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An unhappy ending in a TV show is a risky proposition when writing. Unlike a two-hour movie or a thirty-hour game, watching a TV show can take up years of a person’s life, depending on how many seasons and how long it runs, and make up a large part of a person’s interests. After that level of investment, many audiences expect a positive pay-off.
Nonetheless, some of the most iconic TV show endings have been somber, bittersweet, or downright tragic. Beloved by fans despite the heartbreak, they regularly appear in ‘best of’ lists and are remembered fondly. The key lies in an ending that is true to the themes of the TV show, provides some closure, and is done respectfully. A sad ending that is rushed, sloppy, or too sudden risks putting fans off.
10 Cheap: Supernatural Kills Dean Off In The Most Mundane Way
Ultimately aimed to be bittersweet, the finale of Supernatural nonetheless emphasizes the ‘bitter.’ After saving all of creation from a vengeful God, the Winchester brothers ultimately fail to retire, and spend much of the last episode on the sort of ‘Monster of the Week’-style vampire hunt that was often seen in the earlier seasons.
On this hunt, Dean, who has faced demons, angels and gods, and died countless times, is killed off permanently by being thrown into a wall with a nail sticking out. The episode then follows him in heaven, as well as the life of his grieving brother Sam, ending with him having a son, who also becomes a hunter. Ultimately, the finale disappointed many fans, with Dean’s rushed death being a sticking point.
9 Well-Done: Angel Reinforces Its Themes And Finishes Storylines
Angel is a show that was a victim of a sudden cancellation, with the news coming midway through the production of the fifth season. Forced to create a finale quickly, a plot is invented where the heroes become aware of a conspiracy within the evil organization they have agreed to head, and each go on a separate suicide mission to take out a separate member.
Despite being rushed, the ending manages to complete several storylines, with Wesley’s death humanizing Illyria, Spike finally achieving his dreams of being a recognized poet, and Angel and Connor establishing their father-son relationship. The final shot of the team – already with one member dead – facing near-certain death at the hands of a demon army is beloved by fans.
8 Cheap: Reign Cuts To Mary’s Execution And Misses 20 Years
Reign manages to find an audience with its strange blend of history and CW-style intercharacter drama, who enjoy its storytelling of the rise – and fall of Mary, Queen of Scots. However, the fall isn’t much expanded upon until the final moments of the final episode.
Mary is arrested for her part in the murder of her husband, but then the show skips twenty years, to her execution on the orders of Queen Elizabeth. While her arrest was crucial to setting this up, the show misses everything that might have given the ending true meaning, on account of a last-minute cancellation.
7 Well-Done: Blackadder Goes Forth Has A Legendary Anti-War Ending
Blackadder Goes Forth manages a surprising thing for a sitcom: drawing humor out of the grim, morally murky, thoroughly unpleasant backdrop of the trenches of the First World War. In the final episode, ‘Goodbyeee’, Blackadder finally runs out of tricks, and is, along with most of the cast, sent ‘over the top’ to almost certain death.
The episode doesn’t actually show their deaths, instead cutting from the cast’s charge into gunfire, to a shot of a field of poppies. This ending, with its dark humor and total tragedy, is considered one of the best of all time.
6 Cheap: Game Of Thrones’s Conclusion Comes Out Of Nowhere
An infamous case of a rushed ending, Game of Thrones attempts to resolve large swathes of content in just 13 episodes. The result is a manic storyline that gives the viewer no time to breathe with one bad turn after another, and where audiences complained that nothing that happened felt truly justified.
Character development is undone, such as in Jaime Lannister’s death, or simply comes out of nowhere, such as Daenerys’s rapid turn to evil. The end result sees the Starks separated, many characters left grieving, and fans disappointed.
5 Well-Done: The Thick Of It Is True To Itself
The Thick of It is a 2000s-era sitcom showing the grit and the nastiness behind the Labour-era spin of government, with main character and spin doctor Malcolm Tucker becoming a pop culture icon. By the end of the fourth series, Labour are out of power, Tucker is facing prison for perjury, sympathetic minister Nicola Murray is forced into a humiliating backbencher position, and one of only two sympathetic members of the new Government faces consequences.
Nonetheless, the ending works because it remains true to the show’s themes, and makes sense. Tucker has done numerous things that border on the illegal throughout the series, and eventually, even his reserves of wits had to fail him. Murray’s fall is well-orchestrated throughout the season, and the Government has never been shown to be moral. As an ultimately accurate reflection of politics, The Thick of It can get away with a tragic ending.
4 Cheap: 13 Reasons Why Is Gratuitous In Its Tragedy
No season except the first of 13 Reasons Why has been well-regarded by critics, but Season 4 in particular has faced a savaging. After a listless season with little in the way of drama, the final episode introduces – and concludes – a storyline where popular character Justin is diagnosed with AIDS after drug addiction and time as a prostitute, before dying.
With little foreshadowing beforehand, and a number of other writing choices like the victims of bullying rapist Bryce ultimately forgiving him for his actions, the few bright spots in the conclusion fail to drown out the seemingly pointless tragedy, and the whole thing seems an exercise in audience cruelty.
3 Well-Done: Breaking Bad Was Never Going To End Happily
Breaking Bad follows chemist Walter White as he becomes a meth dealer. Initially, this is to pay for his cancer treatment. Then, it is to pay for his family once he is gone. Then, it is to survive in New Mexico’s criminal underworld and get even with his enemies. And then it is simply because he’s good at it.
Throughout, the show makes it clear that Walter is never going to leave the criminal life willingly, and the finale carries it through to its ultimate conclusion. While there are spots of light, such as Walter defeating the Neo-Nazi gang and saving Jesse’s life, the last shot is of Walter’s corpse as his reputation lies in ruins, perfectly finishing off the story of his descent.
2 Cheap: How I Met Your Mother Kills Off The Titular Character
One of the most notorious endings to any TV show, the ending to How I Met Your Mother sees the twist that the Mother – who viewers have spent nine seasons waiting to see the relationship between her and Ted – dies after only a few years of marriage. Furthermore, Robin and Barney break up after only three years, and most of the cast spend years miserable before finding some peace.
The ending is reviled for twists that come out of nowhere and more or less undermine the long-running themes and storylines of the show, making the nine seasons leading up to it, in the eyes of many fans, feel pointless.
1 Well-Done: Wandavision Resolves Its Themes
The ending to Wandavision could be argued to be bittersweet, but it is far from happy. Wanda, after defeating Agatha Harkness and SWORD, ultimately chooses to end the Hex, which kills her family and the potentially idyllic life they could have had. Immediately after, Wanda is accosted by the angry citizens of Westview after everything she has done to them.
The ending is tragic, but it is perfectly in line with the messages running through Wandavision. Wanda finally realizes that repressing her grief and trauma is not only harmful to her, but to others and that she has to learn to let go. A poignant ending to a consistently bittersweet show.
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