Some shows remain great throughout their entire runs. While the quality may vary, it never slips below 'good', and the episodes are of high quality consistently. Others are freuqnelty bad, while some vary between the two. The worst possible time to vary in the eyes of many fans, however, is the finale. A show's last season or last few episodes are likely to be the longest-remembered thing about that show, and it's important to nail.
One thing that can kill a finale is rushed pacing. A final story that has things happen at a breakneck pace, ignores certain characters, drops too many plot points and twists one after another, and fails to take the time setting up a meaningful denouement will always stick with fans, regardless of how good the show was before.
10 Sherlock Introduces And Wraps Up A Massive Plot Point In Its Final Episode
Sherlock's fourth season was considered something of a let-down compared to its first three, which many fans thought were stellar. Nonetheless, it was usually considered watchable, in spite of unpopular decisions like killing off John Watson's wife Mary. The final moments of the penultimate episode 'The Lying Detective,' saw Sherlock's sister, Eurus, appear and attack John.
The final episode, 'The Final Problem' saw Sherlock, John, and Mycroft Holmes all attempting to verify Eurus's escape, only to find that she controlled the mental institution she was confined to and was determined to test the three until somebody dies. The climax of the show, intended to be the emotional resolution for Sherlock, had Sherlock appeal to his sister, but it simply fell flat as the viewers had no time to get to know Eurus, and didn't care for her anything like they care for Sherlock, Watson, or Mycroft.
9 Reign Skips Twenty Years And The Most Pivotal Moments Of Mary's Life
Reign was always a hard sell, telling of a pivotal period of Scottish, French, and English history, but in the CW's usual style of focusing on interpersonal drama and romantic relationships. Nonetheless, it managed to satisfy fans with an unusual blend of history and melodrama, and had fans throughout its four seasons.
Its finale clearly set up plot points for a fifth season, with popular characters Catherine de Medici and Stephane Narcisse entering into a dark and potentially magical contract, and Mary facing arrest for the murder of her husband, only to skip two decades into the future where Mary faced execution for an alleged plot against her cousin, Queen Elizabeth. The show had a last-minute cancellation announced, and this tacked-on ending was the only resolution that could be written in time.
8 Pushing Daisies Wrapped Things Up In Two Minutes
After being cut to nine episodes for its first season, Pushing Daisies was given a full allotment of 22 at first for its second. However, the ratings dipped, and the network cut it down to thirteen. This crushed the show's pacing, as the middle episodes of the season were being used to explore side characters.
After its final episodes barely touched the main plot, the showrunners made an epilogue to the show that was literally two minutes in length, attempting to wrap up as many plot points as they could with simple post-production work. It was the epitome of a rushed show ending.
7 Angel Didn't Get The Chance To Fade Away
Angel's fifth season was considered a return to form after the fourth season that dipped beneath the series' high standards. The Angel Investigations crew accepted new jobs leading the LA branch of their old nemesis, Wolfram and Hart, hoping to turn the company around and force it to do good.
The series focuses on their struggle, leaving an ongoing tension if they will succeed, or be corrupted themselves. However, the show's cancellation was announced midway through the fifth season, leaving the final two episodes to suddenly reveal a deep conspiracy within the LA branch shaping world politics, and requiring the team to commit to individual suicide missions to bring down. Dropping future plot points like Illyria and Fred's struggle over Fred's body, instead, the finale ends with them going into battle against countless demons.
6 Dollhouse Bombards You With Plot Twists
Joss Whedon, even before his fall from grace with accusations of incredibly toxic behind-the-scenes behavior, had poor luck with show endings. Dollhouse is one of his less notable sudden cancellations but was nonetheless canceled during its second season, rather than the five it was planned for.
Throwing twists such as handler Boyd being a villain all along into the final two episodes, the show ended in a time skip to 2020, in a post-apocalyptic future where Echo tried to save the world from its mind-controlling villains. Fans found it incomprehensible even without the rushed pacing.
5 Supernatural Is Both Rushed And Drawn-Out
The last few episodes of Supernatural were controversial, beginning with the decision to have popular character Castiel admit his love for Dean Winchester, and be killed off for real - with a promise of no resurrection - in the antepenultimate episode. From then on, the series spent no time lingering on the emotional beats of that, having the main characters struggle to stop Chuck before the Earth was depopulated.
This rushed plot was resolved in the penultimate episode, with the final episode then devoting a lot of time to Sam and Dean going on a single hunt against a lone coven of vampires - something more suited to the early season. This resulted in Dean's death, and then much of the episode was spent on the rest of Sam's life without him, without manly lingering points - especially Castiel - being covered.
4 Firefly Got A Movie, Not A Second Season
Firefly developed a fierce cult following, but not one large enough to give it the ratings to avoid being canceled. The fan demand was strong enough, however, to get a movie, Serenity, greenlit.
While considered by fans to be an excellent denouement for the series, Serenity is only one movie, rather than an entire season of television, and thus was not able to cover anything like all of the plot points Joss Whedon was hoping to explore in future episodes, such as Shepherd Book's backstory.
3 Rome Attempted To Cover Decades In Episodes
Rome, as the most expensive HBO show ever produced, had to meet high expectations to continue to be greenlit. It failed, despite good ratings, and so it was canceled during its second season. However, due to the expense already spent on it, the second season was allowed to be finished.
This resulted in sharp contrast to the first season, which covered entirely the rise and assassination of Julius Caesar. The second season was planned to follow Brutus's tale but instead tried to cover decades of Roman history within the space of a few hours, resulting in characters and plotlines disappearing within minutes.
2 How I Met Your Mother Spent A Season On A Weekend And An Episode On Years
How I Met Your Mother's series finale is one that lives in infamy for perceived poor characterization, negative character development, and undoing most of the show's plots by ending with Barney and Robin divorcing, and Ted going back to Robin - doing the exact same 'blue tuba' technique from the first season.
Part of the problem with the finale was that, after spending the entire ninth season on the single weekend surrounding Barney and Robin's wedding, the finale shot through seventeen years. Most damning in the eyes of many was that the relationship between Ted and the Mother ended abruptly with her death, with little time spent on the relationship the show claimed to be about.
1 Game Of Thrones Will Go Down In History
In an inversion of most rushed show endings, HBO practically begged the showrunners of Game of Thrones to take up to ten full-length seasons to tell the story. Instead, they insisted on ending it at eight, with the last two comprising thirteen episodes.
The results were infamous, with many plotlines being simply abandoned, many others being anticlimactic to the extreme, and most notably, Daenerys Targaryen turning from the show's hero to the show's final villain in the space of three episodes. It was regarded by many viewers and critics as one of the most disappointing finales in history.
0 Comments