Dear screenwriters,
Please stop. This thing about getting us invested in storylines only to totally abandon them sucks. I spent three seasons hanging on every episode of The Borgias and then it just ... stopped? That's it? No ending? Showtime got me to root for an murderous relationship and then just ditched me?!? You can't just snatch Jeremy Irons away from people like that. It's hurtful!
And don't even get me started on Family Matters. The show just pretended a whole child never happened! Judy was there for like 3 or 4 seasons and then she just never showed back up and we never talked about her again. Where did she go? Was she in Laura's imagination? Was she a cyborg spy that Steve Urkel invented? What happened!?!
One Reddit user asked:
First things first, it's clear I'm not the only one salty about the whereabouts and well-being of the missing young miss Judy Winslow. Secondly, get it together TV people! I had no idea this many shows were this messy with their plot lines. Here are some of the responses that people really agreed with.
Ain't No Mountain High Enough
GiphyI remember in The X-Files where the main characters find a stash of government secrets hidden in a mountain, then next episode they're back at the FBI building ... and it's never mentioned again.
Pissed me off. It took like 60 episodes to get them to the climax in that mountain, just to pretend in the following episode and season that it never happened.
Dog Or Wife?
Brooklyn Nine-nine: is Kelly Skully's dog or his wife? We still don't know!
Great Friends, Terrible Parents
Every time a character had a child on Friends. They would pop up whenever convenient then vanish. With Ross' son it kind of made sense because his ex had custody, but then Rachel and Ross had their baby and it seemed to barely impact on their lives.
Casual Pirates
In Hamlet, Hamlet casually gets kidnapped by pirates. Mentions it once and never again.
All A Dream
In Married with Children season 6, Peggy and Marcy are pregnant. This is a big element of the first half of the season. Then actress Katey Sagal, who was pregnant in real life as well, had a miscarriage and rather than have her work through the remainder of the storyline, they scrapped it altogether. It was explained away in an episode in which Al dreamed he was a detective. At the end, it is revealed that everything up until that point in the season, including the pregnancies, was a dream.
Also, in season 7, the Bundy family adopts their little nephew Seven. He has some small parts in half a dozen episodes, before he mysteriously disappears and is never seen again.
Ghosted By Ghost
Ghost literally just disappeared from the last season of Game of Thrones with no explanation. I had his character for a fantasy league, ugh.
- sydvaca
Zuko's Mom
GiphyAvatar: The Last Airbender totally abandons the story of Zuko's mom. I know they wrapped it up in the comics, but still they paved so much of the back story in the series and then just completely dropped it. We got a whole episode about her disappearance and everything. Also, they mention the Zukos grandfather was Avatar Roku, but aside from one line we don't learn anything else about any of that at all and it's completely irrelevant.
There's even a joke about it in the sequel, Legend of Korra. One of Tenzin's kids asks Katara what happened to Zuko's mom. Katara says something like, "Aahhhh yes, it's an amazing story, it all started when--" but she's immediately interrupted and it's never mentioned again.
Trade With Mexico
In Handmaids Tale, there's an entire episode where June learns that handmaids are going to be traded to Mexico for valuables, since Gilead's economy will only work if they trade. Gilead doesn't have anything of value but Handmaids, since they abandoned all factories and whatnot. Only this super crucial plot point gets abandoned and all we get from the episode is that June learns her husband is alive. They probably could've done more with that.
Chicago
In the failed backdoor pilot for a Supernatural spinoff called Bloodlines, it's revealed that Chicago is being run by five monster families. That just never gets mentioned again. Chicago is full of monsters! Shouldn't they be checking up on that?!
- violue
Redditor Specialist-Crazy1466 wanted to hear why and when the love ended, so they asked:
"Why did you and your ex break up?"
I always knew when it was over, but I always held on too long.
Super Bowl Ok GIF by Pepsi"I'm also a 'She that got fed up with being taken for granted", but I'd forgive him if he offered me an honest apology. Hell, I'd take him back if he really showed me that he cares. What I'm saying is - if she's not in a new relationship and you still love her, you might try and reach out. Life is too short.'"
GuinevereduLac
The Lease
"She brought a guy home with her one evening and told me I had an hour to pack my s**t and get out. I reminded her that the lease was in my name, not hers."
"Imagine the look of shock when I told her to get out."
"She saw my kindness towards her as a weakness she could exploit. I was very forgiving of her bad habits, and she pushed me to the point where she obviously thought I would let her stay in my apartment if she told me to get out."
"In hindsight, being that forgiving was my fault."
Precipice_01
Don't Worry Though
"I found pictures of her doing some other dude in our bed while I was gone for work. 5 years of my life down the drain."
"Don't worry though. Was painful at first but ended up being the best thing that ever happened to me. Got me out of an unhealthy relationship with someone who clearly didn't really love me, and freed me up to meet the real love of my life, who I just proposed to 😁."
Skwerilleee
Honesty Wins
"I didn’t have my sh*t together yet and was selfish and unreliable. She thought she deserved better, and back then, she was right. I’ve come a long way since then."
bunkermunkee
"Huge props to you for being honest and having the self-awareness now to openly admit and accept that. I obviously don't know you but it's not easy for a person to admit that they were the bigger contributor to the relationship ending. You should be proud of your personal growth at the very least."
Mecomaker
He Chose Her
No Way Do Not Want GIF by Schitt's CreekGiphy"His mom slapped me. I was tired of being abused by the b**ch so I told him he couldn’t keep both of us in his life. He had to choose me or his mother. He chose his pregnant mistress."
TheUrbanFarmersWife
Hands off. No touching others.
Whoops
Schitts Creek Oops GIF by CBCGiphy"My ex-wife filed for divorce to teach me a lesson, thinking I would try to stop the divorce. She was piping mad when I didn't, though."
Azzizzi
A Magical Time
"My ex and I were together for 14 years and it was a magical time. However, once the pandemic hit he took up smoking crystal meth at home while I was away at work all day. He became absolutely addicted, stopped taking his schizophrenia medication, and the psychosis and paranoia took over. Living with him became a horrific nightmare I wouldn't wish on anyone."
"I tried everything to get him to help but he wouldn't budge or acknowledge the depths of his despair. After 5 months of living with this madman who was once my best friend and partner in life, I had to move out and start my life all over from scratch. I still can't believe how quickly it all unraveled. Now he's homeless and living downtown in some bushes in a park."
Mythic_Damage777
SURPRISE!!
"3 months of long distance. She gave me a 'summary' of her week via text."
"I spent the first few weeks trying to engage in conversation only to be ignored for another summary."
"I spent the next few months asking if we could just enjoy casual messages that flowed in a natural conversation to mimic how we spoke when we were in the same city."
"After 2 months of not being listened to, I called her up and broke it off. For some reason she was surprised."
merlinface
I Got Nothing
"I took time off from work to take care of her parents. Her mom died, and it hit her hard. I continued taking care of her dad, but she was so stressed she would go out with her daughters and friends from work to de-stress. After two years of staying at her parents' house 24/7 and right before her dad died, she told me I was a godsend and she wanted a divorce."
"She locked me out of our house and had the attorney she was working with declare I had abandoned it so she could keep everything. Turned out her nights with our daughters and with her friends were actually with her boyfriend. She got the house and the inheritance and a new boyfriend. I got nothing."
rollercoaster_5
When in Loss
Sad Rabbit GIF by Muffin & NutsGiphy"We lost a child and grieved in very different ways. He went back into active military duty and was gone for 18 months. I developed an addiction to sleeping pills and alcohol."
When he came home, we started divorce proceedings and he returned to the military. I checked in a rehab center and we went our separate ways."
No_Scale7584
The truth is... when it's over, it's over.
And that is never easy.