There’s nothing better than finding a new television series to sit down and fall in love with. Unfortunately, sometimes those shows end up letting us down, letting us get emotionally invested in a story before offering up a conclusion that ruins the entire series. It doesn’t happen all the time (thank goodness), but there are a few notable times in TV history that fans will never get over. The truth is that a TV finale carries a lot of weight and pressure. It’s the final goodbye, and thus will always have a high emotional impact, regardless of the show’s usual tone. Likewise, we fans will usually have high expectations from our favorites, which sometimes sets us up for failure.
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The shows we’re about to talk about didn’t just have an ending that flopped. They had surprise twists that were so bad as to make fans want to run screaming from the fandom. Okay, maybe they weren’t all quite that bad, but it certainly felt that way when their finales were first released. There were certainly some very strong reactions to some of the episodes listed below.
10) How I Met Your Mother – She Was Dead the Whole Time
How I Met Your Mother ran for nine seasons, building up the mystery of Ted Mosby’s wife. Every season, fans came up with new and creative theories about who the “mother” could possibly be. Unfortunately, the final season brought with it a lot of contentious twists, starting with Robin and Barney’s marriage falling apart. The other disappointing twist? Ted’s wife, Tracy McConnell, has been dead the whole time.
In hindsight, it almost makes sense. Almost. After all, why would Ted be explaining this whole long story to his kids if their mom was around? However, it ruined the entire promise the series had made. Truthfully, it broke several promises. Fans were just getting to know Tracy (played by Cristin Milioti), and then the show killed her off, letting Ted race off after Robin. Again. Needless to say, the fan reaction to the finale was pretty harsh, and it’s something that many viewers have not gotten over.
9) Pretty Little Liars – The Secret Twin Twist
We can joke about it now, but the ending to Pretty Little Liars was upsetting for many fans. A.D. had been the series antagonist since the very beginning, and it spawned a massive number of fan theories about who it could possibly be. So, having the big reveal be a secret twin? Yeah, that was a major letdown.
The secret twin twist felt cheap at best, especially as it ensured that fans could never have accurately guessed who A.D. was. This made the puzzle impossible to assemble, even for the best detective fans, as we were withheld one vital piece of information.
8) Dexter – Running Off to Become a Lumberjack
Perhaps the finale of Dexter doesn’t hurt as badly, now that Dexter: Resurrection is in full swing, but at the time? Awful. It was hailed as one of the worst finale seasons in history, thanks to the decision to make the titular character inexplicably run away to become a lumberjack in Oregon.
Admittedly, the whole running away (and faking his death) part makes a fair bit of sense, given recent developments. However, the particular choice negates a lot of his character development up to this point. Let us not forget that this finale would have effectively thrown away eight seasons of relationships and stories. Thankfully, Dexter: New Blood and Dexter: Resurrection help to fix that.
7) Veronica Mars – Logan Gets Thrown Away
Fans of Veronica Mars spent years watching the dance between Veronica and Logan. We all know that shows love to drag out the “will they/won’t they” drama, but fans certainly had no reason to expect Veronica Mars‘ heartbreaking turn of events.
Overall, Veronica Mars‘ final season was a solid return to form, reminding viewers of why they fell in love with the show in the first place. Unfortunately, it also messed up on at least one major point. It gave fans an amazing relationship win, letting Veronica and Logan finally get married. However, mere minutes later, Logan is killed by a car bomb. Just like that, years of romance and character building are thrown out the window.
6) Lost – Losing the Threads
Out of every series on this list, Lost has perhaps the most famously disappointing ending. The series offered up so many mysteries, thanks to its oddly complex mythology. So, naturally, fans were hoping for a lot of answers from the finale. That didn’t happen. The series finale of Lost intentionally left a lot of key elements unexplained.
The finale for Lost decided to go with a more character-driven conclusion. That felt emotionally appropriate for a send-off, giving fans a chance to say goodbye to the characters they spent six seasons caring about. However, it probably would have gone over better had the previous episode gone to any lengths to answer our lingering questions about the island or any of its mysteries.
5) Supernatural – Dean’s Death
Admittedly, Supernatural‘s finale didn’t actually “ruin” the series for fans, but it was pretty surprising and disappointing. Sam and Dean Winchester had seemingly gone through it all. While they had their share of wins and losses, we were not expecting such a permanent end to what seemed like a routine hunt.
The series finale of Supernatural took Sam and Dean on a vampire hunt, which for these guys is pretty routine, right? Despite it being a relatively low-stakes (pun not intended, but appreciated) hunt, Dean ended up dead. It was shocking that things could go bad so quickly, especially after everything they had gone through. It makes some semblance of sense that, statistically, not everyone would survive to the end. But it still felt unfair to put fans through this turn of events.
4) Gossip Girl – The Secret Blogger Reveal
Fans had a lot of questions going into the finale of Gossip Girl, but it’s safe to say that they were not thrilled with at least one of the answers they were given. The show revealed, and expected us to believe, that Dan Humphrey was the secret blogger all along. Not only did it feel like a copout, but this reveal doesn’t make sense.
The revelation threw a whole bunch of narrative inconsistencies into the mix. We can forgive how it negated Dan’s reactions to gossip (maybe he’s just a good actor?), but other details don’t make sense. Plus, having Dan be the gossip blogger felt like a betrayal, not just to the characters, but to the viewers who had plenty of time to get invested in the story.
3) St. Elsewhere – “It Was All a Dream”
Is there anything worse than one of those “it was all a dream” episode sequences? Apparently, the answer is yes! St. Elsewhere did more than throw one of those episodes into the mix; they made it their finale. The final episode of St. Elsewhere effectively told the audience that the previous six seasons were all one child’s imagination. Yes, really.
St. Elsewhere was considered to be a groundbreaking show that paved the way for many more medical procedures ( ER, Grey’s Anatomy, etc.). It’s safe to say that fans were not anticipating an ending that would undo all of that hard work, yet that’s what we got. The icing on the (painful) cake is the snow globe, which has the iconic hospital tucked inside.
2) Once Upon a Time – The Final Season is Really a Soft Reboot
Once Upon a Time ran for seven seasons, which is pretty impressive. However, the finale season is a bit strange, and there’s no point in denying that. The seventh season of Once Upon a Time is effectively a soft reboot, as most of the original cast weren’t even present.
Once Upon a Time is not the only show to try to move forward with a new cast. The final season of Scrubs did the same thing, and we all know how that turned out. The finale season of Once Upon a Time is a bit divisive, as some fans enjoyed the fresh take while others were disappointed to lose characters they had become so invested in.
1) Game of Thrones – Daenerys’ Descent Into Madness
We couldn’t include a list of disappointing finales and not include Game of Thrones. The entire final season is often a heavy discussion point for fans, as most were not pleased with the way things went down. There are a lot of points that we could talk about here, but let’s focus on Daenerys Targaryen and her descent into madness.
Game of Thrones had spent seasons building up her character, making her seem human, heroic, and flawed all in one go. She was meant to be a hero fans could believe in, especially in the face of all the tragedy and suffering happening across Westeros. While the show (and novels) have famously turned expectations on their heads, turning Daenerys into a mad villain may have been a step too far.
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