Redditor rayray1010 wanted to hear about the ways TV has been destroyed, so they asked:
"What single plot decision ruined a good television series?"
Break Out
prison break GIFGiphy"Prison Break was a great concept for a show. But then once they broke out of prison they kept making the show."
Se7enLC
"Fox doesn't know when to cancel a show. They either go for a season or two too long or they get canceled too early."
bangbangracer
Too Weird
"Deb being in love with Dexter. I don't know what they were thinking."
wilmontcm
"It was kind of pointless. If they brought it up in the first place, they should've run with it. Then, on their wedding day, Debra finds Dexter's slides."
"I can hear her now 'I was getting ready to marry my brother, but now I find out he's a f**king serial killer!!'"
GrandUnhappy9211
"Came looking for this. Weirdest plot choice ever."
RateNXS
Grievances
"We could fill this entire comment section with GoT grievances :/ "
DIWhy-not
"Season eight singlehandedly took one of, if not the most talked about shows at the time and made collapse into pop culture oblivion! Not a single person I knew or interacted with wasn't watching 'Game of Thrones,' I swear every other conversation looped back to that show eventually, but after S8 no one gave a sh*t about it."
Enganeer09
"There were so many, and this is so unpopular opinion, but Dany and Jon falling in love was just boring. I hope GRRM avoids it but I guess the chance for that is low. I mean, the chance he ever finishes another book for the series is low."
sharksarenotreal
Over It
"The Blacklist writers almost cruelly withholding answers from the audience year after year after year."
zsal830
"I gave up when Liz died and Dembe became an FBI agent, and the show was already dying before that for me. I loved watching James Spader's acting, but it got to the point that even that wasn't enough to keep me involved. I've heard it's in the final season now, so once it's over I'll just Google the ending and that's good enough for me."
Bobisburnsred
Bad Changes
Episode 3 GIF by BBC ThreeGiphy"Misfits when they started getting rid of the main characters from season 1."
discostud1515
"The second the group changed the show lost what made it great."
legend_forge
That show was delightfully strange and certainly fit its title.
Cast shake-ups can really zap a show of its magic... especially when the show itself is about super powers.
Oh Luke
season 4 netflix GIF by Gilmore Girls Giphy"When they revealed Luke had a child he didn't know about in Gilmore Girls."
writtenrain
"Like I feel bad because she’s a kid, but I hate April. Such a terrible plot device. There was plenty going on without her coming into the picture."
helloitstessa
Stop at the beginning
"When they left the park in Westworld."
Indian_Bob
"Unfortunately the writers were very keen to write a commentary on AI in society, and thus drove it in a direction, which as a show in itself is interesting, but went a lot further than the source material in this regard. There were two shows there and neither was done justice."
IHaveHivesWithBees
"I think Season 1 is one of the best shows ever made. It has everything: characters, story ark, riddle, and its closure and very good (just a bit open) ending. Other seasons are just an attempt of producers to milk the story and Id rather pretend they don’t exist."
techlogger
Too Soon
"Sherlock f**ked up by killing Moriarty too early."
"Andrew Scott's performance was so great that they then had to keep trying to shoehorn the already dead Moriarty into later plots or end up with the travesty that was the last series with Sherlock's even smarter sister, who secretly cooked up everything with Mortiarty, just so they could have more Moriarty scenes."
"The whole show went from top-class Peak TV to absolute dogs**t in a slow decline that started with the poor Doylist decision to kill Jimbo."
Histary_Studentary
A Re-Work
"The overall seventh season of Once Upon a Time. It should have been reworked in its entirety."
StillAnIntrovert
"I agree with that. Another bad point was when they made Emma the Dark One when they literally just introduced Lilly, who had the saviors' darkest potential."
"That could have been an epic villain as 'The Dark Savior.'" Also, them constantly having Rumple and Belle get back together. He was power-driven and would always put her second. I loved it in season 4 when she finally realized that and banished him from Storybrooke."
Electrowhatt19
sexy happy days GIFGiphyMany of these franchises jumped the shark, as they say.
Do you have anything to add? Let us know in the comments
"What’s a plot twist that is so bad it ruins the entire film?"
People found the journey was interesting until they arrived at the disappointing destination.
The Fakeout
"Birth - A movie about a kid who knows everything about a woman and claims to be her husband who died (so a reincarnation story). Then at the end they just go 'oh, just kidding I unburied your journal and read everything about you.'"
"So not only does it take away from the whole plot but it also makes you realize the movie is just about a kid (like 9 years old) who lies to get with an adult woman who's husband died (they kiss and take a bath together in this movie)."
– ThirdRepliesSuck
A Time Wasted
"Any twist where the entire movie is a dream. F'k off."
– Theundercave
"Ironically the only time I think it actually worked (for me at least) was Click, because a twist that bad really only works as a joke."
– willstr1
More Like Downgrading
"'Downsizing' looked so promising but ended being so disappointing. It started out as one kind of movie and took the weirdest turn?"
– rainymidjuly
Lost In Adaptation
"The movie version of My Sisters Keeper just completely removing the plot twist that made the book so damn good."
– lydriseabove
Ho-Ho-Hum
"The Santa Clause. The movie clearly shows Santa delivering presents to households everywhere. Yet parents don't believe in him and adults are just like 'yeah sure OK, 'Santa.'' Where do they think the free skateboards are coming from on Christmas morning?"
– munchasaurus44
The following action films went out with a whimper, according to these Redditors.
Visitors From Outer Space
"Almost any film where the ending is 'surprise it was aliens.' It just feels like they wrote themselves into a corner and decided to use a deus ex machina and called themselves clever."
– akirakitano
Two Different Movies
"Hancock is a great film with a terrible film stapled on halfway through."
– Dracon_Pyrothayan
"Was going to say this. The first part of Hancock was such a unquie take on the super hero genre then it felt like an odd romance religion type spin."
– themolestedsliver
Cop-Out Nemesis
"Spectre where Christoph Waltz was 'behind' every bad thing that ever happened to James Bond. You’d have to be a 5 year old to believe that crap."
– evilmonkey9361
Star Wars Resurrection
“Somehow Palpatine has returned…..”
–Alternative-Shape-59
A Major Tie-In
"The funniest thing about that whole ordeal is the message that Palpatine broadcast to the galaxy to announce his big return was a f'king Fortnite exclusive event. One of the biggest events in Star Wars history lore-wise is exclusive to a crossover battle royale game that’s been milked to death (much like a particular sci-fi franchise we all know) and did not make an appearance in the actual film."
– XxsquirrelxX
One Pathetic Blow
"Transformers 5 with Mark Wahlberg. When he stops those big robots with one arm sword from beating on optimus prime. Previous films already established Optimus as the ‘chosen’ one but now some human, absent in the first 3 films can now stop an assault from sky-scrapper sized robots with one arm?"
– BODYDOLLARSIGN
Fast & Infuriating
"In the newest Fast and the Furious movie it turns out an entire evil organization was able to almost take over the entire world and Vin Diesels brother was exiled from the 'family' all because their dad had money troubles and only told one of them lmfao."
– Osirus1156
These were panned for movie endings having no rhyme or reason.
Unnecessary Deaths
"Anything in the 90s where the hero has to die at the end for literally no reason. I’m looking at you, Pay It Forward."
– Phoenix_of_Asclepius
The Break-Down
"The ones that come outta nowhere."
"Like a great twist should be subtle enough to where it shocks you in the moment, but then looking back you see the clues leading up to it. Like a magic trick."
"A good twist you see coming, but will second guess yourself at least once. Like a well known magic trick with two possible outcomes."
"A decent twist you see coming a mile away, but fits the story well enough. Like a common, overdone magic trick that's can still be a bit fun."
"Bad twist comes out of nowhere, destroy at least one character, and doesn't seem to make sense. Like those sh**ty, obviously fake prank videos."
"At least that has been my experience."
– LazyTypist
The Thing About Villains
"When someone who is very clearly dead ends up being the villain in the end. Or when the villain ends up becoming allies with the good guys."
– -Your_local_loser-
I Am Now A Dud
"The changed ending to 'I Am Legend.'"
– Bedlamcitylimit
It's understandable how riled audiences get after being dealt with a cop-out ending.
They've invested in these characters for nearly three-hours of their time, only to find out it was aliens all along or nothing but a dream.
But kudos to the audacious filmmakers for taking a huge leap of faith with their creative ideas. We just want them to stick the landing. Is that too much to ask?
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Redditor These_Ad1806 asked:
"What movie has the best twist?"
Readers beware, there are definitely spoilers ahead!
Fight Club.
"The first time watching Fight Club is way up there for me."
- Tortion
"Yeah, and the fact you never know Edward Nortons name, only Tyler's."
- helmer012
"I'm amazed I didn't get it the first time around. It seemed so obvious in hindsight, yet I was oblivious. Amazing writing and cinematography."
- Guava_
fight club rules GIF by SYFYGiphyThe 1960 film Psycho.
"Psycho."
"It starts out being about a woman on the run with a suitcase full of money and then turns into a completely different movie a third of the way in."
- didnsignup4dis
"I absolutely love that they built the marketing around Janet Leigh the movie quickly established her as the protagonist only to kill her off 20min in. Brilliant move."
- puckit
"Same thing with Drew Barrymore in Scream."
- dywrektor
"Probably that way as an homage to Psycho really since the whole movie is references to the horror movies before it."
- drDekaywood
"Drew Barrymore specifically asked to play that character instead of the lead, Sidney, that they wanted her for."
"Wes Craven loved the idea, probably because yes, it would have a very similar effect as Psycho."
- Ronem
When Darth Vader revealed his true identity.
"I hear that when in Empire Strikes Back and Vader tells Luke who he truly is that everyone just absolutely lost their minds."
- boredbrowser1
"I didn't truly believe it until Return of the Jedi came out."
- BanditoDeTreato
"Same here. My friends and I spent three years debating whether Vader was lying."
- Iggleyank
darth vader father GIF by Star WarsGiphy"Fun Fact: A child psychologist advised George Lucas that Yoda would need to confirm the fact that Vader was Luke's father, because kids would not believe it coming from a villain."
- GhOsT_wRiTeR_XVI
"I mean. I don't anyone should trust it coming from a villain. It's why I skipped the drama in the new ones where Kylo tells Rey that her parents were nobodies. Because my first thought was, 'Oh he's lying to hurt her. Duh.'"
- TheCowOfDeath
The Usual Suspects.
"The Usual Suspects."
"'The greatest trick the Devil ever pulled was convincing the world he didn't exist.'"
- No-Acanthisitta423
"'Back when I was in that barbershop quartet in Skokie, Illinois...'"
"To this day, whenever my buddy and I are surprised by something unexpected, we call it 'getting Skokie'd.'"
- allothernamestaken
Memento.
"Memento."
- hystorymystory
"Ah classic. My wife thought it was dumb as we were watching it until the last like 5 minutes of the movie. Now it's like one of her favorite movies."
- traws06
"It's definitely one of those movies that doesn't really pull you in till it comes together."
- Gr33nman460
Just when you thought it was over.
"Shawshank Redemption when Andy doesn't come out for head count and you wonder if he finally offed himself because he couldn't take it anymore only to find out he dug a freaking tunnel with a rock hammer."
- WhoaButter
"The whole 'how he done it' and walking into the bank sequence is one of the best feel-good cinematic experiences I have ever had."
- BigODetroit
"Same here! One of my very favorite scenes from any movie is the end .. that overhead shot of Red and Andy on the beach in Mexico."
- WhoaButter
"That ending was an idea of one of the producers, who thought the written ending (which was the same as the book, ending on Red's trip on the bus to find Andy) was too sad/inconclusive."
"Frank Darabont REALLY didn't want to do it and had to have his arm twisted into doing so. It's one of those rare instances where the "studio notes" were absolutely right."
- walterpeck1
"The horrible thing is that in Serbia the title was translated as 'Escape from Shawshank.'"
- asandriss
Happy Shawshank Redemption GIFGiphyThe Others.
"I'm mentioning this movie not because it is the best but rather because it is hard to find digitally for some reason but the movie The Others with Nicole Kidman has a great twist for its time."
- Mister_JayB
"They definitely held it together so that the twist was unexpected to at least some of the audience. Including me, because I'm honestly not that bright."
= Painting_Agency
"It's not about being dumb, it's about telling a story so engaging that you stay in the moment without thinking ahead."
- KriptiKFate_Cosplay
The best plot twists are the ones that we don't expect because we are so enchanted by our character's story. The plot, the writing, the acting and the cinematography have to come together to make it work.
For these show stoppers, it definitely worked.
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