00The show's stars, on the other hand, defended the ending as being an unavoidable conclusion,
09:04despite how unsatisfying and sudden it may have played out on screen.
09:08"...I did it, Eve. Don't you mean we did it?"
09:16Fans of whip-smart teen soaps with phenomenal soundtracks flocked to Gossip Girl when it
09:20premiered on The CW in 2007. It was narrated by the mysterious titular blogger who keeps
09:24track of Manhattan's richest and most popular teenagers. With over-the-top yet relatable
09:29characters, the show hooked legions of devoted fans, who spent six seasons obsessing over
09:33their fantastically unrealistic exploits.
09:36As the sixth season came to a close, Gossip Girl mostly did an excellent job wrapping
09:40up everyone's storylines. But the big reveal that Gossip Girl had been Penn Badgley's Dan
09:44Humphrey the whole time makes basically no sense at all. For one thing, Gossip Girl constantly
09:49targeted Dan, his younger sister Jenny, and his future wife, Serena. Dan was also frequently
09:54surprised by what turned out to be his own revelations, and it was often impossible for
09:58him to have the information he was transmitting.
10:00"...This whole time, I had more power than you."
10:03It looks like fans weren't wrong to be confused, as series co-creator Josh Schwartz later admitted
10:07that Gossip Girl was originally supposed to be Serena's younger brother Eric, but viewers
10:11guessed it too quickly.
10:13Following in the footsteps of Gossip Girl, the whirlwind teen drama Pretty Little Liars
10:17focused on beautiful young women trying to figure out the identity of A, a mysterious
10:21figure who's constantly threatening to expose their secrets. The show followed four female
10:26friends as they navigated their lives in the small suburban town of Rosewood, Pennsylvania
10:30amidst murder threats, bodily harm, and other traumatic dangers.
10:33Showrunner I. Marlene King put together a rather wild ending in which it was revealed
10:37that A was actually the twin sister of Spencer, one of the four main friends, even though
10:42Spencer never even knew she existed. The finale also featured one character marrying her high
10:46school teacher, while also saddling everyone with a newborn baby. Even King seemed confused
10:51about some of the finale's plot threads when asked about it in an interview with TV Vine.
10:55Pretty Little Liars was notoriously confusing and often nonsensical throughout its seven-year
11:00run, but even within that context, fans were extraordinarily vocal about their disappointment
11:04in the finale. For a series that often trafficked in confusion, this ending should have suited
11:08it perfectly, but it clearly didn't work out that way.
11:11In the early 2000s, when primetime teen soap operas reigned supreme, Veronica Mars came
11:16along to offer something a little darker and more sophisticated. Starring Kristen Bell
11:20as the titular teen sleuth, the show chronicled Veronica's attempts to unravel the mysteries
11:24in her hometown of Neptune, California. While Veronica Mars built up a passionate fan base,
11:28it came to an abrupt end at the end of the third season, when The CW announced its cancellation
11:33just before the finale aired, despite creator Rob Thomas' pitch for a story in which Veronica
11:37would go on to work for the FBI.
11:39During her college graduation, Veronica figures out that evil billionaire Jake Kane has a sex
11:44tape of her that he's used to publicly shame her. After cutting her ex out of her life
11:47for attacking her current boyfriend, she's at a loss as to what to do next. Viewers were
11:51left with plenty of unanswered questions, including the fate of Veronica's father's
11:55race for sheriff. Years later, fans rallied and raised over $5 million for a follow-up
12:00movie that arrived in 2014. That was followed up as well by a new season on Hulu in 2019,
12:05thereby allowing fans to finally get a decent amount of closure.
12:09Debuting on The WB in 1998, Felicity served as a launchpad for stars like Keri Russell
12:14and Scott Foley, as well as co-creator J.J. Abrams. Russell played the title character,
12:19an incoming college freshman who follows her crush Ben across the country to New York,
12:22rather than attending school in California as originally planned. Along the way, she
12:26finds herself involved in a love triangle between Ben and another guy named Noel. But
12:30as the show progressed and Abrams moved on to other projects, many viewers and critics
12:34believed that its quality suffered.
12:36The show ended in its fourth season with Felicity's college graduation and her choosing Ben, but
12:41then The WB asked for five more episodes. This led the writers down a twisting, time-travel-based
12:46path that asked what might happen in an alternate universe where she chose Noel rather than
12:50Ben. Because the show had technically already ended, this alternate universe was utterly
12:54perplexing to most fans. Members of the cast were also confused, with Foley later admitting
12:59that he barely had any idea how the show had ended.
13:01You called it a time machine.
13:03One promising development did come out of this, however, as Abrams started to wonder
13:07what might happen if Felicity became a spy, which led directly to his next project.
13:12Devoted Alias fans will always remember Jennifer Garner for her breakthrough role as Sidney
13:16Bristow, an ass-kicking super-spy who worked as a double agent within the CIA to take down
13:21a mysterious terrorist cell. The show balanced classic spy drama with an ancient, mysterious
13:25figure who seemed to be the key to the entire story. It was a big hit at first, but ratings
13:30slipped along the way and ABC decided to cancel the show in 2005 at the end of the fifth season.
13:35Alas, the series finale ended up being a confusing, noisy mess. It brought back one
13:40character from the dead by saying that he'd faked his demise, while also killing off most
13:44of the supporting cast, including Sidney's parents. There was also a bizarre scene involving
13:48a man being buried alive and his daughter's ghost. It all ended with an epilogue that
13:52found Sidney and Michael Vartan's Vaughn on a beach watching their children play, with
13:56a strong suggestion that their daughter could become a spy later in life.
14:00One of the most unique network TV series of all time, Dinosaurs emerged from an original
14:05concept by Muppets creator Jim Henson, though it premiered in 1991, one year after Henson's
14:10death. The show focused on the Sinclair family of dinosaurs, who face topical and often edgy
14:14issues, making the series surprisingly progressive and intelligent despite its heightened reality
14:19and puppet stars. However, the finale is famously dark compared to the rest of the show. It
14:24wasn't confusing because of the plot so much as its wild tonal swing, as the Ice Age becomes
14:28immediately imminent following the community's poor environmental decisions. Fans were quite
14:33surprised when this usually sweet show ended with the Sinclairs sitting on their couch,
14:37awaiting death.
14:38Dinosaurs have been on this Earth for 150 million years, and it's not like we're going
14:43to just...disappear.
14:44Nevertheless, the message was clear. Willful ignorance and greed led to the dinosaurs'
14:50demise. Knowing that the show would be canceled in its fourth season, the creators planned
14:54for this shocking finale, and its point remains relevant today.
14:58Considering that the entire premise of The Leftovers is based around the aftermath of
15:01a mysterious rapture-like event in which two percent of all people vanished from the
15:05face of the Earth, the finale was bound to be fairly confusing. Although in this instance,
15:10that wasn't a bad thing, as critics and fans alike almost unanimously praised the final
15:14episode.
15:15The series finale, The Book of Nora, is a perfect showcase for Carrie Coon, who starred
15:19for all three seasons as Nora Dunn. As Nora tries to reunite with her loved ones who disappeared,
15:24she finds herself on an entirely new journey that reunites her with Kevin, her on-again,
15:28life-again lover. Viewers were left wondering if Nora is telling Kevin the truth about what
15:32happened to the people who were taken from her, though the episode never provides a definitive
15:36answer. Instead, it leaves many loose threads unresolved, but for a series that dealt so
15:40heavily in mystery, it felt appropriate to end on such an ambiguous note.
15:44Throughout its run, The Leftovers took plenty of risks, and though the finale offered closure
15:48about whether those who departed were living happy lives, it still remained confusing to
15:52plenty of viewers. It was easy to feel lost after this finale, but that was a feeling
15:56that plenty of fans were happy to have.
15:59Plenty of beloved series are canceled too soon, and Pushing Daisies is a perfect example.
16:03A visual feast that was set in a fantasy world that was still somewhat grounded in reality,
16:07the show starred Lee Pace as Ned, a shy pie-maker with the ability to bring anything or anyone
16:13back from the dead just by touching them. But if he ever then touched those now-living
16:17creatures again, they would die forever. He uses his power to bring back his childhood
16:21love, Chuck, and though the two of them can never touch, they spent the series solving
16:25various murder cases together. Unfortunately, Pushing Daisies was canceled after a dip in
16:29ratings during its second season, which prevented it from having an official and satisfying
16:33finale.
16:34Though many fans were happy with the ending, the show concluded on a cliffhanger, as Chuck
16:38reveals to her family that she's still alive. But due to the abrupt cancellation, several
16:42threads were left hanging, including a storyline about Chuck's absent father. And since the
16:46last episode wasn't intended to be a finale, it focuses more on Chuck's eccentric aunts
16:51than the two main characters.
16:53Writer Brian Fuller later offered fans hope in the form of a limited-release comic book
16:57that would detail what happened after the finale. Unfortunately, the closing of the
17:01comic's publisher meant that nothing but sample pages were ever completed. Fuller still remains
17:05hopeful that the story will come back from the dead in some form.
17:08"'Events occurred that are not, were not, and should never be considered an ending.'"
17:14The fifth and final season of The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel shook things up quite a bit. The
17:18entire show had been exploring the potential for Rachel Brosnahan's titular character to
17:22fully transform from housewife to international comedy icon, and then season five confirmed
17:27that, yes, she actually makes it. By spoiling Midge's future, it became more and more puzzling
17:32how creator Amy Sherman Palladino was planning to cap it all off.
17:35The finale, four minutes, definitely lives up to the hype, though, as Midge finally appears
17:40as a guest on Gordon Ford's talk show and takes advantage of her moment to kill in front
17:44of a live audience. The final moments see an older Midge in 2005, living alone but still
17:49making time to watch reruns of Jeopardy! over the phone with her pal Susie.
17:52"'One, two, three, go.' Such a pleasant tune."
18:00In an interview with Entertainment Tonight, executive producer Dan Palladino explained
18:04that the decision to center the fifth season around flash-forwards was a long time coming.
18:09As he put it,
18:10"'It allowed us to not just tell the straight story, to sort of veer off course a little
18:13bit.' But one could argue that it was a confusing choice to undermine the suspense by explaining
18:18Midge's career trajectory in the lead-up to the finale. Although, perhaps it was the
18:21right choice to let the show end on a star-making stand-up performance, after all."
18:26Breaking Bad kept audiences riveted through five seasons of twists and turns. When the
18:30series finale Felina aired in September 2013, it was watched by over 10 million viewers.
18:36Audiences were ready to see unlikely drug kingpin Walter White meet a sticky end, but
18:40instead, he freed his partner Jesse from captivity, said goodbye to his wife and children, and
18:45died on his own terms before police could apprehend him. It was ultimately probably
18:48the happiest ending anyone could have expected from such a dark and horrifying story.
18:53Felina is hardly the most confusing series finale ever, but it did prompt plenty of speculation
18:58among the fanbase. While the episode was critically adored, it perhaps wrapped things up a little
19:02too neatly, and the internet was unsurprisingly ablaze with numerous theories, including the
19:07idea that Walter died not at the end of the episode, but just before the halfway mark.
19:11According to this take, while trapped in a broken-down, snow-covered car trying to elude
19:15the police, he was able to miraculously escape. Meanwhile, others have argued that his rescue
19:19of Jesse and the time he spent with his family were just part of a dying fantasy.