Every story is inevitably judged by its ending.
And in the TV world, until the ultimate series finale, it is the ending of each season that keeps the audience on its toes. It is also the episode that can make or break the show. There are some programs which have been able to bounce back, but still, many more whose shame is still spoken about even now.
Human beings generally tend to maintain memories of negative events over positive ones. Perhaps that is why we always talk about the worst episodes of television, even if it is a show that you tend to enjoy.
Here are the most disappointing season finales that we still can’t get out of our heads!
Castle Rock Season 1
There has only been one season so far, but this show is going to have to step it up next season if it wants to keep our loyalty. The show started off with a slow burn that revved into a raging inferno as more layers were revealed to the story of a cursed little town. To have everything we thought we had learned thrown back in our faces at the last minute was quite distressing.
The Originals Series Finale
A series finale is even more essential to a program’s ongoing reputation than a season finale because you don’t get a do-over afterward. For a five-season-long TV show that is also a spinoff of a show that ran for eight seasons, the pressure is even more severe. So, for the showrunners to just decided to kill every fan favorite in the very last episode feels like the worst kind of betrayal.
Gossip Girl Series Finale
If a television show is going to center itself around a mystery that spans the entire series, it had better have a viable solution to that mystery by the end. Aside from the preposterousness of Dan Humphrey having access to all of the information he would need to be Gossip Girl, couldn’t the identity of the internet Loki have been someone, I don’t know, interesting?
Supernatural Season 7
Sometimes a bad finale is inevitable if the entire season up that point is infallibly awful. With a villain as un-terrifying as the Leviathans, there was no way that the stakes were going to be high enough even for a show as action-packed as Supernatural to deliver successfully.
How I Met Your Mother
The series finale of this show made everything that led up to it feel pointless. The entire series was an explanation of how the main character met his late wife. Then this wife was just discarded in order for Ted to end up with Robyn, someone with whom he never had any chemistry to begin with.
Hemlock Grove Season 1
A truly unique and beautiful season of television almost ended on an emotionally transcendent note, but then seemed to backtrack at the last second. Maybe the showrunners were concerned there wouldn’t be enough reason to tune in next season if they didn’t rev up the action in the last few minutes. Whatever the reason, not giving the viewers enough time to process Letha’s death was a mistake.
Voltron: Legendary Defender Season 6
All the build-up to give Lotor a sympathetic backstory, plus the energy spent creating the undeniable chemistry between Lotor and Allura was completely wasted in the finale of this season. It is not necessarily a mistake to have Lotor fall back into the villain role but to transform him into an irredeemable stereotype of a villain just comes off as lazy.
Shameless Season 8
After eight seasons its impossible for a show to live up to the energy and quality with which it started. But in the case of Shameless, it just feels like the showrunners are picking plot twists out of a hat at this point. Ian going to prison, Fiona’s showdown with her homeless tenants, whatever is going on with Debbie? I miss when this family was relatable as a portrait of American poverty.
American Horror Story Freak Show
As an anthology series, American Horror Story is blessed with the ability to reboot each season regardless of the success of the previous. However, Freak Show was, and remains, the messiest season of AHS ever. Other than the presence of Dandy Mott as a villain, it was never clear what the overall conflict of the show was, which made resolving everything at the end even more impossible.
Pretty Little Liars Series Finale
I don’t think I’m alone in saying that the Pretty Little Liars Series Finale made me feel like I had wasted 7 years of my life. Fans of the show may be able to forgive the endless plot holes and forgotten storylines but making us feel like even at the end of the show, this still wasn’t the end of A is just cruel.
Grey’s Anatomy Season 4
This season was cut short because of the writer’s strike, which may have had an effect on how things ended. It just feels like the only highlight to this season was Meredith and Derek’s reunion, and other than that it was just one nonsensical plot point after another, and none of it got resolved in the finale.
Once Upon A Time Season 5
To be fair, Once Upon A Time stopped being good after the first season. Once the characters’ memories were returned, what was really left? But the show kept trucking along and managed to keep things interesting for a few more seasons. Once a season about stories starts delving into literal “untold stories”, you know the showrunners have run out of ideas. Once the finale rolled around, I just couldn’t be bothered to care.
The Tudors Series Finale
It’s impressive that the show was able to stay exciting as long as it did, unfortunately as King Henry became old and tired, the same eventually happened to the show. By the very last episode, there were no more exciting beheadings and sexy bodice ripping. There was just old Henry being bombarded by all of the awful things he had done during his time as King.
Penny Dreadful Series Finale
The finale that was not meant to be a finale. This episode was made with the intention of doing more in the following season but unfortunately, the show was canceled at the last minute leaving most plot points unresolved and each character unfulfilled. Truly a tragedy as the show was spot on in every other way.
Dexter Series Finale
After everything that Deb has been through, for a bullet to the gut to be what ends her is just outrageous. And then for Dexter to go on to live in exile seems far too simple considering everything he has done. Plus, we as an audience are just left with more questions. What happens now? That should not be something you think during a series finale.
Seinfeld Series Finale
Following a recap of every bad thing this group of friends has done, the four of them get stuck in a jail cell together because they judge decided they were bad people. When did this show go from sitcom slice of life to full on fantasy?
Lost Series Finale
When the explanation for an entire series is “they were dead the whole time” you can’t help but feel a little betrayed. Lost, it has been almost a decade, and I still am not over it.
