Any finale that was submitted and made it through prelims is included, i.e. my personal opinions are not reflected in this blog
finales can be bad because of bad writing, rushed production, premature cancellation, or anything else.
A bad finale doesn’t necessarily mean a bad episode‚ and vice versa.
Poll posts will include:
- Screencap some were submitted but most are just the first result I could get from google
- Summary pulled from imdb. NOT meant to be propaganda, just meant to help jog your memory
- Propaganda + I'm listing a word count bc I think it's funny
- cws and extra context that I got in submissions (if there is no cw that doesn't necessarily mean they don't need one, just that none were submitted)
This is the time to be a hater, but sometimes we only hate because we love so much
I’m sorry they did that to you.
Spreadsheet listing all finales submitted (those in voting are in bold)
Link to challonge bracket (includes links to individual polls)
Also, you're always welcome to submit propaganda via my submissions box (can be for or against)‚ as well as any screencaps you feel should be used.
+ Here's the pinned post for the last tournament (Most Episode)
No set schedule this time, but I'll post links to poll groups here
propaganda is under the cut (359 words) - may contain spoilers
summaries (pulled from imdb or wikis)
propaganda
Danny Phantom - 3.12/3.13 Phantom Planet
When Plasmius' new ghostbuster team outclasses Danny in the field, the boy decides to remove his powers and retire, unaware of an approaching massive asteroid threatening Earth.
1) *points at Phantom Planet* LOOK AT IT!
Okay there is a whole ass Power Point presentation on tumblr about why PP sucks major ass, but I can't find it right now. So my sybopsis:
Danny just. Decides to give up on his ghost powers. After 52 fucking episodes. He's out. Vlad won. Bye.
Except oh no who would've guessed that was all part of Vlad's plan and Vlad reveals his powers to the whole world and takes ALL OF IT hostage (wow such cunning, much intelligence, very smart villain). And he wants money. Not like Maggie, whom he has been pining for for decades. Like I get that it's a children's show and that'd be a bit too fucked up but money? Really?
So Vlad fails in making the anti-ghost-meteor intangible. Danny goes into the Ghost Zone POWERLESS and gets blasted by every ghost ever and I guess those people who think that he died to get his powers are right because HE GETS HIS POWERS BACK??? LIKE THAT???
Vlad's plan of using ghost powers on the anti-ghost-meteor didn't work, but using ghost powers on the entire world as the anti-ghost-meteor is about to crash into it does? I thought that meteor negated all ghost powers???
VALERIE GRAY WOULD NOT CHEER AT THE REVEAL THAT DANNY PHANTOM IS DANNY FENTON. SHE WOULD BE INCREDIBLY ANGRY AND CONFLICTED, PROBABLY PUNCH HIM AND THEN LATER APOLOGIZE WHEN SHE ACTUALLY HAD SOME TIME TO STOMACH THAT REVELATION. HOW *DARE* YOU RUIN THAT REVEAL FOR US?!
Also what happened to Dani?
Tucker becoming mayor is stupid but considering this entire episode, it's also super funny. I let him have that win lol.
2) So bad the fandom disowned it, AO3 fics regularly tag "Phantom Planet didn't happen"
Roseanne - 9.23/9.24 Into That Good Night
The Conners welcome baby Harris Conner-Healy home. Roseanne is delighted Darlene wants to live at home and work on her parenting skills. The family talks about their lives after winning the lottery and are glad they have all come out of it stronger people. Over a pizza dinner, Roseanne suggests they say grace to thank God that Harris survived and the family is together again.
Family and friends gather at the Conner house to celebrate baby Harris' Homecoming and everyone takes a turn chatting with the new addition to the family. Mark and Becky have some exciting news, as do Leon and his husband Scott. During dinner, Roseanne takes time to reflect on each member of her family and reveals she has been writing a book; everything we see is Roseanne's altered version of actual events. Roseanne reveals the true story and admits she changed whatever details she didn't like about her life and the people in it. In truth, the Conners never won the lottery; it was all a fantasy Roseanne created in order to cope with a devastating reality. In the final moments, Roseanne sits alone in her basement writing room. She goes upstairs, passing through the old kitchen and the old living room. Roseanne sits on the old couch with the classic afghan on the back and silently takes in the warmth and comfort of the family home as the lights slowly fade.
Just focusing on the (at the time) series finale and not all the terrible things Roseanne decided to say and be later. This finale sucked. It was built to retcon the entire (admittedly bad) season that came before it as a bizarre fantasy of the titular character after her Husband died. They quickly and randomly undid different characters' development and swapped around couples just because.
propaganda is under the cut (158 words) - may contain spoilers
summaries (pulled from imdb or wikis)
propaganda
Dexter - 8.12 Remember the Monsters?
cw: blood, gore, death
Dexter is faced with impossible odds as a brewing hurricane makes its way towards Miami.
1) Good LORD. So this show took a real nosedive bc it reached a natural and good conclusion at the end of season 4, so all of the good writers left. But Showtime dragged its corpse around for another 4 seasons. And in the awful finale it ends with him steering a boat into a hurricane and becoming a lumberjack
2) HE BECAME A LUMBERJAAAACCCKKKKKKK
+ Ended around the same time as Breaking Bad and there was some hype in comparing finales but Breaking Bad was a consistently excellent show while Dexter was at beast fun but kinda bad. Truly a hydrogen bomb vs coughing baby situation
Pandora Hearts - 1.25 Beyond the Winding Road
Oscar pays a visit to Oz and tells him to come home. Though reluctant, Oz learns that his father had gone missing for over 10 years. The painting of a Chain on the wall reminds Oz of something.
this may be way too niche of a pick lol, but the manga is sooooo good and unfortunately the anime didn't get to cover like...90% of its best content (it was cancelled relatively early into the manga's run) and so they had to make up a completely different ending than the manga eventually got and it is...Not Very Good. Like even on its own its pretty disappointing and leaves a lot of stuff hanging but then when you compare it to the actual finale of the manga it gets even worse in comparison
+ I'm not 100% whether the series was technically cancelled prematurely or not- the finale I'm submitting is *presented* as a series finale but at the same time it *was* cancelled way before the manga it was based on finished
propaganda is under the cut (107 words) - may contain spoilers
summaries (pulled from imdb or wikis)
propaganda
Soul Eater - 1.51 The Word Is Bravery!
With her friends fallen, Maka must find the strength to face the Kishin alone. The world is in jeopardy and evil is poised for certain victory - until something stirs deep inside the young Meister's heart.
ugh god it just gave up on any attempt at character development or the ending of the story in any meaningful way. instead of a complex universe journey exploring her bond with soul, and death the kid becoming the new god of death, maka just...wins the day by 'being brave', extremely underwhelming and borderline nonsensical
Torchwood - 4.10 The Blood Line
Jack, Gwen, and Oswald are in Shanghai with Rex and Esther in Buenos Aires. They are at opposite ends of what proves to be the Blessing. The Families' interest in getting rid of Jack is revealed, as is the origin and meaning of Miracle Day. They realize that bringing the miracle to an end will have a cost as some of those who have survived will most certainly die. Jack, the only remaining mortal, shows himself more than ready to sacrifice his life if that's what it takes to end it all. One member of Torchwood will not survive.
Captain Jack's magical blood is necessary to heal a evil vagina running through the core of the Earth, and Bill Pullman's on hand as a cackling supervillain pedophile who dies screaming about how he's going to chase little girls in Hell. But the worst part is, somehow, all of that is boring.
propaganda is under the cut (216 words) - may contain spoilers
summaries (pulled from imdb or wikis)
propaganda
Gilmore Girls - 7.22 Bon Voyage
Rory gets a job as a journalist following a presidential campaign. The entire town puts on a farewell party for Rory.
No propaganda submitted
Sherlock - 4.03 The Final Problem
cw: death, child death
A dark secret in the Holmes family rears its head with a vengeance, putting Sherlock and friends through a series of sick, manipulative psychological and potentially fatal games.
1) It threw ALL characterization and character growth and development out the window for a """"""shocking"""""" and """"""unexpected"""""" finale. Many say it sucked because the main ship did not become canon. But that was nothing compared to the absolute disaster that was the whole series 4 and especially the last episode and the cheesy freeze frame and speech right at the end. (Not to speak of the weird ass promo stuff afterwards.)
Why are you adapting such a famous and repeatedly adapted story if you're not gonna change anything about it? If you're gonna leave it as you started it?
They tried to make their own Doctor Who and failed miserably. Sure, it was pretty promising and interesting at the start, but they Had to be clever...
2) Famously so bad that there was a conspiracy theory that there was a secret final episode. It added a secret genius sibling with magic powers for god's sake.
3) Others have said it better, but for me it was the rotting cherry on top of the disgusting cake that was S4. And that after a terribly bland S3...
4) Wrapped up everything poorly, mocked the audience, and didn’t draw on any of the loose ends the writers had made in the same season, or any previous seasons.
+ It was so horrible people thought there was a secret ACTUAL final episode airing the following week
propaganda is under the cut (424 words) - may contain spoilers
summaries (pulled from imdb or wikis)
propaganda
Doctor Who - 12.10 The Timeless Children
In the epic and emotional season finale, the Cybermen are on the march. As the last remaining humans are ruthlessly hunted down, Graham, Ryan and Yaz face a terrifying fight to survive. Civilisations fall. Others rise anew. Lies are exposed, truths are revealed, battles are fought, and for the Doctor - trapped and alone - nothing will ever be the same again.
this finale is shit!! absolute ass! nothing happens in it for it to justify having such a cool name. the master captures the doctor, shows her a slideshow that amounts to ‘‘you’re adopted!! :)" doctor breaks out of her matrix prison thing by overloading it with memories when the matrix is The Supercomputer and it’s used to hold all memories of all time lords ever? you know, the species whove been doing their thing for a billion years and live up to 10,000 years? the doctors new memories should either already be there or make nary a dent in it. the doctor’s like ‘‘why would they do that! why would they lie?’’ girl they have been lying to you since forever. they killed you once. theyve tried to kill you so many times. they turned you into a fucked up anti time monster that one time. one of the doctors past past selves even told her it doesnt really matter!! what was even the point
Our Flag Means Death - 2.08 Mermen
cw: vomit
Stede, Zheng, Spanish Jackie and the rest of the Revenge crew team up to take down a nefarious common enemy threatening the world of piracy.
1) paced like a runaway train, worst actor kiss i've seen in all my years, weird resolutions for two newly-introduced characters who started with lots of potential but ended up with no narrative payoff.
(spoilers) removed a really strong actor/character from an overwhelmingly mediocre cast and caused a giant rift in the fandom with some (falsely) claiming that the major character death was bury-your-gays, homophobic, ableist, etc. and that they were done with the show (we'll see about that), and others claiming it made perfect sense to kill off this character because he was "ready to die"
2) Season 1 was so promising, and set up so much! Season 2 SEEMED like it was gonna fulfill some of that promise... That is, of course, until they squandered all of those loose plot threads, character moments, potential arcs, etc. in a half-assed episode that was basically all filler and ended with one of the most unsatisfying, pointless, and unemotional deaths of TV that gave us all 'Dean with the rusty nail' flashbacks. Even the *seagull* got a better death. Not even the canon ship felt satisfying!! Their kiss and ending was extremely rushed and they didn't actually go anywhere from the end of S1.
3) Least of all it was all very rushed. More importantly Izzy was absolutely fucked and his death didn’t make sense with the writing of the rest of the series. Ed en Stede’s character development throughout the season got thrown away for some ”happy” ending which would’ve been better if they just stayed with the crew.
propaganda is under the cut (607 words) - may contain spoilers
summaries (pulled from imdb or wikis)
propaganda
Dancing with the Stars - 31.11 Finale
The four finalists perform their final two routines in hopes of winning the mirrorball trophy.
The winner had been pre-decided before the season even began which rendered the entire season pointless. I also watched on the West coast so I went into the episode knowing just how rigged it actually was because the results were already posted online. I don’t expect these shows to be 100% authentic but I at least expect the finale to use actual votes instead of having the winner put it in her contract that she wins.
Lost - 6.17/6.18 The End
The Man in Black searches for Desmond to achieve his goal of destroying the island. Jack, the newly-appointed "protector" of the island, sets out to stop him. In Los Angeles, the survivors reunite and recall their island experiences. / Locke puts his plan into action, which could liberate him from the island.
Locke puts his plan into action, which could liberate him from the island.
1) Worst payoff of all time. What the fuck does any of it mean and not in a fun twin peaks kind of way in a this had so much potential and such high expectations attached to it way. I haven't seen GOT but i really think Lost rivals it for cultural impact and widespread enraging of the audience. This final is proof that a TV show should never be greenlit without a complete story outline. I rewatch every so often though when it's good it's great it's a real tragedy
2) So many loose threads either messily explained or ignored completely. Extremely unsatisfying explanation of what the island was.
3) Legendary L, never been one like it, the king is on the top and we can see him, just fell on their fucking faces I can't explain I won't explain
4) They were just so unsatisfying. None of the build-up (and there was a TON of build up) paid off.
5) ok look. the Lost finale has been criticised a lot, and a lot of that criticism has been dumb (they weren't all dead the whole time and people need to stop saying that you guys are just misunderstanding the episode) HOWEVER. I maintain that even if a lot of the criticism of it historically has been unfair, it's still an awful finale. Its first and biggest crime is the main plot of the episode (and season as a whole) is really boring. It does away with the interesting character drama and moral dilemmas the show always excelled at and turns everything into a boring black and white good vs evil battle between two characters we don't care about. Just generally it feels super dumbed down compared to the rest of the show, especially when the stupid afterlife plot swoops in and starts explicitly telling the audience which characters were good, which were bad, and which characters were meant to end up together. It's frankly baffling, it feels like the writers suddenly decided they were sick of letting the audience interpret things for themselves. and again, one of the main strong points of the show had always been its moral ambiguity and openness to different interpretations. And the worst part is that we don't even really get a cute "everyone reunites in the afterlife" ending, because the writers FUCKING FORGOT ABOUT HALF THE CHARACTERS. WHERE WERE MILES, DANIEL AND CHARLOTTE? WHERE WAS WALT? WHERE WAS MICHAEL (actually I know exactly where Michael is he's stuck on the island as a ghost forever because his crimes were too bad to ever redeem himself) (his crimes were not that bad) (he had a very sympathetic motivation of wanting to protect his son) (this wasn't in the finale but I think is emblematic of the same problem of the writers really really dumbing down the morality of the show) (also it sucked and was racist). However at the end of the day this episode's true crime is being boring. I would forgive so many problems if only I cared even a tiny bit about the main conflict going on, which I don't. because no one cares about jacob and the man in black.
propaganda is under the cut (163 words) - may contain spoilers
summaries (pulled from imdb or wikis)
propaganda
Agent Carter - 2.10 Hollywood Ending
Peggy needs Howard Stark to eliminate Zero Matter as they are faced with a mission none of them could come back.
Just as Peggysous became canon, just as Jack is about to start his redemption arc, they cancelled the show and left all of us on a massive cliffhanger for, let's see, almost 8 years at this point. We need ANSWERS.
Quantum Leap - 5.22 Mirror Image
Sam leaps into a bar with a bartender that's more than he appears. When Sam looks into a mirror, he sees his own reflection. In the future, they realize that Sam has leaped into himself, they search history for Sam. Sam learns more about Quantum Leap, and who's responsible for his leaps. Before he takes his next leap, he realizes he must correct something that could affect his personal history.
1) Although Sam wanted to go home, he instead chose to return and inform Beth that Al was still alive. The final caption of the show tells the audience that, in the end, Sam never returned home; with the title card at the end somewhat unceremoniously announcing it, and also with his last name misspelled: "Dr. Sam Becket [sic] never returned home."
2) The whole entire point of Quantum Leap was getting Sam Beckett back home and then he didn’t even get to go back home… and the way we are told this is through one sentence of text on a background. WHERE THEY MISSPELL SAM’S LAST NAME!!!!
3) My mother was very upset that Sam Beckett never returned home to his wife.
+ The finale was filmed to act as a series finale, but the show was supposed to get another season, and got cancelled last minute.
Chilling Adventures of Sabrina - 4.08 At The Mountains of Madness
That '70s Show - 8.22 That '70s Finale
show results
Voting ended onJan 10, 2024
propaganda is under the cut (57 words) - may contain spoilers
summaries (pulled from imdb or wikis)
propaganda
Chilling Adventures of Sabrina - 4.08 Chapter Thirty-Six: At The Mountains of Madness
cw: suicide
The darkest days of the void arrive as Sabrina struggles with grief and regret. Can she summon the strength to overcome an endless cycle of destruction?
Ok so in fairness this entire final season sucked but the real kicker is that in the final scene we learn that after the main character died, her love interest killed himself in order to be with her in the afterlife. Yeah, a teenager committed suicide and we were supposed to see that as a happy ending.
That '70s Show - 8.22 That '70s Finale
It is New Year's Eve and is the last day of the '70s. Kitty is having second thoughts about selling the house and moving to Florida, even though Red thinks she is happy they are moving. Donna has just broken up with Randy and is moving to college. Jackie realizes she loves Fez. Bob decides that he's moving to Florida and open a bait shop. Eric says he's coming home from Africa.
I'm late to this party and I'm crying because HOW THE FUCK DID GAME OF THRONES NOT MAKE IT INTO THE WORST FINALE POLL??
don’t worry‚ it’s on the list! Only a quarter of the polls are posted so far. Here’s all the finales that were submitted (those in bold made it past prelims)
OKAY, alot of people dislike the Battlestar Galactica (2004) finale but I think while odd, is still a very good way of ending the series.
The series throughout subtextually has a very blatant discussion of theology, The Humans have some pantheon that seems to be loosely analogous to Greco-Roman myth and the Cylons all follow one singular god, and even within the Cylon ranks they have debates and beliefs about if faith or logic is better. When Gaius Baltar tries to found a monotheistic religion, humans from across the ship(s) begin to enact violence on his followers.
Gaius Baltar has a manifestation of one of the Human-like Cylons in his head throughout the entire series basically up until the end, Often referred to as "Head 6", (though for this I'll call her "Mind 6"), it's often believed that because this manifestation knows so much about things Gaius wouldn't that she is a neural clone of some sort implanted into Gaius, but we see later that this cannot be the case, as Caprica 6, the person Mind 6 is impersonating, is alive and well(-ish), and not only is she alive, but she's got a Mind Gaius who's been doing the same stuff to her. Mind 6 and Mind Gaius are revealed in the finale to be some sort of divine entities. They simply took the form of Gaius and Caprica 6.
As far as the "Bob Dylan was a prophet" thing, it's implied by the finale and a few other plot points that Humanity and similar races are bound to repeat a few similar points in identifiable history, as Mind Gaius and Mind 6 look at the rise of research into Artificial Intelligence and one asks to the other if they believe that earth, our earth, will be the one the break the cycle.
I don't know what to say about Starbuck though, that shit's wild to me still and I still don't get how to wrap my head around the implications of it.
There, there's my "This Finale is good, actually" propaganda.
thank you! I've added it to the post, which you can vote on here
Voltron: Legendary Defender - 8.13 The End is the Beginning
show results
Voting ended onDec 16, 2023
propaganda is under the cut (223 words) - may contain spoilers
summaries (pulled from imdb or wikis)
propaganda
Brooklyn Nine-Nine - 8.09 The Last Day
The squad takes stock of their eight years together and look towards their future.
It just... season 8 had been so bad as a whole, it attempted to touch on the blm movement and did it in an okay at best way and in the wake of it all, i think a lot of people just weren't here for cop shows. The finale tried to bring the magic back with one last heist and it did pull out all the stops but I don't know, it just left me feeling really cold. And the ending being that even though the main character wasn't a cop anymore, that he would return to the station every year for the heist... it just never escapes the cop narrative even after he's left.
Voltron: Legendary Defender - 8.13 The End is the Beginning
Voltron and Honerva come together at the source of all realities in the ultimate battle between good and evil for the survival of the universe.
1) god what to say. for the resolution to one of the most popular shows of the time boy did it not resolve much. it was!!!! so bad!!!! the decisions they made for the characters post-canon, the cop out marriage with some nameless guy, the way the show just ended in ruin. truly, a relic of its time.
2) where do i even begin. such a shitshow and basically destroyed any last vestige of my love for the show. i assume someone else has nominated it and can give a better explanation since im running on about two hours of sleep after being up for 25 hours straight.
