10 Great TV Cliffhangers (With Awful Pay-Offs)
8. Lost - "Exodus"
At one point, Lost was the biggest thing on TV. Over its first season, the series became a phenomenon thanks to its complex characters, mysteries, and draw-dropping action. People couldn't wait to get to the water cooler just to talk about what happened in the most recent episode. This was especially the case for the first season finale, as it left our heroes with many great cliffhangers.
Walt got taken by the Others, while Locke finally made some progress with the hatch. For an entire summer, people were talking about what could be in the hatch and who might have taken Walt. Unfortunately, the pay-off to both of these questions wasn't great.
Michael became, rightfully so, obsessed with getting his son back, and made many stupid decisions in the process. It's clearly understandable he wants to save his son, but at every turn Michael makes the worst choice imaginable. The hatch, meanwhile, became an interesting part of the lore of the series, but is also responsible for many meandering episodes. Pushing that button was fine for a few episodes, but an entire season was just way too much.