The most controversial TV endings of all time

TToday, all six seasons of Lost dropping on Netflix is ​​sure to spark a new round of discourse about the polarizing series’ famous finale. (No, they weren’t dead the whole time.) Time has been kind to “The End,” cementing the legacy of ABC’s hugely influential sci-fi drama, which ran from 2004 to 2010 and consistently prioritized deep work and emotions of the characters. airtight plotting. Even so, many viewers would still list it as one of the worst of all time, frustrated by its refusal to adequately answer some of the series’ long-standing questions.

Here are 15 other controversial series finales we still talk about today. (Spoilers abound!)

“Something new,” how I Met Your Mother (2014)

After nine years of listening to Ted Mosby (Josh Radnor in the present, Bob Saget in the future) tell his children the story of how he met their mother, it’s hard to overstate the disappointment of watching this CBS comedy arrive. so close to nail it: casting the preternaturally charming Cristin Milioti as the heretofore unseen mother, while allowing Ted to leave his ex-girlfriend Robin (Cobie Smulders) and happily attend her wedding to his friend Barney (Neil Patrick Harris). Then time jumps revealed that Barney and Robin had divorced, the mother died of a terminal illness, and the point of this whole story was to get Ted’s children to approve of the reunion with their Aunt Robin. Bold, certainly, but poorly judged.

“Remember the monsters?” Dexter (2013)

An ending so powerful in its evil that you will never look at the word “lumberjack” in the same way again. In some ways, this one isn’t so “controversial”; nowadays, it is universally considered one of the worst endings of all time. But Dexter Morgan had his sister killed, only to escape prison and death and live his life. days in the Oregon desert still needs to be seen to be believed. It’s no wonder Showtime revived the series several years later with. Dexter: New Blooda miniseries that gave Dexter exactly what he deserved.

“The Iron Throne”, The Game of Thrones (2019)

Co-creators David Benioff and DB Weiss always had a difficult road ahead when they ran out of material to adapt. But the final seasons of this HBO fantasy drama, reportedly based on material from the last two currently unfinished books of George R.R. Martin’s work A song of ice and fire series, still made some pretty disconcerting choices, without enough screen time to justify them. Daenerys Targaryen as a war criminal? Foreshadowed, but clumsily executed. Jon Snow back on the Night’s Watch? Tedious. Bran, the smooth-talking weirdo who became less and less of a character as the show went on, as king? Maybe everything will make more sense when we read a spring dream one day.

“Final,” Seinfeld (1998)

“No hugging, no learning” was Larry David’s unofficial motto for Seinfeld, a hit comedy on NBC about four people who are too self-centered and codependent to truly grow or learn from their mistakes. So in many ways, it’s appropriate where they ended up in the show’s final scene: sharing a cell, accused of violating the Good Samaritan law. But 1998 viewers rejected the ending, in part due to the unnecessary parade of old Seinfeld guest stars making appearances during the trial. Even today, its defenders are a minority, although the Curb Your Enthusiasm finale expertly brought the story full circle.

“Made in America,” The Sopranos (2007)

Even in the age of TikTok, people still post messages from family members reactions to the abrupt cut to black at the end of the Sopranos finale, perhaps the most famous and ambiguous ending in TV history. In the years since, the scene has been the subject of endless analysis and speculation: the cut hinted at Tony Soprano’s death, foreshadowed earlier in the season with a comment about how “You probably don’t even hear it when [death] happens”? Still in January, creator David Chase offered this understanding: “I wanted to suggest that he it could died in that restaurant, not that he died.”

See more information: The TV is too broken to make another show like The Sopranos?

“Peer to peer,” Mad Men (2015)

Compared to others on this list, the end of Mad Men is seen by most critics as a great series finale. But aside from a few crowd-pleasing moments – like the borderline fan-service union of Peggy Olson (Elisabeth Moss) and Stan Rizzo (Jay R. Ferguson) – it’s also fascinatingly ambiguous, especially when it comes to our final glimpse of the antihero Don Draper (Jon Hamm). For some viewers, Don’s meditation that led to the creation of the Coca-Cola “Hilltop” commercial indicates a cynical regression; for others, it is a sign of genuine growth and enlightenment. Perhaps both could be true.

“That good night,” Roseane (1997)

At the beginning of RoseaneIn the critically panned ninth season, the title character won the lottery, completely changing the basic reality of a show typically praised for its portrayal of an average, working-class American family. But the polarizing finale revealed that the entire season was fiction, devised by Roseanne for a book she began writing after her husband Dan (John Goodman) died of a heart attack. It’s no wonder ABC’s 2018 revival season (along with the spinoff The Conners) decided to undo everything, bringing Dan back from the dead in the first scene.

“The last,” Saint elsewhere (1988)

This realistic ’80s medical drama on NBC received critical acclaim throughout its six seasons, but its ending is one of the most notorious of all time. In the final scene, we apparently learn that the continuity of the entire series only exists in the imagination of main character Dr. Donald Westphall’s (Ed Flanders) autistic son, Tommy (Chad Allen), who shakes a snow globe containing a replica of St. John’s. Eligio Hospital. The implications even led viewers to hypothesize about a “Tommy Westphall Universe”From interconnected TV series.

“Aurora,” Battlestar Galactica (2009)

According to many critics, this sci-fi military drama on the Sci-Fi Channel suffered a sharp drop in quality in its third and fourth seasons. The ending is especially divisive for resorting to a deus ex machina ending involving a divine force that had only been hinted at throughout the show. For some fans who fell in love BSG During his rocky sci-fi beginnings, switching to the mystical was a betrayal.

See more information: The Best Sci-Fi TV Shows of All Time

“Till death do Us part,” Little liars (2017)

In retrospect, Little liars was never really built to keep dishing out new villain reveals every couple of seasons. The first “A” reveal of Season 2 was perfect, but in Season 7, the series seemed to be making things up as it went along, no matter how far showrunner I. Marlene King supposedly planned the twists. This is especially true in the series finale, which reveals that the gang’s latest tormentor is Spencer’s (Troian Bellisario) copycat identical twin sister Alex Drake, a psychopathic killer with an inexplicable Cockney accent.

“New York, I love you XOXO,” gossip Girl (2012)

Was Dan Humphrey Gossip Girl the whole time? Really? But while this legendarily absurd revelation remains the most outrageous moment in the finale of Josh Schwartz and Stephanie Savage’s six-season CW teen drama, it’s far from the episode’s only problem. Everything else about the end gossip Girl is uninspired and predictable, including the two superficial marriages of the main cast (Chuck and Blair, Dan and Serena). gossip Girl It may be ridiculous, but it should never be boring. (A short-lived reboot was canceled by HBO in 2023.)

“Mirror Image,” Quantum leap (1993)

Creator Donald P. Bellisario was forced to end the 5th season of this cult sci-fi series without knowing if it would get another season renewal. As a result, the ending is disjointed, answering some bigger questions and leaving others for a hypothetical Season 6 that never arrived. NBC placed two title cards at the end to resolve the fates of the main characters, though most fans weren’t satisfied with the closure they got on the perpetually time-traveling Sam Beckett (Scott Bakula), whose name was misspelled. on the end card. : “Sam Becket never came home.”

“The truth”, “My fight IV”, The x-files (2002, 2016)

One show, two endings: so far The x-files ended its initial season in 2002, Fox Mulder (David Duchovny) had been absent for a year. But Duchovny’s return to “The Truth” — and his romantic union with Dana Scully (Gillian Anderson) — didn’t save the finale from a serious lack of payoff to the series’ ongoing mysteries. The x-files later returned for a film and two additional seasons, but the mythological aspects became even more complicated, and the second series finale received even more negative reviews than the first, especially for saddling Scully with a nasty pregnancy-by-rape storyline. . (Anderson himself I wasn’t satisfied.)

“An American Girl in Paris,” Sex and the City (2004)

Many would argue that this revolutionary HBO comedy ended with also Lots of happy endings for the quartet of complex, flawed women at the center: They all ended the series together, a particularly disheartening choice for the large segment of fans who are virulently opposed to Carrie Bradshaw (Sarah Jessica Parker) talking to Mr. (Chris Noth) again. Of course, new entries in the franchise would complicate this ending: in the first of the next two films, Steve (David Eigenberg) cheats on Miranda (Cynthia Nixon) and Samantha (Kim Cattrall) ends up with Smith (Jason Lewis), and the sequel series Is that so begins with Big’s death.