- 4 days ago
All that time invested for nothing.
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00:00Investing time into a TV series is a major, major commitment, especially if you're going
00:04into a show that has several long seasons to its name, which is why endings are so important.
00:10I mean, who wants to watch 100 hours of action only to be let down at the last hurdle, often
00:15by writers who've lost control of their story?
00:18Well nobody, but sometimes bad endings actually get worse the more you think about them as
00:24you slowly realise implications that passed you by in the moment.
00:28So with that in mind, I'm Josh from WhatCulture.com, and these are 8 TV show endings that get
00:33worse the more you think about them.
00:35Number 8, Teen Wolf, The Wolves of War.
00:38Teen Wolf will probably never be mistaken for a great show, but it did make the most of its
00:42absurd supernatural drama to popular effect, with each season forming an epic mystery complete
00:48with well-paced reveals, violent twists, and effective red herrings.
00:52It was a massive shame then when the final season, and specifically the final episode,
00:57failed to capitalise on that potential.
00:59Title, The Wolves of War, the finale finds the McCall Pack heavily outnumbered as they
01:04attempt to take down Gerard Argent and his supernatural hating army, plus the rogue creature spreading
01:10fear through town.
01:11From a premise standpoint, it couldn't be more quintessentially Teen Wolf, but it ruins everything
01:16by trying too hard to do something different and epic, ending on an ambiguous note that implies
01:21the pack and now caught in the midst of a worldwide war between the supernatural and everyone else.
01:27It's a fairly unhappy ending at its core, made all the more frustrating by various character
01:33moments being wasted.
01:34Worst of all, after 6 seasons of waiting for Styles and Lydia to end up together, we don't
01:39even get one glimpse of them as a couple once they do, which is a total waste.
01:45Number 7, 13 Reasons Why, Graduation.
01:4813 Reasons Why spent its four-season run as the most controversial show on TV, and its
01:52finale did very little to fix the horrifying drama before it.
01:57Graduation follows Claire and his embattled classmates as they finally leave high school,
02:01which should have finally put the group's trauma to an uplifting end.
02:05But unable to shed its controversial image, the finale instead leans into its implausible
02:10melodrama, killing off fan-favourite Justin just as he beat his addiction and found peace
02:15as the adopted brother of Clay.
02:17His death causes everyone to leave school heartbroken, wasting years of build-up to a
02:22happily ever after.
02:24Justin's literal character assassination is both left-field and horrible, ruining four
02:28seasons of development in a last-ditch effort to break audiences' hearts.
02:32Worse still, his cruel demise is coupled with Jessica forgiving murdered bully and rapist Bryce
02:38for his past deeds, and even thanking him for allowing her to grow.
02:42Calling Justin and having Bryce go from unforgivable villain to misunderstood victim betrays the entire
02:47spirit of 13 Reasons Why's tale of hope, accountability and growth, and hammers home just how terrible
02:52a show it really was.
02:54Number 6, St. Elsewhere, The Last One.
02:57St. Elsewhere did two major things no other show achieved.
03:00It changed the face of television forever with its twisting serialized storylines, and it ended
03:05with such a colossal WTF thud that everything beforehand was completely overshadowed.
03:11With a strong ensemble cast including a young Denzel Washington, St. Elsewhere took place
03:15in a struggling Boston hospital and thrived as a gritty tragic and realistic medical drama.
03:21Dark and thrilling, the show could have ended its run as an old-timer, but at the very last
03:26second went one step too far, revealing, and brace yourself for this, that the entire series
03:31took place inside a snow globe dreamt up by a child.
03:36It's a ridiculous twist that makes everything before incredibly problematic.
03:39I mean, are we really supposed to accept that this child imagined so many harrowing incidents,
03:45including episodes about addiction, AIDS, suicide, and terrorism?
03:49It's unsavory to say the least, and makes everything that came before feel incredibly icky
03:54on rewatches.
03:55Number 5, Castle Crossfire.
03:58During its run, Castle was a surprisingly fun rom-com mixed with a bracing procedural drama,
04:02always exciting despite its predictability.
04:05In Castle, the basic theme was that good would triumph, and that Castle and Beckett would
04:09eventually live happily ever after.
04:11With the finale though, this wholesome, almost comforting edge was stripped away.
04:16Torturing and seemingly killing Castle and Beckett in one last stand against overarching
04:20villain Loxet, Crossfire ends with a jarring epilogue that finds the couple alive and well,
04:25eating breakfast with their kids.
04:27So the question is, is it heaven, is it a dream shared by the two dying lovers, or is
04:32it a lazy, happy ending squeezed in by the writers, unsure that they'd get another season?
04:37The sheer ambiguity isn't like anything the show had tried before, and the more you think
04:41about it, the more you realise that nothing could possibly make it feel right.
04:45If they're dead, it's far too unhappy, and if they survived, it's just cheap, rushed,
04:50emotional manipulation.
04:51Put simply, Castle and Beckett deserved better.
04:53Number 4, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Chosen.
04:56Unlike other finales on this list, Buffy the Vampire Slayer is actually fairly awesome.
05:01Still, Chosen's flaws, easy to miss or overlooked as they may be, do make it far from the flawless
05:06vision that it could have been.
05:08For one thing, there's a massive villain problem.
05:10The Turrican, previously portrayed as indestructible vampire killing machines, become nothing more
05:15than mindless, easy to dispose of goons in the final fight, wasting half a season of intense
05:21threats.
05:21Also, the first evil, the last season's unseen big bad, can't die, and so when reformed vampire
05:28Spike gives his life to destroy Sunnydale, the first hasn't actually been defeated,
05:33because such a thing is impossible.
05:35So is Buffy's victory really a victory, or is the first destined to come back and finish the job?
05:41Also, the biggest moment of the finale, Spike's aforementioned inspirational sacrifice, was
05:45kinda nullified by the fact that producers had already let it slip that he'd be appearing in the
05:50next season of Angel, fully resurrected.
05:52It makes for an awesome moment, sure, but it doesn't quite pack the punch it's aiming for,
05:56considering it gets reversed almost instantly.
05:59Number 3, Friends, The Last One.
06:01In the world of sitcoms, Friends is at the pinnacle of popularity, and its extended season
06:0510 finale, The Last One, is often regarded as a brilliant send off for the gang,
06:10all of whom are given the chance to move on to the next chapter of their lives.
06:13But it's not as sweet as it may appear.
06:16In the closing moments of the show, Rachel famously gets off that plane,
06:20taking her to her new life in Paris, and instead, races to be with Ross.
06:24It's played as romantic and perfect, and it's easy to get swept up in the moment,
06:27but it's also hard to shake the fact that she's just given up the life that the rest of the season
06:32has been building up to, to be with a man who's never really taken her career seriously.
06:37It's honestly kind of disheartening that Rachel seemingly gives up the next chapter of her career
06:42for Ross, and their reunion is kind of hard to buy, especially when you really think about how
06:46poorly they always were as a couple throughout 10 seasons of turbulent will-they-won't-they drama.
06:52Now this might sound harsh, but watching the finale and its kind of manipulative twist
06:56serves as a reminder of how badly written Friends' biggest romance really was.
07:01I'm sorry, part of me does love Ross and Rachel, but you know, re-watching it,
07:04they're just not great for each other. I'm sorry.
07:07Number 2, Game of Thrones, The Iron Throne.
07:10Game of Thrones suffered through its final season, losing sight of its tightly plotted
07:14execution, countless characters, and numerous conflicts, and it dropped the ball to an almost
07:18unforgivable degree with its closing hour. There are truly too many mistakes to list off here,
07:23but the most egregious, from Dany's assassination, Bran becoming king, and Jon returning to the wall,
07:29are all brought to life in the most unwanted ways imaginable. Wasting years of development,
07:34the Iron Throne forces fans to accept Dany's madness with mere scenes of build-up that feel
07:39completely off-base with the rest of the series, and fail to take into account her relationship with
07:44Jon or her previous portrayal as a just and liberating leader. On top of that, there's also
07:49the loose ends the episode leaves hanging, the most confusing of which is surely Dany's dragon,
07:54Drogon, flying off into the night, never to be seen or mentioned again. I mean,
07:58are we really supposed to accept the fact that Drogon just escapes death without being hunted
08:02down or wreaking havoc across Westeros, or that Tyrion can create a new government whilst a prisoner
08:08of war? So many of the twists were implemented simply to subvert expectations, but subverting
08:14expectations also means ignoring so much of what was set up previously, and kind of nullifies the
08:20enjoyment of watching that journey. Number 1, How I Met Your Mother Last Forever.
08:25Honestly, criticizing How I Met Your Mother's controversial farewell is kind of like beating
08:29a dead horse at this point, but still, come on. How in the world can one finale mess up
08:34in so many different ways? In a series of increasingly shocking reveals, Last Forever
08:40announces that the eponymous mother is dead, and that Ted is actually telling this long story
08:45so he can get his kids' permission to ask Robin out again now that he's done grieving. The last second
08:51twist almost single-handedly destroys nine seasons worth of character development and emotional
08:56investment, from fans eagerly awaiting for Ted and Tracy to settle down and live happily ever after.
09:02It also kind of makes Ted look like a monster, manipulating his kids to grovel for his ex yet
09:07again just to get their permission to run off. There are other issues here of course, I mean spending a
09:12whole season waiting for Barney and Robin to get married just to have them divorced at the last
09:16hurdle is a major time waster, but nothing will ever sting more than Ted treating his true love
09:21like a footnote in her own story. For shame Mosby, for shame.
09:26So that's our list, I want to know what you guys think down in the comments below,
09:28what did you think about these TV finales and did they get worse for you as well,
09:32the more you lingered on their implications? While you're down there as well could you please
09:35give us a like, share, subscribe and head over to whatculture.com for more lists and news like
09:39this every single day. Even if you don't though, I've been Josh, thanks so much for watching,
09:43and I'll see you soon.
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