The world of television is one that captivates us all sooner or later. There are so many genres to choose from that even the pickiest watcher can find something they like in the vast world of the small screen. This industry’s particular structure also makes unique forms of storytelling possible; the advantage of having multiple episodes and seasons unlocks a new level of story depth that just isn’t possible in film. Whereas a film has approximately one and a half to two hours to tell us a complete story, a show has season-long arcs to expand on the characters’ motives and plots. However, this can also have its downsides. Knowing when and how to end a show is something that not many people excel at. Some of the greatest shows have been known to be ruined by a bad finale; all those seasons of TV gold discarded by those last few episodes. What I found shocking was how much this seems to happen. Shows that have been revered for their excellence like Game of Thrones, How I Met Your Mother, Merlin, and, most recently, Stranger Things have all fallen off during their last seasons. (Disclaimer: This article will contain spoilers for all of the shows mentioned above.)
Let’s take How I Met Your Mother as our first example. The story of Ted Mosby sitting his kids down and telling them how he met their mother went on for nine seasons and captivated the hearts of many. To me, this is one of the greatest sitcoms of all time and my favorite show ever. How I Met Your Mother had everything: lovable and funny characters you could root for, a cohesive plot where everything seamlessly flowed together, running jokes and bits that spanned seasons, moments that tugged on your heartstrings, and memorable love stories. Then, season nine came around and they ruined it all. They spent the entirety of season nine showing us Barney and Robin’s wedding only to have them get divorced in the penultimate episode. Not only that, but when we’re finally introduced to “The Mother” after nine long years of waiting, we learn that she’s been dead the entire time Ted has been telling the story. After this revelation, the show keeps throwing curveballs until the very last second, culminating with having Ted end up with Robin, two characters who haven’t been romantically involved since several seasons ago.
Colbie Smulder, who plays Robin, revealed that they kept the finale that way because the creators had it planned since they shot the pilot all the way back in 2009, so that the kids would look the same age. However, when this was originally shot, they didn’t have half of the storylines that ended up making it to the final season. The most notable of these storylines was Barney and Robin’s relationship. When the show started, the writers hadn’t planned for them to get together, but the actors’ natural chemistry made them consider the new couple. Barney and Robin’s on-again-off-again relationship had been going on since the show’s third season and many fans were rooting for them to finally make it work. The episode titled “The Final Page: Part 2”, part of the show’s eighth season, where Barney proposes to Robin, is one of the highest rated in the show’s history. Yet, the writers decided to abandon this well crafted storyline to use a scene they’d filmed nearly a decade before. This is one of the reasons why the show’s storyline fell flat for a lot of people. Their inability to let go of a single scene changed the entire tone of the show, and not for the better.
Two more shows that started on the right foot but eventually fell off, this time in the fantasy category, are Game Of Thrones and Merlin. GoT, an HBO hit show, was once thought to be one of the most popular shows in television history. It had everything fans wanted, with its vast world building and plot twists that shocked everyone. The problem was when they started to lean into the shock value of it all instead of prioritizing the storylines that made the most sense. The Game of Thrones finale is possibly one of the most disappointing final episodes ever released; a lot of fans felt like it was a slap in the face after the show had been building up to a completely different ending for years. Meanwhile, Merlin was more of a personal disappointment. The story of the famed sorcerer, as he navigates a Camelot where magic is prohibited, is one of my favorites, especially as someone who loves Arthurian legend. The whole build-up of the show was Merlin’s magic and whether Arthur would finally learn about it. However, Arthur doesn’t learn about his friend’s magic and everything he’s done for him until the very last episode, when he’s moments away from death, making the reveal feel slightly anticlimactic. One show’s downfall rested on the showrunners’ need to rush the finale, while the other’s was due to dragging out one plot line for far too long.
Stranger Things is the newest addition to this list of shows and oh how I hoped it would’ve turned out differently. When the show first premiered in 2016, it took the world by storm and quickly became one of Netflix’s biggest shows. This final season was highly anticipated, since fans had to wait nearly three years after the fourth season’s release to finally find out how it would end. From where season four left off, I was expecting a near post-apocalyptic Hawkins with an epic conclusion to the group’s storyline and the payoff of the Vecna reveal. Instead, most of the storylines established in season four were put on the back burner and half of the character arcs were resolved sloppily. Watching the Netflix documentary about the making of the last season really shed some light on why everything felt so off. The reason: the Duffer brothers hadn’t finished writing the season by the time production started. For a good part of the shooting, even though they had a vague idea of what they wanted to do, they were going in blind. In the end, the magic of Stranger Things was no match for poor planning.
It’s still a mystery to me that these writers are able to create such amazing shows and yet are unable to deliver a satisfying conclusion. Maybe the pressure of living up to years of excellence finally catches up to them. Or maybe it’s a matter of poor plotting. They’re so focused on the journey that they stop seeing clearly, and that includes an inability to see the finish line. Whatever the reason, a lot of great shows have suffered the terrible fate of being remembered for their bad endings. The question is, should we allow one bad episode or season to erase years of brilliance and near perfect execution? Even after watching so many shows, I don’t think there’s a definitive answer to this. It all depends on the viewer and what they’re willing to accept when it comes to determining quality storytelling.